Today is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. And while most messages being preached today are going to focus on abortion and the 55 million babies that have been murdered since Roe V wade became the law of the land on January 20th 1973. It has been 40 years since this horrendous decision was handed down by the Supreme Court and it has great harm to America.
But I want to expand the scope of what I believe Sanctity of human life means not only to us as people and Christians but what it means biblically.
ALL LIFE IS SACRED! And while we must protect the most vulnerable and defenseless lives among us, specifically the unborn, we also have to acknowledge that all lives are important to God.
We have to learn that when people murder other people these acts greatly displease God. In Exodus chapter 20 verse 13 we read this: “You shall not murder”. This is a more accurate translation than is found in the King James Version where the verse reads: “Thou Shalt Not Kill”.
There is a big difference between killing in self defense or while defending your home and family as well as defending our country or those in the world that we have said that we will protect against evil people.
The sixth commandment is very specific in what it says. Murder is against Gods laws and rules. And God isn’t concerned about what causes people to murder other people.
Murder is murder whether it is committed in a moment of passion or whether it is committed with thoughtful premeditation or the abortion of an innocent baby in the womb of its mother. Murder in any form is wrong!
In our society today there is a growing disregard for human life and some people have cheapened human life to such a degree that they don’t even look at the ones that they murder as people. They look at them as problems, as inconveniences, as a means to an end. Too many times people are looked on as something (NOT SOMEONE) who is in the way of something that they want or their “happiness”.
So what is going on in people to cause them to want to murder another human being? Let’s look back in Genesis chapter 4 verses 1-8 and read this: 1 Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a man-child with the help of the LORD.” 2 Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3 So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. 4 Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; 5 but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. 6 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” 8 Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
Sometimes people murder other people just out of anger. Look at why Cain murdered Abel. Did Abel do anything to provoke his brother? Did Abel do anything wrong where Cain may have had to kill his brother in self defense? Not at all, in fact just the opposite occurred. Cain tricked Abel into going out into the field with him with murder on the agenda.
Remember what I said earlier about pre meditated murder and how this sin goes against all that God says is right because we as people are all made in His image.
So what was really going on in the mind and heart of Cain as he plotted and planned the murder of his brother Abel? In verse 5 we can see what led to Cain’s poor decision making. 5 but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.
What I have learned about why the Lord accepted Abel’s offering and rejected Cain’s offering is that it was a matter of the heart. The Lord knew the hearts of both of these young men and I believe that the Lord saw faith and worship in Abel’s heart and offering but on the other hand the Lord did not find the same faith and sense of worship in the heart and offering of Cain. I believe that God saw what kind of man Cain was and it wasn’t a pretty picture.
And because of what happened with the two offerings and the two young men, Cain let sin overcome him, his pride rose up in him and the more time passed the angrier Cain became. The Bible talks about anger a lot and while getting angry over the right things is not a sin, we cannot allow ourselves to sin in our anger like Cain did. In Ephesians chapter 4 verses 26-27 we read this: 26 BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not give the devil an opportunity.
We can now see that Cain became angry and in his anger and pride he sinned greatly against God. And Cain did what a lot of people today do when they decide to murder someone, they rationalize the murder and they tell themselves that they have been wronged in some way and the victim somehow deserved to die.
But in reality murder is just a selfish act. Bank robbers murder people because of greed, this is a selfish act, gang bangers murder people to protect their so called turf, a selfish act, terrorists murder people to promote their agendas, a selfish act, women abort their unborn children because many women feel that these children are an inconvenience, a selfish act.
The hearts of lost people are not to be trusted by the people in whose chest they beat. In Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 9 we read this about the human heart: "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it? The hearts of lost people are sick with sin and when you here people tell other people to follow their hearts remember this verse of Scripture!
Now for those of us that are Christians our hearts have been healed and replaced and that’s really good news! In Ezekiel chapter 36 verse 26 we read this: Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. We can depend on our hearts because of who lives in them!
I also want to touch on what has happened in our country of late, the theater shooting in Aurora, CO. the school shooting in Newtown, CT. as well as many other tragic and horrific mass killings across our nation.
It is not just anger, pride and selfishness that can cause people to commit heinous acts of murder. Mental illness also plays a part in most of these mass killings in our society. And while I am acknowledging the mental illness aspect of the ones who have perpetrated these murders I am by no means excusing what these people have done. They were obviously in their right mind enough to plot and plan these shootings. But as a society we can no longer just ignore mental illness. If we do, we do so at our own peril.
I believe that we are living in the end times and the Apostle Paul wrote to us about how people will behave in the end times and I want you to see if what he wrote so many years ago doesn’t sound like us today: In 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verses 3-5 we read this: 1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
Too many people in the world today and in America specifically, are described by the description that Paul wrote in this passage of Scripture. America is losing its focus. We need to refocus our collective eyes and hearts back on God.
There are way too many murders committed in America today. Did yall realize that there were more people murdered in Chicago than all coalition troops killed in Afghanistan last year? Not just American troops but ALL troops deployed there combined. That is a very disturbing statistic isn’t it?
Most Americans value life and hold it in the highest regards. But there are also many Americans who unfortunately would murder you for a few dollars and think very little of it.
But I know a God who can change things. I know a God who can change hearts and minds in moment if people would be willing to let Him into their lives! I know a God who loves the unborn children in the wombs of their mothers and wants to let them live a prosperous and blessed life if the mothers would think about the child first instead of themselves and their own desires and wants.
I know a God who desires that we love one another and when we do this then we will show a lost and dying world who this God is that we serve and love really is!
Murder is wrong no matter whose life is taken, whether it is a child that has not yet even taken its first breath or someone that is 90 years old and has lived a full life. Life is precious and we only get one here on earth.
Too many people have lost their lives over nonsense and stupidity. Satan is having a field day when he sees people putting such a low price on human life. And make no mistake about this satan is the main cause of the murder rate not only in America but worldwide.
As Christians we have to be focused on reaching the lost no matter where they are. If we can reach a gang banger and introduce him to Jesus before he or she shoots another person then what a victory that is for the kingdom and our society!
If we can educate young people about the consequences of having sex out wedlock by showing them that following God’s plan for marriage and having children then we can reduce the abortion rate in this country.
If we can get someone who is mentally ill the treatment that they need or if necessary the hospitalization that they need then we can reduce the mass shootings in our country!
But it starts with us, here in this church. We can pray for people, we can witness to people; we can support ministries that help the kind of people I have talked about today. Ministries like the Pregnancy Support Center and others. It’s all about love! God’s love can and will overcome the violence and sin of people, it always has and it always will!
