Video Transcript: Lack of Vocal Witness, Part 3

So we've been talking about the lack of vocal witness and where that comes from. We saw first of all, about  fear. Remember that, we said, we all have fear, we're all gonna have to deal with it. And there are ways we can deal with it. If you go back to that lesson, you can see that from the scriptures. And then we talked about the lack of urgency, where's the concern for the misbelievers all around us? 

But I think the most important one because the one we're going to be talking about today, when it comes right down to it, yes, fear is part of it. Lack of urgency is part of it. I think the basic cause is disobedience, that we neglect the commands of God. You know, Jesus majored in missions. When he was here, He wasn't a part time, Pastor, full time. When he walked, when he sat down, when he slept, when he didn't sleep, when he ate, when he didn't eat, when he was with people, when he was alone He was always focused on mission and mission. I've been sent by the Father, I've been sent by the Father and that's what the Bible is all about. 

The Bible is a book of missions, the Bible was written for mission. John says at the end of his gospel, I've written these things so that you might believe, and by believing these things, you will have life in the name of Jesus. That's our mission to the world. Every single verse in the Bible, every book could have that written behind it. In the book of Genesis, or in the book of Ruth, or the book of Psalms, or in some of the prophets, like Zechariah, or in any book in the New Testament, you could always put these things have been written so that you might believe, and by believing have life through Jesus Christ. We're going to talk today about disobeying the command to be a vocal witness. 

Let’s pray. Jesus, your truth grips us. We have fear. And you have taught us fear not. We still have it. We're going to live with it. And we're going to be vocal witnesses for you. We want your urgency. Sometimes we're so lukewarm sometimes we procrastinate. We want your urgency to talk to every person we know about what is coming. Now today, we want hearts that will obey you. We love you. Amen. 

So disobedience comes from neglecting God's command. Here’s one of the commands that we can neglect. It comes from the book of Ezekiel chapter 33, verse seven. God says to Ezekiel. He called him son of man. Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel. So here's the word I speak and give them warning from me. He commands him to warn them. Here's an interesting thing I said a moment ago that one of Jesus favorite names for himself was the son of man. He goes all the way back and takes it from here. 

And here's the picture. Imagine, if God were speaking for Jesus here as the Son of Man, and saying, Jesus, I made you a watchman for the people of Israel, for my people. Hear my word, and give them warning. And imagine if Jesus said Well, I'm afraid or I don't have the urgency. He would be disobeying. Can’t picture that of Jesus. He was perfect, never once sinned. And He obeyed on his mission. 

One of the commands that we can neglect is to warn people. We saw last time we met together, that a person is born in sin. That sin remains on that person, that God's punishment remains on that person. And that one day if that person does not accept Jesus, that Jesus will separate that person from the true believers, and this misbeliever will spend eternity apart from him. That's why we have to warn people about what's going to be and we have to obey that command. 

Another command we have to obey is the command to love. Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-39 love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind, love your neighbor as yourself. Our job, that means if your neighbor says something to you, you won't say anything back. That means if another person cheats you, you won’t cheat him back. And that means if another person never does anything for you, you'll still do things for that person. That's all that means here. You know what else it means. How can you love that neighbor, that person as yourself? 

Picture yourself now a Christian. Imagine if you didn't know about Jesus, imagine if you didn't pay any attention to God or you felt good old God, he's gonna forgive everything or he doesn't even work. Imagine if you believe that when you die, that's it. You are put on the ground and nothing more. And then imagine being wrong. Imagine standing before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ. And hearing that verdict, I don't know you go to the left. Wouldn’t you want somebody to tell you? Wouldn’t you want somebody to be a neighbor to you? As you love yourself wouldn’t you want somebody else to love you? We have to obey that command to love others. 

There's another command. Jesus said in everything you do to others, what you would have them do to you. What's the most important thing somebody could give you? You might say, I need some money. You might say I need some shoes or some flip flops. You might say I need a friend. You might say we need clean water in this village. We need justice from corrupt government, whatever it might be. But if you knew that the judgment was coming, wouldn't you want to give them the best thing that you could ever receive? Isn't that Jesus? What would you like others to do to you? You say Oh, I believe in God. They say that's fine. If you don't believe there's any god, they say that's already true, right to be free. You say Oh, I don't think God's gonna worry about that. They say well, that's up to you. Would you want that? 

Imagine if you were standing in danger. And somebody didn't tell you watch out the trucks coming. Imagine if they noticed that your roof was gonna fall in and they wouldn't warn you about your children inside. Imagine if people didn't care about you? Is that the way we look to those who aren't saved? Look around you with the people you know, the name you wrote down in our last lesson. And if you were with him, what would you most want to have done to you? You know, pretty well, don't you? To tell you about Jesus. 

Here is another command. And these are all commands. Here's another command that we neglect. And that's to make disciples. Jesus said, Therefore go and make disciples of all nations. That's what we have to do. You and I to make disciples of all nations. Do you notice? This isn't a suggestion. Jesus didn't say, you know, it'd be nice if maybe. But he looked them in the eye and he said, I want you to make disciples, that's my command. If we're not doing it, we're disobeying. 

One more command that we can neglect is a command to be. He says in Acts one verse eight, and you will be my witnesses. We're going to be talking about this in the lesson, next one or the one after about what it means to be my witnesses. You know what it says here? That's what we are to be. When you're in the store, when you're driving your car, when you're teaching the class, when you're painting the house, when you're sitting around the table with family, when you're in the operating room, no matter where, witnessing is something that we are, we shall be. He commands us, be my witnesses. And sometimes people say, What is there about that, that you don't understand? Jesus says to us, be my witnesses. And if we don't speak vocally for him, we are disobeying him. 

