Sermon for September 6, 2026, Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Ezekiel 33:7-9 (Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost/Proper 18—Series A)

“We Have a Responsibility”

Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer, Enfield, CT

September 6, 2026

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our text is the Old Testament reading from Ezekiel 33:

⁷ “And you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from My mouth, you are to warn them from Me. ⁸When I say to a wicked man, ‘O wicked man, you shall surely die,’ if you do not speak to warn the wicked man against his way, he, the wicked man, will die because of his iniquity, and I will hold you responsible for his blood. ⁹But if you do warn the wicked man to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he will die because of his iniquity, but you will have saved your soul.”

           What would you do if you saw someone about to walk in front of a truck? What would you do if you saw someone about to jump into a swimming pool filled with stinging jellyfish? What would you do if you saw a young child about to grab the pot of water boiling on the stove?

     Now, in light of those answers, what would you do if you saw a brother or sister in Christ committing sinful actions or speaking sinful words? Would you warn that person the way you did the others? Or would you turn a blind eye and look the other way?

          He stood on the walls of the city. From those walls he was able to look north and south, east and west. He could see the mighty caravans coming toward the city for trade. And he could see the troops of the enemy coming to siege and to fight. He is the watchman. And it is his responsibility to warn the city of any danger. It is the watchman’s responsibility to keep the city safe and to call out the safety of the city like a sentry.

          It was to this roll of watchman that God called Ezekiel. Now, Ezekiel was not the kind of watchman who stood on the walls of Jerusalem and warned the city of impending attack. He was called to be a watchman over the people of Israel in exile. Like a watchman standing on the city walls warned the people in the city of the evil coming in the form of an invading army, so also Ezekiel was to warn the people about the evil coming from themselves. Ezekiel’s role as watchman placed in his lap the responsibility of announcing God’s Law to the people.

          What a difficult thing Ezekiel was called to do! Who likes to be told what they are doing or saying is wrong? Who likes to hear that their actions are sinful, contrary to God’s Word? And who likes to hear the punishment or consequences of their wicked behavior, especially in the words, “O wicked man, you shall surely die”? I, for one, do not. I joke with my family that Daddy is always right. But I’m not. And I dislike being wrong. I do not like being caught doing wrong or speaking wrong. Not only do I dislike being caught, I also despise the feeling of guilt which follows. I’m sure you know exactly what I am talking about.

          This is the function of God’s Law. The Law always accuses. God’s Law tells us what we should and should not do. We find God’s Law for people in the Ten Commandments.

This is the moral law, how God’s human creation is to live and act before our creator God and other people. The Holy Spirit has written through the Apostle Paul in Romans 2, “For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus” (Rom. 2:14-16 ESV).

          God revealed His Law to the people of Israel at Mt. Sinai when He gave the Ten Commandments to Moses on the tablets of stone. But because of God’s created order, the Gentiles, non-Israelites, also know right from wrong without the help of God’s revealed Word. Our consciences show our sinfulness and a need to be saved from sin and the punishment of death and hell. Just as God the Creator partially reveals Himself in nature, He gives all people some knowledge of His Law. Luther wrote in the Large Catechism, “The Ten Commandments are written in all people’s hearts” (LC: II.67). However, sin has corrupted this understanding, and so all people need the revealed Word of God’s Commandments.

When you and I do not do the good we should and when we do the evil we shouldn’t, there stands God’s Law telling us, “You have sinned by what you have done and by what you have left undone.” It is this Law written on the heart, through our conscience, which makes us feel guilty when we violate it. And God’s revealed Commandments point their accusing finger at you and me and declares us guilty. And a guilty verdict against us overflows also with those hated feelings of guilt and despair over what we have done and what we have failed to do. What’s more, the Law of God also tells us what we deserve because of our sins. It shows us that the punishment for sin is death. “O wicked one, you shall surely die.” 

          Now, does this make the Word of God’s Law a bad thing? As much as it convicts us of sin and shows us how we have failed to love God with our whole being and have not loved our neighbors as ourselves, as much as the Law demands the death penalty for each one of us, it is good for us. The Law warns us by telling us clearly that “this” is sinful and “that” is not. It sets boundaries for us even as it guides us in the way that God demands that His human creatures live. St. Paul, who knew the Law very well as a Pharisee, wrote, “If it had not been for the Law, I would not have known sin” (Rom. 7:7b).

          Perhaps we would much rather not know sin, because, if there is no Law, then I can do anything and everything, and there is no standard, no rule, no requirement, and no sin! But that’s not reality, is it? God has given His Law, especially in the Ten Commandments. Here God reveals His will for us, the way in which people are to conduct their lives. The Law shows our failure always to live according to God’s will and, in so doing, warns us by revealing that we are sinners who are sentenced to death. And it is that warning God designed to bring us to our knees in sorrow over our sins and in fear of condemnation so that we might depend solely and completely on God alone to save us from sin and death.

