Why We Must Preach

"Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. Again, if a righteous person turns from his unrighteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered his soul.
Ezekiel 3:17-21

Four different situations. In all but one of the situations, the result is death. Sobering.

Note: In what follows, when I speak of the preacher, this especially applies to those who have been made overseers of God's flock (Acts 20:28). But it still in a sense applies to every follower of Jesus because we're all watchmen (Hebrews 3:12-13, James 5:19-20, Mark 16:15-16) who proclaim (preach) not ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord with ourselves as the servants of others for Jesus' sake (2 Corinthians 4:5).

Situation #1:

The wicked person is walking in wickedness. And the preacher doesn't warn him (v.18).

Result: The wicked will DIE for his iniquity. And the preacher will be held responsible (v.18).

Situation #2:

The wicked person is walking in wickedness. But this time the preacher warns him (v.19).

Result: The wicked will DIE for his iniquity. But the preacher will NOT be held responsible (v.19).

Situation #3:

The righteous person turns to wickedness (v.20). In this situation, it's taken for granted that the preacher didn't warn him.

Result: The righteous will DIE for his iniquity. And the preacher will be held responsible because he didn't warn him (v.20).

Situation #4:

The righteous person is walking righteously. The preacher warns him not to sin. And the righteous person doesn't sin (v.21).

Result: The righteous person will LIVE and the preacher will have delivered his soul (v.21)!

Implications:

1) Whether we preach or not, the wicked are going to persist in disobedience and eventually perish (the wicked die in both situation 1 and 2) because they were destined to (1 Peter 2:8).

2) The difference between whether the righteous person turns to wickedness or not is the preacher's faithfulness or unfaithfulness as a watchman. If the preacher is unfaithful and fails to preach the message of warning, the righteous WILL turn to wickedness. If the preacher is faithful and preaches the message of warning, the righteous WILL NOT turn to wickedness. What do I base such a bold statement on? Verse 20 assumes that the reason a righteous person turns to wickedness is that the preacher didn't warn him! So, even though it's not explicit in verse 21, I conclude that if a righteous person is warned, he will not turn (completely) to wickedness.

3) The means by which God has purposed to keep His people walking in righteousness is the faithful preaching of His word--especially His warnings--by His faithful watchmen. To say it another way, the way God keeps His righteous people righteous is through the preaching of His watchmen. That's why preaching is indispensable. And since we don't know for sure who the righteous and wicked are, we must preach to everyone.

Preaching is designed by God to proactively (believers) and reactively (non-believers) save those who listen. And so whether we think they'll listen or not, that's why we preach. And that's why we must never stop preaching.

Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and your teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.
1 Timothy 4:11-16