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Well, please turn with me in 
your Bibles to Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20. I'll begin 
reading in verse 1. And God spoke all these words, 
saying, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land 
of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other 
gods before me. You shall not make for yourself 
a carved image, any likeness of anything that is in heaven 
above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water 
under the earth. You shall not bow down to them, 
nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am 
a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, 
to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing 
mercy to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments. 
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for 
the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Remember 
the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and 
do all your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath 
of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work, you 
nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your 
female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within 
your gates. For in six days the Lord made 
the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, 
and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the 
Sabbath day and hallowed it. Honor your father and your mother, 
that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your 
God is giving you. You shall not murder, you shall 
not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear 
false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's 
house, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male 
servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor 
anything that is your neighbor's. Now all the people witnessed 
the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, 
and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw it, they 
trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, you 
speak with us, and we will hear. But let not God speak with us, 
lest we die. And Moses said to the people, 
do not fear, for God has come to test you, and that His fear 
may be before you, so that you may not sin. So the people stood 
afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God 
was. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father 
in heaven, we thank you for the opportunity to gather together 
on the Lord's day. We thank you for the house of 
God and the day of God and for the people of God. And we pray 
that as we gather together, you would be enthroned upon our praises, 
that you would be glorified and lifted up in our thoughts and 
in our hearts. We ask as well for the ministry of the Holy 
Spirit to guide us as we consider this most delicate subject, this 
most sensitive in the hearts of many, but one that is necessary 
to address, the murder of the pre-born. We know, as our brother 
said, that this country does bear blood guiltiness. We know 
the countries in the earth who have who have encouraged this 
practice, who subsidize it with legal or with tax monies. God, 
it is a great blight, it is a great shame upon humanity that we live 
in a day and age where such things are celebrated. We ask that you 
would help us now to glorify you in the reception of the Word 
of God May we think your thoughts after you. May you forgive us 
and cleanse us from all sin and unrighteousness. And again, Father, 
we pray that all over the earth today, sinners would hear the 
gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord, and by your grace and for your 
glory, they would come, they would believe on him, and know 
the joy of being found in him. And we ask in his most blessed 
name, amen. Well, last week we looked at 
the Seventh Commandment, as Canada has recently passed Bill C-4. 
I thought it would be good for us to look at the prohibition 
against adultery and against sexual sin. Well, many recognize 
today as Sanctity of Life Sunday, so it's good for us to consider 
the Sixth Commandment relative to the crime of murder. And with 
reference to our study last week, I had mentioned that I don't 
believe that our government is really concerned about science 
with reference to the sexual ethics that they promote. And 
I think that that is also obvious with reference to murder, with 
reference to abortion, with reference to euthanasia. It's not just 
the Bible that tells us that the pre-born are children, but 
science tells us that the pre-born are children as well. And intriguingly, 
at least in the last generation or so, there has been this attempt 
to drive a wedge between science and the Bible. In other words, 
science says, has all but replaced, thus saith the Lord. There's 
no wedge between science and the Bible. God, in the language 
of the psalmist, is the Lord God of truth. The word science 
simply means knowledge. So anything that we observe, 
anything that we know, anything that we understand, leads us 
back to the God of absolute sovereignty and glory and power. The true 
pursuit of science should lead us to a reflection upon the majesty 
and the glory of God Almighty. So as we consider the Bible's 
take on this, realize that it's not at odds with science. Realize 
that this isn't just a faith commitment. We just have this 
blindly. No, again, data points to and 
data shows us that what's going on in the womb of a mother is 
the creation or the formation of a human being that God has 
planted there. And we ought to realize as well 
that this is a particular sin that is a blight not only upon 
Canada and the U.S., but upon the nations of the earth. The 
theologian John Murray well said, nothing shows the moral bankruptcy 
of a people or of a generation more than disregard for the sanctity 
of life. Additionally, with reference 
to the government, in their attempt to eliminate a virus, which they 
cannot do, and yet endorse abortion, it really compromises the idea 
that they are following the science. They're not following the science. 
They have a commitment against the living and true God, and 
what we're witnessing is neo-paganism and a rebellion against the Most 
High. Well, as we look at this particular 
subject, notice in chapter 20 at verse 13, the commandment 
is very simple. You shall not murder. So I want 
to look first at the sixth commandment of the Decalogue, or the Ten 
Commandments, which we find here. Secondly, we'll look at the sanctity 
of human life in the Bible. And then thirdly, the specific 
passage related to abortion. If this sounds familiar, well, 
it should because it's the material I presented last year. If I had 
one kick at the can to tell somebody what the Bible says concerning 
abortion, this would be what I would say. Now, in the first 
place, with reference to the commandment, notice verse 13, 
you shall not murder. Now, the basis for this commandment 
is God. God is sovereign. God is created. 
creator, God is legislator. In other words, He is the one 
who spoke all things into being. And therefore, He has the crown 
rights to be able to tell all things that have come into being 
how to live, how to function, how they are to operate in this 
particular world. In terms of the commandment itself, 
we need to understand what murder means. The Bible teaches that 
not all homicide is murder. So what is it to murder someone? 
Webster's 1828 Dictionary is very good here. It says to kill 
a human being with premeditated malice. to kill a human being 
with premeditated malice. Malice aforethought is absolutely 
crucial in order to maintain the charge of murder. With reference 
to the Bible, it makes a distinction between manslaughter, or accidental 
homicide, and murder. Turn over to Exodus chapter 21. 
There is this distinction that you find in God's law that does 
substantiate my claim that not all homicide is murder. Notice 
in 21.12, he who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely 
be put to death. However, if he did not lie in 
wait, but God delivered him into his hand, then I will appoint 
for you a place where he may flee." So in verse 12, he who 
strikes a man so that he dies shall be surely put to death. 
We must conclude that malice aforethought was present because 
in verse 13 it says, however, if he did not lie in wait, if 
there was no premeditation, if there was no aforethought, but 
God delivered him into his hand, it was an accidental from our 
vantage point, then I will appoint you a place where he may flee. 
Now in other places in the Pentateuch or in the Law of God, the distinction 
is made this way. The man who is chopping wood 
with an axe, if the axe head flies off in the midst of his 
task and it hits his neighbor and his neighbor dies, that's 
not murder. That is accidental homicide. 
