How many people read the newspaper or watch the news on television? You ever wonder about this world? You ever wonder about right and wrong? You ever wonder about what is right? Or about what isn’t good? If you were to ask a humanist they would tell you that right is dependent on your needs, and if "it" whatever "it" is fulfils those needs then that is good.
To the professor of situational ethics good is totally dependent on the situation, and your particular circumstances. The historian would tell you that right is dependent on the historical relevance of the issue.
The anthropologist would tell you that right is dependent on a particular culture. Many of the liberal churches would tell us that they can’t tell you what right is because right is dependent upon you.
Nobody wants to commit themselves to what good is and what good isn’t. But an obscure Judean prophet hit on what God considers to be good and we read his words in the book that bears his name. Micah 6:8 The Lord God has told us what is right and what he demands: "See that justice is done, let mercy be your first concern, and humbly obey your God."
Let’s start then with who has told us? The Lord God has told us what is right, not Denn Guptill, not Harry Wilson, not John Paul II, but God, He is the final authority.
The Lord God has told us, you ever wonder how God speaks? he spoke to Moses through a burning bush, and spoke to Balam through a donkey, and to Mary through an Angel, and to Joseph through a dream, and to Isaiah through a vision and to Elizah through a still small voice. Today he speaks through his word and through his servants.
But who has God told, he has told us. His people and it doesn’t matter if his people were the Israelites of the Old Testament or the Christians of the New Testament, they are those who seek to follow the ways and the words of God.
But what has God told us, well Micah says that he has told us what is right and what he demands. Why do you believe what you believe? "That’s easy" you say "I believe it because that’s what my church believes" wrong answer because that answer could be given by the Mormons, the Jehovah Witnesses, the Christian Scientist and the Moonies.
"Ok, then" you say "I believe it because that what my pastor teaches" Wrong answer, because how far can you go with that? From Denn Guptill to Jim Jones. Believing something because that’s what you’ve always believed or because that is what your church believes or that is what your pastor believes or that is what parents believe isn’t good enough.
We stress a personal relationship with God. My salvation is worthless to you. And so is your parents salvation, and your spouses salvation and your friends salvation. The bottom line is this: the only person whose relationship to God will make a difference to your eternity will be you and you alone.
The only person who needs to get his life right with God is you. And your faith has to come from God, not from Denn and not from Bedford Community Church but from God and from His word. The reason we have the scripture in English is so we can read it. And so God can speak to you through it.
And so what is God telling you? Well in Micah 6:8 he’s telling you what is right, and what he demands. But the question remains what is right? Well let me start by saying that right is not relative. God is saying to the prophet Micah: "Right and wrong are black and white and grey is just a colour of paint."
The world may say that right and wrong are relative and that may be fine for the world but it’s not for Christians, but Christianity isn’t relative, Jesus said, "I am the way the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me" doesn’t sound very relative to me.
ALAN LEGERE IS EVIL BECAUSE HE KILLED A MAN, BUT IS HE LESS EVIL THEN NOEL WINTERS WHO KILLED TWO MEN, AND WAS NOEL LESS EVIL THEN MITCHELL JOHNSON & ANDREW GOLDEN WHO KILLED FIVE PEOPLE AND WOUNDED TEN MORE IN AN ARKANSAS SCHOOL YARD LAST WEEK. IN 1989 MARC LEPINE SHOT FOURTEEN YOUNG WOMEN TO DEATH IN MONTREAL. TWENTY YEARS AGO LAST WEEK LT. WILLIAM CALLEY KILLED OVER ONE HUNDRED WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN MY LAI, AND ADOLF EICHMANN WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEATH OF 6,000,000 JEWS. WHAT IS RIGHT?
IF YOU KILL YOUR CHILD TWO DAYS AFTER THEY ARE BORN YOU ARE A MONSTER, BUT IF YOU HAVE YOUR CHILD KILLED BY A DOCTOR BEFORE THEY
ARE BORN YOU ARE SIMPLY EXERCISING YOUR RIGHT TO CHOSE. WHAT IS RIGHT?
