Life is Sacred

The title of our sermon is, Life is Sacred. Life is Sacred. And we're going to endeavor to turn to Scripture to see that Scripture emphatically and absolutely makes that statement. Not only that life is sacred, but specifically and particularly human life is sacred. And we're going to look to build a spiritual platform to which we can stand in defending our belief to others. I will say, personally, I have issues surrounding this topic that pull at my heart. And it pulls me in a way that is not which the Scripture directs me to. You may have had issues in our humanity where we have to bend our heart. We have to make our hearts and our minds subservient to that which Scripture says.

When you think about these abortion topics, and if you listen to any news radio for any period of time, you will find that some of the main issues for pro-abortion surround around two particular issues. One of the most common you will hear is, what about a birth which is brought about through a heinous act?

What about the conception that's brought about through the means of rape? What about abortion in the circumstances where the mother's life would be at danger if she went forward with the birth? These are complicated issues. And these are issues, again, and you may be like me, in which my human intellect, my human heart, pulls me in a direction that is not the direction of Scripture.

We want to grapple with some of these issues today, and I want to help myself and I want to help you be subservient to what God's Word is. What we will find is that God's Word is perfect, and my human heart is not. While it may seem at first the way to go, ultimately we know God's way is the way. So we're going to first look at two fundamental truths regarding the sanctity of human life.

Two fundamental truths. The first one that we're going to start off with is that life is a gift, and it's a gift from God. Okay, so that's number one. Life is a gift. The gifter is God, none other than God Himself. All life. In fact, there is no life that can come forth that doesn't have God's participation, you see.

When you start to grapple about these things and start to think about where your heart lies in some of these more difficult areas, just know that there is not one human life that did not have God's ordaining. Okay, and the second thing we're going to look at here in just a moment. Second fundamental truth is that human life is sacred because man and woman are made in the image of God. Every man, every woman is made in the very image of God. That makes life sacred. So it is that Scripture teaches us to this first point that life is a gift.

Every child in the womb of the mother, every child is fearfully and wonderfully made by God. And that statement flies in the face of much of contemporary society today, unfortunately. But let's look at a few Scriptures with regards to this first fundamental truth that life is a gift from God. Book of Genesis. Let's turn there first, if you will. We're just going to turn to Genesis chapter 2, beginning in verse 7, just to begin our discussion here with this first fundamental truth.

If you want to commit to memory, this first verse, and then out to the to the right of your Bible, you can then put these other linking verses to help you if you are in a moment that you're defending this truth. So the first Scripture to turn to Genesis 2 verse 7, in establishing that human life is, in fact, a gift from our Lord God. Genesis 2 verse 7, very clear statement.

It says, And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. So there's the gift there, simply stated. The gift of life comes from God's forming and breathing into man and woman. Next Scripture to establish this first fundamental truth, let's turn over to Job 31 verse 15. Job 31 and verse 15 is next. A very clear statement in progression of thought as we're establishing life as a gift from God, no matter the means by which that conception occurred.

So be thinking about this and how it relates to some of those tougher human heart-pooling questions. 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? Okay, very clear. It's a gift from God, human life. That gift is placed in the womb. We see. So just as we might place a gift in a box and give it to someone, God places the gift of human life in the womb. One more. One more. Isaiah 44 verse 2. We'll just look at Isaiah 44 verse 2 as one more Scripture to establish this first fundamental truth.

Isaiah 44 is a good chapter to turn to. It actually has several references to this first fundamental truth. Here's a third example. Isaiah 44 verse 2. Thus says the Lord who made you and formed you from the womb. Okay, and then if you go down to verse 22, excuse me, verse 21 while we're here. Verse 21. Remember these, O Jacob and Israel, for you are my servant.

I have formed you. You are my servant. There. And then if you just look at verse 24 here. Thus says the Lord your Redeemer. Verse 24. And he, God, who formed you from the womb. And if you go on to read the verses here, it actually says he created everything. He makes all things, of course.

