1 The Sanctity of Human Life Proverbs 24:11-12 11 If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; 12 If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works? One of the most powerful and direct messages about abortion came from Mother Teresa when she spoke January 3, 1994 at the President's Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C.. President Clinton at that time was President of the United States. She had been asked to speak about the poor, the hungry, the homeless, and her work among those people. But then she went to the heart of what she wanted to say. She said, "but I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion. Because it is a war against the child. A direct killing of the innocent child, murdered by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching the people to love but to use violence to get whatever it wants. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion. Many people are very, very concerned with the children of India, the children of Africa where quite a few die of hunger and so on, many people are also concerned about all the violence in this great country of the United States. These concerns are very good, but often these same people are not concerned with the millions who are being killed by the deliberate decision of their own mothers. And this is what is a great destroyer of peace today, abortion, which brings people to such blindness. If we remember that God loves us and we can love others as He loves us, then America can become a sign of peace for the world. From here a sign of care for the weakest of the weak, the unborn child, must go out to the world. If you become a burning light of justice and peace in the world, then really you will be true to what the founders of this country stood for." It must have been uncomfortable for the President and the First Lady of the United States that day whose position was very firmly the prochoice position as Mother Teresa took the opportunity to speak against abortion. Look at Proverbs 24:11-12 "Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, "But we knew nothing about this," does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?" On January 22, 1973, nine men dressed in black robes, known as the Supreme Court of the United States, became legislators, not interpreters of the law. They made it legal in the United States for babies to be aborted.
2 The Court wrote that a state is forbidden to prescribe anytime prior to birth within the opinion of one licensed physician an abortion is necessary to preserve the life or the health of the mother. Before this year is over, over 1,000,000 babies will be killed by abortion. *1 in 4 babies who are conceived in this nation will be destroyed by abortion. *From 1973-2013 there were 56.5 legal abortions that took place. *There are at least 219 abortions per 1000 live births in the United States today. *Early medical abortions increased 114% from 2006-2015. I heard of a man walking down by the seashore and as he walked he observed that the tide had come in and with the flooding of the tide, there were literally thousands of starfish that had been swept on to the beach. And of course, all of these starfish were doomed to die. And as he walked down the beach, he was picking up starfish as fast as he could. He was throwing them back into the ocean and thus saving their lives. Another man was strolling on the beach and met him and said to him, what are you doing? He said I am saving the starfish. He said, but look there are so many. It is not going to do any good. The man picked up another starfish and held it up and said it will do this one some good! And he threw it back into the ocean. That is sort of how I feel preaching a message like this from this pulpit when I realize the vast problem in this nation as far as abortion goes. This message may not do a whole lot of good, but if it saves one baby it is worth it! Let me begin by saying to those who have taken the prochoice position previously - you are not necessarily condemned by the position you have taken. -maybe you have had an abortion, -or maybe you have advised someone you love to have an abortion, you now know that you were wrong. God does not condemn you, if you realize you were wrong, if you realize that this was a wrong decision and now you are sorry and repentant of that. In fact, Jesus said, God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. Christ offers forgiveness from sin and a cleansing from conscience to those who will receive that from Him. - You may have been persuaded by someone to do this, -you may not have known all the issues, -you may not have understood all about it,