IF YOU USE A GUN AND ROB A BANK THEN YOU GO TO JAIL, DO NOT PASS GO DO NOT COLLECT TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS. BUT IF YOU ROB THE SAME BANK BY SIPHONING OFF THE FUNDS THROUGH EXTORTION YOU GET A SLAP ON THE WRIST. WHAT IS RIGHT?
IF YOU ARE SELLING DOPE ON THE STREET CORNER YOU ARE A CRIMINAL BUT IF YOU’RE A DOCTOR AND ABUSING YOUR PRESCRIPTION PAD, THEN YOU’VE JUST MADE A MISTAKE WHAT IS RIGHT?
IF YOU INDISCRIMINATELY FIRE A RIFLE INTO A CROWD AND KILL SOMEONE YOU’RE A MURDERER. IF YOU’RE DRUNK AND GET INTO YOUR CAR AND KILL SOMEONE THEN YOU’RE SICK AND NEED HELP. WHAT IS RIGHT?
AS A COUNTRY WE PROTECT THE LIVES OF PEOPLE LIKE PAUL BERNARDO BY REFUSING TO IMPLEMENT CAPITAL PUNISHMENT, AND AT THE SAME TIME WE
EXECUTE 350 PRE BORN CHILDREN EVERY WORKING DAY THROUGH ABORTION. WHAT IS RIGHT?
WE DON’T KNOW AND WE DON’T KNOW BECAUSE NOBODY IS WILLING TO COMMIT THEMSELVES TO AN ANSWER AND BECAUSE OF THAT WE LIVE IN A
WORLD THAT IS GOING TO HELL. WHAT IS RIGHT?
BECAUSE WE ALLOW MOOSEHEAD AND OLANDS TO SAY THEIR PRODUCTS ARE RIGHT, ALCOHOLISM AND ALCOHOL ABUSE HAS BECOME A CHRONIC PROBLEM,
SPLITTING FAMILIES, RUINING LIVES AND KILLING PEOPLE. WHAT IS RIGHT?
BECAUSE WE HAVE ALLOWED THE TOBACCO COMPANIES TO TELL US THAT THEIR PRODUCT IS RIGHT LUNG CANCER IS ONE OF THE LEADING KILLERS IN THIS COUNTRY, AMONG SMOKERS AND PASSIVE SMOKERS ALIKE. WHAT IS RIGHT?
BECAUSE WE HAVE ALLOWED THE MEDIA TO DEFINE OUR SEXUAL MORES WE WINK AT PREMARITAL AND EXTRA MARITAL SEX AND CONSIDER IT RIGHT.
BECAUSE WE HAVE ALLOWED OUR CULTURE TO TELL US THAT IF IT MAKES US HAPPY IT’S GOOD ALMOST HALF OF CANADIAN MARRIAGES WILL END
IN DIVORCE COURT AND 100,000 CHILDREN WILL BE ABORTED THIS YEAR. WHAT IS RIGHT?
AND THE PROPHET GOES ON TO REVEAL WHAT GOD SHOWED HIM WAS GOOD. Micah 6:8 The Lord God has told us what is right and what he demands:
AND WHEN IT COMES RIGHT DOWN TO IT THAT IS WHAT MATTERS ISN’T IT? THAT IS WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD, THAT MY FRIENDS IS GETTING RIGHT DOWN TO BRASS TACKS. WHAT THE LORD DEMANDS. THE LORD IS
THE BOSS. NOT YOUR EMPLOYER, NOT YOUR PARENTS, NOT YOUR FRIENDS, NOT YOUR PASTOR, AND HOLD ON TO YOUR SEATS GUYS BECAUSE IT
ISN’T EVEN YOUR WIFE.
