THE WARNING NEGLECTED – Charles Spurgeon

THE WARNING NEGLECTED

“He heard the sound of the trumpet and took not warning: his blood shall be upon him.”
Ezekiel 33:5

I. The Warning Was All That Could Be Desired

In all worldly matters, men are always alert to understand their own interests. There is scarcely a merchant who reads the paper without reading it through the lens of personal concern. If he finds that by the rise or fall of the markets he will either gain or lose, that part of the day’s news will be the most important to him. In politics, and indeed in everything that concerns temporal affairs, personal interest usually leads the way. Men are always looking out for themselves, and personal and home interests generally engross most of their thoughts.

But in religion, it is quite the opposite. In religion, men prefer to believe abstract doctrines and discuss general truths rather than engage in the searching inquiries that challenge their personal interests. You will hear many admire the preacher who deals in generalities, but when, by and by, he begins to ask probing questions that press home on their personal lives, they become offended. When we stand and declare universal facts, such as the sinfulness of mankind or the need for a Savior, they may assent to our doctrine, and possibly leave satisfied, as the message hasn’t personally affected them. But how often do we see people gnash their teeth and leave in rage when they realize the minister is addressing them directly?

This is a foolish attitude. If, in all other matters, we are concerned about our personal affairs—if in everything else, we look to our own well-being—how much more should we do so in religion? For surely, every person must give an account for themselves at the Day of Judgment. We must die alone. We must rise at the resurrection one by one, and each must stand before the bar of God. Each person must either hear the words, “Come, you blessed,” or be struck with the thundering sentence, “Depart, you cursed.”

If national salvation were possible, if we could be saved as a group, then perhaps it would not be so foolish to neglect our personal interests. But if each sheep must pass under the hand of the One who counts them, if every person must stand individually before God, to give an account of their own actions, then let us each look to ourselves. We must not be deceived, for we do not want to be cast away in the end!

This morning, with God’s help, I aim to be personal in this message. I ask that every Christian would pray for God’s blessing on this service. I also ask everyone else to understand that I am preaching directly to you. If anything in this message is personal and applies to your own case, I urge you to let it have its full weight with you and not think of your neighbor, to whom, perhaps, it may be even more pertinent. But their business certainly does not concern you today.

The text Is a solemn one: “He heard the sound of the trumpet and took not warning: his blood shall be upon him.” The first point I will make is this: the warning was all that could be desired—he heard the trumpet. Secondly, I will show that the excuses people make for not attending to the warning are both frivolous and wicked. Finally, I will explain that the consequences of neglecting the warning must be terrible, for the blood must then be on their own head!

II. The Warning Was All That Could Be Desired

When in times of war, an army is attacked at night and destroyed while asleep, if it were impossible for them to be aware of the attack and if they had done all they could to prepare—if they had set sentinels but were still destroyed—we would weep. We would show no blame toward anyone, but we would deeply regret the loss of the army and offer our full sympathy. But if the sentinels were awake and gave all the warnings they could, and yet the army still chose to sleep, we might regret the loss, but we would be compelled to say that their blood is on their own heads. They were warned but chose to ignore the warnings.

So it is with us. If people perish under an unfaithful ministry and have not been sufficiently warned, the Christian may pity them, and though it may not excuse them entirely, it will diminish their eternal miseries. We know that it will be more tolerable for those who did not hear the gospel, like Tyre and Sidon, than for those who had the gospel proclaimed to them. But if we have been warned, if our ministers have been faithful, and if they have continually called our attention to the wrath to come, and we have not heeded their message—if we perish, our damnation will be unpitied. Our blood will be on our own heads.

The warning given to you has been all that could be needed. You have heard the gospel clearly. You cannot stand before God and say, “Lord, I knew no better.” There is not a man or woman present who will dare plead ignorance before God. You have heard the Word preached, and some of you have been moved by it. I have seen tears on your cheeks when I preached earnestly and affectionately. Yet, to my sorrow, many of you are unchanged. Your goodness has been like the morning dew that passes away. You have heard the gospel, but you have despised it. You have rejected the counsel of God against yourselves. When you die, you will be pitied by your friends, but your blood will be on your own heads.