3 -You may have been told it was no more than destroying some tissue; -you may have been talked in to it for whatever reason. Today, I do not bring this message to heap upon you guilt or condemnation or to bring upon you an accusing conscience, because I say to you, that in Jesus Christ there is forgiveness, there is cleansing, there is hope, and there is peace. Jesus died on the cross because all of us are sinners. All of us have done things that are wrong and we have made decisions that are wrong and things for which we are sorry. God will forgive you and God will cleanse you if only you will admit it and ask Him. Beverly Smith McMillan opened the first abortion clinic in Jackson, Mississippi, but after a life changing experience with Jesus Christ, she closed that clinic. She repented of her sin and she testifies of the power of Christ to cleanse from sin, to cleanse your conscience and to begin life fresh and new and to find a future in Jesus Christ. And He can do it for you. This message is to hopefully prevent anyone here or watching on television from having an abortion in the future. So, there is a prelude to this message today. Let me talk about the perpetrators of the prochoice position. Who is to blame? First of all, there are the Justices of the Supreme Court in 1973 that legalized abortion in America. Think of it, it is legal to kill an unborn baby in the United States of America. When our forefathers wrote in the prelude to the Constitution that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, they had no idea that this would be interpreted to mean the right to kill an unborn child. This was not even in their minds by any stretch of the imagination. Then there are the government social planners that encourage the practice of abortion. Too many young women in America today, particularly those of the lower economic, social status are encouraged in this practice by their own government and by government organizations as a means for birth control or as a means of dealing with unwanted pregnancy. Doctors who perform abortions for money. Many of whom may be deceived by the devil into thinking that they are performing acts of compassion. Let s make something clear, the law says a woman can have an abortion according to the Supreme Court if the baby's birth would threaten the life or the health of the mother. We know what it means when it says threaten the life of a mother, but do you understand what it means when it says would threaten the health of a mother?
4 The court's definition of the health of a mother is medical judgment may be exercised in the light of all factors including physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman's age relevant to the well-being of the patient. So, a doctor could determine that abortion is necessary because of the psychological state of a young woman, because of the financial condition of a young woman. She is not able financially to care for a child so she can have an abortion. Or she is too psychologically unbalanced to care for a child or to mother a child so she can have an abortion. Or she already has too many children to raise another child so she can have an abortion. Or for any reason that you can imagine, a doctor can sign the okay for a woman to have an abortion. It is all in the doctor's hands. -In his hands, is the power of life and death. -In his hands, is an awesome decision. And it is very easy for women to make this decision. The definition is very, very broad in the case of the life or health of a mother. If she is just too stressed out to have a child, or if she is just embarrassed because she is unwed and pregnant. There are many other reasons a doctor can sign and she can have an abortion in this country. And then there are the owners of abortion clinics, and many have made millions and millions of dollars in this country just by looking at it from a business point of view. Establishing a clinic where abortions take place and they look at it from the bottom line and they say this is a moneymaking business and I am a businessman and I am in this thing to make money. Dr. L.A. Agnew, a professor for UCLA Medical School, gave the class of medical students this case. And he asked the medical students what they would do, what they would recommend for this family. -He said the father has syphilis, the mother has tuberculosis. They already have four children, one is blind, the second is deaf, the third died in childbirth, the fourth has tuberculosis and the mother is pregnant with her fifth child. The parents are willing to have an abortion, as their doctor what would you recommend? The majority of the class very quickly recommended an abortion. He said, congratulations class, you just killed Beethoven, because that was the situation of his family. -We do not know how many Beethoven s have been killed.
