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Now I want you to pay attention it wasn't anything in Israel wasn't their military.
This is a tough topic today. This is a very tough topic today. It's a very sensitive topic today. I don't know how many tears I cried and preparing this sermon, but it was many. I Do not take this lightly.
But neither does God. And so it is my job today both to preach the seriousness that God has for this and also the love and redemption and grace that Christ offers to us and Both things will be addressed today.
We'll be discussing the four things. Number one the problem of abortion. I will click quickly lay this out for you. Number two, I want us to understand a systematic theology of Spiritual warfare and how abortion is a spiritual battle.
Number three we will look at God's response and what the Bible has to say about this subject and Number four we will I would give a word of what do we say to those who have walked down this road? Oh, what do you say to a woman who has Linda Hope program?
What do you say to a woman who has had an abortion and doesn't know how to feel about that all four things to be? Addressed today. We have a government with one side of the platform who advocates the protection of the weak and the defenseless and In their platform they dare use the name of God in that defense.
That bothers me.
They would use the name of the Lord In their defense of the weak and Then fail to defend the weakest. In this country we have six to nine hundred thousand abortions per year. 48 states report to do not that's part of the variation and Today it is Extremely easy.
You do not need a doctor's appointment you not need prescription. You can order the abortion bill from your home have it delivered to your home and take it on your own. So this is why this variation exists.
Six to nine hundred thousand in 2023 last year even though Roe v. Wade was turned over. We had over a million abortions in this country alone. As of April of 2023 There were 1 .1 million kovat deaths 1 .1 million kovat deaths.
We killed more babies last year. Then Kovat did in three and we shut our country down out of the fear and of our own life. And our life is so important. We shut our whole country down and dare you go out without a mask.
You'll be ridiculed Because our life is so valuable. And we killed that many people last year alone. That's an epidemic. The pandemic is worse on a world scale. There's 73 73 million abortions a year that is as many people that died in World War two.
World War two including all of the bombings was 75 million people and what is that a seven-year war? Every single year we killed as many babies as the entire Great War did. Planned Parenthood released a statement about ten years ago in which they said quote Abortion is a treatment for unwanted pregnancy the second sexually transmitted disease.
They are equating a child to a transmitted disease. The founder of Planned Parenthood Margaret Singer Said quote the most merciful thing that a large family does to one of its infant members is to kill it.
The most serious evil of our times is That of encouraging the bring into the world of large families the most Immoral practice of the day is breeding too many children end quote not to mention The racial aspect of it.
She said and I quote we don't want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population. But we will move past that as we do not have time to get into that. I Want to quickly read another quote.
Let me address this first. When Roe v. Wade was passed.
The pro-life.
Christian movement thought that if we could prove that life started at conception Then it would be overturned and the argument would be over. The battle would be won once science prevailed. That is not the case today.
Today nobody cares whether when life starts. That is not the argument we have anymore. The argument we have is whether that life matters. There is a article that I found on Salon .com a liberal media news site, and this was over 10 years ago when they said quote.
When we try to act like pregnancy doesn't involve human life. We wind up drawing stupid semantic lines in the sand. First trimester abortion second trimester late term. We're dancing around the issue trying to decide if there's a single magic moment when a fetus becomes a person.
That's exactly right because that's the argument we use. That's the exact argument we use. She then said are you only human when you are born? Only when you are viable outside the womb. Are you less of a human when you look like a tadpole than when you're sucking on your thumb.
Here's the I'm quoting. Here's the complicated reality in which we live all life is not equal. Continue the quote and I can say Anecdotally that I'm a mom who loved the lives she incubated from the moment she peed on those sticks and Then also now well over 40 and in an experimental drug trial if by some random fluke I learned today.
I was pregnant you bet your ass. I'd have an abortion and I'd have the world's greatest abortion. We are not arguing about whether this is life. It's not the argument. That's not the question. That's not what I'm addressing today.
If you would like to have that conversation, I am full well happy to have it, but that's not what we're talking about today. This is a spiritual battle in a spiritual war. When Alina was born I remember.
We got everything ready. They took forever discharging us. I was ready to get out of there. We finally got into the car. I used to sat in the back with Lena and.
I.
Remember at st. Francis the speed bumps are massive. I mean they are massive speed bumps and so I was going in that little juke I was going like 0 .3 miles per hour okay, and I hit that speed bump and I just said Maya slow down.
