The Importance of Life

Introduction

Good Morning. In just a few days, our community will be joining countless others across this great nation as we come together in one vision and one voice in prayer in the 40-days for life. I had to go look this up, but abortion is the leading killer in the world, with just over 41 million deaths reported per year. This was more than cancer, AIDS, alcohol and traffic related deaths per year (“Abortion is the world's leading cause of death” by Ronnie Floyd, January 22, 2019). Those four amounted to about 19 million. But, yet just about half of all aborted children. This means we have a holocaust on our hands, and one that is considered legal in many parts of the world. I was reading where “9 out of 10” abortions in this country were “elective … not for medical reasons but because the baby was not wanted.”

A sad truth is our culture is championing with celebration about abortion. I recently stumbled across a video on YouTube. You know those times in life when you wish you could un-see what you just saw. Does that ever happen you? It goes to show how easily the world can enter if we’re not careful. The video left a bad taste. But! I counted it as a blessing. It was an opportunity as a parent to keep pursuing and stay on top of the digital media that can flood our children’s mind. The video was published through a very popular YouTube channel, HiHo. The best I could describe it to you would be like Mr. Rogers, from the old days. The hosts come on talk to children about all kinds of stuff, from kids trying astronaut food to kids who share their favorite snack with the grand parents. One video talked with kids about abortion. The kids had an opportunity to talk with a women who had an abortion. The part that blew my socks off was when the host ('Shout your Abortion' movement — Amelia Bonow) (ShoutYourAbortion is a social media campaign where people share their abortion experiences online without “sadness, shame or regret” for the purpose of “destigmatization, normalization, and putting an end to shame.") said “it was all part of God’s plan.”

Our passage this morning come to us from the book of Isaiah. We’re going to see how he talks to a nation about “giving itself to sin.” I’d like to invite you to join me as we look at verses 18 through 20 of Chapter 5.

Isaiah 5:18 ESV

18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, who draw sin as with cart ropes,

Isaiah 5:19 ESV

19 who say: “Let him be quick, let him speed his work that we may see it; let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near, and let it come, that we may know it!”

Isaiah 5:20 ESV

20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

Isaiah 5:21 ESV

21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!

Pastoral Prayer

[Display Verse 18]

The image we have here is that of an animal pulling a very heave and burdensome cart. With each passing step, we get the picture of each step really digging in to keep the load moving. The ropes have high tensile strength, as not to break under the stress of the weight as the cart is pulled. The picture Isaiah really gives is a picture of a nation of people who are bound by sin. The nation is harnessed by dragging this cart by holding onto what is false with these ropes of unbreakable sin. The nation that Isaiah is speaking to has returned to sin. Now they have harnessed themselves back to its bondage. The difference is they are blinded to it. They are blinded in such a way that the pools of sin are not “without shame or conscience.” The progressive nature of the nations sin has caused them to become arrogant and dismiss the warnings Isaiah has given. They prefer the burdensome oppression of the sin around their shoulders as they keep pulling. Essentially they have exchanged a yoke that is easy and light (Matthew 11:30) for one that is heavy. The sin of the nation just didn’t pop up yesterday. It started out slowly and small until as they were forming gradual habits of sin. They had a life change. And, like any other life change, it starts off small and gradually grows, until it has reached a maturity stage. That’s where the Israelites were at. Sin had matured. They had no sense about the holiness of God. In verse 19, they’re bold, in fact very bold!

[Display Verse 19]

This is where the progressiveness of sin is mature, they scoff at the thought of the coming judgement. Look at what’s said, “Let him be quick, let him speed his work that we may see it.” This is arrogance in full bloom, where they demand that God prove Himself. This statement gives way to “skepticism” that God is active in the world and the blindness cannot see Him work. The people’s prideful and haughty attitude comes into focus as they express a mocking desire to see God hurry in His work, that is the judgement Isaiah has warned them about. This implies disbelief in God’s reality and revelation. They’re essentially saying, Isaiah “where’s the judgement you spoke about? Bring it on. We’ll believe it when we see it.” Hurry — we want to see it! They want to see the reality and revaluation of God!

When you were growing up can you remember back to when a parent or guardian told you “don’t do it.” This could have been anything. They told you not to do whatever you were planning. They gave you the warning. Some of us had to test the waters and see if the gavel would be brought down how they said. I was the kid who jumped into the camp fire-pit and covered myself with ashes. I was the kid who knew the assistant principal by first name. Some of you will remember the days when the kids were paddled in school for bad behavior. I think at one point a paddle became part of my school supplies. They knew they had sinned, but they had not seen anything from God. They believed that He would not punish them. Their ties with sin were like the cords that the people used to lead their animals and the cart ropes that were much stronger and harder to break. A spiritual life change is in order, they just don’t see it yet.

