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Exodus chapter 21. The book of 
Exodus can be broken down into three main sections. First, God 
delivers chapters 1 to 18. He delivers his people out of 
bondage in Egypt. Then God demands the law is given 
in chapters 19 through 24. And then the latter section of 
the book, the largest section of the book, chapters 25 to 40, 
deals with the same God dwells. He gives them instruction on 
the priesthood. He gives them instruction on 
the tabernacle. He gives them instruction on 
how they are to approach him and how they are to worship him. 
He says that he will dwell in their midst. So those three major 
sections speak to the book of Exodus. We're taking up the section 
on the law this morning. We consider the sanctity of life. Jesus said, I am the way, the 
truth and the life. No one comes to the father except 
through me. He says that the devil is a murderer 
from the beginning. So to be a Christian is to want 
to promote life. It is to be concerned about both 
spiritual and physical life. And so we turn to the law of 
God and we see a particular instance, in some respects, an indirect 
reference to abortion. But I think as we look at this 
passage in more detail a bit later, you will see that it in 
fact speaks to what we call abortion in our generation. Exodus 21, 
we'll read verses 22 to 25. 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, and 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. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, thank 
You for Your Word. And thank You that it speaks 
to all areas of our lives. We thank You that it is trustworthy 
in all that it affirms concerning history and science and doctrine 
and ethics and religious practice and any other topic. We thank 
You that it is the infallible and inerrant Word of God. that 
it has been given by inspiration. We just pray now for the mind 
of Christ. We pray for the power of your 
spirit to guide and direct our thoughts as we consider your 
word. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. John Murray well said that 
nothing shows the moral bankruptcy of a people or of a generation 
more than disregard for the sanctity of life. Nothing shows the moral 
bankruptcy of a people or of a generation more than disregard 
for the sanctity of life. Solomon in the book of Proverbs 
says, but he who sins against me, I think this is Jesus speaking 
as wisdom, he who sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death. In many respects, we live in 
a death culture. We are displaying moral bankruptcy 
as a generation that does in fact hold in contempt the very 
sanctity of life. Abortion is something that is 
not going away. The people of God need to be 
informed. We need to be instructed. We 
need to be prayerful. We need to be witnesses. We need 
to be compassionate. All those things are part and 
parcel of our responsibility as God's people. Probably in 
Canada, the average numbers are about 100,000 abortions are committed 
a year. In America, the number is over 
a million. In various parts of the world, 
the numbers exceed even that. It is staggering. It is difficult 
to try and get one's mind wrapped around this tragic approach to 
the sanctity of life, or to the lack, rather, of an approach 
to the sanctity of life. I want to do three things this 
morning, or three objectives in our study. But prior to that, 
I have three introductory comments. The first, we need to remember 
that abortion is first and foremost a theological issue. You'll hear 
the pundits say it is a political issue. It is a political platform. It is part of a political agenda. 
It is theological in nature. Gerhardus Vos said that when 
a life is taken, when somebody is murdered, it is the image 
of God that is assaulted in that human being that is slain. We 
need to understand that. It is theological in nature. Secondly, the people of God need 
to know His word on this vital issue. And then a third reason 
why we need to look at this afresh is Dr. Kermit Gosnell of Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania. We'll have a bit more to say 
on him a little bit later. But as I said, we have three 
objectives this morning. I would encourage you to pay 
attention. We're going to look at a lot of texts, as I have 
preached on this over the years, as I've thought through this, 
as I have looked at the arguments, as I have looked at the debate, 
if you will. These three issues are something 
that every one of God's people ought to have down. First, we 
want to establish the value of man. Secondly, to explain the 
personhood of the pre-born. And thirdly, we need to expound 
a crucial text which weighs in on this particular issue. Again, 
that's Exodus 21. We'll pick that up in a few moments. But first, we want to establish 
the value of man. If, as the humanist or the atheist 
or the evolutionist teaches, that we're all just random happenings 
at a certain point in time in this big cosmic ball, well then 
it should be no problem for one piece of that random ball to 
take the life of another. If we grant the humanist assumption 
or the evolutionist assumption, then we have no meaning, we have 
no purpose, there is no sanctity of life. In fact, one of the 
most weird things as the atheist who is pro-life. I mean, I thank 
God that he is. I praise God that he's inconsistent. 
