OUR DUTY TO LIFE

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on May 19, 2024 under 2024 |

Bethany Bible Sanctity of Life Sunday Sermon Message, May 19, 2024 from Proverbs 24:11-12

Theme: We’re accountable to God to pursue the just preservation of life—in every sense—whenever we can.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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When I was about 10 years old, my parents took us all—my two brothers and me—on a trip from Seattle to visit relatives. My father’s family was from Joplin, Missouri, and my mother’s family was from Wichita, Kansas; and so it was a long and memorable trip. And we got to do a lot of sightseeing along the way.

One of the things that I’ll always remember was our drive through Wyoming. Even as a relatively small boy, I thought that the sunset in Laramie was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. And as kids, one of the great thrills for us three boys was when we stopped and watched the wild buffalo herds as they fed along the rolling hills and beautiful fields. I was very impressed by those enormous beasts … although I have to admit that I thought they looked a little bit funny. They seemed to me as if they had been built lopsided—with too much in the front and not enough in the back.

At some point along the way through Wyoming, there was a large field with a fenced-off area; and on the other side of the fence was a small herd of buffalo feeding nearby. And so, my dad pulled over; and we all piled out to get some good photos. He had me stand up close to the fence to get my picture—with the rolling amber fields, and the cloudy sky, and buffalo in the background. And as he got ready to snap the shot, he suddenly looked up from the camera and off past me. For some reason, I thought he looked angry. He let go of the camera and came running very fast at me, and I wondered if I had done something wrong. As I recall it, he grabbed me hard and tossed me to the ground off to the side—rolling to the ground beside me. I didn’t understand what was happening until—through the corner of my eye—I saw a charging buffalo smash into the fence like a freight train; almost completely toppling it over right where I had been standing. It all happened very quickly … and very close. And even in my memory today, I can still hear the horrible sound of that angry buffalo snorting, and of the metal mesh fence rattling as it crashed into it.

After that, we all gathered ourselves together rather quickly, got back into the car, and drove away. And after we had gone just a short distance, I recall Dad pulling the car over to the side of the road to just sit for a while—shaking just a little bit. It was a terrifying experience. I would have most likely been killed if my father hadn’t snatched me out of the way as he did. I’m sure that he saved my life.

I think of that story as we come to this morning’s passage. It’s found in Proverbs 24:11-12. It’s in a section of the Book of Proverbs called ‘The Sayings of The Wise’; and it says this:

Deliver those who are drawn toward death,
And hold back those stumbling to the slaughter.
If you say, “Surely we did not know this,”
Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it?
He who keeps your soul, does He not know it?
And will He not render to each man according to his deeds? (Proverbs 24:11-12).

Please look carefully at those words. In the original language, verse 11 is put in the form of a very strong command. It says, “Deliver those who are drawn to death”; and the word that’s used expresses a very sudden kind of action. It can be translated as “rescue” or “snatch away” in almost a sudden manner; as if to say, “Grab them before they die!” “Yank them from the charging buffalo!”

And then, it uses a word that is rather unusual. It means something like “Oh, that”; and is meant to express an earnestness of appeal—almost like saying, “I earnestly adjure you …” And it then speaks of stopping someone who is tottering and slipping into disaster in an almost ignorant manner. It uses the definite article, as if to describe not just any ‘slaughter’ but ‘the slaughter’; saying, “… hold back those stumbling to the slaughter”.

This is all describing something very serious. It’s calling us to an action that involves dropping everything, running to someone, and snatching them away from certain death. And it goes on, in a remarkable way, to declare our obligation before God to take this serious action for the life of another. It posits the idea of someone saying, “I didn’t know that such a person was in danger. I just didn’t know that there was something I could do to save them.” But it suggests that, in fact, they did know … and that God Himself knows the truth about the matter. It says, “If you say, ‘Surely we did not know this,’” then God, who weighs and rightly estimates the content of our inner being, considers whether or not that’s true. He who is the keeper and guardian of what we think is perfectly aware of what’s in our minds. And He is able to bring back upon us our works, and render to every person according to the truth of his or her own deeds.

What a powerfully serious passage this is!

And I have to tell you, dear brothers and sisters; my interaction with it took me much further and deeper than I had expected. I was originally drawn to it because of our recognition of Sanctity of Life Sunday. This is a passage that is often quoted—and I believe rightly so—as a call to stand for the life of the unborn. I believe it’s a good exhortation for that purpose. But the more I looked into it, the more I realized that it’s a powerful affirmation of our duty to stand for human life in a much greater way than that alone.