Like.
Yeah, I can't possibly go any slower if I go any slower. We're not gonna move you know. This kind of attitude happened multiple times in the following days and weeks. And she just kind of explained to me.
She's like Jamal you have to understand. When Alina was inside I just felt that I was always protecting her. There was this 24 -7 Constant sense of protecting and nurturing. And now she's outside and now she's vulnerable.
And now I feel like I don't have the same love of control. And and so the God designed Sanctuary of protection and nurturing. That being the womb we have decided to play God. To go in that sanctuary of protection and rip the children out.
The most intimate Sanctuary.
We violate.
Abortion is spiritual warfare. In Genesis chapter 3 verse 15. We have the first proclamation of the gospel the first promise of the Christ to come. It says that I will put enmity between you and your seed.
Between the you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. This is the first presentation of the gospel. This is a war Declaration upon Satan.
God is saying between your whole lineage and the whole lineage of the woman being Eve. There will be enmity. There will be a fight. There'll be contention between their entire offspring and specifically culminating in the offspring of the Messiah.
In the times to come now what happens in the very next chapter. That's Genesis chapter 3. The very beginning of Genesis chapter 4 what happens. Cain kills Abel the seed of Eve. The very next chapter. Satan strikes the first blow and kills the seed of the woman and First John chapter 3 verse 12.
We even have it explicitly said. Quote. We should not be like Cain who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. Other translations say the son of Satan. We should not be like Cain the son of Satan.
John chapter 8 verse 44. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil and your will is to do your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning.
So we literally have Jesus telling us Satan is a murderer from the beginning. We have John telling us that Cain was the son of Satan. He was of the evil one. It is not a coincidence. I am not over stretching this.
This is spiritual warfare and Satan attacked the seed of the woman. Moving forward now. You have Cane killing Abel and then what happens. God's promise remains and he brings another son named Seth. Chapter 5 you have the genealogy.
Those things that we skip over whenever we're reading the Bible through because we don't want to read the genealogist. You know why those are there? Those are there. So, you know that the promise God made did not fail.
That's why those are important that the lineage of Eve the lineage of the seed is still intact. You didn't have Abraham and Sarah of which guess what? Sarah was beyond seed bearing years. She was beyond seed bearing years, but it is God who is sovereign.
And gave the child you have Isaac you have Jacob and and Rachel who it was not Rachel. It was the right. Jacob didn't even want that produced the children because it's not up to man, but up to God who elects.
It was not Rachel. It was the Leah the one he didn't even want that produced Judah. The line of the Kings and Levi the line of the priest. It is God who elects. You then have the sacrificing of the children to Molech and to Baal the continual Attacking of the children of God the offspring of Eve.
It never stopped and God had strong words and strong language. These people took their children and I'll spare you the goriness of the details took their children. Sacrificed them burning them alive on the altar of Molech.
God said I have had enough go kill all of those people and then we look at God and said why would you do that?
But then it didn't stop.
The children of Israel continued to do this for hundreds of years for hundreds of years the children in the seed were still attacked. Then we come to the book of Matthew and.
What how does Matthew open a.
Genealogy to again show that God's promise remains when God speaks he is faithful to you. When he when we are faithless he is faithful and We can trust his promises. That Jesus Christ the Messiah was to come.
And then you have Herod. Who like Pharaoh in the Old Testament? Attacked the children again to prevent the Messiah from coming to present. Prevent Christ like Pharaoh in Egypt. Herod did in Israel. He killed every male child.
Attacking of the seed again and again and then finally in Revelation you see the same Imagery that the great woman is to give birth and the dragons coming to devour the child. From Genesis to Revelation.
We see spiritual warfare of the attack on children from beginning to end. From beginning to end we see this. Personal testimony and stories are powerful. But they are not sufficient. They are powerful.
They are important, but they are not sufficient because that side of the argument has stories just like we do. Everybody can tell the story. What we need more than a story is the word of God. We must stand on something higher on higher ground than our own opinion and experience.
The words I feel are not supreme. The words I feel or well when I was a kid or my mommy and my daddy did this to me.
That is not ultimate.
And why those are important we need to listen and. Those are not what is ultimate and in our society in our culture. The church has allowed the argument to be a story based argument instead of a word of God based argument.