So we turn to these scriptures for this first fundamental truth here. Life is sacred. Human life is sacred because it's a gift from God. God is the gifter of this gift. Get that in your heart and mind when you're thinking about these issues. The second fundamental truth. Number two, life is sacred because man and woman are made in the image of God. Made in God's very image.

Just one scripture to establish this one. Genesis 1 verse 27. Just one scripture we could turn to others, but we're just going to look at one to establish this second fundamental truth. We need just one. It's very clear here. In Genesis 1 verse 27. Commit this to your memory. Your memory scripture and your defense of this truth. Genesis 1 verse 27. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God he created him. Male and female he created them. That's a profound statement. We're created in the very image of God.

So think about the implications of these two fundamental truths here. Life is sacred. It's a gift from God. We're made in the image of God. We are not just some mere super animals, if you will. Man and woman is made distinct from every other part of the created order because of these two fundamental truths.

We are made distinct. We are made special. That's why we have to understand human life is the most precious thing in the world, isn't it?

And in knowing that and knowing the preciousness of it to God, he protects it. God protects it in the sixth commandment. We won't turn there, but you can find it in, of course, in Exodus 20 verse 13.

Very simply, you shall not murder. Why should we not murder?

Well, human life is a gift from God, and we are all made in his image.

That's why we don't murder. If you look at that original word, it says that word means the unlawful, unlawful taking of life. That's what that word murder means. It's the heinous destruction of what God has gifted. Okay, so it's in the law, simple in the law, you shall not murder. Thou shall not murder protects the life of men, women, boys, girls. Life is sacred. It protects all human life, and we know where this gift is placed, so it protects unborn human life in the womb. So, no matter how you choose to argue or define these things, Scripture, emphatically protects the lives of every fetus in the womb. In other words, it's protected in relation to the sixth commandment. God has ordained it that way, to be that way. That unborn child has the right to live. It has the right to continue on that continuum. That unborn child has the right to stay on the continuum between he or she and their creator. It has the right to stay on that continuum, and no human being has the authority to break that continuum, which began at conception.

So, when you begin to mold these things over and grapple with these things in our heart, and you take those examples, which they throw out, every talk show host throws this out. What about, and forgive me for being a little coarse with my verbiage, what about the young girl, the 14-year-old, that has conceived as a matter of a heinous crime? What about her? What about the mother whose life may be jeopardized if she has the woman, if she has the baby?

Is God sovereign over life and death matters? Let's ask that. Either is sovereign or not. Did that baby somehow come into existence outside of God's providential workings? No.

So, do we have the right to take it into our hands to determine whether that gift of God should be thrown away or not?

Again, my human heart, if you know how I am made up, I want to remove, I want to remove trial from individuals' lives. I want to remove it, you know, I want to remove struggle, particularly around struggle which has been created by sin.

My heart, my human heart says, oh, let me remove that struggle from you. But it's not right. I have to take my heart and make it subservient under God. That's what I have to do. And as we go along here, we see that when you look at these two foundational truths, we see that God has a wonderful plan for every gift He's placed in the womb. A wonderful plan that I don't want to be responsible for eliminating somehow. What might God have for a child that's born in such difficult circumstances such sinful circumstances? What God might have plans for that baby? Who am I to disrupt that which God has plans for? So with all of that, then, the right to life takes precedence over every other supposed right that man and woman have. Okay? The right to life takes precedence, then, over the right to happiness. The right to life takes precedence over the right to financial stress-free living. What are some of the other rights that it takes precedence over? The right to life takes precedence over the right to freedom. The right to life takes precedence over the right to myself and to my body.

And when you begin to piece these things together and you see, then, the heinous nature of abortion, you can see, held up against the two fundamental truths, you can see how God views these issues.

