Untitled Sermon (13)

Abortion - What does God have to say?

Please follow along with me in your Bibles.

The abortion issue is of great significance to all people, but especially to the Christian. Is abortion right or wrong? The Supreme Court has ruled that abortion is a woman's legal right. But the Supreme Court is not the highest authority for the Christian.

The ultimate test for what is right or wrong is God, and what He says in the scriptures.

- Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

Notice it was not just Peter, but the other apostles also.

Those who believe in legalized abortion believe that a woman has the right to do what she wants with her body. Such is not in harmony with the Bible.

The prostitute, the heroin user, and the one contemplating suicide could all say the same thing. "I have a right to do what I want with my body." Yet is the person who thinks this way really only affecting himself?

We as human beings always have an effect on those around us. Much of the crime in this country can be traced directly to the use of drugs such as heroin and crack-cocaine. Drug users can say "It's my life and my body. I'm hurting no one but myself." But when that addicted body forces a person to rob or even kill to get money to support that drug habit, it gives a lie to that selfish statement.. Now we see that those who do such things force the rest of us to pay in higher taxes for more police, more prisons, more rehab, more sorrow, more pain, and more anguish!

But you say "Wait preacher! Abortion is not the same thing as drug use! People who have abortions don't cost us anything, they pay for it themselves!" Look at Planned Parenthood--one of the leading promoters of abortion--who got 272 million dollars of our tax money in 2005 alone! It DOES affect us!

But some will say, "Wait preacher! What about the war? Look at the money and life wasted there!" They do that to get us off the subject at hand. We are not talking about war. We are talking about abortion. One wrong does NOT make anything else more wrong or less wrong.

Besides that, I'm convinced that if we can at least do away with abortion, which sheds innocent blood, maybe God will have mercy on us and deliver us from our other troubles.

- That innocent blood not be shed in thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee. - Thine eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee. - And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood. - A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood.

What was the sin of Judas? Let's look at it from his own mouth:

- Saying, "I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood." And they said, "What is that to us? See thou to that."

Until we learn that what each of us does truly affects all of us in some way, we will continue to pay a terrible price in lives lost. I wonder which of those precious lives might have grown up and found a cure for cancer, or heart disease, or stroke, or might even have preached the gospel so that many souls might have been saved!

Romans14:7 - For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.

The Christian knows this better than more. The Christian belongs to God.

- What? Know ye not that your own body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

Many people think abortion in OK because "the fetus is not a human being." Yet the Bible teaches otherwise!

- And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Judah and entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth. And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: and she spake out loud with a loud voice, and said, Blessed are thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.

Let us look at a few things from this passage:

Joy is an expression of great happiness, pleasure and delight. Before John the baptist was born, while still in his mother's womb, he expressed joy!This could not be attributed to a blob of biological material.

The Bible also teaches that the "fetus" has a soul. When Job was in deep despair, he cursed the day of his birth.

- After this opened Job his mouth and cursed his day. And Job spake and said, Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.

What was conceived? A fetus or a child? As Job is in anguish, he says:

- Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?

He says that if he had died at birth, he would have been with kings and counselors, and included in the list of those he would have been with were:

- Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.

It is obvious that Job considered stillborn infants as having souls, since he classed them with all the others in death. I addition, James tells us the human body is dependant on the spirit for life.

- For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

It cannot be successfully denied that the unborn child is alive. To be alive, the spirit must be present. So by inspiration, we can see that both soul and spirit are in the unborn child.

Some say that a fetus isn't a human until it takes its first breath, referring to

- 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 soul.

They forget that everything that God created was then propagated by seed after its kind. The Bible does not say that God breathed the breath of life into every child from Cain onward. We are on dangerous ground when we wrest the scripture.

- As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

One of the most common words used in the New Testament for a baby is the Greek word brephos. It is used in:

- And it came to pass that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe [brephos] leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost. - For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe [brephos] leaped up in my womb for joy. - And this shall be a sign unto you; ye shall find the babe [brephos] wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. - And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe [brephos] lying in a manger. - As newborn babes [brephos], desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.

We can clearly see that the scripture makes no distinction, no change of word, whether the baby be in the womb or out of it.

Man makes mistakes from time to time. I have heard unexpected pregnancies referred to as "our little oops" "Our little surprise" and so on. Man might make a mistake, but God does not.

- For thou hast possessed my reins: Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth [Note: This is a Hebrew expression to describe the dark interior of the mother's womb]. 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.

The conclusion here is clear. If the unborn child is not a life, but rather part of the woman's body, then why did David acknowledge his existing as a being in the womb of his mother?

Some have used

as a proof text that abortion was permitted in the Old Testament.