The Nazis had a term for the Jews. The term was useless eaters or life unworthy of life. It's not that the same thing we have done. We call it life. But it's life unworthy of life. How much different are we than them?
How many died in World War two. 73 million. 75 million. And we kill 73 million per year. Don't get on a high horse church. Now, what does the Bible say about this? We talked about the problem of abortion.
Briefly, we talked about how this is spiritual warfare. Now, what does the Bible have to say about this? I'm gonna run through some of these verses. These are on your handouts. We need to understand this you need to know this and I made that handout not to be a sermon outline.
But for you to take home and be able to refer back these you need to know these verses. Psalms 127 three children are a gift from the Lord. They're not an accident. They're not a mistake. That is not the case that is not true and our language in this is important.
Alina was not planned. Okay. We did not plan our first child. I each and I got married and we had a kid ten months later. Okay.
Yeah.
Let me tell you that was not in jeremiah's plan. Okay, I. It is in god's plan. I'll tell you i'm ashamed. I am ashamed of my reaction when she told me we were pregnant. When she walked in with that stupid stick And said hey, babe, I got mad and I said well crap there goes our entire budget.
I just made Man I was gonna get that debt paid off quick. I was gonna not my proudest moment, but there is no accident. And there is no mistake with god.
None.
And to double down on that the lord is sovereign over conception. Genesis 20 the lord closed the wombs of all the houses of amalek. Of amalek, excuse me. With hannah and samuel. First samuel chapter one.
It is god. It says the lord shut up her womb. It is god who opens and closes the womb of women. Period sarah beyond seed-bearing years, but god is sovereign. And he said you will bear a child. Zechariah 12 Quote.
Who forms the spirit of man within him if not god. Psalms 104 29 you take away their breath and they die and return to the dust when you send forth your spirit. They are created. Nothing is outside the hand of god.
Every child that is conceived in this world is conceived by the hand and allowance of god. There is no exception to that. I understand sometimes there are extenuating circumstances. There are abuse. That does not take away the word of god.
That does not change the scriptures. I cannot go back with an eraser and change what god said. God is sovereign over all things including evil including the hurt including the pain. And if you trust him enough.
If you can just for a moment. Suspend your pain. And trust that it was not for nothing that god has a plan for you, but that plan may be bigger than you. God has a plan for you. But the part we struggle with is that the plan may not be about us.
And that's a tough pill to swallow. But you got to swallow it or sit in your bitter anger for the next 40 years. And I don't say that out of the hate. I don't want you to sit in that bitter angry for 40 years.
I want you to do that. That's not what i'm trying to do here. But you can either shake your fist at god or even flip him off and be angry. Or you can think that maybe this plan's bigger than me and when you start walking in that you'll find healing.
You won't find healing. Shaking your fist and throwing the finger at god. There's no healing in that. But there is healing when you submit to his grace and walk in his life. More on that in a minute. Psalms 139 13 through 16.
I want to read this one. For you formed my inward parts. You kneaded me together in my mother's womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made wonderful all your works. My soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret. Intricately woven in the depths of the earth every the skeletal system the ligaments the tendon when it says frame. That's our framing.
We were formed even in the in the actual chromosomes of the 23 and the 23. God did that. Every bit of it. We cannot claim god is sovereign over certain things. He's not sovereign over other. Your eyes saw my unformed substance.
In your book were written every one of them the days that were formed for me. He has a future for you. When a set there was none of them 17. Check this out. How precious to me are your thoughts. God thinks about us?
He thinks about us. How vast is the sum of them. He doesn't just think about you once during your conception and creation and then you're done with. David says your thoughts of me are precious. How vast they are.
The intimacy of god's creation. Jeremiah 1 5. I formed you in the war. In the womb, but before I formed you I knew you. There's a personal relating there. It's not just about the creating of the body job.
Your hands fashioned and made me remember that you have made me like clay and you return me to dust. You clothed me with skin and flesh and knit knit me together with bones and sinews. God is sovereign over not just conception, but god is sovereign over deformities.
Exodus 4 11. Who makes man mute or deaf. Seeing or blind? Is it not I the lord? Someone may ask what if the baby will have a deformity. What if they're autistic or down syndrome or have mental or. And you think god's not sovereign over that?
Remember how I said a second ago, you can't claim god is sovereign in one aspect and then deny it in another. You think god made a mistake? In forming that child. No. Absolutely not. I personally do not have but I have heard testimony after testimony after testimony of kids of.
