Life is Sacred

The title of our main message today is, Life is Sacred. We're going to look into this whole subject matter in the sanctity of human life, and specifically God's view and the biblical view regarding and surrounding the matter of abortion. Now, Scripture emphatically and absolutely makes the statement that life is sacred. So what I want to do today and for us to do is to take our Bibles and turn to various scriptures that will be helpful with regards to this. And we want to identify and uncover two fundamental truths with regards to life. The first fundamental truth is this. Life is sacred because life is a gift from God. Life is sacred because life is a gift from God. Scriptures teach us that every child is fearfully and wonderfully made and created by God, created and formed in the womb. We're going to see that through Scripture. Now, we know that statement, though. It immediately confronts much of where society lives today. But nevertheless, we will see that Scripture does declare this true. So let's go, first of all, to the first book, the book of Genesis, if you will. So turn with me to Genesis chapter 2 in verse 7. Genesis chapter 2 in verse 7. We're going to begin here in the beginning of this study and go through several Scriptures just to solidify God's view on these things. So Genesis chapter 2 in verse 7, we'll begin here with a very clear statement as to the fact that God is our Creator and that life is a gift from God. One Scripture here from Genesis. Genesis chapter 2 in verse 7. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. Very clear. There you have it. On to Job. Let's turn to the book of Job. Job chapter 31. Job chapter 31 in verse 15 is next. Job 31 in verse 15, this we'll see is another clear statement regarding life as being a gift from God.

Job chapter 31, see this very clear statement here. Verse 15, Job 31 verse 15. Did not he, that's God, who made me in the womb, make them. Did not the same one fashion us in the womb. Very clear. We see who's fashioning this life in us. It's a gift from God. How about one more? One more. Isaiah the prophet. Let's turn to Isaiah chapter 44, if you will. Isaiah 44 in verse 2, another place where this truth is given to us. Prophet Isaiah. Isaiah 44 in verse 2, it says, Thus says the Lord, who made you, informed you from the womb.

Then if you allow your eyes to go down to verse 21, stay here in this same chapter. Look at verse 21 of Isaiah 44. Verse 21, Remember these, O Jacob and Israel, for you are my servant, I have formed you, you are my servant.

Then finally, if you allow your eyes just to go down a few more verses to verse 24. Verse 24, Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and he who formed you from the womb.

In fact, he says, I am the Lord who makes all things. So we'll stop there. So we turn to these references, these clear references, and lay down this first fundamental biblical principle, life is sacred because it is a gift from God. God is a giver of this gift.

Okay, second fundamental truth. Second fundamental truth. Life is sacred because man and woman are made in God's image.

The number two fundamental truth, life is sacred because man and woman are made in God's image.

Just one scripture to establish this. It's clear enough. I only need one. Let's turn it back to Genesis, if you will. Genesis chapter 1 and verse 27. Again, we'll just turn to one verse for this second fundamental truth regarding life. So we're going to look and see whose likeness and image that man and woman are created in. Genesis 1 verse 27, a very familiar scripture.

So God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. So verse 27, simple but profound. We, mankind, all of us, we mankind, we are created in his image. So we could say then, okay, with these two fundamental truths, what are the implications of all this? The Bible says life is a gift from God and that man is made in the image of God. So therefore, we could say then that man is not merely a super animal, if you will. You know, man is not just merely a souped-up gorilla. Now, the way some of you young people keep your room, your parents may wonder from time to time, but the fact of the matter is it's not true. You know, man is distinct from every other part of the created order. Man has received this gift, this gift of life, and he is in the image of God. That's why we understand then that human life is the most precious thing in the world. It's the most precious thing in the world. That's why then, human life is protected by God in the sixth commandment. We won't turn there, but we know Exodus 20 verse 13. You shall not murder. And that word murder there, it's used in relation to the unlawful taking of life. It is the heinous destruction of that which God made. You shall not murder. It protects the life of men, women, boys, girls. It protects human life, life which is sacred. Therefore, it protects all life. It even protects unborn human life. No matter how we want to choose to argue or define things, Scripture protects the fetus in the womb of a mother. In other words, the unborn child within the womb of the mother is protected in relation to the sixth commandment. God ordained it to be such. And therefore, the unborn child has the right to live. The unborn child has the right to continue in that continuum of their life. Life which began at conception. The unborn child has the right to be born.

Therefore, the right to life then takes precedence over every other supposed right that a man or a woman may know in this society. Let's think about that for a moment.

