Why warn the wicked?  by Pastor Lantz

     God loves them! God loves the sinner just as much as he loves Jesus, the first born from the dead. It is not God’s will that anyone should go to hell. Love wants everyone to receive his Son, the Lord Jesus, and live with him forever in heaven. When we were born into the kingdom of God, our nature was changed, we received the nature of love (God). Everything God does in the earth is about us. God created air, food, and water for us! He didn’t just give us the basics, but numerous kinds of foods, as well as putting every herb, mineral, and precious metal here for us. He also gave us the ability to think and create and manufacture many things that make our life easier and more efficient. God is so passionate about us that he put every person’s name in the book of life. Those who refuse eternal life through Jesus Christ have their names blotted out of the book of life being forever separated from God and his family. He assigned an angel to personally guard and protect each person, to assist them in life (not everyone recognizes nor receives angelic help). It does not pay to provoke God and to provoke angels, remember Zacharias, how he was struck dumb for not believing the angel Gabriel. God knows what you need and has already made provision for your every need. He knows how many hairs you have on your head. God knows everything about you including the thoughts and intents of your heart. God is looking for someone to believe him so he can show himself strong in their life. It is man, that God made in his likeness, and gave him dominion over all the earth.  Heb. 2:6  But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? Or the son of man, that thou visitest him?  God preformed a mighty miracle in raising Jesus from the dead, so powerful it provides resurrection power to every spiritually dead man who will believe. God has gone above and beyond what the natural mind can ask, think, or imagine, in order to bring us back to himself. God warns the wicked, giving opportunity for them to change and become the righteousness of God in Christ.  2 Cor. 5:21  For he hath made him (Jesus) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.  Sometimes we may think of people as being to hard to ever change, but we need to remember that at one time we were without Christ, and without hope, strangers from the covenants of promise, and without God in this world. God warns every man and many times he warns them through us speaking his anointed word. Even our righteous actions such as, loving one another, setting time aside to be in church, honoring those in authority, etc. can serve as a warning that there is a God we all have to give an account to. Many times when we think of wicked, we think of those who are doing the most despicable things like, murder and child molestation and of course these are wicked.  Ezekiel 3:18  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.  Since God considers not warning the wicked as offensive as actually killing him, we should know who God considers wicked. The Hebrew word translated wicked means morally wrong, an actively bad person, condemned, ungodly, wicked man that did wrong. This Hebrew word comes from another Hebrew word which includes the meaning of, to disturb, violate, make trouble, and vex. Ezekiel refers to Israel as being rebellious in the second chapter. That reminds me of the first generation of the children of Israel who were delivered from Egypt. God said I give you this land, but they said, we can’t go in. God said to them, don’t pick up any more manna than you can use in one day, some of them picked up more than enough but it rotted and began to stink. Then God said, pick up twice as much manna the day before the Sabbath because there will be no manna provided on the Sabbath day. Some of them still went out to look for manna on the Sabbath day. Today we are told to walk by faith and not by sight, many people insist on walking by sight and are rebellious to the Lord.

Let’s look at God’s definition of wicked by what he has said in his word. The very first commandment tells us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and the second is to love our neighbor as we love ourself.  John 14:15  If ye love me, keep my commandments.  Those who do the opposite of what the word (Jesus) says are doing evil or doing wickedness. Jesus said we must love everyone else less than we love him in order to be one of his disciples.  Luke 14:26  If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.  One of the meanings of the Greek word translated hate is to love less. You can easily see that would be the correct meaning in this verse without knowing any Greek, because Jesus commands us to love the brethren. It is obvious that we are going to make choices that favor the one we love the most. This means that to love someone or something more than we love God is wicked. The curse (sickness, poverty, and death) will come on the one who refuses to trust the Lord and rejoice in all that He has done for them.  Jer. 17:5  Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm (supply), and whose heart departeth from the Lord.   Deut. 28:45 – 47 Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee  .  .  .  because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things.  If you are suffering symptoms of the curse because you are loving someone or something more than you love the Word of God you can repent. True repentance means that you are willing to do whatever it takes to develop true love for God. What you look at, listen to, invest in, and meditate on will strengthen your hearts desire, and out of the abundance of your heart, words will come forth, steering you to your future. Do not be deceived, if you love other things more than you love to hear God’s word and to do it, you are not being a disciple of Jesus. James 4:17  Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.  Another area of wickedness or evil is unbelief. God has tolerance for those who disbelieve because of ignorance but it angers him when people have seen and experienced his great power and just refuse to believe. God refers to the children of Israel who received mercy through the lambs blood on the doorpost, and miraculous deliverance from the Egyptians at the Red sea, and supernatural supply in the desert as having an evil heart of unbelief.  Heb. 3:12  Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.  They started out with God, but refused to follow his plan for their life, even after seeing his mighty power working on their behalf.  1 John 3:23  And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.  Believing is huge, faith in God connects us with his grace! God is pleased when we receive his grace. Jesus refers to the word of God as being incorruptible seed and the hearts of men being the determining factor of the word coming into full manifestation in our lives. Luke 8:15 But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good (not wicked) heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. God has given us the privilege of humbling ourselves to enjoy the goodness of his plan for our lives, or to harden our hearts in unbelief. Rev. 21:6 – 8 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whore-mongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. Being fearful is wicked, evil, like a slap in God’s face. God is our heavenly Father, he is our protector and our provider, he is everything we need. Did you ever notice that when angels would appear to men they would say, fear not. Jesus commanded us to not let our heart be troubled but to believe in him. John 14:27 … Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Fear activates the curse similar to faith activating the blessing. Job 3:25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. Job’s fear opened the door for Satan to steal, kill, and destroy. Satan didn’t even realize that there was an opening into Job’s life until the Lord said to him, look, he is in your hand. There is a reason Jesus commands us to keep fear out of our hearts.  Stealing is wicked, Jesus said that the devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy. The very first sin involved Adam and Eve stealing God’s harvest. God is still the same as he was then, honor him with your first and best and be blessed,

or steal from him and experience the curse. Mt. 21:34&35 And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen (renter), that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. When we bring God’s anointed ministers our tithes and offerings we are recognizing them as God’s servants. This is the time that the wealth of the sinner is being transferred to the righteous for the work of God to be done in the earth. Follow instructions and get in on the flow of God’s blessing’s!

Ezekiel 3:18   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.