Or parents with autistic or down syndrome kid who all say I was so scared and angry. But it's the greatest blessing god ever gave me. That child teaches me how to trust. That child teaches me how to have faith.
The child teaches me how to have joy in the darkest moments. God is sovereign over it all. I would be a failure if I did not also mention that we are made in the likeness of god. Genesis 9. Whoever sheds the blood of man by man shall his blood be shed.
Why? For god made man in his own image. Murder is a capital punishment because you are killing an image bearer. When I speak about or when scripture speaks about man being made in the image of god I am telling you.
How we are to respect? Everyone. And this includes racism sexism. How do we treat? What if a transgender person comes to church? Why do I care? I don't. I don't care what color. I don't care what sexual.
I'm to treat everyone with a general baseline level of respect. No matter what period. And those people need if i'm going to treat them any differently, it's good. I'm going to give them extra grace extra mercy.
People with mental illnesses. I treat them not any lesser, but I give them more grace more mercy. But there is a baseline for all men because all men are created in the image of god. Now we I have to address the judgment of god.
Genesis chapter three. Okay, or four cain kills abel. And god says to cain his blood cries out to me from the earth. That his blood was spilt he was murdered. And that blood cried out to god it cried out for vengeance.
We see this same language in revelation 6 10 when the martyrs of the Tribulation come before the throne and they say lord how long lord until you avenge the blood of our brothers. There is a justice that has to be met.
For this woman who says i'm not just gonna have an abortion i'm gonna have the world's greatest abortion. I pray for that soul because there's judgment coming for that person. I read I think it was virginia or north carolina.
When I was actually still watching news, this was probably four or five years ago. There was a bill on the floor to allow infanticide a post-birth abortion.
Post-birth abortion.
Bill on our floor of the u .s to be passed. Judgment is for these people jeremiah 19 4 and 6 4 through 6. Because the people have forsaken me And have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods who neither they They nor their fathers nor the kings of judah have known.
And because they have filled this place with the blood of innocence 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 to my mind.
Therefore behold Days are coming declares the lord when this place shall no more be called topith Or the valley of the son of hinnom But it should be called the valley of slaughter. God is saying for this place My judgment is coming My judgment is coming.
And what did christ say To those in heaven and revelation. 6. How long lord he said. Just a little longer.
Just a little longer.
Now.
Apologetically This is actually a good thing. Because in in our theology as christians and our understanding of the word of god Nobody gets away with anything. I used to get angry before I understood this.
Young man goes and suits up a school and then commits suicide and in my mind i'm like well he got away with it.
No.
Nobody gets away with anything. The just god Will rightly judge.
All things.
And I don't have time to go through all of this again. I mean to go through all of this. But let me just reassure you not in some sentimental make you feel good. But in actual study of the word of god, I can assure you that god has.
I'm gonna use the term that I heard Overruling grace to babies that showed babies and children Are in heaven at death. And i'm i'm almost done with the whole book on this subject that i've been reading.
It is not some sentimental just to make you feel good. The word of god shows us this. One example to it Is in second samuel when david's son is killed by god because of david's sin. And david says I know that you will not come to me, but I will come to you.
That child was with god in his arms upon that death. Jesus tells us the same thing when he says The kingdom of heaven is for such of these. Don't turn the kids away bring them to me for the kingdom of heaven is for these.
That's not just a metaphor that we should have faith like a child even though it is. But it was also an actual statement. That those children and those babies are safe in the hands of god. And we can have confidence in that through the word of god not just sentimental feel good.
But a real confidence in the word of god of those children. And my last point Is what do we say? To those women who have had an abortion. What do we do? What do we say? First let me say Let us never get too high and mighty and proud and self-righteous.
For christ said if you hate one of your brothers and sisters you have committed murder already.
So let us never.
Get too high and proud and mighty and down uh down look down our noses as such ladies but What do we say. First of all, we don't lessen the sin. We never lessen the sin. Some people when dealing with their guilt They try and make it not a big deal or placate it Because the guilt is so much we can't do that.
But what we can do is not lessen the sin But magnify the grace of god. We don't make the sin small we make great the grace of god. We make mighty the grace of god and his ability to redeem us. His ability to reconcile us his ability to call us back from the depths of darkness.
Doesn't matter if you're an addict.
