Listen to the Psalmist in chapter 127:3 (NASB)
“Behold, children are a gift of the Lord; The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior, so are children of one’s youth.
How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;
They shall not be ashamed, when they speak with their enemies in the gate.”
Then from the New Testament, listen to the words of Jesus.
In Matthew 18, we read
“At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
And He called a little child and had him stand among them, and He said,
“I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Then in Matthew 19:13 Some time later in the ministry of Jesus… we read
“That little children were brought to Jesus for Him to place His hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them.
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.
When He had placed His hands on them, He went on from there.”
Then back in Matthew 18:10 Jesus gave this stern warning;
“See that you do not look down on (“despise”-NASB) one of these little ones.
For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.”
“See to it that you do not despise one of these little ones…”
Children, both born and unborn, have a special place in God’s heart—and the ill treatment of these little ones will bring about God’s judgment upon society.
But society today, has tried to make a distinction – at least these past 25 years – between the born and the unborn.
A distinction, which puts to the test, logic even of the strongest pro-abortionist.
Some time ago I read about a father who was present for the delivery of his son.
And he took that newborn baby boy and he hurled him against the floor of the delivery room, killing the infant instantly.
You say, “What a heinous crime that was.”
And it was!
But also, it’s the basis for an interesting contradiction – don’t you think?
That man was charged that day with murder!
For he had put to death his baby… who one day earlier… one day earlier…
Or hours earlier… could have been put to death legally… through a therapeutic abortion.
As barbaric a thing as it was, I suggest to you that what that
father did was not one bit more barbaric… than killing the
infant in the mother’s womb.
Even Pro-abortionists see the logic…
…That if a mother may legally choose to destroy her child within the womb
obviously… she can destroy it outside the womb... logically speaking…since –
biologically – there is no distinction there is no difference between a
“fetus” and a “baby”.
And thus Abortion leads… inevitable leads also to Infanticide.
Infanticide is already happening with alarming frequency in America
Though it’s not legally sanctioned – it is legally tolerated.
As today, “less than perfect babies” are simply allowed to die – by denying them proper medical attention.
But back to abortion - each day, in America, over 6,0000 babies are legally put to death – under the protection of the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe –vs- Wade decision.
Back then, abortion was presented as the “last resort of a desperate woman.”
We now know even the story was a total lie – that was presented before the Supreme Court.
But today, it is estimated that 95% - 95% of all abortions are done simply for convenience.
Abortion has become a primary means of birth control!
Nothing more – nothing less
Someone has written a poem called, “A Second Opinion”
And it certainly illustrates this point.
There’s a little guy somewhere, Waiting to appear;
Curled up inside his mother’s protective atmosphere.
He’s the one they didn’t plan on, He’s an extra mouth to feed,
a little inconvenience neither of them need.
He’s doctor’s bills and formula, He’s sleepless nights and stress,
He wet and dirty diapers, And a home that is a mess.
He could have been a newer car… or a cabin with a view,
Or a cruise or clothes or Vegas shows, Or other dreams come true.
So they talked about abortion, As the alternative,
For that fetal imposition, Who would change the way they live.
He isn’t really human, Why, he doesn’t even breathe,
He was just a misadventure, They happened to conceive.
So they sit there in the waiting room, With papers they must fill,
The waivers and consent forms, And arrangements for the bill.
They know it’s what they have to do, There is no other way.
But once or twice they wonder, What that little guy might say.
“I wish you wouldn’t do this, I got too much to do.
I have to learn to walk and talk, To dress and tie my shoes.
I have to learn to whistle, And I have to learn to run.
I have to learn to say my prayers, For when the day is done.
I have to watch for Daddy, With Mommy at the door and
I have to ride in carts when…. They take me to the store.
I have to blow out candles… On a lot of birthday cakes,
And pose for all the pictures… Mommy always takes.
If you let them do this… I’ll never learn to wave.
I’ll never have a birthday… Why, I won’t even have a grave.
I’ll never play a game… And I’ll never laugh or cry
I won’t even have a name… And I’ll always… wonder… why?
Today, Abortion is big business in America… with 1.5 million abortions each year.
Each one costing $350 – 500.00
Abortion mills make tens of thousands of dollars daily.
More pregnancies – just means - more clients
And more clients mean more money…
And that… and that alone…
I tell you is the object of the Abortion industry.
Don’t you accept the sad propaganda…
And sadly, so called “sex education” in our schools, has done more to contribute to abortions than any other social development.
For under the “guise” of teaching safe sex – and without any “moral” basis… such classes simply – indirectly – sanction pre-marital sexual intimacy.
I’m not against sex education, but without the teaching of morality and responsibility - increased sexual curiosity and involvement are inevitable.
And we’re paying the sad price today in our country – and even in the church.
**This morning I want to investigate this critical issue from 3 vantage points.
1. The vantage point of Revelation: What does God’s Word say?
2. The vantage point of Reason: That which we can understand with the minds God has given to us.
3. The vantage point of Response: What our Response should be.
First of all,
I. Revelation
Although the Bible was written before modern day abortion techniques, the revelation of God clearly describes the status of the fetus.
