Do Not Be Deceived – God Is Not Mocked Part 3: Abortion
Scripture: Galatians 6:7; Exodus 20:13; 21:22-23; Psalm 139:13-16
Introduction
God has said:
“Thou shall not kill!” (Exodus 20:13)
“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you…..” (Jeremiah 1:5)
“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap!” This is part 3 of my series “Do Not Be Deceived for God Is Not Mocked. This week I will be focusing on how we are mocking God with our stance on abortion. I will be addressing as a spiritual issue for Christians. Although we allow abortions to take place God is still not mocked. His stance on the sanctity of life has not, nor will it ever, change. Regardless of what we may personally feel about this issue, it does not change the fact of whether or not God approves of it. It is important that we know beyond a shadow of doubt that abortion is wrong in the eyes of God.
I have been in Church all of my life and I have never heard a sermon dedicated to the topic of abortion. I have been preaching for over 27 years and I have never preached a sermon on abortion although I would tell anyone that I believed it was wrong. Part of my struggle with this is very personal. I have stood on the fence in some cases believing that based on the circumstances an abortion could be okay. For example, what if it comes down between the mother’s life and the life of the baby? What if a mother is on medication to remain stable and could harm herself should the medication be stopped yet that same medication will seriously harm the child? What if the mother was raped and became pregnant because of the rape? These are difficult circumstances that on the surface would justify an abortion, and in all honesty in my past I could possibly have made the wrong choice. If my wife had been attacked and raped and conceived a child during the rape, as a man of flesh and blood, it would be extremely difficult for me knowing she was carrying the child of a rapist. It would be a battle to keep my flesh in control, my weakness does not make change God’s view. In these cases I have struggled internally. I could not preach one thing while knowing if given the opportunity, I would do something different. As I stated earlier, my weakness does not alter what God has said. So I stand before you today with all of my weaknesses and struggles to tell you that abortion is wrong and no matter how we justify it, it does not change that fact. I am not standing in judgment or condemnation of anyone who has had or agreed to an abortion in their past or those who think it is okay. I do not stand in judgment of you as it could have been me too – I understand. I just want us all to think about how God feels.
I. Roe vs. Wade
How did the United States arrive at where we are today, where abortions are legal and available in every city? For over 150 years, our nation stood against abortion and had laws on the books to protect the life of the unborn child – even the “unformed” fetus. But things have changed. Let’s go back and visit the Supreme Court ruling in Roe vs. Wade. As we look at this ruling, please understand that our laws are made to protect everybody, regardless of religious affiliation. Where our laws were once based on Christian principles, today they are a combination of moral values and the “popular” opinion of the majority. But I am getting ahead of myself.
In the mid 1820’s the human ovum of a female was discovered which led to the realization that human life was created through the fertilization of the ovum so that the woman was “with child” from the moment of conception. Because of this discovery and acceptance of the fact that life began at conception, states everywhere began to draft strict and specific laws prohibiting abortion. This idea began to change during the 1960s as America began to change and became what some would call more liberal. The teaching of evolution became a mainstay in major universities and colleges curriculums. If you recall, evolution taught that human beings were the product of chance and no more valuable than apes. As this teaching became more widespread and accepted by the masses, many states began to loosen their abortion laws. As we began to accept the notion that a child was conceived by chance; that there was not a link to God being involved; and the unborn baby was no more valuable than an ape, it did not take us long to arrive at the conclusion that life in it earliest stages was not necessarily important to preserve. By the end of 1970, eighteen states has passed statutes that allowed abortion in exceptional circumstances. There was a backlash against these states and it looked like the statutes would be overturned and abortion made illegal again. However, on January 22. 1973, the Supreme Court of the United States stepped in and handed down its decision in the infamous Roe vs. Wade case.