The right to life takes precedence over every other right that a man or woman has.

So the right to live, we would then say, takes precedence over the right to happiness. The right to live then takes precedence over the right to freedom.

The right to live takes precedence over the right to myself and my body.

However, you'll hear the charge from some that say the Bible never mentions abortion. If you search the scripture, the Bible has nothing to say about abortion.

In fact, that is true in the strictest of sense. If you search your Bibles, you won't find the word abortion in there. However, the fact of the matter is if you take scriptures and if you lay down the biblical principles, you'll discover that the Bible is replete with instructions that refer to this topic of abortion. Because we know in scripture, all things necessary for man is either directly stated in scripture or it can be deduced from scripture. It's a fact. Everything man needs is either directly stated or deduced from clear biblical principles. And I want to show you that that's definitely true, especially as it relates to this sanctity of human life and even abortion, the abortion matter. So let me show you an example of this. Turn with me to Exodus 21, if you will. Exodus chapter 21 in verses 22 through 25. And you'll see what I mean here.

Exodus 21, and we'll read verses 22 through 25. There's a little section that we're going to read here, and it does give us some insight on how God views life, and specifically life in the womb. Let's read this. So Exodus 21, let's read verses 22 through 25 here. Here's the scenario. If men fight and hurt a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished according as the woman's husband imposes on him, and he shall pay as the judge is determined. But, verse 23, if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. You understand this setting here. First up, a fight ensues here, and a pregnant woman is involved in the events. She gets caught up in it all when this fight ensues, and she gives birth prematurely to this child whom she's carrying. If both the mother and the child live, if there's no harm in this way, it says, then, you know, in laymen, in our current terms, a lawsuit can ensue proper fines, you know, whatever the husband imposes or whatever a judge determines. But, but, if either the mother or the child are killed, verse 23, if harm follows from this premature birth, in other words, if the mother or in the premature birth, the baby dies, then the penalty relating to that is death to the individual who caused this destruction to life. So, you understand what this is saying. The fetus, though enclosed in the womb of its mother, is already a human being. And if it comes forth prematurely and dies, then the person that caused that death was to die.

Life for life. That's verse 23. Not life for non-life.

Not life for pre-existent life in the womb. But life for life. Life which already exists in the womb. So, if she gives birth prematurely, if harm follows, then you shall give life for life, it says there in verse 23. There was a French theologian, John Calvin, who says, I think he puts it pretty well, if it seems horrible to kill a man in his own house rather than in a field, because a man's house is his place of most secure refuge, it ought certainly to be deemed more atrocious to destroy a fetus in the womb before it has come to light, he says. That's 16th century man, his thoughts. So, he says if it's bad enough that someone should invade a man's home and kill him there, you know, that's worse even than if he would have been killed out in the field somewhere. Well, think about how atrocious it is if a man would invade the security of the womb and kill a child before it could see the light of day. So, you see this progression of thought here.

Life is sacred because the Bible says it is a gift from God and because man is in the image of his Creator. And so, you have this link. It's really an unbreakable definite link. The purposes of God between himself and his, you know, his Son, the Creator, this link between the Creator and the Creation. So, anything that tampers with that link, it just flies in the face of God's purposes for that individual to whom he's made in his image, you see. So, life is sacred at whatever point. It's even sacred in the womb. Some have tried to also argue that the real issue, they will say, is when life begins. I know you've heard that. When does life begin? Does it begin at conception? Or you've heard there's some laws on the books that life begins at. You can't get a abortion after 20 weeks or whatever it may be. So, some arbitrary date. In other words, they're trying to figure out a certain scientific date through tests to make their determination. But just know, if you hear that kind of argument, you know right off the bat, and you can tell them it's nonsense. It's absolutely nonsense. You can tell them it's googly goop, whatever you want to say it.

Googly goop. That is a word, I believe. Google that. Check me on that.

But the Bible says, and what we're reading here, is the unborn child is alive from the moment that God begins to form the little boy or the little girl in the womb. That's what we've read.

And in fact, the Bible gives the thought that in a sense, in a real sense, the child is alive even before conception. Let's go to the book of Jeremiah, if you will, book of Jeremiah chapter 1 and verse 5. This is a very crucial fact here to see from Scripture. Jeremiah chapter 1, and we'll read verse 5. Jeremiah is writing here, this is speaking of Jeremiah, the future ordained prophet of God, and the word of the Lord came to him, it says. And here we're going to read regarding Jeremiah here. So Jeremiah chapter 1 and verse 5. Get this.