Or a murderer or a homosexual. You are not too far You're not lost for even of such of these have I come we say go and sin no more. Micah 7 9 Says this.
Will bear the indignation indignation of the lord because I have sinned against them. You you accept your responsibility. I recognize what I have done. I will bear this indignation. I will bear this punishment.
Until.
He.
Pleads.
My.
Cause.
You see the same one that executes the judgment is the same one that pleads your cause. It is one of the most beautiful. There are certain things that you can understand with your brain. But until you experience it, you just don't know.
And one of them is parenthood. Fatherhood. It is so beautiful to me that the same hand. That spank selena with such ferocity and man do I? Is the same hand she wants to come to and hug afterwards. It's the same hand.
The same hand of punishment that delivers the judgment is the same hand that picks her up and holds her and says I love you. It's okay. It's no different with god. He says I will bear the indignation of the lord.
Because I have sinned against him until he pleads my cause And executes judgment for me on my behalf. He will bring me out to the light and I shall look upon his vindication. Micah 7 9. We need to remember that church.
David moses.
Paul.
All murderers.
And david.
So brilliantly and eloquently in psalms 51. He understands the old testament law. David was no ignorant man. He knew he had read genesis 9 6. When you shed a man's blood your blood shall be shed. Murder was a capital punishment.
King david should have been put to death for what he did to uriah. If you do not know, let me briefly tell you. David knocked up a girl named Bathsheba. Found out she was pregnant had her husband killed to try and cover it up and hide it.
And psalm 51 is his psalms of repentance. And in the psalm david knowing that he is punishable by death for his sins. What does he say? But the lord will not turn away a broken and contrite heart. If you simply repent.
With a broken heart would god turn that away.
Would I turn away alina. Broken and crying repentant saying daddy. Sorry. Would I dare turn her away? So how much more? Would the grace of god never turn us away. This is what we say.
To those ladies.
And to all who come broken and in need We do not lessen the sin never ever ever. We understand though That forgiven sins sometimes have consequences. You can be forgiven and redeemed of a sin and there's still bare consequence.
That's that happens.
We know that we understand that. But god will not turn us away. God will not turn us away. Hunter or whoever is doing music you can come up. Isaiah 44 22. I've swept away your offenses like a cloud Your sins like the morning mist.
Return to me for I have redeemed you acts 319. Repent then and turn to god So that your sins may be wiped out. That times of refreshing May come from the lord Amen. The times of refreshment the times of renewal the times where you don't have to bear the guilt.
You don't have to bear the shame. You don't have to Beat yourself in the head and whip yourself in the back over what you have done. That self hate and self harm and self guilt can be removed. The times of Refreshing are here and today as pastor.
Josiah said this is the day that the lord has made. Let us rejoice And be glad in it. We can live in that.
But first we must.
Get over our anger.
And our bitterness.
We must repent and put down our pride. We have to let go of our addiction. We have to let our go of our need for approval. And need to look a certain way. And come open arms open hands to the father. This is why I hope i've shown this is why we need the word of god not stories.
Revelation 12 11 says we will overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony the blood of the lamb comes first. Testimonies are good. Testimonies are powerful. But blood of the lamb is first.
The word of god has to be first. We do not win this war in this fight. You can't I heard it said like this. You can't sweep away a tsunami with a shovel. Okay. In this world in this country. We are under a tsunami.
Of.
To put it bluntly skeletons skeletons of children. We are. And this little church is not going to fix all of it. We can't. But we can fix and help with everyone that walks through those doors. We can help with everyone who walks through those doors.
And we'll be a light shining in this city. Pastor jeff says it all the times. We had a 2 .7 million dollar offer for this property and we turned it down. This is where god wants us. Amen, this is where god wants us.
Life choices has two locations. One of them is less than 10 minutes away. If they need a safe haven They can come here. We are a safe haven for everyone who walks through those doors with a humble heart.
This is our response. Church. Now to you. The sermon can very easily.
Be applied to you.
You have heard this is not just an abortion sermon. You understand sin. You understand that your need to repent. You understand the grace of god is extended to you.
We're about to have.
This time of repentance we'll say. And it's time for you to deal with your sins. This isn't to talk about other people. This is for you to deal with your sins. This altar is open. The time to repent is now.
The time to repent and come to the lord is now. And I think The 500th time of repentance is in some ways more beautiful than the first. Repent and come to the lord today in humility. Will you please stand with me?