- If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman's husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Their reasoning goes like this:

-

"And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death." Yet does not impose the death penalty, so the unborn child can't be considered a soul. The words "depart from her" are interpreted to mean 'miscarriage' by these people. Yet, the common meaning of the word yatza (to go out, to go forth, to come forth) in this context means "and her children come out."We can see that this does not refer to a miscarriage, but to a premature birth.This word is also often used to refer to the ordinary birth of children either coming forth from the loins of their father (, ; ; ) or as coming from the womb of the mother (, ; , ; ; , ).In no case is the word yatza used to indicate a miscarriage.In , it is used to indicate a stillborn child, but a stillbirth is not a miscarriage.Another reason that yatza refers to a premature birth and not a miscarriage is that there is a Hebrew word, shachol, that specifically refers to the event of a miscarriage. So cannot be used to prove abortion acceptable in the Old Testament.

So, what do we have now?

We ought to obey God rather than men.We are all adversely affected by abortion.We do not have the right to do anything we want with our own bodies.Abortion sheds innocent blood.Abortion is as the sin of Judas (betrayal of innocent blood).The Bible teaches that the unborn child is a human being.The Bible teaches that both soul and spirit are in the unborn child.The Bible uses the same word [brephos] to describe a child whether in the womb or out of it. - Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

If God formed Jeremiah, He also forms every other child. We can know this is true because God is no respecter of persons.

- Then Peter opened his mouth and said, of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.

It is my considered opinion that the greatest sin of our nation is abortion. And if we don't turn from it, in repentance, God will deal with us as he has with all the other nations which sinned against Him. If we do turn from it and turn back to God, He will bless us and deliver us from our enemies.

[Webmaster's note: We should also take this to heart when selecting our public servants. For if someone supports this great evil and we give them our support then we become partakers in their evil deeds (2 )]

Biblical Guidance Concerning Abortion Series

Contributed by James Mccullen on May 23, 2005 (message contributor)

(rate this sermon)

Scripture:

Summary: What does the Bible teach concerning abortion. It certainly holds up the sanctity of life. Please note all points and sub-points are tied to the scripture. This sermon is expository in style, you will have to open, and keep open, your Bible to get ful

123Next

BIBLICAL GUIDANCE CONCERNING ABORTION

1 The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, 2 to whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month. 4 Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, 5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations." (NAS)

What is your Decision?

Would you advise an Abortion?

1. Let’s say there is a man and his wife and they are at the bottom of the poverty level. They have nothing. Absolutely nothing. Except 14 children. And now she is pregnant again. Would abortion be considered acceptable here or should she just keep on breeding?

2. What if a man of one particular race (let’s say white) violently rapes a young girl of another race (black). Should the parents consider abortion? Do they have that right?

3. What if a man who is constantly sick has a wife with a dread disease, tuberculosis. What if they have four children. Let’s say the oldest is blind, the second is dead, the third child is deaf, and the fourth child has tuberculosis like the mother. Should she not have a fifth child. What if she is pregnant during her dread illness?

4. And lastly, so common in these days is the following example. We see it too often. A teenage girl gets pregnant. Her finance’ is not the father and he is very upset. What should they do? What do we as Christians tell them to do? What should society do?

Is there EVER a reason for abortion? Could we as Christians EVER justify the termination of a baby’s life?

The Key to these cases is in the final point.

Does it bother you that there are One Million abortions a year?

Do you realize that number is equal to all the people who live from here to Joplin? It helps to get anew perspective on the number of aborted babies.

We need a new perspective Biblically also.

Entire Denominations have aborted scripture from it’s proper place in maters of faith and practice.

Note this Presbyterian Statement.

The silence of the church about abortion is strange because it is a recent phenomenon. Beginning with the Didache in the second century A.D., the church through the centuries has unanimously and unambiguously opposed the killing of unborn children. Luther, Calvin, Bonhoeffer, Barth, and Thielicke all spoke against it.

(2) Indeed, a statement issued in 1856 by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States summed up the consensus of all the churches:

"[We regard] the destruction by parents of their own offspring, before birth, with abhorrence, as a crime against God and against nature; and as the frequency of such murders can no longer be concealed, we hereby warn those that are guilty of this crime that, except they repent, they cannot inherit eternal life."

From Presbyterians for Life: by Elizabeth Achetemeier, Ph.D., is adjunct professor of Bible and Homiletics at Union Seminary in Richmond, Virginia.

1. Biblical Guidance about God’s . . Composition of a Child. v 5 a

5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations." (NAS)

3335 yatsar (yaw-tsar’);

probably identical with 3334 (through the squeezing into shape); ([compare 3331]); to mould into a form; especially as a potter; figuratively, to determine (i.e. form a resolution):

A. God’s Composition Implies . . Origination. v 5 a

Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

1. The Theory of Evolution.

a. Attempts to tear away God as Creator.

2. The Society Today.

a. Attempts to remove God from our thinking.

21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use, and another for common use? (NAS)

Illustration

Soren Kirkegaard was a Danish theologian back in the last century. He once told a story of a bunch of thieves who broke into a jewelry store. They didn’t steal anything, they merely rearranged all of the price tags.