5 -We do not know how many scientists have been destroyed. -We do not know how many physicists have been murdered. -We do not know how many young men who would fight for their country have been destroyed in the womb. -We have no way of knowing how many would have gone on to do great things have had their lives taken before they had a chance to be born. And then there are the politicians who wants to get votes in some areas of our country who run on the prochoice ticket in order to be elected. The Bible says, "God hates the hands that shed innocent blood." I believe that voters who vote the prochoice position have blood on their hands in the United States of America! My friend, I care not whether you are a democrat or a republican or independent; We need to vote the convictions of morality and the Word of God. I don t endorse candidates in the pulpit, but I do say that we need to vote based on a person s moral stance according to the Bible. What has happened to us in America? It is illegal to destroy an Eagle s egg and I am for that law. But, you can be fined as much as $5,000 and face imprisonment of up to 5 years for breaking that law. Yet, you can find an abortion clinic in most any major city where a lady can have an abortion (snuffing out a child s life) for less than $1,000. You say, pastor, I am going to take the prochoice position, that seems to be right, a woman should have the right to choose. Ok, look at the plight of the prochoice position. Look at Jeremiah 1:5, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations." Are the unborn human beings? The prochoice people say the fetus is not a human being. Before a baby is born, it is not a human being, it is not a person like you or Me. It is not a living soul created in the image of God. Look at what the Bible says, look at the conception of the unborn, Psalm 139:13-16,
6 "For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them." "Made in secret" - that is conception, that is the fertilization of the egg by the sperm. Scripture teaches that human life begins at conception. -The nervous system of an unborn is in place by the twentieth day. - At forty-two days, the skeletal system is complete and reflexes are present. -The brain and the body system are present at 8 weeks. -At 9 weeks a baby squints, swallows, moves its tongue and makes a fist. -All body systems function by the 12th week in side the mother's body. A baby inside a mother's womb is a human being. A sonogram has been called a window into the mother's womb. Did you know that pregnant mothers who see the sonogram of their babies rarely would abort their child? Southern Baptists have a program where we have tried to put sonogram machines in every crisis pregnancy center. If a mother can see the sonogram of her baby on the inside of her, if she sees that picture on the inside of her, she is very likely not to choose abortion because she sees what is inside of her is a baby, not a tissue, not a fetus. Look at the cognizance of the unborn according to the Bible. When Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, and of course, Mary was carrying the Lord Jesus, Elizabeth was carrying John the Baptist in her womb. It says, "when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:" Now the word for "babe" is "brephos" in the Greek meaning unborn child, or fetus, or infant. It can be used to describe an infant, whether born or unborn. The Bible uses the same term to describe an infant, whether it is a born infant or an unborn infant.
7 God says that it is a person, whether it is an unborn person or a born person. And here is John the Baptist who is cognizant of the presence of Jesus, although he is yet unborn. That is an amazing thing and yet God said, supernaturally that John the Baptist was aware that he was in the presence of Jesus though still in the womb. Look at the construction of the unborn. The Psalmist said, "You have formed my inward parts. You covered me in my mother s womb" Look at a sonogram and you will see that a baby looks just like you and me inside the mother's womb. The same hands, the same feet, the same head, the same mouth, the same ears, how can anybody look at a sonogram and not see that an unborn child is a human being just like you and me, made in the image of God? Dr. Bernard Nathanson was an obstetrician and an assistant professor at Cornell University Medical School. He became the Director of the first and largest abortion clinic in America. He performed or supervised 60,000 abortions in eighteen months. Suddenly he resigned and said he would never superintend or perform another abortion, do you know why? Because as he began in 1973 and time progressed over those 60,000 abortions, technology advanced and the first sonogram machines came on the scene. And when Dr. Nathanson could observe the baby within the womb, he was shocked and appalled at what he had done. And he said, no longer will I abort another baby. He became one of the greatest and most outspoken scientists against abortion. He said I will never do it again. We have got to get the abortion law off the books. Here is why prochoice can't be God's choice. A. Number one, you have to deal with the problem of murder. If you are prochoice this morning, if you vote for prochoice, you must deal with the problem of murder. Exodus 20:13 says, "You shall not murder." Proverbs 6:17 says, "God hates hands that shed innocent blood." If an unborn child is a human being, then to drown that child in the mother's womb or suck that child from the mother's womb, or however else it is done, is to commit murder. And prochoicers can use all the high sounding words they want to use for it, but it boils down to taking of a human life.
