Rescue Those

WE MUST RESCUE THOSE BEING TAKEN AWAY TO DEATH

WE MUST RESCUE THOSE BEING TAKEN AWAY TO DEATH

I know of no clearer verse in all of Holy Scripture than Proverbs 24:11, concerning our duty as God’s people regarding abortions that happen in our cities, counties, states, and country.

“Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter” (Proverbs 24:11).

God does not say, “Pray for those being carried off to death.” Nor does He say, “Wish for those not to be carried off to death.” He does not say, “Long for the day when those would not be carried off to death.” He absolutely does not say, “Regulate how many of those are carried off to death.” God does not say, “Make it unthinkable for people to carry off others to death.” No! The Lord God, through this wise man, commands that we rescue those being taken away to death, and He does not say please. The Lord Jesus Christ gives the orders, we march; He demands, we bend the knee; He commands, we joyfully obey by the help of the Spirit. Charles Bridges, in his commentary, wrote this concerning Proverbs 24:11: 

“The Hebrew midwives, and Esther in after-ages, thus delivered their own people drawn unto death. Reuben delivered Joseph from the pit. Job was the deliverer of the poor in the extremety, Jonathan saved his friend at imminent risk to himself. Obadiah hid the LORD’s prophets. Ahikam and Ebed-melech saved Jeremiah. Johanan attempted to deliver the unsuspecting Gedaliah. Daniel preserved the wise men of Babylon. The Samaritan rescued his neighbor from death. Paul’s nephew delivered the great Apostle, by informing him of the murderous plot. The rule includes all oppression, which has more or less of the character of murder.”

Have you obeyed this command when it comes to millions of your preborn neighbors who have been slain in the womb in your lifetime? Have you simply obeyed the golden rule? 

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them” (Matthew 7:12).

I suspect the majority of us have not, as evidenced by the fact that abortion mills are still mutilating by the masses, and laws still do not protect our pre-natal neighbors. Babies are still slaughtered each day by the thousands under cover of law, with few even trying to rescue them.

Forgive me, but I must be explicit here because we must understand exactly what happens thousands of times per day in our land. Close your eyes and see 60 million slain babies in your mind—see the forceps breaking their skulls and ripping off their limbs into small enough pieces to scrape out of their mother; see the vacuum sucking them out of their mom, depositing their bodies as liquid into a sterilized container; see the pills swallowed which will effectively starve the child to death and discard its precious body in the woman’s cycle. See that in your mind, then read again this command: “Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter” (Proverbs 24:11). The Word of God is a mirror that exposes our sin and reveals the soap that washes it away. Oh, that we would first look into this mirror of the law and see our sin. Do you see the filth, the dirt, the wretched death that stains the flesh? 

May God give you the stinging mercy to see how you may have participated in or been apathetic toward your neighbors who are being murdered all the day long.

What does this mean for you and me? Simply put, this means you and I must repent from any participation in this evil, as well as repent from any apathy concerning rescuing those slaughtered. And if you and I have been convicted by God and turned from our wicked participation or apathy, we must, by God’s strengthening grace, “bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8).

THIS IS WHAT THE LORD JESUS CHRIST HAS DONE, IS DOING, AND WILL DO FOR YOU, CHRISTIAN

Proverbs 24:11 is a mirror that exposes our sin, yet it also points us to the soap that washes it away. Look at this verse and see the Savior—the Lord Jesus Christ. He Himself has rescued all those who believe in Him from being carried off to death. Oh, think with me on the cosmic rescue of Christ!

  1. In Christ, you have been rescued from the curse of the Law.
    “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us—as it is written ‘cursed be everyone that is hanged in a tree’” (Galatians 3:14).
  2. In Christ, you have been rescued from this body of death. “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death” (Romans 7:24)?
  3. In Christ, you have been rescued from this present evil age and the domain of darkness. “[Christ] gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age” (Galatians 1:4). “[God] has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Colossians 1:20). 
  4. In Christ, you have been rescued from the enslaving fear of death. “[Christ delivered] all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery” (Hebrews 2:4).
  5. In Christ, you are being rescued from trials that would seek to lead you to the swamp of despair. “The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials” (2 Peter 2:9).
  6. In Christ, you are being rescued from every evil deed that would seek to snatch away your glorification. “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom” (2  Timothy 4:18). 
  7. In Christ, you will be rescued from the wrath to come. “…wait for [God’s] Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10).

Some of you need to, for the very first time, truly repent of your sin, believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, and be saved. You need to be born again. You need to be forgiven of your sin. You need to be converted. You need to see that because of your sin you are in the path of the wrath of God, and He “will by no means clear the guilty” (Nahum 1:3). You need God to be reconciled to you. Mark it down: your participation in or indifference toward those who are being unjustly carried off to the slaughter will lead to God justly carrying you off to the slaughter in hell. The only answer is the Lord Jesus Christ and His work as the great Rescuer, who became a substitute sacrifice for sin so that everyone who believes in Him would be saved. You must turn from your sin and embrace Christ Jesus through faith. Oh, look to Christ crucified and live; you need only look and live! Outside of Christ, you are under a curse for your sin. “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law and do them” (Galatians 3:13). But “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us—as it is written ‘cursed be everyone that is hanged in a tree’” (Galatians 3:14). Oh, friend, your biggest problem is not political, relational, physical, or material; your biggest problem is that you have vehemently offended the thrice-holy God, and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

God has fixed a day that He is going to either cut your head off or cut your sin out. If you are in Christ, you get the loving scalpel; If you do not repent, you get the vengeful sword. Repent and believe the gospel of “Jesus Christ the Righteous” (1 John 2:1). Praise be to God that Jesus Christ takes away sin by the blood of His cross for all who believe on Him. “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Have you been rescued from death by the precious blood of Christ? Oh then, out of grateful joy, make it your business to rescue those being carried off to death! Have you been held back from your stumbling to the slaughter by Christ rushing headlong into the slaughter with His death? Then make it your aim to hold back those stumbling to the slaughter with your life.

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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!