Now, one of the arguments I've heard is that the Bible never mentions abortion. All right? And to that argument, that is true. You will not find the word abortion in Scripture, but you will see, actually, that the Scripture is replete with biblical principle surrounding this issue of abortion. I want to just give you one place so that you can put it in your toolbox, your defense toolbox. This one place that specifically addresses this issue of abortion is found in Exodus 21 verses 22 through 23. I want to show you this. When you begin to look at Scripture, and we're not going to be able to look at all Scripture today regarding these things, I just want to give you a few very specific places that you can turn to.

One such place is Exodus 21 verses 22 through 23 here.

Exodus 21, we now have a scenario that is painted for us, and it gives us some real insight on this issue of abortion. Here it is. Here's the scenario. Exodus 21 verse 22, If men fight and hurt a woman with child, so there's our subject here, our topic, the child, so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman's husband imposes on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. Verse 23, but with regards to this woman and this baby, but if any harm follows to this baby that's prematurely birthed, 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. Stop there. Do you understand this setting? You know, the two men fighting around a woman who's pregnant, has not given birth, the fight ensues. If the fight results in no harm to the baby, then the husband of the pregnant wife can impose certain situations, the judges can impose fines. But verse 23, if harm follows, and from that fight, and the baby is harmed, and the baby dies, the individual who causes that destruction of human life to the fetus shall also die.

Life for life, it says. Now that's profound. So this doesn't say life for non-life in the womb. No, it doesn't say that. It doesn't say life for the life that did not exist in the womb. Or, you know, no, it says life for a life. Life for life that already began, already existed in the womb. One of the theologians, the early reformers, John Calvin, he gets it right on some things, gets it wrong on others. He does give us some good quotes from time to time. I wanted to make a quote from him with regards to this passage of Scripture. He says, quote, It seems horrible to kill a man in his own house than in a field.

That's because a man's house is the place of most secure refuge. Therefore, he continues, it ought certainly be deemed more atrocious to destroy a fetus in the womb before it has come to light. So that's a 16th century man's thoughts. You know, it's bad enough, of course, it's really bad to kill a man in a field. But somehow it seems worse, he says, to kill a man in his place of most secure refuge, his home. And then he applies that to the mother's womb. How atrocious it is then to kill a life, a baby, in its most secure place of refuge and protection in the mother's womb. So this is the progression of thought. Life is sacred. Why? It's a gift from God, and man is made in the image of that creator God. So therefore, human life is a definite, unbreakable link in the purposes of God between that baby and their creator. And anyone who tampers in that unbreakable link flies in the face of God's purposes.

Now, some so-called Christian professing individuals will say, I'm with you up to this point. Okay, I'm with you. But again, they're having heart tugs, their own human intellect, and they will begin to put forth the argument. I know you've heard it. Well, let's soften the blow, if you will, a little bit to our human intellect by placing some arbitrary timeline on when life begins. And you've heard it. You will say, they will say, ask, does life begin at conception?

Or can we put some arbitrary determination, let's say 20 weeks, or they'll say, ah, let's say when the heartbeat starts, you know, let's make it legal up until those period of arbitrary scientific ratings, or you know, whatever you may call it, to determine when life begins.

Well, when you hear that argument, immediately think nonsense, absolute nonsense, to try to apply some human scientific reasoning to determine from our own intellect when life begins. Absolute nonsense. Because what, you know, we've just read in a handful of scriptures that the gift is placed in the womb, of course, and so the unborn child is alive from the moment of conception. But I'll have you know, there is the thought in scripture that life actually begins before conception. Did you know that? Let me show you. This is profound. Jeremiah 1, verse 5.

When they start talking to you about this matter of when life begins, I want you to tell them life begins at conception and then really put them back on their heels and say, in fact, life begins before conception. Jeremiah 1, verse 5 here, they try to paint us in a corner. We can lovingly paint them in a corner, if we will. Jeremiah 1, verse 5. Look at what Jeremiah says here. This fact is crucial.

