God's Case Against Abortion & Regard for the Unborn

Those were some good good hymns and some good questions that we covered on the means of grace. These are very important for the Christian life and I had a few other announcements to make. One is with respect to tithing.

I know I've mentioned this before a little bit. But we wanted to just encourage everybody. What we're doing is we're saving our tithes in our savings accounts, so we're just kind of storing them off until we get ready to Accept donations as a church body.

So.

We just wanted to encourage you to to do something like that and obviously to give. You can also give to other ministries or biblical ministries and things like that. I Wanted to.

Also.

Lift up pastor Dave Hendricks who from Santa Teresa Church where Jeremy and Alethea have been coming from and he he's he's been doing chemo treatments five days a week. So we just want to pray for him, and he's been feeling a little weaker and things like that so.

Just want to go ahead and keep it. Just keep him in prayer.

And.

So.

I wanted to start a I think it's going to be a series on abortion and I'm really I've really been Convicted about this and just been really learning a lot about this subject and so. But before we do that let's go ahead and start with a word of prayer.

Our precious gracious and Heavenly Father we thank you Lord for the opportunity for this precious Lord's Day to gather together as a church. And as a people that want to seek your kingdom and your righteousness first and foremost we ask that you would bless the gathering of your people and the preaching of your word and also, we ask that you help us Lord to be faithful and Faithful Christians who walk after your your kingdom statutes and Lord help us to Open our minds to the truth and to be receptive to the what your word has to say about this incredibly Pressing subject of abortion Lord and about the unborn Father we we thank you.

We also thank the The fathers that are with us today. We ask that you would bless the fathers and so as we celebrate Father's Day as well and For those who no longer have their fathers with us. We ask that you would encourage them knowing that you of course Father Our our heavenly heavenly Father and that you sustain us and encourage us and In these times Lord, we thank you and we ask this in Jesus mighty name.

Amen alright, so I wanted to start out by really Thanking our Amazing. We really have such an amazing group of people here with us, and I'm so grateful for you all and I just wanted to especially thank our brothers and sisters who have been actively Participating in abortion ministry for some for many years and I'm just very grateful for the opportunity that God has given us as a church and to really Have an opportunity to to be witnesses and to be true to be the salt and light on this issue in our in our community and in our county and I know a lot of our the sisters here with us they go out and protest at abortion clinics, and we've been speaking at City Council and you know giving five minutes of public comment and just defending the unborn and exposing the evils of abortion and Planned Parenthood, and I've just been very encouraged by that and Sister Elizabeth has been sharing us some really good news on that which I also wanted to mention her as well sister Elizabeth Crawford She's been doing Abortion ministry for a long time and many years.

I'm sure is that how many years now? Do you know about ten years? So yeah Very grateful for her and for the amazing work that she's been doing and really helping us allowing us to be a part of that and just be a just try to be a really be salt and light on such a pressing issue of our time and I'm very just I've just been very encouraged by by her and by the brothers and sisters who have been Participating and and and I want to encourage all of us to do so to participate and to and to In whatever way that we can and so.

We also.

Wanted to I Wanted to mention I've been contacting trying to contact different ministries and different people Regarding this issue and I was able to procure an order of a book from life dynamics. And I mentioned I quoted life dynamics quite a bit in my my speeches to City Council.

They are in then doing abortion ministry work for like 40 years or so and they have a book called lime 5 and.

And.

This book is basically it's an in-depth expose of the abortion industry and They graciously Allowed us to order a whole box free of charge just pay the shipping. So They were very they've been very gracious very generous.

They even give me another copy of Mark Richard's book.

Siege.

Which is a pro-life field manual and this is also by Mark Crutcher. He's the president of life dynamics. And so today we wanted to give you all copies, you know of this book. You can take a copy of this book for yourselves and if you also know somebody that you think would benefit from this book by all means grab them a copy and Hand it out to them.

