Obedience Requires...

The ultimate test of obedience to God is doing what He commands regardless of what you think the outcome will be. Dying to self, giving up your personal thoughts on the outcome in order to do what God wants, unsure of the results, is exactly what trust is all about. Here, God tells Ezekiel to go and tell captive Israel that they need to repent. He tells Ezekiel regardless if they listen, he needs to tell them the truth. If he doesn’t tell them, they will die and he will be held responsible for their death. If he does tell them the truth, they will still die (because they won’t listen), but he will not be responsible for their deaths. Obedience is doing what God commands even if you don’t think it matters. “The just shall live by faith” is part of what that means.

16 After seven days the Lord gave me a message. He said, 17 “Son of man, I have appointed you as a watchman for Israel. Whenever you receive a message from Me, warn people immediately. 18 If I warn the wicked, saying, ‘You are under the penalty of death,’ but you fail to deliver the warning, they will die in their sins. And I will hold you responsible for their deaths. 19 If you warn them and they refuse to repent and keep on sinning, they will die in their sins. But you will have saved yourself because you obeyed Me.20 “If righteous people turn away from their righteous behavior and ignore the obstacles I put in their way, they will die. And if you do not warn them, they will die in their sins. None of their righteous acts will be remembered, and I will hold you responsible for their deaths. 21 But if you warn righteous people not to sin and they listen to you and do not sin, they will live, and you will have saved yourself, too.” Ezekiel 3:16-21