“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” (Ezekiel 3:18).
Before we continue our study of the book of Romans I would like to share with you a lesson I learned from reading about the ministry of Dr. R. A. Torrey.
He had been a lawyer. Then he became an evangelist and also the president of Moody Bible Institute. He shared in one of his books that whenever he found his heart hard and calloused toward sinners he would lock himself up alone with God and spend time studying the sinful state of man and the ultimate, eternal doom they faced if they were not saved. This was not a mere academic exercise. This was a soul searching and shattering process in which he tried to feel the full impact of this dreadful truth. He wanted to sense afresh the weight of knowing that eternal destinies are at stake. He wanted to always be ready to stand in the gap between sinners and a holy God.
Dr. Torrey believed that if he didn’t confront and seek to persuade sinners of their dreadful state, their blood was on his hands. Paul refers to this in Acts 20:26-27 and 31, “I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God…Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.”
In his book to the church at Philippi Paul said in chapter 3, verses 18-19, “For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction…”
Let me encourage you to reflect on what we have studied thus far in Romans and ask God to break you to the point of tears with compassion to bring those who are lost to Christ.
You are a watchman, responsible to warn others of danger, especially of a destiny without Christ.