In 1970 at the Pennsylvania State House, a suit was filed on behalf of Norma L. McCorvey (Jane Roe). Ms. McCorvey claimed that her pregnancy was the result of her being raped. The defendant in the case was Dallas County District Attorney Henry Wade, representing the State of Texas. The district court ruled in McCorvey’s favor, but refused to grant an injunction against the enforcement of the laws barring abortion. Roe v. Wade ultimately reached the U.S. Supreme Court on appeal. The court issued its decision on January 22, 1973, with a 7 to 2 majority voting to strike down Texas abortion laws. The Supreme Court deemed abortion a fundamental right under the United States Constitution, thereby subjecting all laws attempting to restrict it to the standard of strict scrutiny. In its ruling, the Court said: “We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins. When those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive at a consensus, the judiciary, at this point in the development of man’s knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to an answer.” In other words, the court refused to decide the case which actually was a decision in favor of upholding the states rights to make abortion legal on demand.
Now here is what’s scary, since that decision was handed down in 1973, more than 50 million abortions have been performed in the United States. This number only includes the number of babies killed, not the number of mothers who also died when the procedure were not appropriately done. During the presidential debates two candidates were asked this question: “When does life begin?” The question was asked as a lead in question to their stance on abortion rights. The first candidate answered by saying that he did not know when life began and he would leave that debate up to the physicians, scientists and theologians to decide. The second candidate responded by saying that she knew when life began and it was at conception, but the life at that point (conception) was not a person. It is the belief that a baby is not a person at conception is what I want to address in this message. After I share God’s view, I want to share a true story about an abortionist who killed over 75,000 babies before he realized what he was doing.
II. God Knows The Baby In The Womb
The pro-abortionist’s argument that a fetus at conception is just tissue and not a person makes this issue a spiritual issue in my opinion. If we can accept the fact that God views a fetus at conception as a person, then we can accept that fact that killing this person must be against God’s will. So let me share some scriptural examples that show how God sees the fetus at conception.
1. God commanded man to be fruitful and multiply
“God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth……” (Genesis 1:27-28a)
When you read the story of creation, whatever God made He called it good. When God made man, He was very pleased with His creation. After man was created, God told man to be “fruitful and multiply and fill the earth…” God told man to have children and multiply. God desire was that man should multiply and if this is His desire, He cannot also have the desire that man should kill what has been formed in a woman’s womb. This would be a contradiction of His word. And if something contradicts His word, it cannot be pleasing to Him.
2. An unborn child in the Old Testament was considered a person
When Moses brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt, he began to teach them the ways of God and delivered unto them God’s laws for how they should interact with one another. In Exodus 21:22-23, he speaks of the unborn child and the rights that the child had. “If men struggle with each other and strike a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet there is no injury, he shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband may demand of him and he shall pay as the judges decides. But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life.” What Moses told the people on behalf of God was that if a man is fighting with another man and he accidentally hits the pregnant wife and she delivers the baby early, if the baby is okay the man can just be fined. However, if the baby dies, the man could be put to death for the life of the baby. A baby’s life is a valued life, even before the baby is born. In United States, first degree murder is defined as a murder that was premeditated. First degree murder with special circumstances is also when the murderer kills a woman who is pregnant. In this case, the murderer will be tried for both lives. So even today, an unborn child is considered a life, but the struggle is when it becomes a life. Is it at conception or during the first, second or third trimester? Let’s move on to additional Scriptures that may shed light on this for us.
3. God knows every fetus (child)
Before you and I were born, God knew us. Before we said our first words; before we took our first breath; God knew us. If you know God, then you know that according to His word, He does not change (Malachi 3:6). Who He was yesterday, He is today and will be tomorrow. I share this with you so that you will understand the next Scripture. What we will read in Jeremiah 1:5 is just as true today with us as it was with Jeremiah. This is what Jeremiah 1:5 says:
“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (Jere. 1:5)
No one questions the fact that God called Jeremiah to be a prophet. But before Jeremiah began to walk in this office, God told him some very specific things. First God said “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.” God took credit for the conception of Jeremiah. Although Jeremiah was conceived through the natural, physical union of a man and a woman, God still took credit for his conception. Beyond this point, God also told Him that He had formulated plans foe Jeremiah. God said to Jeremiah that “…before you were born, I consecrated you….” God anointed Jeremiah to the office of a prophet before he was born. What if Jeremiah’s parents felt that he was just tissue? What if they felt that at conception his life was not worth anything?