A. Revelation declares that all people are a special creation...A unique and special creation.
What does it mean to be created “in God’s image”?
Gen. 1:26 tells us that When God created man – he created him “in His image”
“Let us make man in our image… according to our likeness. Let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over all the cattle and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the ground.”
The human race is unique.
Although we share a planet with animals – we are not simply the “top of the evolutionary chain to date.”
But rather we are unique creatures – made in God’s image.
That means we are rational beings – who can make judgments – choices – and thus we do have moral responsibility.
It also means that we’re moral beings.
The law of God is written in each and every one of our hearts –
Indeed man is constantly confronted by God-
both from nature without and from moral law within.
And the implications are clear…no person needs to justify the right to live.
Everyone –
• wanted or not –
• deformed or not
• healthy or unhealthy
• planned or no planned
Every person has special value.
As C.S. Lewis said, “There are no ordinary people. It is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit. Immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.
Revelation declares that all person are special creations.
B. Revelation also declares that a fetus is a person.
Abortion advocates try to redefine personhood to exclude the unborn.
Sort of like Hitler who defined personhood to exclude blacks and Jews…
The abortionist tries to rationalize away the personhood of the fetus.
But again, listen to the Psalmist. This time in Psalm 139:13-14 – David writes,
“For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful and I know that full well.”
If David had only known that his body contained 30 trillion cells…
And that each individual cell had volumes of information coded upon it…
I believe he would have praised God all the more…
With even greater enthusiasm.
Clearly, God considers the fetus a human being.
For He said to Jeremiah, chapter 1:5
“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you were born, I consecrated you.”
God is already forming plans for the unborn child –
whom He knows in advance.
But perhaps the clearest indication of all – that God regards the fetus as a person- is found in comparing 2 verses of scripture.
In Luke 18:15 we read,
“And they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He might touch them.” That’s actually the word – “babies” – grk “brethos”
and it clearly indicates “personhood”
these were –living, breathing, borned babies---
Then, in Luke 1:41
Exactly the same word “brethos” is used,
When Mary –who was pregnant with Jesus went to visit Elizabeth – who was pregnant with John the Baptist.
And scripture says,
“It came about that when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby
the “brethos” leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Exactly the same word is used for the “unborn baby” as for those babies who had been born and was brought to Jesus.
**Listen to me,
There is not the first shred of evidence Biblically or Biologically that a fetus is a “non-person”…
--- that a fetus is just a blob of protoplasm
Yet that is exactly what women are counseled in our abortion mills all across the country. But what we’re told… doesn’t change reality – does it?
Listen to this testimony of a young woman. Read
Many women, brainwashed by contemporary society, think abortion is merely the removal of some unwanted tissue…
Only to later on understand that they’ killed their baby.
C. Revelation also teaches us that to kill a fetus is to kill a person.
You can’t get around that!!!!
• If Mary, the mother of Jesus, would have had an abortion, Christ would not have been born.
• If Jeremiah’s mother had aborted… then the prophet would not have fulfilled his intended mission.
• If King David’s mother would have had an abortion – there would have been no King David – no Psalms –
• More personally - If your mother… or mine – inconvenienced by her pregnancy with us… had chosen to abort that “fetus” – that “brethos” – you and I would not be here.
In Exodus 21:22 there is a clear indication that God regards the death of the fetus to be the death of a person.
Listen…
“If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child, so she has a miscarriage yet there’s no further injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him, and he shall pay as the judge decides.
But if there’s any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty,
• life for life,
• eye for eye,
• tooth for tooth,
• hand for hand,
• foot for foot,
• burn for burn,
• wound for wound,
• bruise for bruise.
In other words, if either the unborn baby or the mother dies there must be just retribution… the fetus fell under the law of retaliation…
“Lex Telionis”
Listen to the Moral schizophrenia of today.
If you find an egg of a bald eagle – and you destroy that egg – you will be fined a minimum of $5,000.00 and put in jail for a year…….
For destroying an egg of a bald eagle.
But you destroy a human fetus… and you’re paid $300 – $500. as an abortionist.
You see, everyone knows that that Bald eagle egg – potentially contains an eaglet… subject to protection under law.
But a human fetus – we’re told – is not a human being –even if it’s already viable outside the womb.
***********************************
II. The Vantage Point of Reason
Let’s talk about reason for a moment… how could a supreme court hand down such a decision as they did some 28 years ago this month.
The answer is simply that they bowed to the pressure of the radical feminist movement…who were calling for “abortion on demand” as a legitimate right. That’s it…plain and simple!
They didn’t think for themselves, nor did they think about the unborn.
That’s exactly what happened on the bench 100 years earlier when the “Dread Scott Decision” relegated blacks to the status of non-persons.
Today we could hardly imagine such a decision.
But that’s the decision that was handed down.
By a 7 – 2 vote they concluded
“We think that they (blacks) are not included and were not intended to be included under the word “citizen” in the constitution and can, therefore, claim none of the rights and privileges which this instrument provides for and secures to the citizens of the United States.”
Certainly, there is no one here this morning --that would possibly defend such a hideous ruling as that.