[Display Verse 20]

Verse 20 we make change from cynicism to distortion. Though the leadership of God, Isaiah comes forward once again with another wow. Isaiah says, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” Isaiah is letting the nation know they have a problem with their moral standards. Their confused and turned around. They are so blinded in their moral judgment that their evaluations of good and evil are the exact opposite of God. God is no longer a light for their path because the standards the have chosen are now the new definitions of the moral code. In order to justify their own behavior, they must, in the most sophisticated reasonings possible, demonstrate that their evil behavior is good, their darkness is light, and their bitterness sweet.

This is sins next stage. That’s the stage of moral code in reverse. This is when sin becomes an accepted way of life. When this happens, there is an inability to discern good from evil. It begins to look acceptable because everybody’s doing it, and without any real perceived consequence. Sure God might be there, but we’ll keep him in the jar till we need Him; until then we’ll make up our own rules. That’s what is happening here. There is an attempt to destroy God’s standards of right and wrong, plugging in man’s values instead. We are trying to make our own framework of rules that allows sin to flow freely where we can put and end to sadness, shame and regret. We are seeking a way to normalize the sin, essentially putting an end to shame. We are taking the demolition crew to the crossroad when God is working on our hearts. We don’t want to be made uncomfortable, where we feel like a decision has to be made. Sin is not content to live alongside righteousness anymore than disease will coexist with health. Sin is satisfied when righteousness is destroyed.

[Display Verse 21]

We have now come the root of the issue. Isaiah says, “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!” Isaiah is talking about pride. Instead of listening and seeking God first, the nations turned inward consulting one another. They were basing their decisions on the foundation of their wisdom, instead of building on the foundation of God! There are just few things God hates, and pride is one of them. People do not want to do what is right because they believe that they are the judges of their own actions. They make up their own moral standards, instead of allowing God to guide them. No one can tell them what to do because to them their wisdom is best. This can allow a person to feel they are wise enough to get out of trouble. In the video the host asks if sometimes it’s not okay to have an abortion. The answer was if you’re being reckless. Then the host comes back that she did not agree. From the looks of it, that was not the answer she was looking for. Later in the video, the host is seen talking with two young girls, and they give an answer the host was looking for. You could see where she was happy. God gives us wisdom in:

Proverbs 3:7 ESV

7 Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.

Conclusion

So what can we do as a church on the hill in downtown Kirtland New Mexico?

First we must keep our teaching biblical and continue to teach the scriptures. When Paul was encouraging Timothy in the face of false teaching, he challenged him in boldness and endurance where he said:

2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV

16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

I know many of you would agree with this. I know some of you are working on scripture memorization with your family. You’re doing a good job! Keep doing. Keep working on getting the Word of God written on your hearts! That also means we must educate our children as they grow about sexual morality. This means we need to teach sexual morality both at home and in the church. I believe many of you would agree that our children are maturing at a faster pace then when we were growing up at the same age.

We also need to have compassion for the unwed mother. We need to teach these women not to be afraid to come to us — because we are a ‘church’. Yes, sex outside the marriage is wrong, but we need to have love, compassion and forgiveness. This also means we are to have compassion for the women who have had an abortion. They need to know, that we’re not here to put them down. We’re not here to call them by their sin, like Satan would. God reached out to many of us in this room, pulled us from the sin we were in, and called us by our name — not our sin.

We need to pray that God will allow us time to repent. As a town, community, state and a nation, we need to come to God with a humble heart and ask that we may be given time. I believe progress is happening. Reports from different sources are showing that the abortion rate is dropping. I also believe, we as a church family believe prayer is important. Every Wednesday night we have prayer right here in this worship center. I would like to encourage you to come. Yes, I know it can be late, especially after a long day; and trying to figure out meal planning for the night. If you have kids, you’re trying to figure that out. I’m right there with you.

Lastly and finally, Jesus Christ is to be the center of our teaching and preaching. When people come to know Jesus Christ, their eyes are going to be opened. Their understanding is going to be enlightened. They will start to live with the love and compassion of Jesus Christ. The compass of their heart will be retrofitted with Holy Spirit instead of the world.

Do you need the love and compassion of Jesus Christ today? Do you need Jesus to help you with that heavy load that you’ve been pulling? Today can be the day you let Jesus take that load over.

Closing Prayer