The Person-hood and Dignity of the Unborn (July 19, 2020, AM)
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning!
We are going to do something a little different today.
In my humble but correct opinion, preachers should normally take a passage, find the main point of the passage, and make that the main point of their sermons.
Then the preacher should explain and illustrate things that aren’t clear and demonstrate how the passage can be applied to your life.
That is normally what I do.
Today we will venture outside of that norm a little.
We will see in this section of Luke chapter one, the person-hood and dignity of the unborn.
The Bible does not address abortion in 20th and 21st century America...
but it certainly provides us with principles that can guide our thinking.
I am sometimes tempted to think that our people don’t really need to hear about issues like the right to life or the biblical definition of marriage and the inherent sinfulness of homosexuality.
Because we already understand those things, don’t we?
We had better stop assuming!
In modern America, cultural change happens in the blink of an eye.
President Obama was against gay marriage until 2012. - Now, opposition to gay marriage would have you kicked out of the democrat party - or at least relegated to obscurity...
If you posted opposition on social media, you might be fired from your job.
They would be embarrassed by such a backward and oppressive person.
Gay marriage was illegal in most states until 2015.
Now, though, you would be hard pressed to find any poll in a high school or college where support for gay marriage was not overwhelmingly affirmed.
((I thought you were talking about the person-hood and dignity of the unborn - how did you get on gay marriage?))
I bring up that issue just to demonstrate how rapidly public opinion changes.
We have to speak clearly and frequently about what the Bible says about important issues.
The most important moral, social, and political issue is the right to life.
If this were merely a political issue it would not have much place in a sermon, but it is not merely a political issue.
It is the most important moral issue of our time.
When America finally faces judgment, I believe our murder of over 61 million unborn children since Roe v. Wade in 1973, will be, by far, our most damning sin.
Unborn babies, or fetuses, are fully human lives made in the image of God and worthy of our protection.
Unborn babies, or fetuses, are fully human lives made in the image of God and worthy of our protection.
let’s read together Lk. 1. 39-45
39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah,
40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,
42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!
43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
We are not reading here about potential human life.
The baby in Elizabeth’s womb leapt for joy at the presence of his savior.
Lk.1.15 told us that John the Baptist would be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb!
The Holy spirit did not reside in a mass of cells.
He did not reside in a potential life.
He resided in the person that would be named John and would live up to all the things foretold by the angel Gabriel.
=====
The Mosaic law defended the unborn on penalty of death.
22 “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine.
23 But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life,
God knows, and we know unless we go to great lengths to suppress the truth, that the unborn baby is a person who cannot protect himself or herself, but absolutely deserves our protection.
These verses describe a situation far less evil than the intentional murder of an unborn baby.
What will be God’s punishment for those who make their living by murdering babies?
It will be too terrible to imagine.
I would love to hear of an abortionist who came to Christ.
He or she would not get the punishment they deserve - just like I will not get the punishment that my sin deserves because I am in Christ.
But for those who never repent… someday justice will be served and I cannot imagine how terrible that will be.
Jesus loved children.
God loves children.
He will take vengeance on those who harm them.
The Development of the Unborn Baby is Controlled by God.
The Development of the Unborn Baby is Controlled by God.
15 Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?
13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
5 And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him— for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength—
15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace,
Could it be any more clear that unborn babies are people?
They are fashioned by God in God’s image for God’s glory!
Children are gifts from the Lord.
Children are gifts from the Lord.
3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth.
5 Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.
15 Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
16 But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.
The Bible condemns those who murder.
The Bible condemns those who murder.
We already saw that in Ex. 21.22-23 where we read that if you cause the death of an unborn child you pay with your life.
16 There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him:
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
Abortion is the epitome of the shedding of innocent blood.
Look with me at what God thinks of child sacrifice.
4 Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents,
5 and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind—
It was sickening and unthinkable.
You may say, “What about Abraham and Isaac?”
God tested Abraham’s faith, but he did not allow Abraham to go through with it.
((We may practice abortion in America, but at least it is not child sacrifice.))
I say it is indeed child sacrifice.
These children are not sacrificed to Molech, but they are absolutely sacrificed on the altar of convenience and self-interest.
Planned Parenthood is motivated by profit and, I believe, a demonic determination to see as many abortions as possible.
There we add the altar of money and the altar dedicated to the perverse culture of death that reigns supreme among so many of our politicians.
=====
What do we do?
What do we do?
Decide
Is this something I am willing to fight for?
If yes...
What can I do?
Pray
This is a spiritual battle.
The fascination with abortion and the maniacal fervor with which many support it is nothing short of demonically inspired.
Remember when the angel, probably Gabriel, told Daniel that he had been hindered by the Prince of Persia?
There are spiritual strongholds in this country.
They won a gigantic victory in 1973 with Roe v. Wade
What will tear down that stronghold?
Only God!
Pray without ceasing.
=====
Show Compassion
Let’s be very candid here.
Is abortion a sin?
Absolutely!
Are you ready to cast the first stone at those sinners?
God will forgive them if they repent and place their faith in Jesus.
Just like he did for me.
I have not come anywhere close to walking in their shoes.
No man has...
Most of you ladies probably haven’t either.
We need to speak truth about abortion.
It is murder.
It is reprehensible.
But...
We need to have compassion on the people who have had abortions.
Lost people act like lost people.
We really ought to know that.
We should also know that but for the grace of God, you and I would be lost too.
I hope you really believe that.
If you do, it will go a long way toward killing your pride.
=====
Vote
I have never and will never vote for a pro-abortion candidate.
Oh, so you’re a Republican?
Let me assure you that if a Republican nominee is pro-abortion I will not vote for that candidate.
What about economic issues or immigration policy or any of that other important stuff.
I agree those things are important, but I will never vote for a pro-abortion candidate because that is the most important factor for me.
Jonna