But in 1973, by exactly the same margin, 7-2, the supreme court of the United States decided the same about the unborn.
Remember the “new morality” “free sex” movement of the 60’s?
It was fashionable and acceptable to have sex with anyone, anywhere, anytime – as long as it was “meaningful”.
Have you seen how the “sex education” courses have evolved from the 60’s?
Minister’s and Pastor’s all over this land warned us about the results of these same sex education courses… and you know what?
Every prediction came true!
Now you can go to school now and get your favorite color and flavor and style of condom… why?
So you can have “safe sex” – Our schools are just encouraging sex outside of marriage and calling it “safe”.
They are causing an economic boom in our abortion industry?
There is no “safe sex” outside of marriage.
They are causing an economic boom in our abortion industry?
Is that the kind of Nation we want to be known as?
Abraham Lincoln said it well when he said,
“The education in the classroom in one generation will be the values of the government in the next.”
1. The percentage of 18 year old girls having premarital sex went from 26% in 1967
To 70% in 1987. 20 years – and increase of 44%
Was it that the girls in the 70’s and 80’s were just more immoral? OR
Was it society’s approach to teaching about sexual intimacy had changed?
2. Pregnancies to unwed girls 15 – 19 (between 1967-1987) quadrupled.
3. Pregnancies to unwed girls under 15, increased by more than 500% in that same period of time.
4. And sexually transmitted diseases more than tripled during that same period.
See it however you will… but I believe that Abortion has simply been the mopping up operation after the devastation that was brought about by the break down of moral values.
A break down that was ushered in by a series of decisions in the early 1960 from the
• removal of Prayer from the schools,
• removal of Bible reading from our schools
• removal of the 10 commandments from our schools
And the introduction --- in its place – of sex education courses divorced from moral values.
When you divorce sexual activity from moral values are you have left is immorality.
Well, Let’s talk a moment about Response.
III. The Vantage Point of Response
Surely few things are more grevious to the heart of God than seeing unborn infants –made in His image – being forced to an untimely death – performed under the guise of “Freedom”.
By the same token - we Christians should grieve over the loss of life.
You see, the real root of the problem of abortion is found in the human heart.
It is a wicked heart that causes us to be unmoved.
We can watch a movie and witness a dog or a horse being mistreated and killed ----
but remain unmoved in our heart to the millions of voices calling out daily from the torture chambers of “Free choice”.
But there is “Good news” today.
• Christ can replace a heart of stone.
• Christ can give us tender hearts
• Christ can give us responsive hearts
No one group or person can do everything, of course.
But we can all do one thing… PRAY!
And we must pray for this nation.
We must pray against the violence of abortion and the immorality that’s cased the ruin of millions of families.
But we must also be willing to put our prayers into action.
What Can You Do? Let me list some things quickly.
1. You can write a courteous-well-thought out letter to your congressperson or to a Senator
2. You can join a “pro-life” group in our community
3. You can volunteer at the Pregnancy Care Center
4. You can support them financially
5. You can also actively seek help and encouragement for a woman who is faced with the prospect of an unwanted pregnancy. Don’t just condemn abortion – but support Life.
Listen to one young girls response to our lack of response.
Read she wrote, and these words ought to rebuke each one of us
“I agree with you 100% on abortion, but I had one. It was the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life. My Mom said I had to have an abortion. The counselor at Planned Parenthood talked to me. She said my baby would never be adopted. Who was I to turn to?
I was forbidden to see my boyfriend. My mother and Father didn’t want me to have the child. Now, would you mind telling me what you would have done?
I didn’t have a place to go. No money. Would you have taken me into your home? Would you have paid my doctor’s bills and expenses?
My abortion is now something I wished I’d never done. I can remember looking at the doctor when he was done, and saw him putting my baby in a plastic bag and throwing it away in a garbage bag.
Do you know how that feels?
Have you ever lost something that you loved dearly? I did! And I’m not proud of it.
If I had a place to go… and people who cared about my baby and me, maybe my baby would be born alive. It was supposed to be born this month.
You’re hurting, hurting girls who want their babies – but didn’t have any alternative, but to have it aborted. And I want to say, “It hurts.”
You people are against abortion, but are you willing to help young girls who don’t have the money or the place to live?
Some of us women and girls are not killers – we’re humans too. And I can tell you, that having an abortion is killing me, slowly.
Now, you may not agree with everything in that letter, but she certainly has a valid point.
It takes more than oratory.
It takes more than silently being “Pro-life” or “anti-abortion”.
We need to put up as well as to speak up.
Yes, God values babies… and so should we.
Because He gave us Life and it is sacred to Him --- and it should be to us.
And for those who’ve had abortions – God still loves you and can cleanse you from the inside out.
And for those of us who have had the pious cold heart that turns away from reaching out to the those in need of understanding…
God still loves you… and in the same way he loved you he can love through you if you’ll just trust Him.
“Just as I am” is our hymn of commitment and decision.
God can accept you… He can take you “just as you are” and make you into something beautiful… something productive and useful in His kingdom.
All you have to do… is let Him. Accept Him… into your heart.
Make Him Lord of Life…….
Your life.