          While it could not have been very popular for Ezekiel to be a watchman proclaiming God’s Law, it was necessary for the people to hear the warning that God sounds so that they are alerted to the danger of sin. Sounding the warning bell of God’s Law to sinners is necessary to show us our sins and our need for a Savior. Without that warning, there would be no hope of salvation because we wouldn’t know we were even in danger! Would you want someone to warn you that there’s a truck coming so don’t cross the street? Would you want someone to warn you that your clothes are on fire so that you can stop, drop, and roll? Would you want someone to warn you not to drink that water because it will make you sick? Of course! And should we not also want someone to warn us about our sins and the consequence of death?

          In His compassionate mercy and love, God raises up for His people watchmen like Ezekiel, even today. We call them pastors. Pastors are called to preach and to proclaim the Law of God in all its fullness, warning the people of God of the danger of sin, of the deadly consequences of un-repented sin. Pastors are commanded by the Lord to show people their sins through the Word of God’s Law in the Commandments, to warn them if they are not living in accordance with the way God demands that we live. That’s why pastors have to call sin what it is—words and actions that are not in accord with God’s Word. It’s not my opinion of what is right and wrong. God’s Word alone defines what is and is not sinful. Pastors have to tell couples living together without marriage that their lifestyle is inconsistent with God’s Word. Pastors have to speak the Word of God that says homosexual activity is sin, as much as is murder, abortion, stealing, lying, coveting, cheating, cursing, failing to hear and receive God’s Word in worship, using Tarot cards and Ouija boards, gossiping, as well as failing to honor parents and other authorities.

And no, it’s not easy to call a sinner to repentance. It’s not simple to announce the warning of God’s Law, “If you do not repent, you will remain in your sins and suffer eternal condemnation.” But, thankfully, that’s not the only message given by God. When the proclamation of God’s Law has done its work in bringing people to their knees before God in sorrow, seeking His mercy, God does not disappoint. He has another Word He calls His pastors to speak to sinners troubled by their sins. We read this message several verses after our Old Testament text this morning. To the sinner who is sorry for his or her sins, who desires to turn from the way of sin and to walk the path the Lord has laid out, God says, “None of the sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him” (Ezk. 33:16a).

          That’s forgiveness and that’s the message of the Gospel! “God our Savior . . . desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all” (1 Tim. 2:3-5). At just the right time, God the Son took on human flesh, without sin, in order to suffer the punishment and consequence for our sins and the sins of the whole world. Jesus won the complete forgiveness of all sins by shedding His blood in His sacrificial death on the cross. Those who kneel in sorrow and repentance at the foot of the cross, trusting solely in the merits of Jesus Christ who died for them, receive from the Lord forgiveness and everlasting life as His free gift. And that’s what God the Father wants for His people.

          Through the Law, God graciously warns us and all people of sin and evil. He shows us our sins and our great need for a Savior. In the Gospel of Jesus Christ who died on the cross and rose again to win our forgiveness and everlasting life, God gives to us who, in repentance, confess our sins and ask for mercy the great gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation. What greater message could any of us receive, a message that actually accomplishes what it says—the Good News of Jesus Christ gives to us by grace through faith the forgiveness of our sins! Having been warned, we are able to seek the remedy for sin that God has provided, His own Son, Jesus our Savior. God warns us through the message of His Law and leads us to repentance and faith by the Gospel so that we might receive from His hand of blessing forgiveness and eternal life.

Not only do pastors have the responsibility to announce God’s Law and Gospel, you as Baptized Christians do also. God not only calls us in Baptism to repent of our sins and receive the forgiveness He offers through Christ, but also to warn others and to announce the Lord’s forgiveness to all who repent. Even as you can’t imagine not warning someone of some impending danger here and now, you can’t imagine not warning someone of the impending danger of sin that affects their eternity. You, as a believer in Jesus, are called upon as a Christian to be a watchman. It is your responsibility. As Ezekiel was called to be a personal soul winner, one who reclaims sinners for true life in the society of God’s people, that is our call as well, “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). You have the true Word of God in the Bible—the Word of Law that shows what sin is and how all people need a Savior from sin, death, and hell. And you have the Word of the Gospel that reveals the only Savior, Jesus Christ, and delivers through that Gospel Word the very forgiveness of sins that rescues and saves from eternal death and condemnation.

Consider Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel Reading from Matthew 18, “If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So, it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish” (Matt. 18:12-14 ESV).

As Christians, we have the responsibility and the joy of announcing the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ who died and rose again. To the repentant sinner who desires God’s mercy, there are no sweeter words, “Your sins are forgiven in Christ. God will not remember your sin ever again. Go in peace.” What a joyful, wonderful responsibility and task we have in Jesus’ name! May God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, bless our use of His responsibility given to us as His Baptized people. Amen.