Big Numbers - Little Ones
Jeremiah 1:5
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It has now been 40 years since Roe v. Wade. That’s a big number. We hear big numbers of dead like all those children in Connecticut, or Hurricane Sandy, or staggering events like 9/11, the 2004 tsunami, or the earthquake in Haiti a couple of years ago. 200,000 dead sounds like a lot and it is a lot. These are big numbers, and most of them are little ones, and God loves them and should we.
But here’s another number: 50 million. That’s approximately how many have died in America in the holocaust of the ages since 1973 when the Supreme Court made the decision to make abortion legal, placing our official stamp of approval as a nation upon the death of the innocent. That’s a really big number, and they are ALL little ones!
And just as surely as those precious little ones over the last 40 years awoke in heaven with Jesus, may the babies yet to come this year and in future years awake to the life here on earth God intended for them from the beginning of their life, which He placed in them at their conception! And much like Jesus led captivity captive and on the 3rd day burst out of the belly of the Earth, let us once again make a mother’s belly be a safe place where life thrives, and where temporary captivity gives way to a glorious appearing of another of God’s miracles!
This is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. I’m here to say that Haitian life is of immeasurable value to God, and should be to us as well. But as great as that tragedy is, the greatest one is right under our noses in our homeland, and is approved by the law of the land.
We need to pray. Our prayers are more powerful than politicians and judges. Just look at what happened in Massachusetts this week and tell me how that could happen apart from prayer! This present health bill if passed would kill more babies than ever before...so it must die as well!
O Lord we pray that this year the grave would be swallowed up in victory, and death would lose its sting!
Proverbs 12:28
In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death.
We’re talking about babies w/ souls since the moment of conception…but more than that, babies who have developed physically, w/ beating hearts, digesting stomachs, open eyes, hearing ears…babies which since the advent of ultrasounds have been seen recoiling in pain, desperately trying to escape their killers! And if the way that the coroner determines a person is completely dead is by the absence of brain waves, shouldn’t the presence of brain waves prove life!?
In the news Thursday...
A Massachusetts woman charged in the deaths of her 9-year-old daughter and unborn son has been arraigned on murder and manslaughter charges. Authorities say Fang Chi-Xue of Quincy fatally stabbed her 9-year-old daughter in April and stabbed herself in the abdomen, killing her unborn baby.
Really? A murder charge for the child AND the "fetus"? Why should she be tried and not all the others who kill their babies?
…we are supposed to speak out, raise our voices, to protect the innocent!
Prov. 31:8-9
8 Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. 9 Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
The Bible says that God hates the shedding of innocent blood…
Abel’s blood cried out to God when Cain killed him.
Rev. says the blood of the Christian martyrs cries out to God, “How long, O Lord, before you return and take vengeance.”
The victim in an abortion ranks as the most innocent victim ever sentenced to death. Who will cry out for them?
If I approached you, put my hands on your neck and began to push w/ all my might on your throat, at least you could try to get away, at least you could try to cry out…who will cry out for the unborn?
The pro-abortion crowd yells and screams about freedom of choice. It’s my body…
Put it down in big letters: WHAT ABOUT THE BABY’S BODY?
I imagine an aborted baby in heaven asking God, how could she do that? After all, it MY BODY!
While you work tomorrow, 4,000 more innocent people will be submitted to capital punishment, although they will have no trial before they are executed. They have no attorney, and will not be granted the basic rights of even a prisoner of war. Not only will they not be treated humanely, not only will they not be afforded the basic anesthetics used by every veterinarian in the world, but they will die a torturous death, ripped apart by forceps and injected with toxins. 4,000 per day...that’s a big number, and they are all little ones!
It’s time the people of God rise up with some righteous indignation. Violence is not the solution, but we have the opposite problem which is apathy, and natural forgetfulness. But God hasn’t forgotten, and He is angry with the wicked every day!
ill.--Have you ever seen an apparently healthy driver pull into a parking space marked "Handicapped" at the grocery store? A feeling of indignation rises in your chest, doesn’t it? "They shouldn’t take advantage that way!" you comment to your companions.
Yet when someone is pregnant with a child that the "experts" say may be less than perfect, they are encouraged to eliminate it. Or when an elderly person has been partially incapacitated by illness, some advocate facilitating their demise.
Why is it that, in the first instance at the grocery store, being disabled engenders a desire to protect, to defend, to stand up for; and in the other two, there’s only a desire to get rid of "the problem?"
The unborn, the elderly, the disabled, the terminally ill -- if these are only "problems" to us and have no intrinsic value of their own, then we naturally become very lax about conveniently disposing of them at both ends of life’s spectrum.