The trumpet sound was not only heard but also understood. The man in the text understood that the enemy was near, yet he took no warning. Similarly, you have understood the warning of the gospel. A thousand faults your preacher may have, but one fault I can claim to be free from—my message has been clear. I have always used simple, straightforward language to ensure that everyone understands. If you heard the warning and still chose to reject it, your blood is on your own head.

III. The Excuses Are Frivolous and Wicked

Many people make excuses for not responding to the gospel. Some say, “I didn’t think it was necessary.” Yet you were told that after death there is a judgment, and you did not believe you needed to prepare for that judgment? You were told that no one can be justified by the works of the law and that only through Christ can sinners be saved. If you did not believe that, you were wrong. Your conscience and reason testify against you. You’ve prayed in your times of crisis, and deep down, you know the truth. If you rejected the Word of God, your blood is on your own head.

Others say, “I didn’t like the trumpet. I didn’t like the gospel that was preached.” Perhaps you didn’t agree with certain doctrines, or you found the message too harsh. But, remember, God made the gospel. It is not for you to decide what the gospel should look like. Your excuse is vain and irrelevant. What matters is that you were warned.

Some say, “I didn’t like the man who blew the trumpet.” If you reject the message because you don’t like the messenger, that is your own foolishness. Imagine a man drowning, refusing the rope thrown to him because he doesn’t like the rope or the person throwing it. That man’s death would be his own fault. Similarly, if you perish because you reject the gospel, your blood will be on your own head.

IV. The Consequences of Neglecting the Warning

Now, let me conclude with all earnestness. The warning has been sufficient, and the excuses for neglecting it have been proven to be profane. The consequences are dire: “His blood shall be on his own head.”

What does this mean? It means that the person will perish. They will certainly perish. They will perish inexcusably. There is no human mind, however expansive, that can grasp the horror of a soul eternally cast away from God. The wrath to come is indescribable. Our Savior labored to find words to express the horrors of hell. He spoke of worms that never die, of unquenchable fire, of a bottomless pit, and of weeping and gnashing of teeth. These images are not just metaphors but warnings of a reality we cannot fully comprehend.

We have seen sickness and suffering, but none of us know the true extent of physical or mental suffering. The body will suffer forever in hell, and the mind, as well, will endure eternal anguish. Yet there is hope in Christ for those who repent. Without repentance, however, we will face the eternal punishment of hell.

Those who turn not at the rebuke of the minister will die, and they will die certainly. The things we preach are matters of solemn certainty. If you die without Christ, you will face eternal misery. There is no chance of escape—no hope of mercy.

V. Conclusion

The warning has been given. The excuses are empty. If you ignore the warning, your blood will be on your own head. Repent now, while there is still time. Turn to Christ and find life in Him. If you reject this message, your eternal destiny will be sealed.

Our Blood Must Be On Our Own Heads

II. Excuses for Not Attending to the Gospel Warning

Now we come to the second point. Men make excuses why they do not attend to the gospel warning, but these excuses are all frivolous and wicked. I will briefly go over some of the excuses people make. Some say, “Well, I did not attend to the warning because I did not believe there was any necessity for it.” Ah, you were told that after death, there is a judgment, and yet you did not think it necessary to be prepared for that judgment? You were told that by the works of the law, no flesh living would be justified, and that only through Christ can sinners be saved—and you did not think there was any necessity for Christ?

Well, sir, you ought to have thought there was a necessity! You know there was a necessity in your inner conscience. You spoke very confidently when you stood as an unbeliever, professing to be an unbeliever—but you know there was a still small voice that contradicted your words. You are well aware that in the quiet watches of the night, you have often trembled. In a storm at sea, you have been on your knees, praying to a God whom you laughed at while on land. When you were near death, you called out, “Lord, have mercy upon me.” And so you prayed—you believed it after all!