THE PROPHET WAS REALLY ASKING A RHETORICAL QUESTION. YOU KNOW LIKE, "HOW STUPID DO YOU THINK I AM?" WE REALLY AREN’T LOOKING FOR
AN ANSWER TO THAT ONE ARE WE? I HAVE MADE IT A HABIT TO AVOID ASKING QUESTIONS THAT I DON’T WANT THE ANSWER TO. THIS WASN’T A JEOPARDY THOUGH BECAUSE IF IT WAS THE ANSWER WOULD HAVE BEEN WHAT IS JUSTICE. BUT I’M SURE THAT MICAH GAVE THEM SOME TIME TO THINK IT OVER. AND THEN HE TELLS US WHAT GOD EXPECTS OF EACH OF US.
1) TO SEE THAT JUSTICE IS DONE. NOW AT THIS POINT MICAH USES A HEBREW WORD, WHICH ISN’T ALL THAT SURPRISING SEEING THAT MICAH WAS A HEBREW PROPHET. IF HE HAD OF USED SAY A SWEDISH WORD THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN SURPRISING. THE WORD HE USES IS, MIS PAH AND IT LITERALLY MEANS, "DIVINE LAW", NOT CANADIAN LAW, NOT AUSTRALIAN LAW, NOT AMERICAN LAW, NOT COMMON LAW BUT DIVINE LAW.
EARTHLY LAWS MAY CHANGE WITH THE WHIM OF THE LAW MAKERS AND WHAT IS LAW THIS YEAR MAY NOT BE NEXT YEAR. BUT REGARDLESS OF HOW MANY TIMES EARTHLY LAWS CHANGE, GOD’S LAW ALWAYS STAYS THE SAME. GET IT?
Malachi 3:6 I am the Lord All-Powerful, and I never change. Hebrews 6:18 God cannot tell lies! And so his promises and vows are two things that can never be changed. Numbers 23:19 God is no mere human! He doesn’t tell lies or change his mind. God always keeps his promises.
OVER THE LAST FIFTEEN YEARS THE VARIOUS GOVERNMENTS OF CANADA HAVE CHOSEN TO EITHER CHANGE OR IGNORE THE LAWS PROTECTING THE UNBORN CHILD. UP TO THAT POINT AN ABORTION WAS ONLY ACCEPTABLE WHEN THE MOTHERS LIFE WAS IN DANGER AND NOW IT IS VIRTUALLY OPEN SEASON ON THE UNBORN. MAN’S LAW HAS CHANGED BUT GOD’S LAW STILL SAYS, "THOU SHALT NOT KILL"
ALL ACROSS OUR COUNTRY TODAY WE CAN SEE EXAMPLE OF DIVINE LAW BEING FLAUNTED. AND THERE IS A LOT OF GROUND THAT WE COULD
COVER. WHAT WITH HOMOSEXUALITY, PROMISCUITY, ADULTERY, DRUG AND ALCOHOL ABUSE, PORNOGRAPHY, CHILD ABUSE AND MOLESTATION, CIVIL RIGHTS, TERRORISM, AND THE LIST GOES ON AND ON.
BUT I FEEL THAT ALL OF THESE WILL BE ECLIPSED BY THE HOLOCAUST BEING PERPETRATED IN HOSPITALS AND CLINICS ACROSS CANADA.
WHEN THE TIME COMES FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS TO JUDGE CANADIAN CIVILIZATION WHAT WILL THEY SEE.
WHY IS IT THAT AFTER MORE THEN FIFTY YEARS LATER WHEN WE THINK OF GERMANY WE DON’T THINK OF MOZART OR BEETHOVEN OR MARTIN LUTHER. WHY IS THE FACT THAT GERMANY WAS ONCE THE SEAT OF CIVILIZATION AND THE BIRTH PLACE OF THE REFORMATION AND RENAISSANCE LOST ON US.