And in that eventuality, there is a city of refuge that that 
man can flee to. But if the man waits behind the 
bush for his neighbor to come home, and then the man jumps 
out from the bush and buries his axe in that man's head with 
malice aforethought, that's murder. And as a result of that, he has 
violated or transgressed the law of God. Now, when we look 
at chapter 20 and verse 13, you shall not murder. When we expand 
on that or amplify that, we see in Leviticus 19, for instance, 
that this involves not only the external act, but also the internal 
disposition. You're not supposed to hate your 
brother in your heart. That's what God says through 
Moses in Leviticus chapter 19. Jesus teaches the same thing 
in the Sermon on the Mount. If you hate your brother, if 
you have enmity in your heart against him, you're guilty of 
violating and transgressing the sixth commandment. But of course, 
it's not just the internal disposition that the prohibition demands, 
but also the external act. Notice again, you shall not murder. Walter Kaiser says, while Hebrew 
possesses seven words for killing, the word used here, which is 
ratzah, appears only 47 times in the Old Testament. If any 
one of the seven words could signify murder or factors of 
premeditation and intentionality are present, This is the verb. 
So the old King James translation, thou shalt not kill, is at times 
misleading. Because again, the Bible does 
authorize three instances of lawful killing. In the first 
place, the Bible teaches that the civil magistrate does not 
bear the sword in vain. In other words, capital punishment 
is taught by God. It is demanded by God. We see 
it in Genesis 9, 6. We see it again in Romans chapter 
13 and verse 4. So capital offense, capital punishment 
is a legitimate expression of homicide. Secondly, self-defense 
in Exodus chapter 22. In our Wednesday night studies, 
we'll eventually get there. If you defend your home and yourself 
when a thief breaks in at night, and in that exchange the thief 
dies, you do not bear guilt for his bloodshed. The Bible authorizes 
self-defense. And then thirdly, legitimate 
war. So in Deuteronomy chapter 7, we see God command the children 
of Israel to go into Canaan and engage in holy war. I think that's 
upheld in Romans 13, wherein the magistrate bears the sword, 
not only to punish criminals in the body politic, but to defend 
the citizenry against open invasion from a foreign enemy. So those 
are three instances of lawful homicide. Those are not instances 
of murder. Murder means premeditated malice, 
a forethought, this hatred in your heart wherein you express 
it in the extermination of another human being. Now ultimately this 
is all grounded upon the reality that man is created in God's 
image. And that brings us to our second 
point. So having looked at the sixth 
commandment of the Decalogue, let's now look at the sanctity 
of human life in the Bible. In the first place, you can turn 
to Genesis chapter 1. Genesis chapter 1. Specifically at verse 26, then 
God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. 
Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds 
of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth, and over 
every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created 
man in his own image. In the image of God he created 
him, male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and 
God said to them, be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth 
and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over 
the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves 
on the earth. God made man in his image. Now, the Creation 
Week is splendid. It tells us or reveals to us 
all that the Creator called into being. But the one aspect of 
the created order that bears the image of God is mankind, 
both male and female. Not the birds, not the fish, 
not the giraffe, not the rhinoceros. As dignified and as majestic 
as those beasts of the field are, they are not image-bearers 
of the living and true God. That is true of man. And as a 
result, the prohibition against murder is theological in nature. Gerhardus Vos says that in life 
slain, it is the image of God that is assaulted. And when we 
trace through the Bible, we see the image of God in all walks 
of life. It's not just for the old. It's 
not just for the young. But it also extends to the pre-born, 
and that's where we'll end this brief survey. But first, we have 
the image of God, not only in its original intent at creation, 
but the image of God continues even after the fall into sin. 
You see that in Genesis 5 at verse 1, then you see it in James 
Epistle, chapter 2. He says, with the tongue we bless 
our God and Father, and with it we curse men. who are made 
in his similitude or in his likeness. Sorry, that is James 3. So the 
image of God is consistent in man at the original creation 
of God, but as well post-fall. Now there are some differences 
and there are some theological nuances with reference to the 
image of God in terms of a pre-fall and post-fall situation, but 
post-fall man does have, does bear, is, in fact, the image 
of God most high. We see that the image of God 
is true of children. True of children, in Leviticus 
chapter 18 there was a prohibition given against throwing your children 
into the fire. In other words, as Israel would 
go into the land of Canaan, they would be surrounded by pagans, 
by heathens, that would worship false gods. One of those gods 
was called Molech. And Molech basically was a big 
statue with arms outstretched, and they'd build a fire around 
Molech. And in order to worship Molech, people would bring their 
babies and throw them into the arms of Molech. Well, Molech 
couldn't catch because Molech was fake, and so those babies 
would bounce off and fall into the fire. That is more alike 
with what we have in abortion today than any other thing. But the people of God were prohibited 
from that. You are to treat your children 
as image-bearers. The same thing consists in the 
New Testament. Fathers, do not provoke your 
children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition 
of the Lord. They're not objects for your 
destruction. They're not objects for your ridicule. They're not 
objects for your sexual perversion, but they are image-bearers of 
the true and living God. Children are to be tended to 
as image-bearers. As well, we see the image of 
God in the handicapped. So oftentimes in our society, 
especially with euthanasia, the handicapped are relegated to 
the margins. They're not that important. Again, 
Leviticus chapter 19 tells us we're not to put a stumbling 
block in the path of a blind man. or not to engage in mockery 
of those who do not have full physical capability. And then 
we have that blessed account of Bartimaeus, blind Bartimaeus, 
who hears that Jesus is passing through Jericho and he cries 
out, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And the crowd 
shushes him. Why do you think they shush him? 
because they think he's marginalized and Jesus is too popular, too 
prestigious, too famous to ever stop and mess with a man who's 
blind. It is intriguing. When they tell 
Bartimaeus to shut up, Bartimaeus simply cries louder, Jesus, thou 
son of David, have mercy upon me. But the glory of the text 
is that Jesus stops in the midst of the hustle and bustle of a 
busy Jericho street, in the midst of a busy ministry, in the midst 
of a popularity that's growing and abounding. He stops and he 
walks over to blind Bartimaeus and he says, what would you have 
me to do? Isn't that incredible? He speaks 
to this image bearer and the image bearer says, Lord, I want 
to see. So Jesus healed him. Jesus restored 
his sight. He wasn't marginalized. He wasn't 
somehow second tier. He was rather an image bearer 
of the living and true God. The same with the sick. The sick 
are treated with great dignity and respect. They as well bear 
the image of God. In James Epistle again, James 
chapter five, if anyone among you is sick, let him call for 
the elders so that the elders can come and anoint his head 
with oil and pray for him. Not just, oh, it's okay because 
they're marginalized, they're not active contributors to society. A society that marginalizes the 
weakest among them shows what Murray says. Moral degeneracy, 
bankruptcy. We should be about protecting. We should be about helping. We 
should be about compassion. We should be about love. It is 
most intriguing to survey, again, the claims of science in light 
of what scripture and science teaches concerning humanity. There is so little concern and 
so little regard given to the status of man today, and Christians 
need to think God's thoughts after him in this particular 
issue. Now, of course, it is true of 
the elderly as well. Leviticus chapter 19, verse 32, 
rise in the presence of the hoary head. Why is that? Show them 
respect, show them esteem, show them love. I think one of the 
most barbaric practices that we have witnessed in the last 
two years is the lack of respect, the lack of esteem, and the lack 
of love and dignity afforded to our elderly. Our elderly need 
contact. They need family. They need to 
hug grandchildren. They need to love their children. 