But if you did not believe it, you ought to have believed it. There was enough in reason to have taught you that there is a hereafter. The Book of God’s revelation was plain enough to have taught it to you. And if you rejected God’s Book and the voice of reason and conscience, your blood is on your own head! Your excuse is idle. It is worse than that—it is profane and wicked—and still, on your own head is your everlasting torment!

“But,” cries another, “I did not like the trumpet. I did not like the gospel that was preached.” Says one, “I did not like certain doctrines in the Bible. I thought the minister sometimes preached too harshly. I did not agree with the gospel; I thought the gospel ought to have been altered and should not be what it was.

You did not like the trumpet, did you? Well, God made the trumpet; God made the gospel, and, since you did not like what God made, it is an idle excuse! What was it to you what the trumpet was, so long as it warned you? Surely, if it had been a time of war and you had heard a trumpet warning you of the enemy’s approach, you would not have sat still and said, “Now, I believe that is a brass trumpet. I would have liked it made of silver.” No, the sound of the trumpet would have been enough for you, and you would have risen up to escape the danger!

So it must be with you—it is an idle pretense that you did not like it. You ought to have liked it, for God made the gospel as it is! But you say, “I did not like the man who blew it.” Well, if you did not like one messenger of God, there are many in this city. Could you not find one you liked? You didn’t like one man’s style—it was too theatrical. You didn’t like another’s—it was too doctrinal. You didn’t like another’s—it was too practical. There are plenty of them—you may choose the one you like.

But if God has sent the men and told them how to blow, and if they blow to the best of their ability, it is in vain for you to reject their warnings because they do not blow the way you prefer. Ah, my brothers and sisters, we don’t criticize the way a man shouts “Fire!” if we’re in a burning house. We don’t question the tone or the volume of his voice. You would think anyone a fool who would lie in bed and be burned simply because he did not like the way the man cried, “Fire!” His business would have been to get up and flee to safety as soon as he heard the cry!

But another says, “I did not like the man himself. I did not like the minister. I did not like the man who blew the trumpet. I could hear him preach very well, but I had a personal dislike of him, so I did not take any notice of what the trumpet said.”

Verily, God will say to you at last, “You fool, what had you to do with that man? To his own Master he stands or falls! Your business was with yourself.”

What would you think of a man who had fallen overboard from a ship, and when he is drowning, a sailor throws him a rope? “Well,” he says, “In the first place, I don’t like that rope; I don’t think it was made at the best factory. There’s some tar on it, too; I don’t like it. And in the next place, I don’t like the sailor who threw the rope; I am sure he is not a kind-hearted man—I don’t like the looks of him at all.”

Then comes a gurgle and a groan—and down he sinks to the bottom of the sea. And when he is drowned, people will say that it served him right. If he would not grab hold of the rope, but made such foolish and absurd objections when it was a matter of life and death, then on his own head is his blood.

And so it shall be with you at last. You are so busy criticizing the minister, his style, and his doctrine that your own soul perishes! Remember, you may get into hell by criticism, but you will never criticize your soul out of it!

You may be there and say, “I did not like the minister. I did not like his manner. I did not like his message.” But all your disliking will not get one drop of water to cool your burning tongue—nor serve to mitigate the unalleviated torments of that world of agony!

Many other people say, “Ah, well, I did none of those things, but I had a notion that the trumpet sound ought to be blown for everybody else, but not for me.” Ah, that is a very common notion. “All men think all men mortal but themselves,” as the poet said. And all men think all men need the gospel—but not themselves.

Let each of us remember that the gospel has a message for each one of us. What does the gospel say to you, my hearer? What does the Word say to you? Forget your neighbors and ask this question: Does it condemn you? Or does it assure you of your pardon? For remember, all you have to do in hearing the Word is to hear it with your own ears, for your own soul, and it will be idle for anyone to say, “I did not think it applied to me,” when we know it is to be preached to every creature under heaven, and therefore there must be something in it for every creature—or else it would not be preached to every creature.

III. The Excuses of Busyness and Time

Well, says another, “But I was so busy! I had so much to do that I could not possibly attend to my soul’s concerns.” What will you say of the man who has so much to do that he could not get out of a burning house, and so perished in the flames? What will you say of the man who had so much to do that, when he was dying, he had no time to send for a doctor?