And so we were also thinking about giving copies of these to the City Council Members the commissioners and things like that just to kind of Help people to see the reality of what abortion really is and what it entails so, you know after the service by all, you know, feel free to take your copy and for anybody else that you think would benefit from it and With that said I also wanted to Encourage all of us as well to attend and or protest the week at the weekly council meetings like I mentioned Monday's at 930 and It's at the the main court the court downtown down in San Antonio here and They're going to be closed on Monday for Juneteenth.

So they're going to be closed. But you know next week they're going to open up and in fact, I think next week is when they're going to announce The Women's Commission what they ended up deciding on the Women's Commission and some exciting updates on that.

Is that they were supposed to make the the final determination on the Women's Commission last week? But I think because of the protesting They've started to reconsider maybe what they're gonna what they're gonna make the Women's Commission about so there's some exciting.

We've really been making a dent I mean just a small little church of you know, four or five people there and it's amazing that the Lord has really been using this to.

Help.

Bring righteousness and life to our county. And so that's some very exciting news. So I encourage you all to participate to attend if you can even if you can't attend in person. You can still attend online through their YouTube channel and you can also view the presentations that that we've made on the YouTube channel and You can also Make a public comment by calling in so you can also call and or video video cast and make a public comment and share what you want to say about abortion or Planned Parenthood things of That sort and so just really exciting things that the Lord is doing With us in our church, and I'm looking forward to what what we're going to talk about today as well.

And also, this is really really important because We're as a church we need to prepare ourselves.

To be.

To be the church and to be salt and light, especially to those struggling with the the concept or The decision to make an abortion or with unplanned pregnancies we really want to encourage everybody to be open and willing to help right because You know, I've already made the announcement other sisters have made the announcement that we if you need help Contact us on our website at our crown ministries calm and We can help you because we believe that the Lord will provide richly beyond Even what what you're what you need so we know that the Lord provides and we believe that God will provide and help us to be ministers of truth and of The healing that healing balm that they need and so we want to just encourage you all to share the truth With these with women who may be struggling men who may be struggling with abortion with the gospel with considering even possibility of adopting Financially helping with you know appointments or diapers, you know, all of the all of those things.

Maybe even giving women shelter, you know, just just the different things that that we might Be that we might encounter as a church as we get more involved in this kind of ministry. So we just want to be encouraging you all to keep an open be open about those things to consider those things and just just Try to do what you can as we seek to glorify God in this very important work, you know.

We've been pretty much the only church that's been protesting a month on Mondays. And even with that it's been amazing to see the Lord What the damage he can do with just a few a few faithful few right so.

But at the same time we also want to encourage other churches that we are that you know that are solid that are sound to also.

Participate and.

The Biblical Case Against Abortion

For the introduction I wanted to also This is going to be a little bit unorthodox you might say I wanted to read from a textbook that I read in that I read In college, this is in one of my religious studies classes.

It's a book called exploring the philosophy of religion and this book is Is I think typical of many popular college level textbooks when it's talking about Religious studies or religion in college. You're gonna find This is very common.

You're gonna find this to be the common Doctrine or teaching that you'll see in in universities and. So this author David Stewart, I think he's a professor at Ohio University he says this. If one were to look for the term abortion in either the Jewish The Old Testament or the Christian the New Testament scriptures.

Nothing would be found. The term does not appear there nor is the issue discussed in direct terms. There is no commandment that says thou shalt not commit abortion. So those looking for scriptural guidance for their views have to look for more indirect guidance.

There is of course the sixth commandment Which in its Jewish version says you shall not murder and in Catholic and Protestant version says you shall not kill. The question is whether these prohibitions apply to the pre-birth human or only to human beings who live independently of their mother.

The answer is not given in Scripture. But is brought to the reading of Jewish and Christian scriptures by those who look to those passages to defend their views. In other words, he's accusing us of isageating the text when we say that God condemns abortion.

That's what he's accusing us of. Other biblical passages include Exodus 21 22 through 25. Which applies mosaic law to cases when violence to a pregnant woman Results in premature birth. And in Psalm 139 13 through 16, which describes the gestation of a fetus as being fearfully and wonderfully made neither citation gives unambiguous guidance to the issue of how to assess the status of the fetus in The New Testament.