There was a woman who just like the woman in the Roe vs. Wade case, became pregnant after she was raped. Can you imagine carrying the baby of the man that raped you? Men, can you imagine your wife carrying the baby of a man who raped her? Most of us, until today, probably would choose to abort the baby. Well this woman, unlike the woman in the Roe case who was seeking to have an abortion, could not bring herself to abort this child. She carried the baby to full term and when she delivered him, she placed an ad in the paper for a Christian couple to take him. A Christian couple answered the ad and came and got him. He lived with them until he was about five and then moved back with his birth mother. This is what happened to the child was conceived through a woman being raped. The child grew up and eventually accepted his call into the ministry. Through his ministry more than 20 million people have heard the Gospel and more than 2 million of those who heard accepted Christ. This man I am telling you about is the Rev. James Robinson of the LIFE Outreach International ministry. He was born in 1943 when abortion was still illegal, but what would have happen if he had been conceived in 2008? Would you carry a child that you conceived while being raped? Had abortions been legal and his mother had one, 2 million souls could have possibly missed hearing the Gospel and accepting Christ. Think about the impact. God knew Jeremiah and when Rev. Robinson was conceived, God knew him also. I am so blessed that my parents wanted me to live and that your parents wanted you to live. How many ministers, evangelists, physicians, musicians, and scientists have we killed through the 40 million abortions that have taken place? God knew every one of those children who died.
King David also carried this same understanding that God was involved with his conception and knew him intimately while he was being formed. David said in Psalm 139:13-16 “For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works. And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance, and in Your book were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.” David understood that God knew him even when he was being conceived. Did you pick up on that? He said “My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret…” Being made in secret speaks to the conception process from which he was produced. David also said that God knew him before his substance was formed. This confirmed again what God told Jeremiah – that even before He formed Jeremiah in the womb, God knew him. What David was saying that while he was still just tissue without any physical formation God knew him! The fetus is not just tissue; it is a developing child that God knows intimately. David gave God praise for God handiwork in his creation. It is hard to praise God for His handiwork while we make plans to destroy it.
Isaiah 44:2 says: “Thus says the Lord who made you and formed you from the womb, who will help you….” Isaiah, another prophet of God, spoke from what he understood to be a fact, that God was actively involved in the formation of a baby and that God knew the baby which was being formed. “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap!”
I want to share two additional Scriptures with you from the New Testament. You see, not only do I believe that God knows the baby before the baby is born, I also believe that the baby can be can hear and praise God while in the womb (it’s a spiritual thing.) Turn with me to the book of Luke.
“When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” Luke 1:41
When Elizabeth was six months pregnant with her son, who would be known as John the Baptist, she was visited by her cousin Mary. When Mary told her that she had been visited by an angel and relayed to her what the angel had said to her, the baby within her rejoiced. Then immediately Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. The baby was six months in development yet rejoiced when he heard the news about Mary. Now if you are wondering how this could be, again I tell you it is a spiritual thing. It is a proven fact that if you read to your baby while the baby is in the womb, the baby upon birth will recognize the voice of the one who had read to him/her. It has also been proven that this same child could have an appreciation for reading. A baby starts learning before they come out of the womb. My point to this is that while still in the womb, the Holy Spirit led the unborn baby to leap for joy at the words of Mary. The baby had already been anointed by God. Do you understand what I am telling you? We have no clue what God is going to with a child that comes from our bodies. I have one final point to make with this. I personally believe that every child that is conceived has an angel assigned to them. Remember the warning that Jesus gave in reference to children? He said, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say unto you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 18:10) I believe that angels are assigned to children just as they are also available to help each of us. Jesus spoke for the care and safety of children and I believe that includes the fetus at conception.