But in an atheistic world, who really cares? The final analysis 
might does make right and whatever I want to do ought to be the 
law of the land was Christians. We must reject such a position 
as Christians. We must repudiate that as Christians. We go to the law into the testimony 
and we learn what God has to say concerning the person concerning 
man. Francis Schaeffer said this, 
he said, in the flood loss of humanness in our age, including 
the flow from abortion on demand to infanticide and on to euthanasia, 
the only thing that can stem this tide is the certainty of 
the absolute uniqueness and value of people. And the only thing 
which gives us that is the knowledge that people are made in the image 
of God. We have no other final protection. And the only way we know that 
people are made in the image of God is through the Bible and 
then the incarnation of Christ, which is or which we know rather 
from the Bible. And as we trace through the scriptures, 
we see that, in fact, God made man in his own image. We bear 
the image of our Creator, unlike the animals. That differentiates 
us. A righteous man has regard for 
his beast. We ought not to just willy-nilly 
take the lives of animals, but we need to remember there is 
a distinction between God's pinnacle of creation, which is man, and 
the animals. We see the value of man displayed 
before the fall into sin. Genesis chapter 1, verses 26 
to 27. Let us make man in our image, 
God says. That is true before the fall. 
But that image is still retained after the fall. Some theologians 
disagree with this point, but the Bible tells us otherwise. 
When James is exhorting his readers to speak well, to use their tongue 
wisely, he says, with it, with that tongue, we bless God and 
with it we curse men who are made in the likeness of God. So even though sin is a reality, 
man still bears the image of God, albeit deformed, albeit 
distorted, albeit twisted, albeit damaged. But nevertheless, we 
bear the image of God most high prior to the fall and after the 
fall. We see that this extends to the 
pre-born in the womb, which we'll investigate more fully in just 
a moment. We see that this extends to children. Children are image 
bearers. The book of Leviticus, it was 
forbidden, it was prohibited for the Israelites to take their 
little beloved children and offer them up to Moloch. Moloch, you 
remember, was the statue. He was an idol. And they would 
construct him in such a way that his arms would be held out. And 
they would kindle a fire at the base of this particular idol. 
And the worshipper would come and he would throw his child 
into the arms of Moloch. Well, more often than not, they 
would bounce off the arms of Moloch because he has hands, 
but he cannot grab. And so that child would go right 
into the fire. It was human sacrifice. It was 
a wicked display of worship. God prohibited that. God forbade 
that. We see that in the New Testament 
as well. Paul tells fathers, do not exasperate 
your children. Do not provoke them under wrath. 
Why? Because they're image bearers. 
They are image bearers of the living and the true God. You 
don't abuse them. You don't molest them. You don't 
use them. You don't mistreat them. You 
treat them with the dignity that they require that is theirs by 
design because God has made them in his image. We see that this 
is true. The fact that man bears the image 
of God for the handicapped as well. The book of Leviticus, 
it was prohibited that you put a stumbling block before a blind 
man. You don't play games with somebody 
who is handicapped. You don't try to sabotage them 
or harass them. You don't just farm them out 
in a place where you're going to kill them. No, they have dignity. They are image bearers of the 
living God. You love them. You care for them. 
You treat them as an image bearer of the living God. Praise our 
God that our Lord Jesus displayed a heart of compassion for the 
handicapped. He's walking through the city 
of Jericho and that handicapped man named Bartimaeus lift up 
his voice and said, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. Jesus didn't say, oh, you're 
marginalized or you can't see or you're defective or you're 
not a good person. Jesus stopped in his tracks, 
went over to this blind man and said, what would you have me 
to do? It is true of the handicapped. It is true of the elderly. Euthanasia oftentimes targets 
the elderly. God says in Leviticus 19, a message 
that all of us young men need to take to heed. It says, rise 
in the presence of the gray-headed man. Get up. Show some respect. Show some reverence. Shake the 
man's hand. Love him. That applies to women 
as well. Give your chair up for the lady 
on the bus. Give your place up for the for 
the women and the children. God is about these sorts of things, 
because men, women, boys and girls bear his image. In the 
book of First Timothy, Paul says, Do not rebuke an older man of 
dignity. They have worth. You're not some 
young buck that knows it all. Mr. Theology machine. And so 
you're going to yell at this older man. Oh, gently. graciously, lovingly seek to 
instruct his brother. You don't rebuke a man with gray 
hair. You see, God says that people 
have worth. People have dignity. People are 
in the image of God Most High. Well, let's look at the explanation 
of the personhood of the pre-born. Again, several passages quickly 
that will run through just so you can see this. In Genesis 
chapter 25, we see that nations come from the womb. Genesis chapter 
25, Isaac and Ishmael. The Lord said to her, talking 
about Rebecca, two nations are in your womb. Two people shall 
be separated from your body. One people shall be stronger 
than the other, and the older shall serve the younger. In the 
book of Job, when that man is ascribing or highlighting his 
life, his history, the way that he interacted with people, in 
Job 10 at verse 8, he says, Your hands have made me and fashioned 
me in 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? Clothed 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." And 
then over in Job 31. Job 31, as he highlights the 
fact that he has sought to treat people decently and fairly. He says this in Job 31 at verse 
13. If I have despised the cause of my male or female servant 
when they complained against me, 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? Job was Job in the womb. He wasn't a lump of undefined 
cells. He wasn't the product of conception. Job was Job at conception. We see this in David's psalm. 