The reference in Luke 1 41 through 42 to Elizabeth's awareness of the presence in her womb of the child who would come to be known as John the Baptist is Sometimes cited by pro-life adherence. This passage of Scripture However says that the child was six months old well past the time when pro-choice adherence usually defend termination of a pregnancy.

So you can see the shallow Abominable treatment of Scripture that these professors.

Have and.

The you know, this is influenced our students. College students, including Christians who attend secular universities even Christian universities are. There's Christian universities that also teach that abortion is okay, and.

So.

This is dangerous ground dangerous territory one thing that you might have noticed. He said that the word abortion is not in the Bible. You see this frequently in many people who try to argue For something called the word concept fallacy.

Just because the word is not there does not mean the Bible does not have anything to say about it. One perfect example is the Trinity. Right, the word Trinity is not in the Bible that was I think coined by a Tertullian who was in their early Christian apologists.

So that doesn't mean that the Bible does not teach the Trinity the concept the doctrine of the Trinity is clearly taught in the whole Council of God. Similarly abortion we will see is clearly condemned in the Bible.

But this is why we need this is another Important lesson for us to beware to beware of any categorical or universal claims That make general statements. About the in general, but about the Bible in particular.

Right. So the claim that abortion is nowhere directly discussed in the Bible or you know you also see this another and other Christian movements that Tend to truncate the Bible such as New Covenant theology.

They tend to oversimplify the Bible. They tend to overlook certain parts of the Bible that teach covenant theology Lordship salvation they tend to again oversimplifies or may over generalize Certain commands of script and Christ saying forsake all that you have and follow me.

They tend to make they tend to make Over-generalized passages when they are not meant to be applied in that way to everybody or in every situation. Similarly also like pietism. Pietism is is essentially the over emphasis on emotion and experience at the expense of doctrine.

Okay, so all of these are truncated forms of Christianity due to either misinterpretation oversimplification and especially a lack of systematic harmonization of doctrine and Scripture. You have to bring you have to take the whole Council of God.

You cannot ignore the whole Council of God. You got to study it comprehensively and you have to make sure that you're not leaving anything out when it's Talking about a specific issue like abortion okay, and Now while these movements may not necessarily be heretical they are however Often very imbalanced and they can lead to dangerous inconsistencies and be very problematic because of that.

Because theology has consequences right what we believe has consequences.

And.

You saw how this book gave an extremely shallow truncated assessment of Scripture and Dismissal of basically all pro-life Christians who say abortion is murder. But this is what you're going to find in a lot of campuses probably most campuses today.

That's the kind of treatment that they're going to give. So the first section I have here is on the biblical case against abortion and for the unborn. The second will be the spiritual reality of abortion and the third will be abortion in the public sphere in society and politics.

So Isaiah 820 says to the law into the testimony if they do not speak according to this word It is because there is no light in them. So it's a very thought was a very fitting way to open. What does the scriptures actually say?

Let's dig into the scriptures to see what they actually say about the issue of abortion. So let's start out with Exodus 21 verse 22 through 25, that's the one of the passages that he mentioned and here in That passage You'll see a very specific situation That deals with the concept of abortion.

Exodus 21 22 through 25 it says this. When men strive together and hit a woman So that her children come out, but there is no harm. The one who hit her shall surely be fine as a woman's husband shall impose on him and he shall pay as the judges determined.

But if there is harm To the baby in other words, then you shall pay life for life. I for I tooth for tooth hand for hand foot for foot burn for burn wound for wound stripe for stripe. So I don't understand how this.

Professor.

Doesn't realize the explicit teaching here that if you Get in a fight with somebody and you hit a woman on accident or if you hit some a pregnant woman and she aborts her child because of it her child dies miscarries, then You will have to pay with your own life.

It's clear as day here you get capital punishment if the child dies. If the unborn child dies you will suffer Capital punishment and this is God's Word. This is God's law. So that itself shows you how God sees the unborn.

