Sanctity of Life Sermon
Today is the Sanctity of Life Sunday. We are to celebrate and hold in high regard the issue of life from the point of conception to the point of death.
Today our world is divided on the issue of life to the point we have labeled ourselves into two camps …
- Pro Choice … those who favor abortion, the taking of life while still in the womb.
- Pro Life … those who oppose the taking the life of the unborn.
Would it surprise you if I told you God is pro choice? He is! God made man a "free moral agent" … that is, one who would have to make his own choices. God desires for man to make choices … thus He is pro-choice.
But in allowing man to make his own choices God gives man the measure of His Word to help him make the right choices … the choice of life. God not only encourages us to choose life … for God is "pro life." He warns us that in not choosing life, we have made a bad choice.
Deuteronomy 30:19-20 "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 "that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them."
1. Life Is A Wise Choice
Deuteronomy 30:19 "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
- Choosing life brings blessings
Proverbs 12:28 In the way of righteousness is life, And in its pathway there is no death.
In 1944, a forty-one-year-old woman sought an abortion from her doctor. He firmly refused, asserting that abortion was just not right, morally, ethically, or legally. The woman later gave birth to a baby boy and named him James Robison. This unwanted child grew up to become a well-known evangelist. God has a plan for every human life, even those who are not wanted.
Consider the life that lies within the womb …
- The Destiny of a nation lies in the womb.
Genesis 25:23 And the LORD said to her: "Two nations are in your womb, Two peoples shall be separated from your body; One people shall be stronger than the other, And the older shall serve the younger."
- The Designation of a person lies in the womb.
Judges 16:17 that he told her all his heart, and said to her, "No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man."
- The Design of the family lies in the womb.
Psalms 127:3 Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.
- The Development of the person lies in the womb.
Isaiah 44:2 Thus says the LORD who made you And formed you from the womb, who will help you: ’Fear not, O Jacob My servant; And you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
- The Direction of a persons life lies in the womb.
Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations."
Life is to be "pro-choice" in that we choose life over death!
In failing to choose life we bring upon us the cursing of God … thus choosing death.
All forms of abortion are wrong, but of recent years we as a nation have chosen, what I believe to be the most hideous and horrible form of abortion … that is the "Partial birth" abortion.
Partial Birth Abortion is allowing the unborn to be partially born (body but leaving the head in the birth canal) and then killing the child. That is now is considered a wise choice by many in our land.
The only choice that is … is death! Death not only to the unborn child … but to you and I as a nation. We are facing the cursing of God for allowing this to be a choice in our land.
Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a reproach to any people.
God says … I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you … choose life!
2. Love Is A Wise Choice
Deuteronomy 30:20 "that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them."
Love, obey, and cling … bring about life by God’s design. If we love God we will obey God and if we obey God will hold to (cling) God.
The wise choice is to determine that we will love God and His Word so as to obey it and adhere our lives to it.
We are called to love life and love others throughout the Scriptures.
Therefore we must conclude that the taking of innocent life … within the womb as well as life beyond the womb is wrong and a sin against God, others, and the nation.
Deuteronomy 27:25 ’Cursed is the one who takes a bribe to slay an innocent person.’ And all the people shall say, ’Amen!’
Deuteronomy 28:1 "Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth.
Where is our voice in a day that so easily takes the life of the innocent? Silent voices do not produce the righteousness of God.
Martin Niemoeller, a German pastor imprisoned for opposing the Nazis, illustrated the gravity of remaining silent: "In Germany, the first came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."
Psalms 32:3-4 When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the day long. 4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah
Do we love God? Then we must speak up and cling to what is right … not in man’s eyes, but God’s Word.
- The quality of life is eroding quickly in our nation.
- The length of our days are quickly passing.
Psalms 90:12 So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.
We must be wise in choosing to love God the source of our life. Choose life for God is "pro-life."
"Oh God our Creator, have mercy upon us as we, Your people have allowed our nation to walk the paths of destruction when righteousness is before our eyes. We confess we have chosen death and not life by allowing the killing of the innocent life in the womb. By this we have also devalued life that is beyond the womb. We have made poor choices and are now suffering the judgment of them.
But I pray now that You O God would give each of us the courage to be Your voice in the wilderness to speak of Your righteousness. Help us to cast off lips of silence. Have mercy and forgive us in us this day we are observe and choose life."
Amen!
This sermon was preached by Robert AuBuchon at Trinity Baptist Church in 2001. All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