In Psalm 51, as he's tracing his native depravity back, he 
traces it back to the womb. In Psalm 51, at verse 5, he says, 
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother 
conceived me. He's not saying the act of David's 
mother and father was a sinful act. He is saying that when David 
came to be, based on the fact that he was in Adam, he was a 
sinner. It was sinful David in the womb 
of Mrs. David. It was sinful David in 
the womb. It wasn't a lump of undefined 
cells that man can do whatever he wants to do with or without. Psalm 139, a passage I hope that 
you're all familiar with. Again, brethren, take these texts 
to heart. Learn the scriptures. Understand. 
It does not do us any good as Christians to say, well, I think 
the Bible condemns abortion. I think the Bible says the little 
baby in the womb is a real human being. I think that the people 
that are in the world have dignity. No. That's unacceptable. We need to be able to answer. 
We've got the goods, theologically speaking. Do you ever realize 
that science can only tell us what is? Science cannot tell 
you what ought to be. We need something else. We need 
the word of the living God. We need the word of one who is 
outside of us, speaking into us, so that we understand how 
to conduct ourselves in this world. Science tells us what 
is. It doesn't tell us what ought 
to be. And when they say science this, and science that, and science 
this, it is oftentimes riddled with philosophical assumptions 
that have no basis in truth. And Christians stand there saying, 
oh, that sounds so impressive. I listened to R.C. Sproul, he 
was talking about what would he have changed in the past with 
reference to this whole issue of abortion. He says a lot of 
people have gone and have picketed outside of abortion clinics. 
And he says that has a place, it has a purpose. But he says 
if I had it to do over again, I would find out the name of 
every pastor who is pro-choice, and every church who is pro-choice, 
and I would picket outside of there. How dare the Christian 
church not be able to respond to this magnitude of bloodshed. How dare us that we say so fuzzy 
when it comes to something that is so crystal clear. We're not talking about difficulties 
in exegetical approaches to what's going to happen when Jesus comes 
back. We're talking about the murder of image bearers, little 
tiny human beings who ought to be safest in their mother's womb, 
and yet they're oftentimes executed for money and for convenience. Cash and convenience. You ever 
heard it said, well, what do we do when we get pregnant? Don't 
have Apart from Jesus Christ, there has never been an instance 
where somebody was conceived apart from sexual relations. Well, that's what they're going 
to do anyway. Don't do it. You want to compound sin against 
God by murder? Psalm 139. Forgive me if I get a little 
fired up. I just I think it is unconscionable that it actually 
occurs and that there's probably churches today that have no inkling 
whatsoever of what's really going on. God indicted the nation of Israel 
in Ezekiel chapter 9. He promised to destroy those 
who looked around at Jerusalem and who looked around at the 
land and did not sigh and cry over the abominations. Man, I've 
oftentimes thought that is the most terrifying passage in the 
entirety of Holy Writ, Ezekiel chapter 9, Psalm 139, verses 
13 to 16. For you have formed or for you 
form 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 it 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. It's interesting that Jeremiah 
the prophet highlights something very intriguing with reference 
to this debate. He says that the Lord separated 
him from his mother's womb to be a prophet to the nations. 
The apostle Paul says the same thing in Galatians chapter 115. 