I thought for example of how it’s a call—most certainly—to stand for the defense of the lives of others in a practical sense. We need to step in and protect human life in a physical way when we can. That certainly speaks to the sanctity of the life of the most helpless among us. But I also feel it speaks to the whole idea of standing for the defense of human life in what I think can be called a judicial sense. We need to step in and defend those who have been charged unjustly for something, and who are about to suffer death or loss for a crime that they didn’t commit. I also feel that it speaks to the idea of defending human life in a moral sense. When we see someone heading down a path of moral destruction that will inevitably lead to their death, we have a duty to warn them and persuade them to turn from their destructive course of action. And in the greatest sense of all, we need to do what we can to defend human life in an evangelistic sense. We need to warn people of the judgment to come and of the eternal loss that comes from being outside of Jesus Christ, and to urge them to be made right with God through faith in the good news of the gospel so they can have life everlasting.

Our heavenly Father is the giver of all life. He’s the Creator of it, and the Maintainer of it, and even the sovereign Distributor of it. His Son Jesus is the One who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). He’s the one who said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). And so; as His redeemed followers, I ask that we consider the words of Proverbs 24:11-12 together this morning; and think about our call to stand for the lives of others—in all the aspects that are suggested to us by these words.

As this passage from Proverbs shows us, we’re accountable to God to pursue the just preservation of life—in every sense—whenever we can.

* * * * * * * * * *

Now; let’s consider how this is true, first of all in …

1. ITS PRACTICAL APPLICATION.

By ‘practical’, I mean this passage constitutes a call for you and me to stand for others—when we can—in the practical sense of the preservation of their physical lives. When and where we can do so, we ought to do whatever we’re able to do to protect and preserve the physical life and well-being of others around us. It can be expressed in as immediate a way as standing for the life of the unborn, or jumping in to rescue a 10-year-old boy from a stampeding buffalo, or anything else besides.

I praise God that we live in a time and in a culture in which there are men and women trained and vocationally devoted to protecting the lives of others. The other day, I was sitting in my study and noticed that a car had pulled up into the church parking lot. I could see that a woman was in the front seat talking on the phone. She seemed to be talking for quite a while; so I didn’t think much about it. After all, a lot of people pull into the church parking lot to talk on their phones. But about five minutes later, I looked out the window and saw that an emergency vehicle had pulled up, with a fire truck pulling in behind. Soon, there were paramedics out below my study window helping to place her on a gurney. She had very obviously been in some kind of physical trouble.

I ran downstairs to find out what was going on. It turned out that she had been driving down the road and had suddenly become very dizzy and disoriented. And—as she told me later—she saw a nice church building and pulled into the parking lot to call for help. Not long afterward, her husband came along too; and when she was well enough to come out of the emergency vehicle, he drove her to the hospital himself. I felt badly that, as I saw her sitting nearby in her car, I hadn’t known that she was in such serious need. But I was grateful for the first responders who were able to come to her rescue so quickly. I’m also grateful in the same way for firefighters, and law enforcement officers, and doctors and medical workers, and military personnel, and all those who are trained and equipped, and devoted to saving and protecting the lives of others. We should thank God for them.

But as this passage shows us, you and I—dear brothers and sisters—have a responsibility to do what we can to protect and preserve the physical lives of others too. There’s an interesting law in the Old Testament. It’s found in Deuteronomy 22:8. It had to do with how people built their homes in that day. Back in ancient times, the roof of a house was almost like another room for the family. People would go up on the roof to visit, or to eat, or just to enjoy the sunshine. But God gave a command to His people that was necessary for the preservation of the lives of others. God commanded that they build a parapet—a small wall—around their roof so that no one ever accidentally fell off. It says;

“When you build a new house, then you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring guilt of bloodshed on your household if anyone falls from it” (Deuteronomy 22:8).

Why would God give that instruction? It was because it helps to remind us that we all have a duty to do what we can to protect the human lives of others. We’re to be prepared to do this even if it costs us greatly. Jesus Himself once said, “Greater Love has no one than this, than to lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). And then, He—as our greatest Friend—laid down His physical life for us.

So; this is one application of this passage from Proverbs 24. It’s a call to do what we can, in a practical way, to protect and defend the lives of others. As it says;

Deliver those who are drawn toward death,
And hold back those stumbling to the slaughter.
If you say, “Surely we did not know this,”
Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it?
He who keeps your soul, does He not know it?
And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?

