Celebrating Life

It is a delight to be here with you. I've been looking forward to this for quite some time. It's always great to be back here at g f PC. It's always great to be a part of events like this. It's interesting. I've done a lot of these types of events for different you know, pregnancy centers, and this is actually the first time that I've been able to do one of these events after or since the overturn of Roe v. Wade, which, on the one hand, is just a tremendous blessing, you know, I mean all those years, right, all those years, it seemed like that was just never going to happen, maybe maybe maybe in our children's lifetime, right, and then all of a sudden, here we are. But then, on the other hand, we need to recognize that that's not the end of this battle. Amen, That's not the end of this battle. And a lot of people sort of felt like that. There are a lot of people who have been disillusioned recently, right, because you know, for all these years it's been you know, overturn row, overturn row, overturn row. And I think for a number of reasons, not the least of which is our civic ignorance. Right, there's just so many people who are constitutionally illiterate, and so because we're we're constitutionally illiterate and we walk in civic ignorance. A lot of people were like, okay, or we wor wad is overturned? Wait it goes to the States. Now, yeah, that's where it was before, right, Amen, That's where it was before Row. It was in the States. And so what happened with Roe is that we had federally sanctioned child murder everywhere in this country, and now we only have state sanctioned child murder and fewer and fewer places in this country, and our desires to have that in fewer and fewer places still until there are no places where we have state sanctioned child murder. One of the interesting things, and it was interesting, you know, hearing that heartbeat and all of us sort of jumped because you know, the volume was on ten when it first came on, and that heartbeat. How many of you when that came on and thought about Stacy Abrams, right, running for governor of Georgia, who's arguing that that's manufactured in order to deceive women. She's running for governor of Georgia, and she argued that what we heard just now is something that's been manufactured in order to deceive women. I mean, that's how far people will go, That's how deeply ingrainedness is. Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, who's basically put his flag in the ground and said, listen, California is going to be an abortion destination state. Will help you get here, will help you get here. Rolling blackouts because we you know, can't manage our electric grid, but we'll help you get here. If you want to terminate your pregnancy. Again. This is this is this is far from over, but we rejoice in all the victories that God gives. If you have your Bibles with you, open them to the Book of Job, Book of Job, and I'm going to show you something in Job twenty nine. Job twenty nine is a chapter that that I go to really to think about what it means to represent Christ in the midst of this kind of spiritual warfare, to represent Christ in the midst of this this kind of broader cultural issue, in the face of this kind of broader cultural evil. We look here in Job twenty nine. We're getting towards the end of the book, and this is a time when Job is speaking, you know, back and forth between him and his friends. And Job takes up this discourse again and he reflects, and when he reflects, he paints this wonderful picture of his life before all of this happened to him. We know the story of Job. We know that you know. Satan comes and the tempter comes, and the accuser of the Brethren comes and goes before God and eventually is given permission to attack Job, to challenge Job, and he does, and Job loses his possessions and his wealth, and he loses his family, and then he loses his health. He was presented as a righteous man, and Satan is essentially arguing that he could make this righteous man curse God, and he doesn't. He doesn't. But in chapter twenty nine, Job is reflecting in the midst of his horrific condition again. He's lost his children, he's lost his wealth, he's lost his health. His body is covered with boils and sores, and he's discouraged and he's in pain. Even his wife is saying, just curse God and die. His friends come and essentially his friends are saying, brother, you just need to confess whatever it is that you did, because God doesn't do this right here. First of all, God didn't do this to anybody like nobody's just nobody. But he certainly wouldn't do it to a man who was actually righteous. You must you must be being punished for something, and he wasn't. He absolutely was not being punished for anything. And so in chapter twenty nine he takes up the discourse again and he reflects on his life. And in this reflection we have this magnificent picture of a righteous representative of God in the midst of gross injustice and wickedness in the culture at large. There's three movements in this text. Really, in the first movement we see this relationship between Job and God. So this picture of the righteous man's relationship with God in the midst of these circumstances. Verse two, this is verses really two through six. In verse one, and Job began took up his discourse and said, oh, that I were as in the months of old. Again, this is before all of these attacks came on him, as in the days when God watched over me, when his lamp shone upon my head. By his light, I walked through darkness. It's interesting that as Joe was reflecting here, he's doing what all of us do in the midst of this circumstance. He's