WHY CAN’T WE SEE THAT ADOLF HITLER WAS NOT ONLY A MAD MAN BUT THAT HE WAS ALSO A GENIUS. THAT HE PULLED HIS COUNTRY OUT OF THE GREATEST ECONOMIC COLLAPSE THAT THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN, THAT THE THIRD REICH INHERITED A SITUATION WHERE IT WAS MORE FEASIBLE TO BURN MONEY THEN TO BUY WOOD, AND IT TOOK A WHEEL BARROW OF MONEY TO BUY A LOAF OF BREAD, AND IN THE MID THIRTIES MADE GERMANY AN ECONOMIC LEADER WHILE NORTH AMERICA WAS STILL GROVELLING IN THE DUST OF THE DEPRESSION. THE SCIENTIFIC ADVANCEMENTS OF GERMANY OUTPACED ANY IN THE WORLD DURING THAT TIME.
BUT WHY IS IT THAT HANDLE’S MESSIAH HAS BEEN OVERSHADOWED BY HITLER’S MIEN KEMP? WHY IS IT THAT THE NAMES EICHMANN, GOERRING, HESS AND HITLER HAVE REPLACED THE NAMES OF LUTHER, ZIZENDORF, KEPLER AND GOETHE.
ALL OF GERMANY’S PAST ACHIEVEMENTS, EVERYTHING WHICH THEY HAVE DONE TO BENEFIT MAN, ALL THE GOOD AND BEAUTY WHICH THEY HAVE
CONTRIBUTED TO THIS WORLD HAS BECOME VEILED BEHIND THE CURTAIN OF THE HOLOCAUST. THE SMEAR UPON THE GERMAN PEOPLE CAUSED BY THE
CALLOUS EXTERMINATION OF SIX MILLION JEWS WILL REMAIN FOREVER ON THEIR NAME.
IS THAT WHAT HISTORY WILL DO TO US? WILL THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF CANADA FADE BEHIND THE VEIL OF ABORTION. WILL FUTURE GENERATIONS THINK OF THE CONTRIBUTIONS THAT OUR SCIENTISTS AND ARTISTS HAVE MADE OR WILL THAT HAPPEN ONLY AFTER THEY SPEAK OF THE GENOCIDE WHICH WE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN TO OUR UNBORN CHILDREN?
SIMON WEISENTHAL THE NAZI HUNTER SAID, "BY COMMITTING THE PERFECTLY INCREDIBLE CRIME THE NAZIS HAD HOPED TO GET AWAY WITH IT BEFORE THE BAR OF HISTORY. FUTURE GENERATIONS WOULDN’T BELIEVE THAT SUCH A
THING COULD HAPPEN. ERGO, THE NAZIS DEDUCED, HISTORY WOULD ONE DAY CONCLUDE THAT IT HAD NOT HAPPENED, THE CRIME WAS OF SUCH SCOPE THAT IT WAS INCONCEIVABLE."
THE AMERICANS HAVE MORE THEN TRIPLED THE DEATH TOLL OF THE HOLOCAUST THROUGH ABORTION. IN CANADA WE ARE QUICKLY APPROACHING NOTORIETY. OUT OF THE SIX MILLION JEWS DESTROYED BY THE NAZIS ONE MILLION WERE CHILDREN. A FEW YEARS AGO CANADA SURPASSED ADOLF HITLER AND NAZIS GERMANY IN THE DESTRUCTION OF HUMAN CHILDREN.
PERHAPS ADOLF EICHMANN WAS RIGHT WHEN HE TOLD A FRIEND IN HUNGARY, "ONE HUNDRED DEAD IS A TRAGEDY, FIVE MILLION DEAD IS A STATISTIC."
WHY HAVE WE FALLEN TO THE DEPTHS OF SIN THAT WE HAVE? BILLY GRAHAM STATED ONCE THAT "IF WE CONTINUED TO LIVE SUCH AN IMMORAL EXISTENCE THAT GOD WOULD EITHER HAVE TO BRING JUDGEMENT UPON US OR DIG UP SODOM AND GOMORRA AND APOLOGIZE."