* * * * * * * * * *

But those words at the end suggest that there’s another great responsibility placed upon us; don’t they? If we know that someone is being led to death or imprisonment unjustly—and we say nothing or do nothing to stop it—we bear guilt before God. And so, this leads us to consider another way to look at this passage; and that is in …

2. ITS JUDICIAL APPLICATION.

I’m not sure that ‘judicial’ is the best way to put it. Perhaps ‘a legal application’ would be better. But the idea is that—before God—you and I have a duty to stand to the defense of the innocent man or woman who is being led to death.

The words that we find in Proverbs 24 may have in mind a practice that was in place—in the ancient Near East—whenever a criminal execution was about to publicly occur:

When a criminal was anciently led to execution, a crier went before, who proclaimed the crime of which he had been convicted, and called upon any one who could say any thing in behalf of the condemned culprit, to come forward; in which case, he was led back to the tribunal, and the case was re-heard. The passage contains an implied exhortation to assist the unfortunate, succor the distressed and vindicate the cause of the innocent, when about to suffer unjust punishment.¹

If this was the case—and if such a condemned man was known to be innocent, but those who knew of his innocence neglected to protect him—then they stood guilty of bloodshed before God for their neglect and their pretended ignorance.

When you think of it, we have several examples in the Bible of some people who knew of the innocence of someone else, and yet willingly stood by and allowed them to suffer or die. Think of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. He knew that our Lord was innocent. He even said that he found no fault in Him. And yet, he handed Him over to be crucified anyway; washing his hands and saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it” (Matthew 27:24). Or think of Judas Iscariot. He betrayed our Lord to death for thirty pieces of silver; and yet, tried to bring the money back saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood” (Matthew 27:4). Or think of Saul—later known to us as the apostle Paul. He watched the coats of those who stoned the innocent man of God Stephen to death; even though he later confessed to the Lord, “when the blood of Your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death” (Acts 22:19). Or think later of Governor Felix. He knew that Paul was in prison unjustly—and even went to him to listen to him teach. And yet, he left Paul in bounds, “wanting to do the Jews a favor” (Acts 24:27). There have been countless such examples throughout history. They may very possibly all be summed up in the cold-hearted attitude of Cain; who murdered his own innocent brother and defiantly told God, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9).

This passage in Proverbs 24 tells us that, even though we may deny it, we are indeed—in God’s sight—our brother’s keeper. And the Bible also tells us of many who stood for the life of the innocent—even at the potential loss of their own lives. Think of the Hebrew midwives in the days of Pharaoh, who protected the lives of the Hebrew children (Exodus 1:13-17). Or think of Reuben—the son of Jacob—who protected the life of his brother Joseph from the other brothers who plotted to kill him (Genesis 37:21-22). Or think of Obediah, who bravely fed and hid the prophets of God in caves from the murderous plot of Jezebel in the days of the prophet Elijah (1 Kings 18:3-4). Or think of Daniel, who revealed the dream to King Nebuchadnezzar; and thus protected the lives of the king’s pagan wise men (Daniel 2:12-15).² There have been many examples of those who knew the innocence of others, and stood for the defense of their lives.

Well; this is our duty too. We’re certainly not called upon to impede true justice when justice—before God—is truly due. But whether it’s for the unborn, or for the innocent wrongly accused, we have a duty—when we know of it—to stand for their lives. As it says in Proverbs 24:11-12;

Deliver those who are drawn toward death,
And hold back those stumbling to the slaughter.
If you say, “Surely we did not know this,”
Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it?
He who keeps your soul, does He not know it?
And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?

* * * * * * * * *

There’s also a sense in which, from the words of this passage, we can discern …

3. ITS MORAL APPLICATION.

Again, ‘moral’ may not be the best way to describe it. Perhaps ‘an ethical application’ is a better way to express it. But the idea is that whenever we see another fellow human being ignorantly and unwittingly taking a course of action that will lead to their destruction, and to their loss, and—inevitably—to either their death or the deaths of others affected by them, we have a moral duty to plead with them, stop them if we at all can, and rescue them from loss.

When I was a younger man, and I was working with a church youth group, we used to take kids ‘inner-tubing’ on the Cedar River in Washington. There were lots of spots along the way in which the flow of the river was calm and quiet, and you could drift along peacefully in the sun. There were also a few spots where—frustratingly—you had to pick up your inner tube and carry it over the rocks and pebbles. But there were also spots in which the water got a little rough, and you needed to be ready. And often after such trips, as we talked about it as a youth group on the way home, I asked the kids what they thought the water might be like on a river just before a dangerous waterfall. They all thought it would probably have seemed peaceful—and that it would probably make for an enjoyable drift down the river for a while. But we all agreed that the end of that kind of inner-tube ride would be certain death. And that was when I shared with them what it says in Proverbs 14:12. It says;

There is a way that seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death (Proverbs 14:12).