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. That's awesome. That's awesome to think about. How about one more? Psalm 139. Let's turn there. This is perhaps the best-known psalm in relation to these things. Psalm 139. So we're getting to this understanding. When they come to you and they start to have this argument about when life begins, forget life at conception. What about life before conception? That's what we're establishing here.

Look at this. Psalm 139 in verse 13 through 16. Psalm 139 verse 13 through 16. The psalmist writes, For you formed my inward parts.

You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Verse 16, Your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed. And in your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me. When as yet there were none of them. There were none of them. I'll stop there. Incredible. Your eyes saw my substance before yet being yet unformed. In other words, He saw you before you were created. So how far back do you want to push it? You tell them. How about before conception?

We look at Scripture and we discover this. So even in the cover of the womb, even before the womb, it's considered life. One more example supporting this idea here. And this is just giving us tools to have our ammunition, if you will. We'll be armed with strength from Scripture here. Let's turn to Luke 1. Luke 1 in verse 39. We're going to see that the Bible is the same Greek word, brathos, to refer to the child in the womb as it does to refer the child that's already born. Brathos. B-R-E-T-H-O-S. This is quite fascinating to see. So in the eyes of Scripture, God breathed these words. So what's the view of Scripture for the child in the womb and the child out of the womb? Look at this. Luke 1 verse 39. Let's read verses 39 through 45.

Luke 1 verse 39. Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste to a city of Judah, entered into the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. And it happened when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary that the babe, brathos, that's the word, leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, Blessed are you among women. Blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe, brathos, leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed, for there shall be a fulfillment of these things which were told her from the Lord. So the child here, brathos, leaps in the mother's womb. And this is describing John the Baptist before he was born. It's described as brathos. Same word, brathos, now describes Jesus Christ after he's born. Go forward one chapter, if you will, to chapter 2 here in Luke. In verse 8 through 12, let's read. Just to give us a little context here. Chapter 2, verse 8 through 12. Luke chapter 2 verse 8. Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over the flock by night. And behold, an angel the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. And the angel said to them, Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you, you will find a brathos, a babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in the manger. So they're both called brathos. The Bible makes no delineation between the child in the womb and the born child. And you see this actually throughout many other scriptures. You see brathos described as a child being bounced on the knee of Jesus Christ.

I hope this is very clear. We've turned to a number of scriptures. I hope that ones we've turned to, they've been helpful. But I think it's important for us to just take a moment and really, you know, think about what we've read and try to digest this for a moment. Because at this point when we're seeing all this scriptural evidence here and this truth, and it's important to ask if this is what the Bible says, and if this is true Christianity's claim, then why does society believe like it does?

Why does the majority of society believe counter to this understanding? How is it that we live in a society which allows us to abort all these babies? How does that happen?

And when you speak to these individuals, how is it that they can say, be so confused and say, how can you say that? Are you strange or something? How do you have a right to say what I can or can't do with my own person, my own body? That is much of society's voice today. And the reason society, I believe, ultimately believes in terms of their philosophies and proclaim what they proclaim, I want you to consider that it is as a result of a development of a way of thinking that by and large is in the realm of academia.

Academia. And these individuals who espouse these things that are counter to this, what they're displaying, and they may not even realize it, is something that's been going on for the better part of the 19th century. Let's follow this progression. 1859. Charles Darwin, the so-called great thinker, the great scientist, comes out with the origin of the species. And almost overnight, it's welcomed into hearts and homes. So many hearts and homes. Why? Well, if you know history, and since the Renaissance, especially Western society, has decided that they wanted to do without God.

Philosophers said that we don't need God. Let's try our best to do without Him. But because they're bright in their thinking, they realized that they had a problem. Because it was going to be difficult for them to remain intellectually sound, while at the same time propounding an existence without a creator. It's going to be very difficult to do. So when Charles Darwin dumps out the origin of the species in 1859, bingo! They have what they need. Not only can they get rid of God, but at the same time, they can remain intellectually sound in their own thinking, of course.

So they embrace evolutionary thinking. We don't need God. Why? Darwin has given us something that we can wrap our intellect around. And despite the fact that it was just a theorem, it was just a theorem, they took it to that which was proven, and they began to teach it in our schools and in our science classes. So they had a chance to eliminate God altogether. He never existed, they would say, and they could do all of this and remain intellectually wise. So evolutionary thinking developed in this way. The good news as man saw it is they no longer have to be accountable to any kind of responsibility. You know, there's no, when dad gets home, element to life.

