...whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand.' Ezekiel 33:4-6
God’s messengers have an awesome responsibility: to declare God’s Word to people. There is a two-sided principle associated with this. First, if the messenger faithfully declares God’s message of warning, and the people fail to respond in obedience, their blood is on their own heads.
Second. if the messenger fails to deliver God’s message, and therefore the people do not repent, their blood is on the hands of the messenger!
The purpose for this arraignment is to impress upon the messengers the importance of faithfully delivering God’s message.
This does not mean that if we fail to proclaim the gospel, we will be lost! It means it is a serious sin to withhold the gospel. For believers, along with every other sin, this serious sin of failing to declare the gospel was paid for by Christ’s death on the cross. But that does not lessen the sinfulness of not telling people about Jesus!
Let us thank God that the redeemed will not be lost for failing to evangelize. And let the redeemed not irresponsibly settle to sin against the Lord by failing to point others to Christ.