He sees them as human life as human beings with the same status as somebody who is born. They are treated equally.

So.

The concept of Abortion being condemned is clearly there in this very passage the intentional Unjust killing of an unborn child is condemned as murder and even if it wasn't intentional God takes it so seriously that even if it's not Intended you didn't intend to hit the woman, but if you Kill the child you still pay the price with your life.

So God considers unborn children Equally with born persons thus killing an unborn child is punished by death in the Old Testament. Okay. Similarly if we turn to Genesis chapter 9 verses 5 through 7 We'll see a similar concept here.

I Believe it's called There's a Latin term for it. I think it's called Lex Talionis Which is the eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, tongue for a tongue, lip for a lip, life for life, foot for foot. So Genesis chapter 9 verses 5 through 7 it says this surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning.

From the hand of every beast I will require it and from the hand of man From the hand of every man's brother. I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood By man his blood shall be shed for in the image of God he made man and as for you be fruitful and multiply bring forth abundantly in the earth and multiply in it.

So here we see again Another very important doctrine related to this. That's the imago Dei Right the image of God We are created in God's image and in the letter of Corinthians It goes even further and says man is the image of the of the invisible God.

We are God's image therefore killing a human being is Punished with the highest form of earthly punishment, which is death.

So.

You shed man's blood your blood will be shed and That's man's blood. The blood of the unborn is man's blood it's human blood so you will be guilty of.

Murder and.

So.

Another passage that David Stewart mentioned the professor Was Psalm 139. Let's turn to that Psalm. Psalm 139 many of you probably are familiar with the psalm. It has a very special Amazing description of what happens in the womb when a child is there starting at verse 13.

Psalm 139 starting at verse 13. So in Psalm 139 Verses through 13 through 16. It says this for you formed my inward parts. You knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works. My soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret intricate intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 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. This is an amazing passage and it shows you the predetermined counsel the predestinating power of God's providence and Will how even though The days were not yet there.

That last passage of verse 16 the days that were formed for me when as yet there was none of them. God has already Predetermined every single one of our days. Every one of our sins every one of our actions every one of our good works has been prepared beforehand sovereignly by God.

So for you to say that you can kill an unborn child is to you're basically undermining and spitting on God's predestinating Will because God has a purpose for every one of us. Now, of course God predetermined abortion as well.

Abortion is not an accident. It's not something that God didn't foresee. He predetermined every single baby that was is and will be aborted. Because God is sovereign and he has a reason for everything that he does.

But you see how God takes seriously the unborn. Even when the unformed substance God is still Preparing us individually for a specific purpose.

So.

For you to just simply crassly say we can kill the child in the unborn womb if as long as it's within certain time period. Or whatever you're you're taking the place of God. Because you're not sovereign over that life.

God is the only one who is sovereign over life right. Similarly, let's turn to another passage again. He he mentioned three passages. There's scores of scriptures that talk about this issue. One of them that he didn't mention was psalm 22.

Let's go to psalm 22. Psalm 22 has other very pressing words for the issue of abortion and the unborn. Starting in verse 9. So psalm 22 starting in verse 9 through 11. Yet you are he who took me from the womb.

You made me to trust you. You made me trust you at my mother's breasts. On you was I cast from my birth and from my mother's womb? You have been my God. Be not far from me for trouble is near and there is none to help.

So here you see verse 10. From my mother's womb you have been my God. God is sovereign over every individual including the unborn. Even before they're born. Right. God said even before creation even before the foundation of the world.

God had thought of each and every one of us in his mind.

And.

So in the womb God is still God. God is still sovereign. Over those who are unborn and then also jumping down in psalm 22 to verses 30 to 31 Posterity shall serve him it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation They shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet.

Unborn.

That he has done it you see. When you try to say that we can kill an unborn child for whatever reason. What you're saying is you're that's a denial that's a denial of God's sovereignty. That is an attack in an undermining in a denial of God's sovereignty and of his predestinating power over every single human life.