Biblical Guidance Concerning Abortion Series

Contributed by James Mccullen on May 23, 2005 (message contributor)

(rate this sermon)

Scripture:

Summary: What does the Bible teach concerning abortion. It certainly holds up the sanctity of life. Please note all points and sub-points are tied to the scripture. This sermon is expository in style, you will have to open, and keep open, your Bible to get ful

Previous123Next

Have you noticed: A fetus has a different price tag than a baby. When does a baby become a baby? When does a woman say she is pregnant? Conception determines pregnancy. Conception creates a baby.

B. God’s Composition Implies . . Ownership. v 5 a

Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

". . . therefore he was his rightful owner and might employ him and make use of him as he pleased, . . . "(from Matthew Henry’s Commentary) PP3 PP3

1. Great Pleasure in saying I belong to God and He don’t make Junk.

2. There is Self Esteem and Self Worth in Saying God made me and He don’t Make Junk.

Illustration

Suppose the womb had a window. How, how many Abortion Clinics could say "It is just a fetus or a POC product Of Conception (as an abortion clinic might say.)?

Application

The Bible Guides us to know this unborn Child is a Child and a Composition of God.

2. Biblical Guidance about God’s . . CARE for A Child. v 5 b

5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations." (NAS)

3045 yada` (yaw-dah’); a primitive root; to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing); used in a great variety of senses, figuratively, literally, euphemistically and inferentially (including observation, care, recognition; and causatively, instruction, designation, punishment, etc.) [as follow]:

A. God’s Care is . . PRE-CONCEPTION CARE. v 5 b

1. An all knowing God was not surprised you were born.

Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use, and another for common use? (NAS)

2. Most are rather common, but we are useful to God.

B. God’s Care is . . PRE-NATAL CARE. v 5 b

1. God Cares throughput the Pregnancy.

2. Partial Birth Abortion is against God’s Design.

Illustration

Some African-American churches, however, have come up with a solution. When a young woman gets into trouble in their neighborhood and conceives a child, the church "adopts" the woman as its daughter, sees her through her pregnancy, provides for her needs, aids her in supporting herself and her child, and integrates her and her family into its fellowship. All churches need to do the same.

Application We can do something like that.

The Bible Guides us to know this unborn Child is a Child and Care for by God.

3. Biblical Guidance about God’s . . CALL of a Child. v 5 c

5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations." (NAS)

A. God’s Call is a . . Consecrated Call. v 5 c

Consecrate 6942 qadash (kaw-dash’);

a primitive root; to be (causatively, make, pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally):

B. God’s Call is a . . Confirming Call. v 5 c

Appointed 5414 nathan (naw-than’);

a primitive root; to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etc.):

Biblical Guidance Concerning Abortion Series

Contributed by James Mccullen on May 23, 2005 (message contributor)

(rate this sermon)

Scripture:

Summary: What does the Bible teach concerning abortion. It certainly holds up the sanctity of life. Please note all points and sub-points are tied to the scripture. This sermon is expository in style, you will have to open, and keep open, your Bible to get ful

Previous123

Illustration Look at your bulletin Insert.

The First Case, a baby named John Wesley, was born.

The Second Case, a baby named Beethoven, was born.

The Third Case, a baby named Ethel Waters, was born.

The Forth Case, a baby named Jesus , was born.

Application

The Bible tells us the unborn baby has the Call of God.

CONCLUSION

On the Evening News with Peter Jennings the other night they had a special segment on Abortion and the Catholic Church.

It is a new ministry for those who have had abortions and feel forgiveness is beyond their reach. They are assured of God’s ability to forgive. That is a great ministry.

Dr. Ronald W. Scates, (a Presbyterian Minister) tells this story.

Becky Pippert is a friend of Anne’s and mine. She used to be the evangelism specialist for InterVarsity. One time she told me a story that helped me really understand God’s grace in the light of the Sixth Commandment. She led a girl to Christ. After this girl became a Christian, she began to agonize, feel tremendous guilt about the fact that she had an abortion a number of years previous.

She went to Becky and laid that out to her and said, "I really don’t think God could love me. I realize that I have done wrong. I have broken God’s command. I don’t believe He could possibly forgive me for taking the life of my child."

Becky said the Lord gave her a word for that girl that ultimately enabled God’s grace to break into that girl’s heart. She said, "Sally," (not her real name), "you may think of yourself as a murderer, and you think of yourself rightly. But you were a murderer long before you ever had that abortion, and so am I. You see, both of us nailed Jesus Christ to the cross and killed him. Do you think, Sally, that God has forgiven you for that?"

And Sally said, "Well, yes, I believe God has forgiven me for that, but I just can’t believe he’s forgiven me for the abortion." Becky then said, "Sally, God has forgiven you and me for killing His own very son. How much more can we find His forgiveness in something like an abortion?"

So all of us stand condemned here. In one way or another, we’re all in the same boat. But God offers you and He offers me, in whatever way we have broken that command, He offers us his complete forgiveness.

Dr. Ronald W. Scates is senior pastor at Central Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland. From Presbyterians for life on the Internet.

If we get this Nation back to a Biblical Morality, it will Include a knowledge about the unborn.

It will also Include a knowledge about forgiveness.