They need to see people. They need to be around that. 
And that we have disregarded them to the point where they're 
just far off and utterly removed? And as a pastor, we can't go 
visit people in the hospital? I remember texting, or emailing, 
not texting, I emailed Dr. Bonnie Henry. Early on, I said, 
if masks work, how come pastors can't go to the hospital, masked 
up, to visit their people? No answer, no reply. You just 
can't do it. You just can't go. Brethren, 
that is detrimental. It's intriguing that two long 
years in, we're finally realizing, oh, this has taken a toll on 
our elders. Oh, this has taken a toll on our children. Oh, this 
has taken a toll on the mental health of all of the inhabitants 
in these lands, where we have locked them down, even though 
the majority of them were healthy. This is not to regard humanity. This is to disregard humanity, 
and it is a great crime and a sin against God Most High. And in 
terms of the pre-born, the Bible is clear. Turn to Genesis chapter 
25. Genesis chapter 25, establishing 
the sanctity of life concerning the pre-born in the womb. Genesis 
chapter 25, specifically at verse 19. This is the genealogy of 
Isaac. Abraham's son, Abraham begot 
Isaac. Isaac was 40 years old when he 
took Rebekah as wife, the daughter of Bethuel, the Syrian, of Paddan 
Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian. Now Isaac pleaded with 
the Lord for his wife because she was barren. And the Lord 
granted his plea. And Rebekah, his wife, conceived. 
But the children struggled together within her. Not the product of 
conception. Not a lump of undefined cells. 
The children struggled together within her. And he said, If all 
is well, why am I like this? So she went to inquire of the 
Lord. And the Lord said to her, Two nations are in your womb. 
Two peoples shall be separated from your body. One people shall 
be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger. 
So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed 
there were twins in her womb. And the first came out red. He 
was like a hairy garment all over, so they called him, his 
name Esau. Afterward, his brother came out, and his hand took hold 
of Esau's heel. So his name was called Jacob. 
Turn over to Job, Job, specifically at Job 10, just surveying some 
of the passages that you will no doubt have to offer with reference 
to argumentation against abortion. Does the Bible address the pre-born 
and the womb? Does it afford them status? Does 
it tell us that they are indeed individuals with a unique genetic 
code? The Bible doesn't say that, but 
that's certainly what science tells us. Notice in Job 10, specifically 
at verse 8, Your hands have made me and fashioned me as intricate 
unity, yet you would destroy me. Remember, I pray, that you 
have made me like clay, and will you turn me into dust again? 
Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese, 
clothe me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones 
and sinews? You have granted me life and 
favor, and your care has preserved my spirit." Turn over to Job 
31. Job's a whole lot smarter than 
modern scientists today who arrive at the conclusion that what we 
have in the womb of a mother is not a baby. Notice in Job 
31 specifically at verses 13 and 15. What then shall I do when God 
rises up? When he punishes, how shall I 
answer him? Did not he who made me in the 
womb make them? Did not the same one fashion 
us in the womb? Now think about Israel in terms 
of redemptive history and the promise of the gospel in Genesis 
3.15. Israel was taught to look for 
the seed of the woman. Do you think that the remnant, 
the believing, the righteous in Israel would ever seek to 
terminate the baby in the womb when they're waiting for their 
Messiah? Absolutely, positively not. Turn 
over to Psalm 51. Psalm 51, David is tracing his 
native depravity. And when he does so, he traces 
it back to the womb. And in this statement, he is 
not denouncing the conjugal relationship between his mother and father. 
God ordained the conjugal relationship. It is honorable among all. But 
with reference to David, when David was David, he was a sinner. 
In Adam all die. Notice in Psalm 51 at verse 5. 
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother 
conceived what? She conceived me. Not a lump 
of cells, not an undefined mass of tissue, but when my mother 
conceived, she conceived me, David, the divine weaver, our 
brother Steve read at the outset in Psalm 139. Again, a passage 
very appropriate for Sanctity of Life Sunday. Psalm 139 verse 
13, 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. 
You see brethren, that is the tact that people are to take. 
Today it's almost like it's against, people are against having children. It's like we've come from this 
place where, you know, being fruitful and multiplying and 
having children and having family and laughter and joy and feasting 
together around a table. You know, you tell somebody anymore 
if you're going to have your third child, you're going to 
have your fourth child, you're going to have your fifth child, you're going 
to have your sixth child. I remember going through that when I worked 
at Northrop Grumman. My wife was pregnant again. They 
kind of raised their eyebrows. Again? Again? Again? What are 
you talking about? Haven't you done enough? That 
ought not to be the way we approach this. Children are gifts from 
Yahweh. What do we have if we don't have 
children? What do we have if we don't have that legacy? What 
do we have if we don't propagate the species? We have the end 
of the species. Again, science recognizes this. Homosexuality would never fly 
in an evolutionary mind, in an evolutionary scheme. The biology 
of it is that men and women procreate and have children according to 
God's rule, God's way, God's instruction. Back to Psalm 139, 
verse 14, I will praise you for I'm 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 
were all written. The days fashioned for me, when 
as yet there were none of them. You see, he goes back to the 
womb. He rehearses the sovereignty and the power and the majesty 
of God Most High in the putting together of David in the womb 
of his mother. And then turn over to the prophet 
Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 1 is intriguing because Jeremiah rehearses 
his call to the prophetic ministry. And in Jeremiah chapter 1, specifically 
at verse 4, notice what we read. Then the word of the Lord came 
to me, saying, 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." Now I think 
the emphasis falls on the absolute and comprehensive sovereignty 
of God. Before there was a Jeremiah, I knew you. But look at the language, 
before I formed you in the womb. So as soon as there was something 
in the womb of Mrs. Jeremiah, it was Jeremiah. And this isn't confined to the 
Old Testament. Turn over to the New Testament. 
Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1, the prophecy 
or the statement concerning John the Baptist. Luke chapter 1, 
specifically at verse 15, for he will be great in the sight 
of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will 
also be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's 
womb. Again, John the Baptist in his 
mother's womb was John the Baptist. And there, John the Baptist was 
filled with the Holy Spirit while in his mother's womb. Now compare 
verses 41 to 44. Look at, well, verse 39. Now 
Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with 
haste to a city of Judah and entered the house of Zacharias 
and greeted Elizabeth. And it happened when Elizabeth 
heard the greeting of Mary that the babe leaped in her womb and 
Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Notice that. And 
brethren, the Greek word that is used here for babe or infant 
or that thing which is in the womb is the same Greek word that 
is used of out of the womb children in Luke chapter 18. So it's not 
like there's technical terminology and it doesn't really mean it's 
a fully formula. No, it's the same language applied in two 
different states. There's pre-born and there's 
post-born. There's in the womb and there's 
outside of the womb. Back to the text, notice in verse 
42, then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, But why is this 
granted to me? Now notice this next clause, The mother of my Lord. Mary is 
pregnant with Jesus. And Elizabeth says, why is it 
that the mother of my Lord, Jesus, should come to me? So Jesus in 
the womb was Jesus. Jesus in the womb was the second 
person of the Trinity who took on our humanity, as the Bible 
says. Verse 44, for indeed, as soon 
as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe 
leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed, 
for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told 
her from the Lord. And then one other passage in 
the New Testament, Galatians 1. Very similar to what we see 
in Jeremiah 1, because as the Apostle Paul is defending his 
apostolic ministry, he goes back to the womb. He goes back to 
that place wherein Paul was. And notice in Galatians 1.15, 
but when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and 
called me through his grace. If you look at this brief survey 
of passages, you cannot evade the clear teaching of scripture. 
God made man in his image. God made man in his image, initially 
at creation, even the fall itself did not obliterate that. It did not eliminate that. And 
every class of person, every status of person, every stage 
of man is covered by that idea of the image of God. And as we 
reflect on this, we have to conclude, you shall not murder extends 
not only to the outside of the womb, but it extends to the preborn. One man, and I quote this every 
year, Gordon Clark, makes this observation. He says, one argument 
abortionists frequently use to defend themselves against the 
charge of murder is the claim that the baby is not a human 
being. You've heard that. Used to be that more prolifically, 
but now they claim it. Some of them say, yeah, we know 
it's a human. That's okay. We'll still kill 
it. I mean, that's how ghoulish we are descending as a civilization. I mean, there should be really 
no, you know, scratching of the head. I can't believe we're watching 
the decline of Western civilization. Really? We've murdered babies. 
We've murdered old people. We've celebrated sexual perversion. We've done everything that God 
says not to do. We have done it in shaking the 
fist at Yahweh and against His Christ. But back to Clark. So 
one of the arguments that abortion is frequently used to defend 
themselves against the charge of murder is the claim that the 
baby is not a human being. He says, but if the baby in the 
womb is not human, what is it? Is it canine? Is it feline? I think that some babies born 
30 or 40 years ago have turned out to be asinine. And I think 
he's absolutely positively right on. A denial of this reality 
shows a rejection of the living and true God. And when we consider 
the image of God, we ought to consider the God-man, the Lord 
Jesus Christ, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And 
we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the 
Father, full of grace and truth. Didn't he dignify that image 
by taking it on himself? Didn't he dignify that image 
by assuming our humanity? As Gregory of Nazianzus and many 
of the early church fathers says, whatever is not assumed is not 
redeemed. For Christ to redeem us, Christ 
must become like us. And Christ dignifies humanity 
by taking on human nature. Now thirdly, and finally, turn 
back to the book of Exodus to see a specific passage as it 
relates to abortion. Exodus chapter 21. Exodus chapter 
21. I think I explained last week 
that you have the 10 commandments in Exodus chapter 20. You have 
the 10 general principles. For instance, you shall not murder. 
And then in chapters 21 to 23, you see how that fleshes itself 
out in society. How do we take that general principle 
of you shall not murder and how do we do society? How do we have 
a body politic? How do we function in a capacity 
wherein we abide by God's law? Well, 21 to 23 give us concrete 
application of the principles of the Ten Commandments fleshed 
out in life, individually, familially, and societally. And when you 
come to Exodus chapter 21, we already saw verses 12 and 13. 
There is a distinction between manslaughter and murder. And 
with reference to this entire context, it is laws regarding 
homicide. So it starts off to indicate 
there is legitimate homicide, or biblically authorized homicide, 
or accidental homicide, but then there is the act of murder. But 
there is a passage, if we drop down to verse 22, that speaks 
specifically to the pre-born in the womb. Notice in verse 
22. If men fight and hurt a woman 
with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm 
follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman's husband 
imposes on him. But he shall pay as the judges 
determine. But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for 
life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for 
foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. So 
notice what we have here. If men fight and hurt a woman 
with child, Probably two morons in the city street that get into 
some sort of a brouhaha and start throwing fists. And one of their 
wives happens to be standing there, and she's with child. 
So that is a perfectly consistent situation with what we know of 
man and sin. All kinds of things happen in 
this world. And so this text speaks specifically 
to that possibility. if men fight and hurt a woman 
with child. Look at how the translation proceeds. 
So that she gives birth prematurely. That's correct. That is the way 
to translate this passage. If your Bible says so that she 
has a miscarriage, your Bible is wrong. You need to cross out 
miscarriage there. Hebrew has a word for miscarriage 
that's used in the Old Testament. It's absent from here. The Hebrew 
has a word for a stillborn and it is not here. What is in view 
and what is literally told us in terms of this text is that 
if men fight and hurt a woman with child and her children come 
out, it is a plural form of child, so children to envisage the possibility 
that she has twins. or triplets, or quad, whatever 
it is, from then on. However many babies are in there. 
So that she gives birth prematurely. And notice the language in the 
literal rendering. And her children come out. You 
saw that employed in Genesis chapter 25. It's employed across 
the Old Testament. It is the language of childbearing. So give birth prematurely is 
right, and it's correct, and it polishes up the language a 
bit, but it's literally, and her children, come out just the 
way that Rebecca's children came out. There is an exit from the 
womb on the part of the pre-born into the post-womb situation. They come out. Now, notice specifically 
what is in view in the passage. If men fight and hurt a woman 
with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm 
follows. You've got two persons now. she 
and her baby or babies that have come out. This and yet no harm 
follows applies to both parties, not just the woman. See, if we 
read this as miscarriage, she miscarries, her baby dies, yet 
no harm follows to her. That's not the way the text is 
supposed to be read. The text affords protection for 
not only the woman that was struck, but for the baby or babies that 
come out of her as a result of having been struck. We have a 
specific case law application of the Sixth Commandment that 
extends to the womb. It extends to the pre-born. It 
extends to the baby that comes out when these two knuckleheads 
are fighting and strike a woman. Now notice as well, go back to 
chapter 21 at verse 13. Well, let's just read verse 12 
again. He who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be 
put to death. However, if he did not lie in wait, but God 
delivered him into his hand, then I will appoint for you a 
place where he may flee." This God delivered him into your hand. That's providence. That's the 
way things go. Again, you swing an axe, the 
axe head flies off, and it happens to fall into your neighbor's 
head. It's a horrible thing. It's a terrible thing. But there 
was no malice aforethought. There was no premeditation. You 
didn't intend on doing that. It was an accidental homicide. 