God's gone. He's gone for good. There's no accountability, no concern for judgment. We're just animals. Can't be blamed for anything. If there's no one to make rules, then there's no rules. Man is, if you like, the child that's left at home for the first time. I know you've experienced that. I experienced that, and we're experiencing that with our kids. What happens with the child left at home for the first time? Mom and dad leave. They look, they highly look forward to that. Why? Well, they can eat 24 Oreo cookies if they would like to, you know. They can dirty up, mess up the kitchen, leave all the dishes in the sink.

They can leave all the utensils there until one day before they return, of course, and they'll clean it all up. And all that is true. But once mom and dad are gone, and once they fooled around to their heart's extent and messed up the kitchen, you know, what happens is the child begins to miss them. Especially mom, we could say. Why? Because he can't get rid of her without also getting rid of getting rid of the benefits she brings.

So evolutionary thinking, man's evolutionary thinking suddenly discovers that there's no structure left. And he discovers that then, really, there's no meaning left. That they're only an animal. God's gone. We've moved on without him. We don't need him. Terrific.

But as they think about it, wait a minute, what does that make me? You know, if there is no God, then I'm not made in anyone's image. So I'm just like a bunch of molecules, I guess, you know, whatever the belief is. I'm just a bunch of amoebas. I came from an amoeba, I guess. So they sat down and they thought about it and they realized, well, getting rid of God, we've, we've in a sense stripped ourselves of our human dignity. And now we're just merely advanced, an advanced animal. We've lost our human distinctiveness. So the price they paid for the freedom and the loss of God, they now lost security and frankly, they've lost meaning to life. So you see it sung about, you know, in the 60s, the Beatles come out with their hit.

He's a real what? Nowhere man. I think I heard it. Living in a nowhere land, making all his nowhere plans for no one. That summed up society. And the tragedy is, if you look at that period of time in history, they thought utopia was just around the corner, you know. It wasn't.

War, conflicts were around the corner. So suddenly man has a major problem. We got rid of God. We can do what we like. No one's home, but we're in this mess. A devil of a mess, if you will. And remember, we're trying to think of how humanity can progress to a level in a place that can allow us to abort all these babies. It begins with evolutionary philosophy. That's where it begins.

But as it happened, evolutionary, the evolutionary dream began to fade. It's not fulfilling. It only takes us so far. So the thinkers of society gather again, and they shift to another philosophical base. What do you think that philosophical base is? And getting rid of God, they realize, well, there's really no one to turn to. There's no one to call out to in time of trouble. So they got to call out to someone. Who do you call out to? Well, you call out to yourself. You call out to me.

And the philosophy that comes forth, then, is called existentialism. Existentialism. Root word exists. It's the philosophical view that humans define their own meaning to life.

Humans, man makes their own rational decisions, their own intellect.

Man burned the bridges to God, wears value to be found. Evolution leaves us as animals. That's no good. So we're going to move from the object scientific approach to life to the subject approach to life. And I'm going to get into myself. You hear a lot of those phrases. I'm going to get into myself. I'm going to be me. Existentialism will bring humanity to the place of now being exalted to the place of God. That's where we want to be. So not so concerned about humanity anymore. We're going to be concerned about, number one, me. The new songs that come out, the Beatles, George Harrison, then writes the song, I, I, Me, Me, Mine.

In the world, this is what was he talking about? What was the world looking to? Essentially, they're saying my whole existence can be explained in myself in this moment. I am the God of the universe now.

And the progression of thought continues. This new philosophy, though. And this new philosophy, though, it brings a lot of difficulty because we know there's only room for one God in this universe. And you see, if I'm God in my own existential philosophy, if I'm God, I could do what I want. If I want to lay in the middle of the street because it makes me feel good about myself, well, I'm going to lay in the middle of the street. Well, that's fine, but you have all these other existential gods running around, and they might not think it's important for you to lie in this middle of the street. They might think it they might just run right over you, you know, as they're authenticating their own existential existence. Why? Because they're living out their philosophy. So I'm going to come back to the abortion subject in just a moment. But this existentialism, all it is is a name that they put on selfishness. It's a philosophical name for selfishness. That's all it is. And so we hear then the words that can be uttered. I have the right to do with my body as I choose existentialism. I can do whatever I want with my body. I can conceive children. I can abort them. I can do that. I'm my own existential god. If you paint me in a corner and make me feel guilty about things, well, then I'm going to put my other glasses on and just say I'm merely an animal. You know, there's no rules. There's no god. You see, this is the society that we're living in. So you can see how we've progressed to this point. And it's all coming from man's intellect. It's really interesting if you think about this, and I know you see this in society. Because all this comes from man's intellect, there's a certain schizophrenia that's attached to it. Because it comes from man's intellect, you will see things that just don't make sense in their thinking. A certain schizophrenia. For example, in many cases, a child needs parental permission before she can get her ears pierced. But she may not need parental permission to abort the baby in her womb.