WHY IS OUR COUNTRY WHERE IT IS, BECAUSE WE HAVE FAILED TO LIVE JUSTLY, WE HAVE FAILED TO LIVE BY GOD’S DIVINE LAW. WE AS CHRISTIANS HAVE SOUGHT TO HIDE RATHER THEN CONFRONT. WE CHOOSE TO LEAVE THE POLITICAL ARENA OPEN TO THE UNGODLY, AND THEN WE CAN’T UNDERSTAND WHY GODLESS MEN CAN’T PROVIDE US WITH A GODLY NATION.
WHAT DOES GOD REQUIRE OF US? TO "See that justice is done, TO TURN OUR COUNTRY TO A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE.
BUT GOD SAYS THAT THERE IS MORE, Micah 6:8 The Lord God has told us what is right and what he demands: "See that justice is done, let mercy be your first concern, and humbly obey your God."
WHAT IS MERCY? WELL THE WORD THAT MICAH USED LITERALLY MEANT KINDNESS. AND SO GOD REQUIRES US TO MAKE KINDNESS OUR FIRST CONCERN.
THE SAME JESUS WHO BRAIDED THE WHIP AND DROVE THE MONEY CHANGERS FROM THE TEMPLE SHOWED MERCY TO THE WOMAN CAUGHT IN ADULTERY, AND SAID, "GO AND SIN NO MORE."
THE SAME JESUS WHO CALLED THE PHARISEES A BROOD OF VIPERS, HYPOCRITES, FOOLS AND WHITENED SEPULCHRES LOOKED DOWN AT THE MEN
WHO HAD NAILED HIM TO THE OLD RUGGED CROSS AND SAID, "FATHER FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO."
LIVING JUSTLY ISN’T ENOUGH, PAUL TELL US IN 2 Corinthians 3:6 After all, the Law brings death, but the Spirit brings life.
THE SAME HOLD TRUE FOR AIDS, IT’S EASY TO STAND IN JUDGEMENT OF THE HOMOSEXUAL COMMUNITY BECAUSE OF AIDS, AND YES HOMOSEXUALITY IS WRONG, AND ACCORDING TO THE WORD OF GOD IT IS MORALLY CORRUPT BEHAVIOUR. BUT WE HAVE TO GO TO THE MERCY AS WELL AND VERY FEW CHURCH AS SHOWING ANY PRACTICAL MERCY TO AIDS SUFFERERS.
A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO A SONG WAS OUT AND THE WORDS SAID, "YOU GOTTA TRY A LITTLE KINDNESS, YES SHOW A LITTLE KINDNESS, SHINE YOUR LIGHT FOR EVERY ONE TO SEE. AND IF YOU TRY A LITTLE KINDNESS, THEN YOU’LL OVERLOOK THE BLINDNESS OF NARROW MINDED PEOPLE ON THEIR NARROW MINDED STREETS."
LET’S BE TRUTHFUL THIS MORNING DO WE LOVE MERCY, DO WE LOVE KINDNESS OR ARE WE JUST PAYING LIP SERVICE. WOULD WE BUILD A CRISIS
PREGNANCY CENTRE BEFORE WE BUILT A CHURCH BUILDING? WOULD WE BUILD AN AIDS HOSTEL BEFORE WE BUILT A CHURCH BUILDING.
THERE’S ONE MORE THING BY THE WAY, LIVING JUSTLY IS GREAT, AND LOVING MERCY IS FINE, BUT IT’S NOT ENOUGH. Micah 6:8 The Lord God has told us what is right and what he demands: "See that justice is done, let mercy be your first concern, and humbly obey your God."
I HAVE SOME FRIENDS, HARD TO BELIEVE ISN’T IT, I HAVE SOME FRIENDS WHO LIVE CLOSER TO DIVINE LAW, AND LOVE MERCY GREATER THEN MANY
CHRISTIANS THAT I KNOW, BUT THEY’RE GOING TO HELL BECAUSE THEY AREN’T HUMBLY OBEYING THEIR GOD.
THE THEORY OF COURSE IS THAT IF WE DO THE LAST ONE THE REST WILL NATURALLY FOLLOW.