And you will answer for that. If we throw if we thwart Human life whether it's at the conception whether it's after birth. Whether it's six months in the womb or later. You will answer to God because you are dealing with somebody made in his image.

Boy or girl doesn't it does not matter. So similarly another psalm that he didn't mention is psalm 71. So let's turn to psalm 71 and verses 5 through 6. Psalm 71. Verses 5 through 6. For you O Lord are my hope.

My trust O Lord from my youth. Upon you have I leaned from before my birth. You are he who took me from my mother's womb. My crypt my praise is continually of you. Upon you I have leaned from before my birth.

We're talking about Persons human beings are still human beings in the womb from conception forward they are human beings with a purpose with a divine purpose and It's clearly expressed in the scriptures.

It's amazing. Did didn't even bother to mention that he said nowhere does the Bible talk about this issue? And you will see that this is a very shallow mindset of many people today even in churches because churches aren't dealing with this issue like they should be many churches ignore this issue and It is one of the most wicked Holocaust that are that our nation is responsible for it.

So now let's turn to the New Testament where he mentioned the story in Luke chapter 1. In Luke chapter 1 We see the birth of Christ. Starting in verse 34. Luke chapter 1 starting in verse 34 Through 37.

I'm gonna read the context first so we can understand what's going on and then read on. So in Luke chapter the gospel of Luke chapter 1 verses 34 to 37 and Mary said to the angel How will this be since I am a virgin and the angel answered her the Holy Spirit will come upon you.

And the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born Will be called holy the Son of God and behold your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son. And this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.

For nothing will be impossible with God. Now skipping down to verse 39 in Those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country to a town in Judah and She entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth and when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary the baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry Blessed are you among women and 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 behold when the sound of your greeting came to my ears the baby in my womb leapt for joy. So look at what what how he just Grossly dismissed what's going on here the Davis the author of this book The professor only focused on John the Baptist Who was six months old?

Didn't even bother to talk about Jesus Jesus in this passage had just been conceived.

Okay, and.

Listen again to what in the first passage that we read The power of the Most High will overshadow you therefore the child to be born Will be called holy the Son of God the child to be born. It's a child.

It's not a fetus. It's not anything less than a child. Full person child a human child. That's what God calls it. And this is talking about conception. Okay in Those days Mary arose. It's talking about Mary barely having conceived Christ.

And there you see Elizabeth celebrates because John the Baptist recognizes Christ when she here when he hears Mary. And he says the mother of why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me.

Then she's saying the mother of my Lord. The little baby Jesus was barely conceived at that point. Barely having been conceived and you see there even a conception God is treating That Child as a child as a full human person and even Mary recognizes that and calls Him my Lord.

This is just incredible and he completely ignores this. How can you ignore this?

So.

And then of course This is one Account of Christ's birth. There's another account that he didn't bother to look at. Let's turn to the other birth account in the gospel of Matthew chapter 1. In Matthew chapter 1 starting at verse 18 You see another very interesting Very revealing Passage with respect to this issue.

Matthew the gospel of Matthew chapter 1 verses 18 through 23. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. When his mother mary had been betrothed to joseph before they came together she was found to be with child by the holy spirit.

And joseph her husband being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this behold an angel of the lord appeared to him in a dream saying joseph son of david.

Do not be afraid to take mary as her wife for the child who has been conceived in her. The child who has been conceived barely conceived as a child a full child Is of the holy spirit. She will bear a son.

And you shall call his name jesus. For he will save his people from their sins. Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the lord through the prophet behold. The virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son and they shall call his name emmanuel.

Which translated means god with us that's a prophecy from isaiah 7 14. That the virgin will conceive what she'll be with child and conceive. That's the virgin birth of christ. So god even considers The the the fertilized egg at conception a full human child.

I don't know how he missed that. But this is not rocket science right a basic reading of the bible will tell you that. Now let's go to the sixth commandment. This is obviously a very important thing. So here we're showing That even though the word abortion is not in the bible Killing the unborn is clearly condemned.