God separated me from my mother's womb when he was pleased to call 
me as an apostle. And then, of course, the Lord 
Jesus in the womb and John the Baptist in the womb. Isn't it 
interesting that the spirit of God can fill John the Baptist 
while he's in the womb? He's not an undefined, undefined 
lump of cells. He is John the Baptist. The same 
language that is applied to Jesus and to John in the womb is applied 
to children outside of the womb. If you compare the Greek in Luke 
1, 41-44 to Luke 18, when the children are brought to the Lord 
Jesus, it's the same Greek word. Brephos in the womb, brephos 
outside of the womb. They were not undefined lumps 
of cells. In fact, when Mary comes to Elizabeth, 
what does she say? How is it that the mother of 
my Lord should come to me? Jesus in the womb is Lord. Had Rebecca, Job's mother, David's 
mother, Jeremiah's mother, Mary, and Paul's mother lived in the 
21st century, and the pro-abortion advocates had their way, nations 
would not have been born. Job, David, Jeremiah, and Paul 
would not have been, and all of us would have died in our 
sins. Now, it's a reductio ad absurdum, 
an argument based on absurdity, but you get the point. Praise 
God they didn't live in our pro-choice generation, in our day and age 
where babies are treated as if they're human garbage. Many of 
the leading abortion or anti-abortion advocates, I know of two men 
in particular, George Grant and Randy Alcorn. George Grant's 
introduction to this whole thing, I don't know why he was in the 
back of an alley one time, but he looked into a dumpster and 
he saw it filled with babies. That changes a man. It affects 
a man. causes a man to redirect his energies, redirect his efforts. Randy Alcorn was very, very much 
involved in this issue, and then the pro-choice people sued him 
to the tune of $8 million. Tried to take everything he had, 
tried to take everything he ever... He didn't even have $8 million. 
That's what happens when you raise a contrary voice. Don't 
touch the sacrament of the humanist. Don't touch the sacramental right 
of the God-haters. It's Moloch worship and Baal 
worship all over again. And that it happens in state-licensed 
or provincially-licensed or federally-licensed, out-of-the-way hospital or doctor's 
offices is no less severe and worse and gruesome than if we 
put Moloch in the city center and started throwing babies into 
his arm. We need to think about this issue. The latter part of 
that message by R.C. Sproul, he says, this isn't just 
an evil. It is a monstrous evil. It is a monstrous evil. Well, 
let's expound Exodus 21, 22 to 25. You may turn back there. 
As I said, the whole context is one of law, God instructing 
the people as to his way. The Ten Commandments are given 
in Chapter 20, those general principles that I hope all of 
you have committed to memory. I know there's a lot of debate 
and a lot of departure and a lot of issue in our generation with 
reference to evangelicals and the Ten Commandments. They apply 
to us. If you want the hermeneutics 
on that, you can see me later. They apply to us, the Ten Commandments. It is the summary statement of 
God's law. Well, in chapters 21 to 23, God, 
through Moses, tells the people how they are to flesh these principles 
out in their political society. In fact, Walter Kaiser makes 
this statement. He says, while these judgments 
deal mainly with temporal matters, they nevertheless are based on 
one or another expressed commandment in the Decalogue. In other words, 
when you get to a statement about the ox that gored, for instance, 
you know that law there in Exodus, if your ox gets out and gores 
somebody, you have to pay. If it turns out that your ox 
had gored in the past and you did not responsibly seek to restrain 
it and he gores again, you could be liable to death. Well, you 
trace that back to what commandment? Do not murder right when he gets 
into the property laws, when he gets into how to deal with 
somebody who steals your donkey, who steals your sheep, who breaks 
into your home. Where do we trace that back to? 
You shall not steal when he gets into the laws concerning sexual 
morality. Where do we trace that back to? 
You shall not commit adultery. This has been the typical way 
to understand the law of God throughout the history of the 
church. It's very well codified, very well summarized, very well 
explained in documents like Calvin's Institutes, the Westminster Larger 
Catechism. We live in an antinomian age 
where we don't like the law. We're not under law, we're under 
grace. Unfortunately, under their system of grace, garbage cans 
are filled with babies. Maybe we need a dose of Sinai 
in our generation. So, he says, while these judgments 
deal mainly with temporal matters, they nevertheless are based on 
one or another express commandment in the Decalogue. Kaiser says, 
it is most appropriate, therefore, that these judicial and political 
regulations given by God to Moses when Moses approached the thick 
darkness where God was, should be set alongside the Decalogue. Decalogue is the Ten Commandments, 
children. It's just another way to say 
Ten Commandments. It means literally ten words. 