I suggested to them that there are lots of moral choices that people make in life that are along those lines. They involve choices that led them to do what God has clearly said to not do. They are decisions that involve disobedience to His commands; all of which were given for our good and for our life. Such choices would seem like a peaceful ride down the river, but they would suddenly end in a deadly waterfall. I even told them about another verse in the Proverbs—Proverbs 16:25. It says;

There is a way that seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death (Proverbs 16:25).

“Look at that!” I would tell them. “This is so important that God chose to tell us twice!” I have often wondered if the apostle Paul was thinking of that twice-given warning when he said what he said in Romans 6:20-21 regarding those who had formerly given themselves over to sin. He said;

For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death (Romans 6:20-21).

And brothers and sisters in Christ; I believe that Proverbs 24:11-12 speaks to this matter too. We have a moral duty to warn others when they’re about to make destructive unethical choices of action. We need to show them, from the word of God, how they are setting themselves—perhaps ignorantly—straight down a path that will lead inevitably to death. We may not always be successful in warning them. But before God, we have a duty to try. This is especially true when it comes to a fellow believer. The apostle James once said;

Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins (James 5:19-20).

Dear brothers and sisters; when we see someone heading down a moral path of destruction—and we absolutely know it—it’s our duty before God to do what we reasonably can to warn them and persuade them to turn around. We can’t pretend that we didn’t know. As it says in Proverbs 24:11-12;

Deliver those who are drawn toward death,
And hold back those stumbling to the slaughter.
If you say, “Surely we did not know this,”
Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it?
He who keeps your soul, does He not know it?
And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?

* * * * * * * * * *

So; when it comes to these remarkable words in Proverbs 24, there’s a practical application, a judicial application, and even a moral application. But as important as all those other applications are, there’s still one more that’s more important than them all. And that’s what we might call …

4. ITS EVANGELISTIC APPLICATION.

You see; the greatest threat of all is the threat of eternal loss. And our greatest obligation of all is to do what we can to rescue people from the eternal judgment of God for sin. As the Bible tells us in 1 John 5:11-12;

And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life (1 John 5:11-12).

We who have placed our faith in Jesus Christ, and who ourselves now have life, are placed by God in the greatest rescue mission of them all. We need to tell people around us—in whatever way God has opened up to us—about what Jesus has done on the cross to take the guilt of their sin away and to offer them eternal life. We need to urge people to choose Him … and thus choose life and flee from the wrath to come.

Perhaps one of the greatest passages we could read with respect to our obligation to this matter is found in Ezekiel 33. In verses 1-11, it says;

Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman, when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’

“So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me. When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you shall surely die!’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.

“Therefore you, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: ‘Thus you say, “If our transgressions and our sins lie upon us, and we pine away in them, how can we then live?”’ Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’” (Ezekiel 33:1-11).

What a great privilege we have of telling people, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved …” But I can’t help but think of what a terrible responsibility falls on us if we can do so … but won’t. As Proverbs 24:11-12 urges us, dear brothers and sisters;

Deliver those who are drawn toward death,
And hold back those stumbling to the slaughter.
If you say, “Surely we did not know this,”
Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it?
He who keeps your soul, does He not know it?
And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?

* * * * * * * * * *

Now; I originally planned for this passage to be applied in only one way. But as you can see, it has touched me in far more ways than just that one. It went from snatching a boy from a charging buffalo, to standing for the life of the unborn, to speaking up for the unjustly accused, to warning the backslidden sinner, all the way to pleading for the soul of someone destined for eternal judgment. These are the ways this passage has touched me, and I hope it’s touched you in these ways too.

And if it has, then let’s let the greatness of our obligation before God move us to give ourselves completely over to the enabling power of the Lord Jesus Christ. He’s the greatest Rescuer of them all. Let’s ask Him to strengthen us by His indwelling Holy Spirit, and help us to grow increasingly to do our duty toward the lives of others in all respects—just as He has done toward us.

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¹Joseph Muenscher, Book of Proverbs in An Amended Version (1866), p. 219; cited in H.A. Ironside, Notes on The Book of Proverbs (Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers, Inc., 1974), p. 334.

²These examples are adapted from Charles Bridges, A Commentary on Proverbs (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 1977), p. 451n.

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