Unbelievable. It's a schizophrenic philosophy. And you see this throughout. Once you start to look at all these topics that come from man's intellect. The beautiful picture on the back of the magazine, you know, you have the blonde and you have the five o'clock shadow man, and the cigarette manufacturer there at the bottom, gives a governmental health warning to the smoking of cigarettes, especially during what? Pregnancy. Pregnancy. But there's no governmental health warning about the boarding of the baby in the womb. Society. Years ago, suddenly came to the realization and became concerned regarding disabled people. Rightfully so. And they thought to themselves, it's not right that a disabled person can't move in and out of a building. They should be able to move in and out of a building. The doors need to be wide enough. They need proper parking with large enough parking places. We need to be concerned about these disabled individuals of our society. Bathroom stalls. We need to make sure they can get in and out easily out of the bathroom stall. And all that's right. And all that's good. And as it should be.

Where the schizophrenia kicks in, I just saw this on the news just recently, where society says then now you can do a sonogram to see if your baby might be possibly disabled so that you might what? Decide to abort it.

Sick. It's sick. But you see that schizophrenic mindset.

And the reason you have that is because it's for man's intellect.

This is the society we lived in. We're steeped and stained in evolutionary thinking with an existential philosophy. So what are we going to do? What are we going to do? Well, we need to make a commitment to be biblical in our thinking. We can defend. We can become great defenders of the truth. God's Word be unequivocal, unashamed, and supporting biblical wisdom. And to the young people, if you learn these things, boy, when these topics come up in school, you'll be so far ahead in the argument.

You'll be able to take them lovingly by the hand. Show them. Wait a minute, you're wrong. Because your philosophy, it doesn't fit. Given these examples, it's inconclusive. There's gaps all over the place. You'll be able to tell them, here's the thing. God, the Creator, created the heavens and the earth, and He created you. And life is precious. You're now linked with your Creator on this continuum. He thought of you even before you were created and informed you just the way He wanted you to be. And therefore, you have purpose. Your life is sacred. It's purposeful.

So if you have a Creator, and then you have a purpose, let's talk about that purpose, you know.

You have a precious gift of life. God has made man in His image, and we have marred His image as a result of going our own way. We've marred His image. So how can that marred image be dealt with? Ultimately, it's dealt with in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came. He revealed His Father that we might believe in Him, and that we might fulfill our purpose. So your friends say, I don't believe it. And you know, they might say, I don't believe it, but they'll never be able to confound you. You know, the fundamental premises you've laid down, they'll never be able to confound you, because God's way makes sense. God's truth makes sense. Their way won't. If you can stay with them and have some of this knowledge in you, after a while, they'll just... they won't be able to defend their philosophies, because it's man's thinking. Only God's way makes sense. Abortion today is probably one of the most heinous evidences that man has gone his own way. I do want to say, before we conclude that, I think it's important that... to say that there may be, in a room like this, I don't know, those in a position, maybe years ago, five years, ten years, fifteen years, whenever it was, you walked into this, and you dealt with it, and you gave it over to God, you confessed your sin, and you've moved on. And suddenly the devil can come along and try to rattle your cage. What the devil will try to do sometimes is rummage around in the garbage can of forgiven sins, you know. But we want to be reminded that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from every sin. His grace is sufficient for you. And in his unbelievable sovereignty, he's able to take our apparent disasters and turn them into his perfect purposes. So if guilt ever grips you, I hope you know that. And we've all turned from God. So we need to identify where we've turned and turn back to him in those areas. Ask for forgiveness and move back to moving through life with him. Abortion is simply the result caused by the fact that man has turned his back on God, is living out his own philosophies, so man is dying in their own intellect. So it is into this society that we, God's elect, take a stand. It's into this society that we, God's elect, shine, shine in the darkness, lovingly shine. And it's into this society that we must proclaim life is sacred.