being a little shortsighted. God hasn't stopped watching over him. God's lamp hasn't stopped shining on his head, and he hasn't stopped walking by God's light in the midst of the darkness. But from his perspective it feels different verse four, As I was in my prime, when the friendship of God was upon my tent, when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were all around me, when my steps were washed with butter. Line, my steps were washed with butter. Right, it was smooth, it was easy, It was like it was like butter. And the rock poured out from me streams of oil again everything. In other words, when Job reflects on these prior days, he reflects on days when he was who he was, and he did what he did as a direct result of his companionship with God, of his communion with God, of his relationship with God. Job wasn't walking in righteousness of his own accord, but he recognizes that he was walking in righteousness as a direct result of who God was in his life. Listen to the phrases again. God watched over me. God's lamp shone upon my head. By his light, I walked through the darkness. The friendship of God was upon my tent. The Almighty was yet with me. My children were all around me, and my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out from me streams of oil. This is the fruit of his relationship with God. This is the fruit of his walk with God. He's recognizing that all of those things that he lost, even this idea, even as children that he had, they were a blessing to him from the hand of God. Amen. You know, it's interesting to watch young people learn this. We've had the experience on a number of occasions. Briston and I have, you know, mentoring young couples. And it's just so common today for young couples to be what we call the yachts, the yachts y o T year or two because you know, they get married and you know, you guys are gonna maybe in a year or two. Right, yeah, Okay, they're all yachts now, right everyway, you know we are in a year or two. Oh well wait you know wait, you know, no, not right now. You know, we just we need to, we need to, we need to get to know each other first, Like, nah, do you want to know each other? Put a screaming baby in the room. You'll never get to know each other better. I promise, I guarantee you won't. You won't ever get to know yourself better either. But what often happens is, you know, these couples, these yachts, right, we're gonna have baby in a year or two. They think that what's gonna happen is, you know, they're gonna get to know each other and really enjoy each other for a couple of years, and then they're gonna say, now it's good. And oftentimes it doesn't work like that. And now these people who were saying to God, no, no, no no wait wait wait wait wait, there's far more important things, now all of a sudden they can't just get pregnant on demand. And now they're despairing. They're despairing because they they want a baby and they can't have one. And in that moment, they recognize that it is God who opens and closes the womb, that it is God who is the author and giver of life. Job, however, is recognizing this on the other end, because his children have been taken from him by Dad, and he's recognizing that God is the author and giver of life. God is the sustainer of life from birth and till natural death. The second movement of this text shows us a different picture. This is not Job's relationship with God, but this is a picture of Job's relationship with outsiders, his reputation with outsiders, which again is a direct result of his relationship with God, a direct result of the righteousness that is his because of his walk with God. It had an impact on him individually, and it had an impact on his relationship with outsiders, with the way that he was perceived by outsiders. Verse seven. When I went out to the gate of the city, when I prepared my seat in the square, a couple of things happened on young men saw me and withdrew. That's Job. Job is the older man who walks on the scene. And when he walks on the scene again, he lives in a culture that is like our culture used to be. Amen. He lives in a culture with people who were raised like I was raised. Right when the older man come on the scene, move, Amen, move, I remember riding the bush. When I was a kid, you know, growing up in Los Angeles, we you know, ride the bus. We ride the bus and when an older person would come on, if there were no seats right, it would either be my mother or not even my mother, just another older person on the bus. They would look at me like, I know you see that gray hair walking under the bus, and I know you about to get up and giving you But yeah, I thought, so, okay, great young men saw me and withdrew. But what Joe was talking about here is not just a cultural norm. And I think we'll see that as we as we go. The aged rose and stood. It's interesting younger men withdrawing when he shows up, that that could be a picture of the respect that's inherent in the culture. But when the older men stand in his presence, that's not a cultural norm. That's the recognition of a man of distinction, not just young men and old men. Princes refrained from talking and laid their hand on their mouth, Princes royalty. So we've gone from age really to station. What kind of man is this? Young men withdraw How we get that? Maybe that's just cultural The older men showed deference and respect and even princes. They don't speak in his presence, not when Job's around. And again, remember, remember what's happening here. He starts off in the first part of this And what is this rooted? This is rooted and grounded in his relationship with God. This is who