But notice that the text specifies there is a place to flee. These 
are called the cities of refuge in Israel. Now, if you committed 
an accidental homicide, though it was an accident, you still 
got penalized. Why? so that the body politic 
would learn to make sure their axe heads are appropriately fastened 
to the handle before they swing it. In other words, exercise 
caution in your daily lives. You'll see a prohibition later 
in the law, in Exodus, that you put a fence around your roof. Why is that? So that if you're 
entertaining up there, people don't fall off and die and thus 
bring guilt upon you. So when these cities of refuge 
are spoken of, it's not saying these are murderers and we ought 
to condemn them to hell. No. But they engaged in foolishness. They were not responsible citizens 
in the body politic. But the point is, in the case 
of an accidental homicide in 2113, that person could flee 
to a city of refuge. Now, when we drop down to verse 
22, this would be called an accidental homicide. The two guys that are 
fighting and the blow strikes the woman, he didn't intend, 
there was no malice of forethought. He didn't really want to get 
rid of her and the baby in the womb. So we could legally or 
logistically call that an accident. But notice there's no city of 
refuge for this. The prescription is what's called 
the lex talionis. That's simply Latin for the law 
of retaliation, the law of retribution. Now, when we hear this, we get 
all bent out of shape and we think, oh, that's barbaric. No, 
everybody who's ever thought sees the legitimacy of the lex 
talionis. It simply means that the punishment 
must fit the crime. It means that the punishment 
must fit the crime. In fact, one person, a man who's 
written recently a book on politics, he says, far from promoting unbridled 
vengeance, the lex talionis prohibited excessive retaliation. It constrained, 
it confined, you could only do such as was right in terms of 
the crime that had been committed. So now let's look back at our 
text. Verse 22, if men fight and hurt a woman with child so 
that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows to either 
mother or child, He shall surely be punished as the woman's husband 
imposes on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. 
You caused unnecessary pain and suffering. You caused baby to 
be born before we had the nursery set up. You have to pay. There's 
some sort of recompense. There's some sort of thing that 
you need to understand that you can't just willy-nilly swing 
fists around when there are pregnant women happen to be standing there. 
Now notice verse 23, but if any harm follows. To who? To the 
mother and the child, to the mother and the children, to the 
persons affected by this man that was reckless and irresponsible 
and let his fist fly in the direction of a pregnant woman. If any harm 
does follow, notice, no city of refuge, lex talionis. Then 
you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, 
hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, 
stripe for stripe. So we have an Old Testament case 
law that flows out of the sixth commandment that speaks specifically 
to the situation of a pregnant woman. And this Old Testament 
case law affords protection for not only the woman, but for the 
baby or babies that are in her womb. up to and including the 
death penalty if that baby is killed in the midst of this particular 
exchange. You have increased protection, 
as it were. When we compare verse 13 to what 
we find in this particular situation, increased protection for the 
baby in the womb. Again, a nation that is looking 
for the seed, the Messiah. They would have resonated with 
this. They would have understood this. This wouldn't have been 
a challenge to them. But as time goes on, and as sin 
goes on, and as men go more degenerate, we end up in the place where 
we regard it as something to shout, that persons shout their 
abortion and trace their success in the movie industry because 
they got rid of an inconvenient thing when they were younger. 
This is vile. It is reprehensible. It is an 
abomination before God Most High. And brethren, this is something 
that is out of sight and out of mind. For the most part, we 
don't pay attention to what's happening. For the most part, 
we don't see that yesterday, for instance, or the day before, 
the March for Life in Washington, D.C. Thousands and thousands 
and thousands and thousands of people were marching for life. 
Do you think that gets covered on mainstream media? Oh, look 
at those people out there marching for the lives of others. No, 
they don't care about it. We live in a generation where 
mankind is disposable, where mankind is objectified, where 
mankind is relegated from the status of image-bearer of the 
living and true God. When we sacrifice that reality, 
then everything follows. When we get rid of what Scripture 
says concerning our dignity and sanctity, then everything follows. 
If we are just a product of evolution, if we are just a collection of 
cells and tissue, if we are just a collection of random atoms, 
then what difference does it make about anything that we do? 
Brethren, without the doctrine of who God is, without the doctrine 
of creation, without the doctrine afforded to us in the Word of 
God, we will devolve to the level of the beasts of the field. We 
will be like the animals. We, in many ways, have already 
exceeded the animals because they don't bear the image of 
God, and what they do, they do instinctually the way God created 
them. We sin, we reject, we revile, we transgress, we lack conformity. God says, hold this in high regard, 
and we destroy it and we terminate it for convenience. We don't 
want to be bothered with a child. We don't want to be bothered 
with this issue in our life. So we'll just go to the doctor 
and have it taken care of. that we have doctors who have 
sworn fundamentally to uphold life and they'll actually enter 
into the womb of a woman with sterilized instruments and murder 
the baby in there is reprehensible. And again, brethren, when we 
look at this particular passage, if God protects an accidental 
abortion with reference to two fools fighting in the city street, 
what do we make of a government that subsidizes it? What do we 
make of a prime minister who demands that everybody in his 
party must vote pro-choice. What do we make of a prime minister 
who's okay with sex-selective abortion? Oh, you don't want 
a woman or you don't want a baby girl? Go ahead, do that, get 
rid of her. What do we make with a government 
that has no laws whatsoever that restrains the practice of abortion? Brethren, our country is just 
among a handful, a very small handful, that I think includes 
China and I think includes North Korea, of governments or countries 
that have no laws restricting the practice of abortion. That 
is horrifying. Or consider our Prime Minister 
when he says that decisions like these, aborting babies, committing 
the act of murder, are best left between a woman and her physician. Why can't that be the case in 
terms of vaccination? Why can a woman, with a doctor's 
consultation, decide to murder her baby, and you and I, with 
our doctor's consultation, can decide not to get a vaccine? 
I don't want to hear they're committed to science. I don't 
want to hear they're committed to the facts. I don't want to 
hear that they're committed to the data. They have an axe to 
grind against the living and true God. They have an axe to 
grind against Yahweh and against His Christ. They are the mutinous 
peoples of Psalm 2. We will not have this one to 
reign over us. They're the mutinous ones at 
the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. When Pontius Pilate offers 
them Barabbas or Jesus, what do they say? Give us Barabbas. You want to talk about a domestic 
terrorist? That was Barabbas. We think about 
those three men on the cross and we think of them as thieves. 