Jeremiah writes, this is from God here. Jeremiah 1, verse 5. Before, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. So God's speaking to his wonderful child, Jeremiah. Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you and I ordained you a prophet to the nations. Before conception. Before I formed you in the womb. One other place. Let's look at Psalm 139. This is perhaps one of the most well-known Psalms with regards to these things. Psalm 139, verses 13 through 16.

So it's this whole truth that life, life, true life begins before conception.

Awesome! Look at this. Psalms 139, verses 13 through 16.

The Psalmist writes, For you, God, formed my inward parts. You covered me in my mother's womb. There's the gift, of course.

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, look at this.

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.

Stop there.

Your eyes saw my substance yet being yet unformed.

And in your book, my days were fashioned when yet there were none of them there.

So no matter how far you push it back, in the Bible you'll discover that even in the cover of womb, even before the cover of the womb, we had life.

So I take my human heart, which leads me astray sometimes, and I place it under these scriptures, and then I want to come to the young woman. Young woman who has had the most atrocious, sinful circumstances applied to her, which led to conception.

And I want to show her these scriptures, and I want to reveal to her that God has a plan for that baby, even in the midst of the heinous circumstances in which it was conceived.

And let's overcome evil with good. Let's let God's light shine through this baby.

And in that way, we're putting to death evil, and we're putting to death sin, and we're glorifying God. What was meant to destroy you can actually make you.

And in fact, let's just marvel at the wonderful plans that God has for that baby. Let's just sit back and marvel at it as that baby's life continues.

Now, if you need one more help in defense, again, there's just the scriptures replete with all this. I want to give you just one more. It's found in Luke 1 verses 39 through 45.

Just real briefly here, Luke 1 verses 39 through 45, we see that Scripture refers to the baby in the womb and outside the womb with the same term, breathos, breathos, babe, referred to in the womb and outside the womb. Luke 1, looking at the passage verse 39 through 45, Mary pregnant along with Elizabeth. Mary arose and goes to Elizabeth's house there in verse 40. The greeting occurs here, verse 41, and it happened when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary.

So this is John the Baptist and Jesus Christ in the womb of their mothers. When Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe, the breathos, leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And if you go down to verse 44, verse 44, for indeed as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe, she says, breathos, leaped in my womb for joy.

Okay, so that's chapter one here. The babe, breathos, John the Baptist, before he was born called breathos. And then if you go one chapter later, Luke 2 verses 8 through 12, after Jesus Christ is born, the shepherds in the fields there, verse 8, they are dispatched there. And going down to verse 11, Luke chapter 2 verse 11, for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord, and this will be assigned to you, you will find a babe, breathos, wrapped in swaddling clothes, cloths, lying in a manger. Let's stop there. So here Jesus Christ, the newly born babe, referred to as breathos, the babe in Elizabeth's tummy, referred to as breathos, same term. So of course this makes sense. The Bible doesn't differentiate. It's all life, we say, of course. So we get to this point and we established our foundation, and I think it's important for us at this point to have some understanding of how we got to this point. You know, for us to be the best defenders of this truth, the best apologetic put forth, the best apologetics with regards to God's truth, we need to really consider how we got to this point. When you turn on the TV show and you see the fervor to which is being displayed to defend the right of women to have these abortions, you may, like me, wonder, how did we get to this point? It wasn't so long ago, if you look at the polls in which most men and women in this country, whether they're a Christian or not, most had the same view regarding abortion, but it seems with enlightening speed we've gotten to this point where there's such a fervor and an anger in a fight to defend the unlawful termination of these lives. How did we get here? You ever wonder that? How did we as society, by and large, get to this place where we are becoming more and more the minority in our view that we're putting forth today?

How did we get here? Well, when you take a glimpse at history and society, you will find that, by and large, the development of this kind of thinking of where we are today began and was perpetrated in the realm of academia. Okay? Academia.