Francis Schaeffer, that 20th century prophet and intellectual, warned us in the 70s that abortion was the beginning of a slippery slope of denigration of human life that would eventually lead to euthanasia and such things as physician-assisted suicides. People were skeptical then, but it looks like he was right.
In God’s eyes, Life is Sacred, but in America, Life is Scared!
I. Life is sacred . . . because God made it.
A. It was created by God.
Genesis 1:27
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Col. 1:16
For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
B. It is protected by God.
Job 10:12
Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.
Psalm 91:11
For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
C. It is valued by God.
Isaiah 49:16
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
Jeremiah 1:5
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee…
John 10:10
I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
Ill.--Have you ever done a piece of needlework, or woodworking, or ceramics for someone special to you? Or for yourself? Or what about an organization, a ministry, a campaign that you founded? You always have a very special place in your heart for that which you had a primary role in creating, don’t you? Imagine how God feels when He creates each one of us, and then we are simply "thrown away?"
II. Life is sacred . . . no matter what its condition might be.
A. Life is a challenge in a sin-tainted world.
It would be wonderful if God’s original plan had materialized, but unfortunately sin came into our world and with it came pain, imperfection, injustice, etc. God warned us of these challenges and enables those who trust in Him to be victorious through Him.
1 Peter 5:7
Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
James 1:2
My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
John 16:33
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
B. We must not overlook those who have challenges in this life.
I say this not only as the preacher today, but as the father of a little autistic boy. Jesus showed special concern for the lame, the blind, the woman with the issue of blood, the lepers. In our day we mustn’t forget.
Ill.--Some studies report that as many as 90% of couples faced with an amniocentesis report of probable Down’s Syndrome will choose to abort. That’s a big number, and they are all little ones! And yet, do you know anyone with a Down’s child that doesn’t tell you that child is the light of their life, an absolute joy, the most loving person they’ve ever known?
Ill.--Max Lucado tells in his book, The Applause of Heaven, about a sweater that hangs in his closet. He says he seldom wears it -- it’s too small, the sleeves are too short, the shoulders too tight, some of the buttons are missing, the thread is frazzled. Logically, he says, he should throw out that sweater since he has no use for it and will never wear it again. It simply takes up space in his closet.
That’s what logic says. But love, he reports, won’t let him.
Why not? What’s unusual about that sweater? To start with, it has no label, no tag telling you "Wash in cold water." That’s because it wasn’t made in a factory, produced on an assembly line as the product of a nameless employee earning a living. Rather, it was the creation of a devoted mother expressing her love -- his mother. That sweater is unique, one of a kind, irreplaceable. Each strand was chosen with care, each thread selected with affection.
And so, even though that sweater has lost all of its use, it has lost none of its value. It is valuable not because of its function, but because of its MAKER. So is each life.
C. Our Lord placed great value on those whom society has shuffled aside.
While on his knees, the leper begged Jesus to make him clean. The Bible says in Mark 1:41
And Jesus, moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him, and saith unto him, I will; be thou clean.
III. Life is sacred . . . because of its eternal nature.
A. Life exists before we enter the material world.
Psalm 139:15-16
My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. [16] Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
So technically, life begins even before conception!
B. There is life at new birth.
John 3:3
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
C. Our earthly life is simply a prelude to eternity.
Hebrews 9:27
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
1 John 5:13
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
In other words, we can know and be assured of abundant life while on the earth, and everlasting life in eternity with Christ.
Let’s do our part to insure those same rights to the unborn! And if you are here and have only been born once, the Bible says you have to die twice:
Rev. 20:14-15
[14] And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. [15] And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
But if you’ve been born twice, you only die once, at most, and Jesus Christ took the sting out of that death, took our hell for us, and will take us to heaven when we die if we believe!
Now what should we do about abortion, and putting an end to the big number of little ones who are dying?
What not to do: React in violence. It’s never right to do wrong.
What to do:
1. Be informed. We can’t bury our heads in the sand. Ignorance is bliss, right? Well, ignoring the issue doesn’t make it go away. There’s no better platform from which to proclaim this message than church, by the way.
2. Work and pray…for a constitutional amendment to overturn Roe v. Wade. It is possible if we will speak up, vote, take our stand!
3. Teach sexual morality in the home. We need to teach our kids a higher standard than “being safe”.
4. Have more compassion for the unwed mother. God loves them! And yes, we’ll preach against pre-marital sex. Once the mistake is made, she needs unconditional love right here within these walls!
5. Speak out clearly w/out apology. Is. 58:1—“Cry aloud, spare not! Lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression!”
6. Refuse to be swayed by the high sounding arguments of liberal politicians, and so-called “experts” in the scientific field who have no moral base to speak from. They are clueless and don’t even deserve our attention on this matter.
7. Pray for God to have mercy on America, and to give us space to repent…and to bring national revival.
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