Yes, thief fits, but that word also is translated insurrectionist, 
revolutionary. You didn't get capitally punished 
in the Roman Empire for thievery. You got capitally punished in 
the Roman Empire for trying to overthrow the empire or engaged 
in murder. So when we find them clamoring 
for Barabbas, and then when Pilate says, but what about Jesus? They 
say, away with him, away with him, crucify him. So while they're 
trying to hide behind science and facts and data, we ought 
not to buy it, brethren. This attempt to eliminate a virus 
all the while endorsing abortion? I'm old enough to remember early 
on in the pandemic, seems so long ago, when they said non-essential 
businesses, non-essential entities had to close down. Guess what? Never closed down during the 
pandemic. Guess who always got tended to 
if they needed to? Guess who most likely could go, 
even unvaccinated, to an abortion clinic and get that child murdered? It is horrifying. It is absolutely 
wretched. It is rebellion against the living 
and true God. And it's in times like these 
that the church does well to imitate the prophet Habakkuk 
who said, in wrath remember mercy. Because God's wrath is revealed 
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who 
suppress the truth in unrighteousness. We need to take heed. with reference 
to the murder of babies, Didache. It's an early Christian manual 
that was a teaching manual. Didache simply means teaching. 
It's dated around 180, 100, 110. You shall not abort a child or 
commit infanticide. Why do you think they spoke to 
that? Because it was rampant in the empire. See, when you 
lived in the Roman Empire in the first century, you may not 
have gone to a doctor with his surgical instruments, but you 
could have gone to a doctor for his sorcery, his pharmacy. The Greek word pharmacy is sorcery 
in the New Testament. They would use drugs to induce 
abortion. Or perhaps you couldn't afford 
that so you just take the newly born baby and throw it on the 
trash heap. Typically this would be the case 
for girls. And what would happen is that the dogs in the city 
would come along and eat the baby girls. Or others would come 
along and abduct the baby girls and guess what? Raise them in 
godly families. No, they would rear them up to 
a life of slavery and prostitution. So the Didache, understanding 
Christians in the empire, spoke specifically concerning this 
issue. You shall not abort a child or commit infanticide. Listen 
to John Calvin's musing on the reality involved. He says, with 
reference to the Exodus prohibition, If it seems more horrible to 
kill a man in his own house than in a field, because a man's house 
is his place of most secure refuge, it ought surely to be deemed 
more atrocious to destroy a fetus in the womb before it has come 
to light. Fetus, for all of their blathering, is the Latin for 
unborn baby. Well, it's a fetus. Yeah, it 
sure is, genius. That's the point, and you're 
not supposed to murder it. You're not supposed to kill it. 
You're not supposed to disregard it. You're not supposed to destroy 
it. Consider God's statement concerning 
judgment relative to those who engage in such practices. These 
six things Yahweh hates. Yes, seven are an abomination 
to him. A proud look, a lying tongue, 
hands that shed innocent blood. Hands that shed innocent blood. Well, you're Calvinist, you're 
Reform, you're always talking about total depravity and how 
it starts in the womb. Judicially innocent. These babies 
in the womb didn't do anything wrong. They shouldn't be punished. 
They shouldn't be committed to a sewage pit for the crime of 
having been born or having been conceived. God abominates the 
practice of those who shed blood, those hands that shed innocent 
blood. Consider Revelation 21 and verse 
8, but the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually 
immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their 
part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which 
is the second death. See, that's God's statement concerning 
the judgment that befalls those who engage in this practice, 
who engage in this act. It's not just the doctor. It's 
also the parents. It's not just the doctor and 
the parents, but it's the legislators. It's the men that sign the documentation. It's the Planned Parenthoods 
of the world. It's those who have betrayed their Hippocratic 
oath in upholding and defending life who actually go to the opposite 
extreme and engage in extinguishing life. More often for cash and 
convenience. That's the purposes behind this. 
Molech worship. Christians today hear about that 
and they say, oh how terrible, I cannot believe that somebody 
would throw their babies under the arm of the idol and he would 
bounce out and fall into the fire. It's happening all around 
us. It's happening every day. It's 
happening to the tune of 100,000 babies a year in Canada. It's 
happening to the tune of a million babies a year in America. What's 
happening throughout the nations of the earth? There is a site 
online. It's abortioncounter.com. You 
click on there and you just watch the numbers do this, constantly, 
all day, every day, going on. It is absolutely incomprehensible 
that we have degenerated into such a state that this is somehow 
controversial to actually declaim against it. Witness the US. Several of the states are trying 
to overturn or trying to see that federal law of Roe versus 
Wade get overturned. People lose their minds over 
this. What are you outraged for? What 
are you upset about? Because they can't kill babies? 
This is what we've become? This is where we've fallen? This 
is the place where we're going to plant our flag? We're going 
to shout our abortion? We're going to engage in this 
kind of criminality against the living and true God? We're going 
to engage in this kind of criminality against our own fellows? We're 
going to take the most weak and the most vulnerable among us 
and we're going to treat it as if it was nothing but trash? 
We are in a bad place, brethren, in Canada. We're in a bad place 
in North America. Western civilization, the entirety 
of the earth. We ought to, again with the prophet, 
cry out to God, in wrath, remember mercy. Well, in conclusion, the 
origin of abortion, it's the devil. It is the devil. John 8, 44. Jesus said to the 
religious leaders of his day, you are of your father the devil 
and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer 
from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there 
is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks 
from his own resources for he is a liar and the father of it. 
That's the origin of this. That's the origin of murder. Murder at every pace, every place 
in the human life, whether it's the pre-born, whether it's the 
handicapped, whether it's the healthy adult male. Whoever is 
taken out unlawfully is condemned by God Most High and has truck 
with the devil. The manifestation of abortion, 
we don't see the devil actually in the clinic. I think Paul speaks 
to this in Ephesians 6.12, we do not wrestle against flesh 
and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers 
of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness 
in the heavenly places. He acknowledges the spiritual 
warfare involved in this, but he does not minimize the reality 
that there are actually persons doing the bidding of the devil 
and actually engaged in the act of abortion. This is its manifestation, 
Planned Parenthood, every God-hating rebellious organization in Canada 
that resists God's demand concerning the preservation and the propagation 
of life. And the anti-Christian nature 
specifically of abortion I think is revealed by Jesus in Proverbs 
8. He says, he who sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those 
who hate me love death. All those who hate me love death. I think that's obvious. We see 
this hatred of Christ and this manifestation and one expression 
of this evil in abortion, in euthanasia, in the various ways 
of exterminating innocent people according to our own whim, according 
to our own desire, according to whatever we think or what 
we feel. Secondly, we need to understand 
the state and its relation to abortion. I mentioned briefly, 
just do it again, the history of abortion in Canada. The Criminal 
Law Amendment Act 1968-69, introduced by Pierre Trudeau's Liberal government, 
legalized abortion as long as a committee of doctors signed 
off that it was necessary for the physical or mental well-being 
of the mother. You remember this during the 
Clinton campaign in the 90s. Oh yeah, we don't want abortion, 
but we want it to be safe and we want it to be few. We've gone 
a long way now. Shout your abortion. Praise your 
abortion? Celebrate your abortion? It's ghoulish. You see those 
prophets of Baal cutting themselves and dancing around their altar 
in 1 Corinthians chapter 18 and we say, oh, that's just terrible. 