When in the year 1859, there was a certain so-called great thinker that came on the scene. Many of you may be ahead of me. This so-called great thinker in 1859, his name was Charles Darwin.

Scientists, a philosopher, comes forward with the origin of the species, and overnight it was welcomed in the hearts and minds and homes of people. And as history went forward, since the Renaissance, Western man, Western society, decided that they wanted to go without God. Philosophers said we don't need God and we're going to try everything we can to put Him out of our lives. So when Charles Darwin dumps the origin of the species in 1859 out into society, they said, bingo, here we are. We can get rid of God and also stay intellectually sound according to our own thinking. We're going to embrace evolutionary thinking. Darwin has given us the mechanism to do so, even though it wasn't proven. It was still a theorem. It was then brought into our schools, and every science class at that time has continued to preach it. They eliminated God altogether, and they were able to remain, quote, intellectually wise. Their evolutionary thinking developed in this way. God is gone. We don't need Him. Terrific man said we will put forth this theorem as proof.

And we're going to teach our young minds since the earliest of days in academia.

Well, that went well for a while. That went okay.

But after a while, man, the great thinkers of this world, began to ponder it again. And they began to think, you know, it's not necessarily a pleasant thought to think that we have come out of a warm gelatinous pool, and we crawled out of it somehow, and to become the beings we are today.

So, in getting rid of God and embracing evolutionary thinking, we've really stripped ourselves of any kind of dignity, and we've really made ourselves just advanced animals. So, what began with evolutionary philosophy didn't stay there. The evolutionary dream began to fade. The great thinkers of society came back together. In getting rid of God, they've reduced themselves. And if it's one thing man doesn't like, is they have to reduce themselves.

And so, the philosophy that came next, which is what we're living in today, was a philosophy which exalts man, and it's a philosophy that they put forth which is existentialism.

I won't tell you how to spell it. It was an existential philosophy. Existentialism.

And it's a philosophy that exalts man. So, evolution brought man low. They didn't like that. Existentialism would bring man high, and therefore satisfy the pride. This is the philosophy we want to go forward with. And now, today, with this new philosophy being perpetrated, the concern is about number one. And that number one is me. And essentially, now, I am God. Okay? So, we got rid of God that left us low. Now, we're going to exalt us ourselves, and we're going to make each one of us our own gods. Existentialism. We can each be the God of our own universe. There's different issues that come from existentialism that we see today.

If I am my own existential God, and I want to go lie in the street, because that's my right, that's great. But the problem is, I'm not my only existential God living here. And we have all these other existential gods that might not like me laying in the street, and they might decide to run over me with their car. You know, that's their right. They're the God of their universe. So, we see all these issues occurring today.

Now, I'm going to get back to the abortion subject in just a moment, but it is existential thinking when you hear the phrase, I have the right to do with my body what I choose. Okay? That is existential philosophy to its core. That is the exaltation of man to be their own God. You see, I can do whatever I want with my body. I can live whatever immoral life I choose. I can conceive, and I can get rid of. You see, I am my own God of my universe, all coming from man's intellect. We're steeped in evolutionary thinking, all with an existential philosophy over it all.

And when you begin to look at this, you begin to notice.

I need to come up with a different term on this, but what you'll begin to notice is, as this begins to play out in society, you will see that there's breakdowns. There's a certain kind of schizophrenic thought which comes along with this philosophy, where they end up battling against themselves sometimes, where if you hear the interviews, they are talking about the preciousness of the mother's life.

All the while thinking, those same words could be applied to the preciousness of the baby that they're wanting to get rid of. So, you see, whenever it's man's intellect, you'll know it, because it just, it'll eventually, it'll conflict against each other.

And they just will get louder when they're called to truth. You see this in a number of ways.

In certain areas of the country, you still need parental permission.

The girl needs parental permission to get her ears pierced, when in other parts of the country, they don't need parental permission for abortion today. So, you see, that's intellect, that it's a certain schizophrenic type of, it doesn't line up.