Conclusion
But before I close, I want to share with you the true story of Dr. Bernard Nathanson. Dr. Bernard Nathanson was a leading abortion doctor in the United States in the 1970’s. He had actually performed an abortion on a woman he had gotten pregnant during this time. This physician had campaigned vigorously for the legalization of abortion and he states that he had performed over 75,000 abortions himself. But something changed Dr. Nathanson’s point of view, the introduction of the ultrasound in 1976. This device literally opened a window on fetal development. The first time Dr. Nathanson saw an ultrasound in action, he was convicted. He could see a throbbing heart and all four chambers of the heart pumping blood. He said that his mind had dropped the word fetus in favor of the word baby. Suddenly, everything he had been learning about the child in the womb since his entry into medicine snapped into focus. He had known what took place in the womb, but seeing it for the first time changed everything. Dr. Nathanson, the leading abortion doctor in America, became convinced that human life existed within the womb from the onset of pregnancy. In an article he wrote for the New England Journal of Medicine he wrote, “in abortion, we are taking life.” After deciding abortion that abortion was murder, he switched camps and began to campaign for a reversal of Roe vs. Wade. One of the most convincing things that Dr. Nathanson did was to utilize an ultrasound to witness an abortion. He asked a colleague who was performing several abortions a day to put an ultrasound device on a few of his patients and with their permission, taped the procedure. What they found was that the fetus seemed to feel pain and tried to get away from the suction device that the physician was using.
I went to the website, www.silentscream.org and watched the procedure last night. My heart broke. I watched a baby try to get away from the suction device. I watched as it seemed to cry out in pain when the suction device came near. I watch as the suction device tore its body apart. The physician who actually performed the abortion was asked to help edit the film. When he saw the tape, he had to leave the room for a few minutes. When he came back in and completed the editing of the tape, he never performed another abortion after that. The woman who filmed the procedure with the ultrasound was a confessed feminist and talked openly about the rights of women. After she saw the film, she never spoke again in favor of abortion. There is a difference when you hear about it than when you actually see what happens to the baby during the abortion. In case you did not know, the heart of a baby is beating within eighteen days of its conception. Brain waves are recorded at 40 days after conception. The baby is not just tissue.
Even though you may not agree with me as to how I interpret God’s word, I still ask you to pray about your position on abortion. While you are seeking God, go to www.silentscream.org and watch the procedure. Find out what you are truly supporting. Although I am pro-life in every way, I one hundred percent disagree with the notion that those who commit abortions and those who have them should be vilified. They are not villains; they are making a bad choice. I do not agree with hating or abusing them. In our country, they have the right to have an abortion if they choose. I understand that and hope that you do also. What I do believe is the fact that although we have the right legally, as a Christian I do not have that “right” in my service to God. When I submit to Christ, I give up my right to do as I please in order to follow Him. I can only follow Him when I know Him. As a Christian I believe that we can do more good by sharing with people how God can use an unborn baby verses degrading them for what we believe was a bad decision. I truly believe that if Christians believed that God knew the unborn baby at conception, and understood that God was assigning angels to that unborn baby, we would think twice about ending that life. I also believe that if Christians witnessed the process via ultrasound, it would move them at their core.
I do not know where each of you stands this morning and it is not important that you tell me. What is important is that you know where you stand and why. Whatever your position, understand why you have it. Even if it is not today, this week or this year, I hope that eventually you will choose life, just as your parents and my parents chose life for us.
May God bless you is my desire.
NOTE: Some of the background information for this sermon was taken from the sermon "The Abortion Issue: What Can A Christian Do" by Aaron Burgess which is located on this website.