It's happening today. What do you call a frenzied mob 
of men and women celebrating abortion? Of all the things in 
the world that persons could appropriately celebrate, abortion? Murder? Ghoulishness? Destruction? Now in 1988, the Supreme Court 
of Canada ruled in R.V. Mordenthaler that the existing 
laws were unconstitutional and struck down the 1969 law. The 
then-governing progressive conservatives attempted but failed. That's 
a constant refrain, isn't it? Conservatives tried, but they 
failed. Well, they don't even try anymore. We have a Conservative 
Party that won't even mention abortion. We have a Conservative 
Party that won't go there. What do you mean you won't go 
there? You're going to go everywhere else to the point of covering 
slides during COVID so children can't slide down them? You know 
what I saw yesterday? There is a federal Canadian government 
agency that exists to make sure that Canned, diced potatoes are 
all the same size. Canned, diced potatoes. Forbid that you open a can of 
potatoes and get, you know, a few that are a little bit bigger, 
a little bit smaller than the others. There's a government 
agency to regulate that. Brethren, I'm sure that wretched 
story could be multiplied a billion fold. They want to regulate the 
size of diced, canned potatoes, all the while sanctioning the 
murder of babies? And conservatives don't want 
to bring it up? That's terrible. So they attempted 
but failed to pass a new abortion law, and since then Canada has 
no criminal laws governing the subject of abortion. And abortion 
is a decision made by a woman with her doctor. Current Prime 
Minister Justin Trudeau, quote-unquote, I've made it clear that future 
candidates need to be completely understanding that they will 
be expected to vote pro-choice on any bills, unquote. Trudeau, 
a self-proclaimed feminist, refused to take a position on sex-selective 
abortion, which again means murdering a girl baby. saying only that 
he would, quote, unquote, leave discussions like that between 
a woman and the health professionals that she encounters. So again, 
brethren, forgive me that when the science today is declaiming 
that I just have to take the vaccine, whether I want it or 
not, I cry foul. If a woman has the freedom of 
choice with her doctor to decide to terminate a baby, And I'd 
like to think we'd all have that same privilege when it comes 
to other medical decisions, but I don't want to make this a COVID 
thing. The fact that we are even in this place, the fact that 
we are even having to have this Sunday every January, the fact 
that abortion isn't getting less and more safe. What is a safe 
abortion? You're murdering a human. That's 
not safe. That's bad. Whenever you murder 
a human, that's not a safe thing. We are at a place where God Most 
High is revealing His wrath against us. Now, there are those who 
say, well, you know, the state says it's okay, but they don't 
make anybody have abortions. Not yet. China does. But think about that. The state 
doesn't make anybody have that. But the state allows people to 
have them. The state allows and permits 
and subsidizes the very act of murder itself. So to say, well, 
the state isn't making us do that. The state is saying it's 
OK that you can do that. Do you not see the problem behind 
that? Do you not see the problem that is parallel in, well, the 
state isn't commanding anybody to engage in pedophilia. But 
if they allow pedophilia, that's horrible, that's bad, that's 
wrong. And their purpose is to protect 
the body politic. That's it. Not figure out how 
big a diced canned potato should be. They're to bear the sword 
in terms of criminal activity within the body politic, and 
they're to bear the sword in terms of the protection of the 
body politic against foreign invasion. that they want to rule 
us from cradle to grave has never been given to them by God Most 
High. Most of the stuff the federal 
government engages in. I follow Justin Trudeau on Twitter. I would just love for once to 
see him say, we're going to be tough on crime and we're going 
to defend ourselves from foreign invaders. No, it's climate change, 
it's COVID, it's diversity, it's gender this, it's all this stuff. That isn't their job. It just 
isn't. And with reference to the state, 
I use state to speak of civil government, they do a lot that 
they were never intended to be. They try to be a nanny. They 
try to cover us from, that's another thing. I see that often 
in the tweets of our prime minister. We've got your backs. Can you 
not have my back any longer? I'd like, Jordan Peterson last 
night said, I'd like someone else to have my back for a while. 
Whenever you have my back, it costs me a lot of money, and 
it costs me liberty. So how about you just let my 
back alone, and we'll go do our own thing. That's it. That's 
all. That's what we desire here at 
this point. Listen to J. Gresham Machen, 
who was a solid theologian in the 20th century, a sound theologian, 
that faced many liberty issues. He was a man that was a theologian, 
so at times he'd be called upon by U.S. Congress to be an expert 
witness. He would testify at things, he 
would speak the biblical worldview to various things that he would 
encounter in terms of education. and the extents and the limitations 
of the civil state, what they could and couldn't do. He has 
a book called Education, Christianity, and the State, and he has an 
article in there, an essay in there, and he makes this observation 
concerning the state. He says, it exists for the repression 
of evildoers and the protection of individual liberty. Period. Not can-diced potatoes. not keeping children off of a 
slide. Parents have that call, brethren, 
not Justin, not Bonnie. The state exists for the repression 
of evildoers and the protection of individual liberty. I fear 
that at times we're where we're at because the church itself 
forgot this. The church itself has had their 
hand out for the nanny state to give them stuff, to give them 
money, to comp them, to make sure that because of the COVID 
pandemic they didn't hurt or get suffered. Brethren, that's 
not their job and it's certainly not our job to take it. We have 
forgotten, we've accepted this maxim or this idea, it's a false 
one to be sure, that it's the nanny from the cradle to the 
grave. No, it's not. Listen to Machen. And I'm not 
saying Machen, it's right because Machen says so. I'm saying it's 
right because this is what the Bible says. The state exists 
for the repression of evildoers and the protection of individual 
liberty. He also said this, the civil government is, quote, not 
intended to produce blessedness or happiness. Think about that. How often are they trying to 
do good to us? No, I don't want your love. I 
don't want your compassion. I just want you to leave me alone. I have a wife that loves me. 
I have people that I think love me. I have children that love 
me. I have that. I don't need that 
element from my government. He said, the civil government 
is not intended to produce blessedness or happiness, but, listen to 
this, intended to prevent blessedness or happiness from being interfered 
with by wicked men. You're not to promote happiness 
and blessedness, you're just to provide the sort of social 
structure wherein I can pursue blessedness and happiness. It's 
not the civil state that confers rights upon the individual. It's 
God that does that. The civil state either provides 
a context for the exercise of those rights, or they restrain 
it, or they restrict it, or they get between God and the individual. One final quote from Machen. 
He says, it is true. The attack upon liberty is nothing 
new. Always there have been tyrants 
in the world. Almost always tyranny has begun 
by being superficially beneficent, and always it has ended by being 
both superficially and radically cruel. Superficially benevolent, 
we've got your back, and then it devolves into superficially 
and radically cruel. Brethren, we need to understand 
the limitations, the extent of the civil state. And then finally, 
with reference to the church and abortion, the church cannot 
turn a blind eye to the reality that it's happening within the 
church. It's happening among the professing people of God. 
