Sermon Tone Analysis

Opening Comments:

Today is Sanctity of Human life Sunday.

In a January 13, 1984 proclamation, President Ronald Reagan designated January 22, 1984 as the first National Sanctity of Human Life Day.

The date was chosen to coincide with the 11th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case that first recognized the constitutionally-protected status of abortion in the United States.

According to the Guttmacher Institute (an institute that tracks abortion statistics) there have been an estimated 59, 902,500 (through 2019).

Abortion would be the number one cause of death in the US if it were counted.

Just to give you some perspective:

Covid from 2020 to now 1,127,059

There has been nothing short of a holocaust upon the unborn in our country and those are just the statistics in the US.

The WHO estimates that there are 40-50 million abortions a year globally.

That should shake us to our core.

It would be safer to live in the Ukraine in a war zone than to be in a mothers womb right now.

On this Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, Im here to tell you that life is of immeasurable importance to God.

Christians need to pray for the prayers of God’s people are more powerful than politicians and judges.

We need to act.

It is no longer acceptable to just say we are pro-life, its time to put our money where our mouth is.

Thank God, Roe v. Wade was overturned this past year but the work isn't finished.

…we are supposed to speak out, raise our voices, to protect the innocent!

The Bible says that God hates the shedding of innocent blood…

Abel’s blood cried out to God when Cain killed him.

Revelation says the blood of the Christian martyrs cries out to God, “How long, O Lord, before you return and take vengeance.”

The victim in an abortion ranks as the most innocent victim ever sentenced to death.

Who will cry out for them?

The pro-abortion crowd yells and screams about freedom of choice.

It’s my body…WHAT ABOUT THE BABY’S BODY?

I imagine an aborted baby in heaven asking God, how could she do that?

After all, it MY BODY!

While you work tomorrow, an estimated 4,000 more innocent babies will be submitted to capital punishment, they will have no trial before they are executed.

They have no attorney, and will not be granted the basic rights of even a prisoner of war.

Not only will they not be treated humanely, not only will they not be afforded the basic anesthetics used by every veterinarian in the world, but they will die a torturous death, ripped apart by forceps and injected with toxins or being poisined to death by a pill, 4,000 per day...that’s a big number, and they are all precious in the sight of God!

It’s time the people of God rise up with some righteous indignation.

Violence is not the solution, but we have the opposite problem which is apathy, and natural forgetfulness.

But God hasn’t forgotten, and He is angry with the wicked every day!

Francis Schaeffer, that 20th century prophet and intellectual, warned us in the 70s that abortion was the beginning of a slippery slope of denigration of human life that would eventually lead to euthanasia and such things as physician-assisted suicides.

People were skeptical then, but it looks like he was right.

This morning, I want us to examine the fact that life is sacred to God and why that is the case

I. Life is sacred . . .

because God made it.

A. It was created by God.

B. It is protected by God.

C. It is valued by God

II.

Life is sacred . . .

no matter what its condition might be.

A. Life is a challenge in a sin-tainted world.

It would be wonderful if God’s original plan had materialized, but unfortunately sin came into our world and with it came pain, imperfection, injustice, etc.

God warned us of these challenges and enables those who trust in Him to be victorious through Him.

B. We must not overlook those who have challenges in this life.

I say this not only as the preacher today, but as the father of a child on the autism spectrum.

Jesus showed special concern for the lame, the blind, the woman with the issue of blood, the lepers.

In our day we mustn’t forget to do the same.

Ill.--Some studies report that as many as 90% of couples faced with a report of probable Down’s Syndrome will choose to abort.

Tests that also have a high false positive rating.

And yet, do you know anyone with a Down’s child that doesn’t tell you that child is the light of their life, an absolute joy, the most loving person they’ve ever known?

Ill.--Max

Lucado tells in his book, The Applause of Heaven, about a sweater that hangs in his closet.

He says he seldom wears it -- it’s too small, the sleeves are too short, the shoulders too tight, some of the buttons are missing, the thread is frazzled.

Logically, he says, he should throw out that sweater since he has no use for it and will never wear it again.

It simply takes up space in his closet.

That’s what logic says.

But love, he reports, won’t let him.

Why not?

What’s unusual about that sweater?

To start with, it has no label, no tag telling you "Wash in cold water."

That’s because it wasn’t made in a factory, produced on an assembly line as the product of a nameless employee earning a living.

Rather, it was the creation of a devoted mother expressing her love -- his mother.

That sweater is unique, one of a kind, irreplaceable.

Each strand was chosen with care, each thread selected with affection.

And so, even though that sweater has lost all of its use, it has lost none of its value.

It is valuable not because of its function, but because of its MAKER.

So is each life.

C. Our Lord placed great value on those whom society has shuffled aside.

While on his knees, the leper begged Jesus to make him clean.

The Bible says in

III.

Life is sacred . . .

because of its eternal nature.

A. Life exists before we enter the material world.

So technically, life begins even before conception!

B. There is life at new birth.

C. Our earthly life is simply a prelude to eternity.

In other words, we can know and be assured of abundant life while on the earth, and everlasting life in eternity with Christ.

Let’s do our part to insure those same rights to the unborn!

And if you are here and have only been born once, the Bible says you have to die twice:

But if you’ve been born twice, you only die once, at most, and Jesus Christ took the sting out of that death, took our hell for us, and will take us to heaven when we die if we believe!

Conclusion:

Now what should we do about abortion, and putting an end to the big number of little ones who are dying?

What not to do: React in violence.

It’s never right to do wrong.

What to do:

1. Be informed.

We can’t bury our heads in the sand.

Ignorance is bliss, right?

Well, ignoring the issue doesn’t make it go away.

There’s no better platform from which to proclaim this message than church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

2. Work and pray…for a way to overturn Roe v. Wade.

It is possible if we will speak up, vote, take our stand!

3. Teach sexual morality in the home.

We need to teach our kids a higher standard than “being safe”.

4. Have more compassion for the unwed mother.