Well, we not only neglect commands, but one of the ways that we disobey is that we fail to respond. For example, we fail to respond to responsibility. God is speaking again to his watchman, Ezekiel, chapter 34, verse six, and he says to him, My sheep were scattered and no one's searched or look for them. Isn’t that sad? That there were prophets, there were priests, there were pastors in those days, and they were worshipping false gods. They were misbelievers. And God’s looking down and saying, Okay, now these are my people. They're gonna and reach them and they didn't. No one searched or looked for them. Jesus told the story of the Good Shepherd who went out left all the people who already were saved, went out to look for the wandering one. But that's not true here. You and I have a responsibility. God has laid it upon us. God has said we are his watchman and we have to warn those because we're on the wall and we can see the danger coming. That's our responsibility. He says, but nobody did it. Was he speaking about us? 

We can also we fail to respond to danger. Same thing with Ezekiel, Ezekiel 33, six. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and take someone's life, I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood. Serious business here. I don't know if you've ever heard of a book or not by the name of Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan. It's the only book that outsold the Bible for a long time. And he tells a story in there of a man who calls a Christian who was walking toward the celestial city and he goes back home to talk to his wife, to his children, to the people in his village. They just laugh and they don't want to hear his warning. He's not responsible for them. But this verse says, but if you see the danger coming, and you don't warn them. My watchman, If you're standing on the walls, and you can look down and say there comes the enemy. You don't say anything. You just sit back in your lawn chair and take it easy. They will perish. You'll be responsible. We can fail to respond to the danger that we see people standing in. People around us look like nothing's going to happen. In Psalm 73 It says they're standing on a slippery rock and all too soon, they're gonna fall down. We have to respond to the danger around us. 

We can also fail to respond to priorities. People in Jesus day did that. He said to them, some of the people who didn't like him very well, because if they liked them to be doing what he wanted them to do. But in Matthew 23, verse 23, he says, Woe to you. You get a 10th of your spices, but you have neglected the more important matters. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former. And then that's kind of funny. I just wonder if people heard him laugh because they picture people going home taking the cover off the salt shaker, taking off 10%. Taking the cover off the pepper taking off 10%. Taking the cover off the other spices because they so much wanted to do the right thing. We're not going to be disappointing God. Jesus said, You know why? You do all that religious stuff. But you're not showing mercy. You're not showing love. You're not telling them the truth, the more important matters. Now notice he doesn't say give up your faith. Give up your religious practice. That doesn't matter at all. No. That's very important in the life of a believer of a true believer. But he's saying, Don't neglect priorities. It's true that you want to practice your faith. But don't neglect the fact that misbelievers have to hear about me and all that other stuff that we spend time on is good. Don't neglect telling people about forgiveness through Jesus Christ. Do you hear me? I'm not saying give up your church. I'm not saying give up your daily devotions. I'm not saying stop your Christian practices. Jesus wouldn't either. But he's saying do that. And alongside that, keep the priorities that people have to be saved. 

So another thing we can fail to respond to, is to need. Jesus said in Matthew 25, verse 45, Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. You know what Jesus was talking about there? He sort of sets up a picture of the end of the world. He said, people are going to be standing before me. I'm going to say, thanks for helping me. And you'll say, when did we help you? They said remember that poor person you gave some money to, remember that hungry person you gave some food to me? That person who had no clothes, you fed him, and the person was sick, you visited him, the person in prison you went to see him? That was me. Well, we never really saw you. He says that was me. And then he's gonna say to others. Remember when that person who was so poor and  you wouldn't help them. Remember that person was hungry, you wouldn't share your food. Remember, that person who was sick. He didn't have time to visit. That person was still thirsty would share your water. That person those people in jail, they suffer so terribly the way they're treated. You didn't bother to go see them. You didn't do that to me. And if Jesus we never saw you. He said when you didn't do to them, you didn't do it to me. And when you didn't share the gospel with someone unsaved you are not sharing the gospel with me. And we have to respond to the need all around us. 

We can also fail to respond to our ability. Luke 22:47, it says the servant who knows his master’s will and does not do what the master wants will be beaten with any blows. You know, if you're a servant, you have ability. God has given you ability. You're a servant of the Lord Jesus. Just like that servant in the home. He knew he had to dust the window sill, he knew he had to vacuum. He knew he had to paint. He knew we had to keep the animals safe. He knew he had to get the meals ready. And if he doesn't do it, he's in trouble. And Jesus says the same with us. We have the ability to do all these things. We have the ability to work and everything else. Ability to talk. We have to use it for him. James said if anyone knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do, it is sin for them. That's powerful. I don't have to say much about that. But we know by now that we ought to be these vocal witnesses for Jesus. And if we're not, we're not obeying Him. 

You know, I want to tell you a story. It was in our newspaper. The headline was stranger’s knowing eye saved a man's life. This man was in a restaurant. And during the dinner, he went up to go to the restroom. And while he's in the bathroom, another man came up to him and said, Listen, you don't know me, but I'm a doctor. And I saw a condition in your throat and in your face, that if you don't deal with it, you're going to die. So the man went to the hospital, found out that he had a certain disease. They  were able to take care of it there and he spared his life. Are we willing to be that kind of stranger? We can look at anyone who does not trust Jesus and say, there's something about you, and if you don't deal with it, you're gonna die. Jesus wants us to obey Him and be his vocal witness.