It is the case that God tells Israel, don't throw your children 
into the arms of Molech. And of course, Israel goes down 
the road of time and throws their children into the arms of Molech. The people of God, at times, 
lack knowledge relative to this particular subject. The people 
of God, professing people of God, engage in surgical abortion. There are instances, there are 
times. Randy Elkhorn, in his book, says 
there are a multitude of cases among born-again professing people 
where there are abortions occurring. The people of God in the voting 
booth. Imagine going to vote and saying, you know, I know 
he's a pedophile, but he's the best of the best, so I'm going 
to go ahead and vote for him. We would never do that. He's 
a rapist, but, you know, he's the best of the best. He's a 
murderer, but, you know, he's the best of the best. Can a man 
who endorses abortion, a woman who endorses abortion, be trusted? I say no. I say not. I say that is horrific to consider. The people have gotten sexual 
immorality. Now, usually in sermons like 
these where people hear it, And they say, well, you're not a 
scientist. You're not a doctor. You're not a biologist. Yea and 
amen. None of those things. But I am 
biologist enough to know this simple fact, that if you do not 
have sexual relations, there will be no pregnancy. If you 
do not have sexual relations, there will be no pregnancy. It's 
that simple. A moron like me figured that 
out a long time ago. It is that simple. Children and 
young people, listen to the sermon last week, when you're older, 
and think in terms of Paul in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. This 
is the will of God for you, that you abstain from sexual immorality. If you do not put yourself in 
this compromised position, you will not have that temptation 
to end it in abortion. And then the final thing I'll 
say, and again, this rouses feathers, it happens in the church, but 
there are abortifacient means in terms of birth control. You 
need to be wise. Not every birth control method 
is contraceptive in nature. There is abortifacient types 
of birth control. wherein the implanted fetus in 
the womb is murdered, or not murdered, the lining of the uterine 
wall is thinned and shriveled up to make it an inhospitable 
environment for a fertilized egg to attach and then to thrive 
and grow. That's not contraception. That's 
an abortifacient. And the people of God need to 
understand these things. And the people of God need to 
act consistently with it. And then we need to preach the 
law. I said last week that ministers of the gospel need to preach 
the law of God. And some today will probably listen, and we 
might even get nasty comments on sermon audio. He got political. 
Brethren, I want to tell our government that to kill babies 
is wrong. One of the functions our brother Steve read, 1 Timothy 
chapter 1, we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. What's a lawful use of the law 
of God? Pedagogue. Tell sinners their 
sin, such that they'll see their need for redemptive grace. This 
is why John the Baptist told Herod, it's not lawful for you 
to have your brother's wife. It's not lawful for you to break 
the law of God. We need to press this. We need to affirm this. We need to say that the law of 
God speaks to these matters. It speaks to these issues. And 
guilty, vile, helpless sinners can find refuge in our Lord Jesus 
Christ. Carl F. H. Henry, he says, even 
where there is no saving faith, the law serves to restrain sin 
and to preserve the order of creation by proclaiming the will 
of God. By its judgments and its threats of condemnation and 
punishment, The written law, along with the law of conscience, 
hinders sin among the unregenerate. It has the role of a magistrate 
who is a terror to evildoers. It fulfills a political function, 
therefore, by its constraining influence in the unregenerate 
world. See, today we're told, you can't do that. You can't 
ever talk about politics. You can't ever say that somebody 
in civil government is doing something wrong. What do we do 
with John the Baptist? How would we house him in our 
church if we knew he had just come from a session, standing 
before Herod, pointing his finger at him and saying, it's not lawful 
for you to have your brother's wife. Would we say, John Baptist, 
you're not welcome here. John Baptist, we're not going 
to let you in here. John the Baptist, that's too political. 
Or Elijah challenging King Ahab. Or the prophets of God challenging 
the royalty of their age. Brethren, Jesus Christ himself 
was a political hot button. He was a hot potato. Wandering 
around the streets of Israel or Jerusalem and Judah and Galilee, 
he incensed the religious and the political class every step 
of the way. And then finally the church needs 
to herald the gospel. The church needs to preach the 
blood of Jesus Christ, his son, that cleanses us from all sin. See, at times when we gather 
together and persons find themselves in a situation like this, they 
may reflect on the past. They may reflect upon bad decisions 
that they made in their youth. They may reflect upon previous 
horrors that they committed. But understand this, the psalmist 
said, if thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who 
could stand? But there is forgiveness with 
thee, that thou mayest be feared. There is hope in the blood of 
Jesus. There is redemption in the blood 
of Jesus. There is forgiveness in the person 
of our Lord Jesus. If you have sinned this sin, 
if you have participated in this sin, if you have sinned in other 
sins, if you have hated people in your hearts without any warrant, 
you have not done what God has said relative to the sixth commandment. 
There is hope in our blessed Savior. Scripture says, if we 
confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to 
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Brethren, I think where the law 
is preached, the gospel comes on its heels to bring the balm 
of Gilead to those needy sinners that have been bruised, broken, 
and battered by that law to understand that there is hope to be had 
in the person and in the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. And 
everyone, the Bible is clear, everyone who comes to me, Jesus 
says, I will in no wise cast out. He says, come to me all 
you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. That 
last great day of the feast in John's gospel, he says, if any 
man thirsts, let him come and drink. Peter, on the day of Pentecost, 
he is preaching to Jerusalem sinners. He tells them their 
number one sin, him you crucified by lawless hands. And yet he's 
able to say to them, repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus 
Christ for the remission of sins. So when we bring that law to 
bear upon sinners concerning this revolting practice of abortion, 
let us be there with the gospel of free and sovereign grace to 
tell sinners there is hope, there is life, there is salvation to 
be had in Jesus Christ our Lord. Well, let us pray. Our Father 
in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for its clarity 
with which it speaks to these particular issues. And we know 
that this isn't a political issue. It is theological to the core. These babies are made in the 
image of God Most High. And we pray to you that you would 
turn the hearts of wicked legislators around. We pray that you would 
turn the heart of our Prime Minister around, that this would not be 
seen as an incorrigible, as a good thing in society, but may they 
see it for what it is, an act of murder and an act of transgression 
against the living and true God. We pray for mothers and fathers 
that are going through hardships right now. We know that there 
are so many of these people that are challenged with difficult 
decisions. May they choose life. May they 
choose that which is pleasing in your sight. May they give 
these babies up for adoption to loving families that will 
take them in and rear them up. And God, may you be glorified 
in the church and help us to think your thoughts after you. 
Help us not just to be apologists and defenders of the truth, but 
to be lovers filled with compassion for the hurting among us.