The two belong together in time as well as in interpretation. Now in chapter 21 verses 12 to 
32, it deals specifically with laws on murder, manslaughter, 
and bodily injury. Let's take up verse 22 for a 
moment. If men fight and hurt a woman 
with child so that she gives birth prematurely. This is a 
good translation. The ESV actually translates it 
a bit more literally, and it's quite acceptable as well. The 
ESV says, so that her children come out. The language come out 
is used in the scripture for a live birth. If we would have 
continued reading in Genesis 25, we would see that very language 
used. Esau does what? He comes out. 
Jacob does what? He comes out. The fact that the 
plural is used here envisages a situation where a woman may 
be carrying twins. It's literally two men are fighting 
and a woman standing there who is pregnant gets struck and her 
children come out. In other words, they're born 
prematurely. The inaccurate, incorrect translation 
of this particular section would be to say that she miscarries. Now follow along with me. You've 
got to think a little bit here. Unfortunately, the older New 
American Standard translated it this way. The update translates 
it properly. She gives birth prematurely. 
Unfortunately, or fortunately, the NIV renders it properly, 
but gives the marginal reading as miscarriage. There's a Hebrew 
word for miscarriage that's absent from this passage. There's a 
Hebrew word used for one untimely born, one who is born and then 
dies. That's absent from this passage. 
The language is the language of birth, premature birth in 
this particular issue. The Message Bible, why anyone 
would carry that as a Bible to begin with, is beyond me. But 
it's especially terrible in this particular case. It says, when 
there's a fight and in the fight a pregnant woman is hit so that 
she miscarries but is not otherwise hurt. I've got to tell you, I've 
met many a pregnant lady who get quite fond of that little 
baby in their wombs. And when they miscarry, there's 
pain. There's hurt. There's travail. You see the difference in the 
rendering. If we take the idea that she miscarries and yet no 
harm follows to the mother, yadda, yadda, yadda. That's not what's 
going on. If she gives birth prematurely, 
her children come out. And yet no harm follows to mother 
and child. You see the difference? The child 
is protected under the law. The child matters. The child 
is a primary party in this particular event. The law speaks very specifically 
in terms of a provision for the child. It's not a miscarriage 
that's in view. It's a premature birth that is 
in view. It could be one child. It could 
be two children. She could have triplets. She 
could have whatever the next one is, quatuplets or quartuplets 
or quintuplets or sextuplets, whatever comes out of her based 
on the fight of these two men. As long as those children and 
that mother are not damaged or injured or there's some other 
pain involved, then what happens? Let's move on to the penal sanction. 
If these men fight, a stray blow hits this woman, she gives birth 
prematurely. Baby's fine. Mother's fine. So no harm is followed. Then 
he shall pay. Right? Isn't that what happens? You better cough up, man. You 
see, that's another thing you need to understand about biblical 
law. It's pro-victim. It's not pro-criminal. It's not 
pro-state, it's pro-victim. So if I'm standing there and 
I see my wife get hit, then the judges are going to come to me 
and say, what do you think is a worthy price for him to pay? 
You better dig deep, baby, because you endangered my wife and my 
son and daughter. But what happens if harm follows? This is where most Christians 
abandon shepherds. We don't like this part. We don't 
dig this part. That lex talionis is quite offensive 
to the modern ear. Lex talionis is Latin for the 
law of retribution. You know, we operate according 
to that. We say it this way. The punishment 
must fit the crime. Don't we say that? Yes? Have you ever heard that? Maybe? 
Possibly? You see somebody do something horrific, they ought 
to be punished. You see somebody that doesn't do something so 
horrific, yeah, you should be punished. It's the law of retribution, 
right? You with me? You following me? 
Look at what happens. Notice what he goes on to say. 
She gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows. Again, the 
mother or children. He shall surely be punished accordingly 
as the woman's husband imposes on him. Verse 22. And he shall 
pay as the judge has determined. Pro-victim. Which one of you 
men would say, oh, it's OK. You'd be like, no, I endanger 
my wife and kids. I'm taking your car. Judges are involved, they render 
the deliberation and everything is done, but verse 23, if any 
harm follows to mother or child, mother or children, any harm 
follows to that little baby. that fell out or came out in 
the midst of these two knuckleheads fighting near a pregnant woman. 