8 Then there is the problem of morality. It cannot be moral to perform an abortion or to have an abortion performed. It cannot be the moral act of a human being to take the life of another human being. Exodus 21:22, "if men fight and hurt a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no lasting harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman's husband imposes on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine" We think we are an advanced, sophisticated, technological society and we are more barbaric than the Old Testament society. Even in Old Testament times, God said it is a sin to cause a pregnant woman to give birth prematurely. And God put a protection on a pregnant woman and said you will be punished if you cause her to give birth prematurely. God put a premium on unborn life even then. And yet today we say we have bent the law to fit the convenience of man and we said it is okay, it is legal. Well, God hasn't changed, it is not moral to do it now, and it wasn't moral to do it then. And look at how we have a double standard, * now in most of the states it has become a double murder if you in an act of violence kill a pregnant woman; you are guilty of double murder. *In some cases, if you are in an automobile accident and you are at fault and the passenger in the other car is a pregnant woman, you are guilty of double homicide. The same people who say you are guilty of double homicide say that the life within her is not a person and yet they say you are guilty of double murder. How can they say on one hand, the life within her is not a person and on the other hand they charge you with double murder? You can't have it both ways, if it is immoral, if it is double murder to kill a pregnant woman, then it is murder to kill her baby! Whether you do it with a shotgun or whether you do it with an abortionist's needle. Then there is the problem of mercy and human kindness. The Bible says in Romans 1:31, "without natural affection." It says it again and again in the Bible, in the last days they were without natural affection. The natural thing for a mother to do, - if it is a mother lion it is to protect her little lions, -if it is a mother bear, it is to protect her cubs,
9 - if it is a human mother, it is to protect her little baby. The unnatural thing for a mother to do is to kill her little one or to kill her baby. Yet today, we are seeing mothers kill their babies - unnatural affection. They are saying have mercy on these mothers; give them the right to choose. I say, have mercy on the babies! Think about the babies, let them have a chance to live, let them have a chance to grow up, let them have a chance to develop. Most of us understand the situation when you are talking about the life of the mother - Did you know that only 1% of abortions in America have anything to do with the life and the health of the mother? Two million couples are waiting to adopt babies in America. There is another option besides killing your baby and that is to give the baby up for adoption. Millions of couples are waiting to adopt, they want to adopt. 1½ million babies are aborted each year and 2 million couples want to adopt each year. Illustration of our members, Steve and Barbara Chance have raised over 200 foster children. 97% of American abortions are for convenience. They may say, well you know, what we are doing when we outlaw abortion is we are actually just making it tough on the poor because the rich people will have an abortion anyway. 70% of women who have abortions in America are unmarried and most of these are white, middle and upper class. It is not just the poor who are having abortions. And 1/3 will go back for a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th abortion. It is becoming their means of birth control. And last of all, what can we do about it? The Bible says, "Rescue those being led away to death." Number one, we need to stay informed on the issues. -Support your local crisis pregnancy centers, financially and other ways. That is why we did the service the way we did today by presenting Safe Choice with a check for $4,800 from our church. Your tithes and offerings are helping in our community to protect babies. -Support counseling and adoption agencies. -Teach your children what the Bible says about sex, love, and marriage. Number two, We must register to vote and you must vote. And I hope you would vote your convictions as a believer in Jesus Christ. I cannot tell you how to vote, but I will tell you that you know what the candidates positions are.
10 Isaiah 58:1 says, "cry loud, spare not; lift up your voice like a trumpet. Show my people their transgressions and the house of Jacob their sins." Isaiah 5:20 says, "woe to them that call evil good and good evil that put darkness to light and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter." Pray for God to have mercy on America. You are not looking at someone who has never made a mistake. I have made plenty of them. I thank God for His forgiving grace. If it were not for His forgiving grace, I would be lost. If it were not for a chance to start over again, I would never make it. I want to tell you today, there is grace for you to start over again no matter what you have done. We have been talking about the tragedies of lives that are ended, lives that are taken. It says, "Rescue those who are drawn away to death." The important thing is that Jesus Christ died on the cross and shed His blood for all our sins, whoever we are. And He gave His life in order that our sins maybe forgiven, in order that we all might have eternal life by trusting and putting our faith in Him. And all of us need Him -no matter who we are, -no matter what our background, -no matter what our political party, -no matter what our age, Jesus died for each of us. And He offers free forgiveness and life to all of us who will call upon Him.