Why, you would say he should not have had so much to do! And if any man in the world has a business that causes him to lose his own soul for lack of time, let him lay this question to his heart: “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?”

But it is false—it is false! Men have time! It is the lack of will, not lack of way. You have time, sir, have you not, despite all your business, to spend in pleasure? You have time to read your newspaper—have you no time to read your Bible? You have time to sing a song—have you no time to say a prayer?

You know when farmer Brown met farmer Smith in the market one day, he said, “Farmer Smith, I can’t think how it is you find time for hunting. What with sowing, mowing, reaping, and plowing, my time is so fully occupied that I have no time for hunting.” To which farmer Smith replied, “Ah, Brown, if you liked hunting as much as I do, you would find the time.”

And so it is with religion—the reason why men cannot find time for it is that they do not like it enough. If they liked it, they would make time. And besides, what time does it require? Can I not pray to God over my ledger? Can I not snatch a text at breakfast and think over it all day? May I not even, when I am busy in the affairs of the world, think of my soul and cast myself upon a Redeemer’s blood and atonement?

It needs no time! There may be some time required—some time for private devotions and communion with Christ—but as I grow in grace, I shall desire more and more time! The more time I have, the happier I will be, and I shall never make the excuse that I have no time.

IV. The Consequences of Neglecting the Warning

“Well,” says another, “But I thought I had enough time. You do not want me, sir, to be religious in my youth, do you? I am a lad, and may I not have a little fun and sow my wild oats like everyone else?”

Yes, but the best place for frolicking is where a Christian lives. The finest happiness in the entire world is the happiness of a child of God! You may have your pleasures—oh, yes, you shall have them doubled and trebled if you are a Christian. You will not have the pleasures that the world calls pleasures—you will have pleasures a thousand times better!

But look at this sorrowful picture: There, far away in the dark gulf of woe, lies a young man, and he cries, “I meant to have repented when I was out of my apprenticeship, but I died before my time was up.

“Ah,” says another by his side, “I thought, while I was a journeyman, that when I became a master, I would think of the things of Christ. But I died before I had gotten enough money to start for myself.”

Then a merchant behind wails with bitter woe, saying, “I thought I would be religious when I had enough to retire on and live in the country. Then I would have time to think of God. But here I am, shut up in hell, and now what are all my delays worth? And what is all the time I gained for all the paltry pleasures in the world? Now I have lost my soul over them.”

We experience great vexation if we are unpunctual in many places. But we cannot conceive what must be the horror and dismay of men and women who find themselves too late in the next world!

Ah, friends, if I knew there was one here who said, “I shall repent next Wednesday,” I would have him feel in a dreadful state until that Wednesday came—for what if he should die? Oh, what if he should die? Would his promise of repentance save him from damnation?

V. The Sinner’s Final Peril

These are all idle excuses! Men do not make such excuses when their bodily life is concerned. Would God we were wise, and would not make such pitiful excuses when our soul—our very soul—is at stake!

If they take not warning, whatever their excuse, their blood must be on their own heads.

VI. Conclusion: A Solemn End

The warning has been sufficient, the excuse for neglecting it has been proven false, and the final thought is: “His blood shall be on his own head.”

Briefly put—he shall perish! He shall certainly perish! He shall inexcusably perish! He shall perish forever! What does this mean? There is no human mind, no matter how expansive, that can comprehend the eternal fate of a soul cast away from God. The wrath to come is as inexpressible as the glory that shall be revealed in heaven. Jesus, who loved more than any, spoke more horribly about hell than any other. And yet, even His words fall short of describing the horrors of hell.

Those who die impenitent will face certain and eternal misery. There is no escape—no second chance. We must be earnest in our call for repentance now, for once lost, lost forever!

May each of us ask ourselves: Am I prepared to die? Are you prepared, should you be called today? Time is precious—once lost, it is gone forever. Eternity is waiting, and your soul must go somewhere—forever!