he is as a direct result of his relationship with God, the blessings on his life from God, and people seeing and recognizing the blessings in his life from God. The voice of the nobles was hushed and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. When the ear heard it, called me blessed. When the eyes saw it approved. Again, that's pointing back to the first movement of the text. When the ear heard it didn't call him intimidating. It didn't call him you know, remarkable. They didn't call him. No, he called him blessed. So all of this response to Job is rooted and grounded in his communion with God, his relationship with God. And then in verse three, I mean verse twelve, we have the third movement in the text, and this explains that second movement. Here's the manifestation of Job's righteousness that is a direct result of his relationship with God. His communion with God, and that is a direct cause of the reverence that people have for him when he comes on the scene. Because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had no one to help him, the blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me. I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. My justice was like a robe and a turban. I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. I was a father to the needy. I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know. I broke the fangs of the unrighteousness and made him drop his prey from his teeth. That's why That's why the young men saw him and withdrew. That's why even the aged stood in respect and reverence before this man. That's why princes refrained from talking in his presence. That's why even the nobleman's taught us cleave to the roof of their mouth in the presence of this man. Because this man was righteous and godly as a direct result of his relationship with God, and the fruit of that relationship had a noticeable impact. And I want you to see the kind of things as we look at this again, and because I do, I believe that that this picture can fit in a lot of places, but I believe it fits with this cause. Look at it again. I delivered the poor who cried for help and the fatherless who had no one to help him. How many of people who avail themselves in the ministry like this are the poor and the fatherless? The overwhelming majority, right would be the poor and the fatherless in more ways than one, both in terms of women who would be coming for this service and in terms of those babies in the womb. Oftentimes, what causes that fear and that anxiety is the idea that whoever this person is who impregnated me, is not going to be here for me and for this baby. Job says, he delivered the poor who cried for help and the fatherless who had none to help him. He stood in the gap, and his righteousness manifested itself in that way. Look at the next one and tell me this one doesn't apply. The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me. The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me. The child in the womb of an abortion minded mother is him who's about to perish. The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me. I mean, you could write that verse on the ultrasound machine. Amen. And I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. Again. In Job's day, and even in much of the world still, some of those desperate people were widows who had no one to stand for them, to care for them, and Job says he caused their hearts to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. My justice was like a robe and a turban. Again, these weren't just his actions. This was his character. And the reason that it was his character was because of again movement number one, his relationship with God, the blessing of God in his life, as we would say in New Testament terms, this imputed righteousness, this alien righteousness that was not his own, that's what allowed him to be Verse fifteen is to the blind, fee to the lame, and a father to the needy. And then this one I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know. Again, anybody who's spent any time and this type of ministry understands that this is That's exactly what this is. They don't do this because we know these people, we know their plight there related to us. They're friends of ours, their known, regardless of who they are, we search out the cause of him we do not know. And then this last piece, I broke the fangs of the unrighteous and made him drop his prey from his teeth. What boy, what a fitting description, What a fitting description of what this ministry is all about. I broke the fangs of the unrighteousness and made him drop his prey from his teeth, the great devourer of the unborn. This is who Job was. By the way, this is who Job still is. Amen. He hasn't stopped being this. He's being tested, he's being tried, but he hasn't stopped being this, mainly because this is not about him, but it's about his relationship with his God. Because ultimately, at the end of the day, that's who we've heard a description of. Who does this sound like? If not our God? Who does this sound like? If not Christ? Who delivers the poor who cried for help and the fatherless who had none to help him. The blessing of him who was about to perish, came upon me. I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy put righteousness. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. My justice was like a robe and a turban. What is this a picture of if not a picture of Christ in his own righteousness? What is this a picture of? If not a picture of the one who went to the cross on our behalf, whose eyes to the blind and feet to the lame, A father to the needy, who searches out the cause of him he does not know, who breaks the fangs of the unrighteousness and makes him drop his prey from his teeth. What is that a picture of? If not the victory that Christ wins over sin at the cross, And if he is indeed Christ in us, the hope of glory, then what else could we be? What else could we do? I mean? How can we be redeemed of God, bought with a price, the precious blood of Christ, snatched from the josph Satan himself rescued from the pit, adopted sons and daughters of God, being conformed to the very image of Christ? How can that be true of us? And then we look and see those who are hell bent on the slaughter of the unborn, and do or be anything other than this, by God's grace, By God's grace, and each of us in his own way. Amen. One of the beautiful things about what God did in all of this, again just talking about this victory that we've recently seen, is that there was no one part of this puzzle, no one front in this battle that turned the tide on its own. And that's continue. There is no there is no one front in this battle. There's no one part that will take us the rest of the way. It's interesting. I'll just give you, you know, one one example. A lot of people right now are having a really hard time with this whole overturn of Roe v. Wade thing. And part of the reason they're having a hard time is because again, not not not you, not me, I hope, not you, I hope, not me, I hope I would have like no difficulty whatsoever rejoicing in what God has done. Amen. But there are people who have a hard time rejoicing in what God has done. And what they're having to do is they're having to temper that rejoicing. You know, Now, this was good, but let's be careful, let's not be too happy. What what? And there are a number of reasons for that, but for some people, for some people, they don't want to rejoice right now because they don't want to give the Orange man credit. Come on now, tell the truth and shame the devil, right, they don't want to give the Orange man credit. So what they're doing is they're backing up and they're saying, you know, everybody who voted for you know, Donald Trump is a is a racist, white supremacist, and I can't believe that. You know, you you did that, and you would have, you know, evangelicals would have voted for that man, and in spite of you know, how horrible and terrible he was, because you know Hillary was. Yeah, anyway, But and they've been saying that, they've been saying that since twenty sixteen. And what did most people say. Most evangelicals didn't say, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, he's wonderful, he's perfect, he's but no. Most people said, you know what, there's some appointments coming up that are incredibly important. And they were. They were three seats, three seats, and praise God for his providence. But not even that, you got to back up even further because there's this guy by the name of Ted Kruz, this senator from Texas, the senator from Texas that you know, he was the guy, he was the other. And at the end, you know, at the end of the primaries, it was it was Cruise and Trump and Trump and Cruse, and you know, media flips and Trump gets all the media coverage. There's no way that Cruz can keep up with free media coverage, right, and and and and Cruse eventually drops out of the race. Here's a lot of people don't know though. Cruse wasn't going to endorse Donald Trump. And the powers that be in the Republican Party come to Ted Cruz because again, when we get to the convention, we need to unite everybody, and and and Senator Cruz, you need to endorse Trump. Cruse says, with a condition, I get to give him a list, and he agrees to only pick Supreme Court justices from the list that I give him. Trump agreed, Cruise endorsed, and those three justices came from Cruises list. Again, God didn't use just one single thing to bring this about. And I say all this to say, oftentimes, you know, in the pro life movement, we can have a tendency to have this attitude that says, whatever it is that I feel like I'm called to do in this movement is the thing that everybody needs to do in this movement. No, no, it's not. You need to wear the righteousness of Christ, and you need to wear it as you, and you need to apply it as you and play whatever part or whatever role God, in his providence and by his grace, allows you to play and be faithful. And if you're a finger, don't look at the toe and judge the toe for not being a finger. Just thank the toe for helping you get to where you need to go so you can point amen. And then we all rejoice together. We all rejoice together because of God's goodness. And then upon our rejoicing, we turn and we fight the next fight, because guess what, we break the fangs of the unrighteousness, and we make him drop his prey from his teeth. And just when we get our hands up to shake our fist in victory, we realize that there's more teeth and more fangs and more jobbreaking to do. So we rejoice and we fight on, but by all means please remember this again. I want to go back to this, because so many times when we fight on you know, all we focus on is that foe and this fight, and that's important, but not more important than what comes before it. I delivered the poor who cried for help, the fatherless who had no one to help him. Blessing of him who was about to perish, came upon me, caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. You got the poor, the fatherless, him who's about to perish, and the widow. May we buy God's grace. Pay as much attention to them as we do to the one whose fangs need to be broken, because God's glorified in that, and there's great blessing in that. Let's pray