We haven't even finished looking at all the scriptures yet, and that's already been made obvious. From the scripture the sixth commandment i'm going to read from the larger catechism. The westminster larger catechism questions 134.

And on which is the sixth commandment. The sixth commandment is thou shalt not kill or murder 135. Question 135. What are the duties required in the sixth commandment? The duties required in the sixth commandment are all careful studies and lawful endeavors to preserve the life of ourselves.

And others by resisting all thoughts and purposes subduing all passions and avoiding all occasions. Temptations and practices which tend to the unjust taking away the life of any. By just defense there thereof against violence patient bearing of the hand of god quietness of mind cheerfulness of spirit a sober use of meat drink.

Physic.

Or physique Sleep labor and recreation by charitable thoughts love compassion meekness gentle gentleness kindness peaceable Mild and courteous speeches and behavior forbearance readiness to be reconciled patient bearing and forgiving of the injuries and Requiting good for evil comforting and suckering the distress and protecting and defending the innocent.

This was written back in the 1600s.

Okay.

It's what what this is doing it's taking the full counsel of God like we talked about it's systematically Harmonizing the whole counsel of God. What does it say about murdering. And it's summarizing it in this question-and-answer form.

It's excellent. Question 136 says what are the sins forbidden in the sixth commandment. The sins forbidden in the sixth Sixth commandment are all taking away. All taking away of the life of ourselves or of others except in case of public justice lawful war or necessary defense self-defense.

Neglecting or withdrawing the lawful and necessary means of preservation of life. Okay, the necessary means of preservation of life. Sinful anger hatred envy desire revenge all excessive passions. Distracting cares.

A moderate use of meat drink labor and recreations. Provoking words. Oppression quarreling striking wounding and whatsoever else leads to the destruction of the life of any. So and even then if God condemns hatred as murder.

If he if Jesus himself said you so much as hate your brother. You're a murderer. How much more taking away the life of an unborn child? You're actually performing a murder a physical murder instead of just a spiritual heart murder, that's even worse.

So abortion is clearly murder. The intentional killing of an unborn child is condemned as murder and like we saw in Exodus 22 even the Unintentional killing of an unborn child is regarded as murder. Capital punishment Is put in I'm sorry is punished the same as murder and with capital punishment no exceptions.

No exceptions. So now Let's turn to Proverbs 24. Proverbs 24 verse 11. This is a Very important Call to action for us as a church. Psalms 24 verse 11 you've probably seen this verse often quoted in abortion ministries and things like that.

Psalm. Proverbs 24 verse 11 says rescue rescue those who are being taken away to death. Hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. This is a clarion call. This is a call to action for us as a church to fight for and rescue the unborn with the way the truth in the life the gospel and with mercy ministry this is a clear instruction for us as a church to rescue and Help to save those who are being slaughtered the innocent who are being taken away to death the unborn especially.

And you see this precedent from church history as well. In church history the early Christians, you know, the Romans had a very Patriarchal society, you know people like to call the u .s. A patriarchal society.

They don't know what patriarchy means. The Romans were very patriarchal so patriarchal In fact that the father had the authority to kill his son his any of his kids at any age. He had the right to kill them.

Including when they were born. So when the when somebody's son or daughter was born, they would put him up. They would offer they would offer him up and if the parents would take him the child would live.

And if they wouldn't the child would stay and die. Or one of two things would happen. The the the Those who were in Pimps and prostitutes would pick them up and make them sex slaves or slaves slave labor.

Turn them into slaves and sex slaves or the church would come and pick up those children.

So.

You see here even in the early church. They would seek to protect to rescue those who would be left to the slaughter left to be killed left to just die and. So this is something that is not new to our time and.

So now in let's go to Proverbs chapter 6. We're gonna get more of a feel for what God how God feels about abortion. Remember this professor didn't mention any of these passages. Keep that in mind, too.

Because you're not gonna they're not gonna. This is why I want us to equip ourselves With God's Word so that we can share this and let people see this is how God sees the murder of abortion he sees conceived.