Rescue Those

WE MUST PROCLAIM THE HORRORS OF ABORTION AND POINT EVERYONE TO CHRIST CRUCIFIED

WE MUST PROCLAIM THE HORRORS OF ABORTION AND POINT EVERYONE TO CHRIST CRUCIFIED

What does the Lord say concerning speaking the truth even when it will sting the hearer?

“Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins” (Isaiah 58:1).
“I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; . . . reprove, rebuke, and exhort. . . always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist” (2 Timothy 4:1-5).

The sad truth is that many Christians, even many pastors, do not speak clearly about the horrors of abortion. Do you know what this leads to? It leads to many professed believers coming to the abortion clinic to murder their children, all the while saying things like, “Yeah, no one is perfect. God will forgive me.” The largest church in Oklahoma, maybe even the largest church in the United States, makes it easy to identify those who go to their worship experiences, as they call them. They give out stickers for people to put on the back of their cars. This also makes it easy to identify how many people come to the abortion clinic from their church. We have seen many from that church, and many others who profess to be believers in Christ. What is going on? Just this: when Christians and preachers refuse to speak plainly about the horrors of abortion, people think it is no big deal. And as a result, they do not love Christ as they should because they do not understand what He came to live, die, and arise to save sinners from. As Thomas Watson said, “Til sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet.” When we do not point out the bitterness of sin, why should we expect sinners to see the sweetness of Christ Jesus our Lord? Consider with me what God says through the Prophet Jeremiah: 

“From prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush” (Jeremiah 6:13-15).

Do you deal falsely with your Christian brothers and sisters? Do you deal falsely with God’s sheep, pastor? Do you try and heal the wound of God’s people lightly by crying, “‘Peace, peace’ when there is no peace”? Believers, are you ashamed of the abominations, or are you unable to blush? If you are not willing to lovingly wound the saints with the Word of God, you are, in fact, leaving them open to the scourge of God’s rod. God disciplines those He loves—sometimes by His Word, sometimes with by His providence.

Let me also ask you this: Are you refusing to tell sinners of the treason they have committed against their Creator because you do not want to offend them? Better to offend someone to heaven than love them to hell! Do you think the apostle Peter was a great fool—are you prepared to say that? Consider Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost: 

“This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. . . . Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do’” (Acts 2:23, 36, emphasis mine)?

Peter loved sinners enough to risk offending them. Do you? Allow me to ask another question: are you resisting the command to tell sinners of their rebellion against God because you do not want to be unloving? If so, then you must be more loving than Jesus! Are you prepared to say that—“I am more loving than Jesus”? Consider Jesus’ words in Luke 13:1-5:

“There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, ‘Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.’”

Jesus loved sinners enough to proclaim the horrors and consequences of their sin and call them to repentance. Do you think you can possibly put a burden on people through the proclaiming the Law that Christ and Him crucified cannot lift off? Of course you cannot. And it is precisely through preaching the Law that the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is most clearly made known to minds and hearts. Here is what it comes down to: If you want to see babies rescued, saints sanctified, and sinners saved, you must proclaim the horrors of abortion and point everyone to Christ crucified. Be like Isaiah, who, after proclaiming that the people’s “hands are full of blood” (Isaiah 1:15), and exhorting them to repent by saying, “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless,” (Isaiah 1:16), preach the gospel to them.

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool” (Isaiah 1:18).

In Isaiah 1, ultimately God is pointing us to Christ crucified. We must do the same to others. We must tell sinners the good news that Christ takes red-handed sinners and turns them into white-robed saints. Will you proclaim the horrors of abortion and point everyone to Christ crucified?

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WILL YOU IMITATE CHRIST AND RESCUE THOSE BEING TAKEN AWAY TO DEATH?

You will stand before God and give an account. The only way that will go well for you is because, if you are in Christ, Jesus rescued you who were being carried off to death! He marched to the cross to rescue you as you were stumbling to the slaughter. He interposed His precious blood. Seeing that Christ is our great example of rescuing those being carried off to death, we must not only offer real help to those who come to us, we must actively interpose on behalf of our preborn neighbors and at the same time offer the real hope of Christ clothed in His gospel. Did Christ Jesus only say, “Come to me . . . and I will give you rest?” (Matthew 11:28) or did He also say, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10)? You know He said both. Jesus is not only the Great Physician you must come to for help, He is also the Hound of Heaven who must track you down and rescue you without your permission. His rescue of you has left you a model for rescuing others, believer. Proverbs 24:11 is what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for you. Will you not do for others, in your small way, what Christ has done for you in His infinite way? As Christ has rescued us, we must rescue others. Oh, how sweet that the rescued become the rescuers!