I remember it's not so much anymore. Back in the day when we had magazines, I know those of a certain age will remember this.

Kids, you'll just have to take my word on it. When you turn the magazine over, there was actual pages, kids. When you turn the magazine over, you will, you would find inevitably a very good-looking brute of a man, usually in a cowboy hat in a five o'clock shadow, and you would find the woman there, and they both had cigarettes in their hands, making cigarette smoking attractive. But if you allow your eyes to go down, what you found was a box, and there in that box, you had the governmental warning, the government's health warning there, and the government health warning said this risk, smoking cigarettes can be dangerous, especially during what? Pregnancy.

So, governmental warning against smoking could affect this precious life in the belly.

Today, where are the governmental warnings regarding the abortion of a baby? You see, and that was not that long ago. That was not that long ago. So, you see the speed by which we've moved away from God. I'll give you one more. You'll know it's human intellect when butts get up against each other, and they don't have an answer for this. Over the last decade or so, society has become very concerned with disabled people. Rightfully so. A big push. One or two decades ago, we have to make sure that every business has a ramp for the disabled person. We have to make sure that the stalls are big enough. You name it. Heavy fines would be placed if a business didn't adhere to it, even be shut down.

It's right and proper.

But here's where men's man's intellect kicks in. The same society that says we must have bigger bathroom stalls for the disabled is the same society that's pushing today to allow sonograms to occur. And if they see that that baby's disabled in any way, to allow them to get rid of it. So you see, that's the schizophrenic type of thinking that when we lean on our own thinking, it will always lead us astray. God's way, God's thinking, we must be subservient to it.

So again, we're steeped and stained in evolutionary thinking, all the while adding an existential philosophy, and here we are.

So what are we going to do?

It's a lot. It's a lot. What are we going to do? Well, we know ultimately we need to stand.

We need to stand for God, stand for the Bible, be unequivocal in supporting the biblical truth, let our young people teach our young people to be strong with regards to these things when they come across their friends at school, to kindly acknowledge to their friends that they don't know what they're talking about when they support abortion. It is wrong. We can tell them that.

And we can tell them God has a plan for every baby. He created you, He created me, and He placed us on a continuum that His will is that we would have eternal life forever with Him. Every baby. Every baby.

God has a plan for every baby. Now, how that will come about after Christ's return, we don't know, you know, how will these precious lives that God formed that were terminated early, how will they be brought back and given their opportunity? It's going to be so wonderful to see what God has planned for that. But we know all life is sacred beginning from the very beginnings, even before the very beginnings. Abortions. Abortion today is the heinous evidences that man has gone its own way.

I will say, and I added this later on, I think it's important, anyone here or anyone listening in, if you have come to this issue and you've had to deal with certain circumstances in your past that you have asked God for forgiveness for, He has forgiven you, you can let it go, you can move forward, you can stand on truth in a greater way now. You might even be able to, in a peculiar way, help others who are going through this. So, this is not mine, but I love this phrase. Satan loves to rummage around in forgiving sin and bring it back up to you. Don't let him. It's been forgiven. In fact, use that forgiven sin and those circumstances of who you were to now champion God's way in a greater way. And you'll have a very authentic voice. Some of the sin that I created, that I did back in my youth, I'm able to really, I'm forgiven of it, I've changed, I've repented, but I'm able to really connect with people that have those same struggles. So, it can be a great tool. So, if you came across these things in your past and you've had to deal with some of these things, I'll just remind you the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from every sin and His grace is sufficient in that way. But we know all of us have turned our backs on God in certain areas and we've moved on through life without Him, but we see abortion as simply a result caused by man who has turned his back on God. As we heard earlier, we all need to repent and go forward with God's law written on our hearts and minds. Man is dying in their own intellect and in society we need to take a stand, God's people, and in society we need to shine out as light and every day proclaim the sanctity of life.