SUFFER BECAUSE OF OTHER'S SINS, BUT PUNISHED FOR OUR OWN SINS

SUFFER BECAUSE OF OTHER'S SINS, BUT PUNISHED FOR OUR OWN SINS
It all comes down to this; each one is answerable for his/her own life and sins. Yes, we are to be the best witnesses we can be, and we should do all that God wants us to do, in order to reach the lost. But it still comes back to this; each one is answerable for his/her own life and sins.

We will suffer when a loved one chooses not to trust and follow Christ, and we may even find fault with ourselves, for their failure to be saved. However, when someone chooses not to be saved, God is not punishing us for the other person's decision and life.

When a person who has heard the gospel, ultimately refuses or denies Christ, it is not the fault of the person who shared Christ with that person, even if our witness was imperfect. We may suffer personal and incredible grief for the loss of a friend or loved one, and we may even suffer guilt feelings, but guilt feelings are not the same as guilt. We are accountable for our own failures, and we will be chastised for our failures, and we will lose our reward, if we fail to do the work of God, in the way God wants us to do it. And, if we persist in the way of rebellion, and we fail to repent of our sins, we will miss eternity with God,

HOWEVER, when someone else chooses not to trust and follow Christ, after we have shared the gospel with them, God does not punish us for their decision. Don't blame yourself for another person's rejection and resistance of God. Just remember; without the message of the gospel, no one will be saved. Regardless of how often we fail to reach, convince, win the lost, it is still their own choice. But we should not be weary in well doing. We should continue to share the good news, even if we have experienced failure, because there are others, with whom we must share the word of God. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. If we don't tell them, then they may never hear. If we tell them, they may believe, and be saved.

HERE IS A BIBLICAL EXPLANATION
(We are watchmen. We must sound the alarm. Each person is accountable for his/her own choices.)

Ezekiel 33:1-20
(1) Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
(2) Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman:

(3) If when he sees the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;
(4) Then whosoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and takes not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.
(5) He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that takes warning shall deliver his soul.

(6) But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.

(7) So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me.

(8) When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.

(9) Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.

(10) Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?

(11) Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

(12) Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turnes from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sins.

(13) When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.

(14) Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right;
(15) If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die.
(16) None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.

(17) Yet the children of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not equal: but as for them, their way is not equal.

(18) When the righteous turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, he shall even die thereby.
(19) But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby.
(20) Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O ye house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his ways.