If that happens, here's the punishment. 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. Now, I want 
you to back off for just a moment and consider what's going on 
in Exodus 21, 22 to 25. It is what we might call an accidental 
abortion. The purpose of these men was 
not to induce abortion in the woman. The purpose of these two 
men was to fight with each other. In the midst of their fight with 
each other, a stray blow was sent out and the woman got hit. Back in the law, back in just 
a few verses, in the case of accidental homicide, In the case 
of accidental homicide, that means when somebody accidentally 
gets killed, the law stipulated that that person had a place 
to go so that he would not be put to death. Everybody with 
me? In this case of accidental abortion, 
the guy doesn't have a place of refuge. The guy cannot escape. The husband determines life for 
life, and that's what's going to happen. Now, just think for 
a moment. If this is a case that, as I 
said, indirectly speaks to abortion, where two men are fighting, why 
were they fighting? Who knows? Why do men ever fight? But in the case that these two 
men are fighting, and they accidentally strike a woman who is pregnant, 
she is then forced into premature labor, has the baby, If this 
law regulates human life at that level and to that degree, how 
much more, argument from the lesser to the greater, how much 
more when there are state-funded, governmentally subsidized clinics 
for the purpose of intentional homicide? Though they may use 
sterile surgical instruments, they are places of execution. 
We will speak about the death penalty tonight. I think the 
Bible is very clear on that issue as well. But for our purposes 
here, if the accident causes death to the pre-born children 
and the life of the man is required, how much more when we governmentally 
sanction, when we vote yes, when we subsidize, when we promote 
this atrocity under the guise of choice? When I come to grips 
with these passages, my next prayer is, God have mercy on 
us. God have mercy on us. The sins of blind guiltiness 
pollute the land. The sins of men murdering babies, 
women murdering babies, fathers murdering babies. These things 
ought not to be. One man says, Western humanists 
today regard biblical laws primitive and brutal. We must ask, is the 
concern of humanists for the brutality shown by the Bible's 
eye for eye principle misguided? Shouldn't their concern be focused 
instead on the brutality of the criminal against the innocent 
victim? Isn't the Lex Talionis principle a deterrent to crime, 
especially repeated crimes by a criminal class? Shouldn't our 
concern be with the victims of violent crime rather than with 
the criminals who commit them? Don't forget, brethren, Proverbs 
6, God hates six things. Yea, seven are an abomination 
to him. One of those are hands that shed 
innocent blood. hands that shed innocent blood. John Calvin said, 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 is Latin for 
unborn or preborn baby. Isn't it more horrific, the home 
invasion, robbery? Doesn't that bug us? Bugs me. Bugs me when I consider a little 
old lady opening her door to some thugs that brutalize her 
and take everything she has. It bugs me when a guy's mugged 
out in the middle of the field, but there's something extra atrocious 
about somebody in the comfort of their own living room being 
brutalized by thugs. You see what Calvin's saying? 
How much worse a baby in the womb. How much worse when your 
only function is to grow, to take in nourishment, to live? When I worked at Northrop Grumman, 
there was a man there. I don't think he was a Christian. 
I think he was a Mormon. In fact, I know he was a Mormon 
because we often had discussions about that subject. But I remember 
he had a T-shirt that he would wear and it had a picture of 
a garbage can on it and said, America, this is no place for 
babies. America, this is no place for babies. Translate that into 
Canada. There's no laws restricting abortion in Canada. Did you know 
that? No laws. At least, I'm not condoning, 
I'm not saying that America is some sort of bastion of wonderful 
mess, but at least in 2003, President Bush did sign a ban on partial 
birth abortion. Again, there's a ton, long way 
to go, but at least there was the consciousness at that point 
to say, enough, at least with this barbaric treatment of a 
human being. They still got a long way to 
go. Again, I'm not saying, look at America, the bastion of freedom 
and liberty. No. There's no laws restricting it. 
Well, in closing, four things and then we close. First, I think 
we see the folly of the pro-abortion movement displayed before our 
very eyes if we're thinking biblically. If we're thinking biblically. Two cases recently display the 
absolute ridiculous nature and mindset and mentality of the 
pro-abortion movement. Scott Peterson is one of them. 
Scott Peterson, as you remember, in California, was convicted 
on two counts of murder. Why? Because he murdered his 
wife, who was pregnant. Isn't it amazing that if Scott 
and Lacey would have agreed together to have an abortion, there would 
be no crime of murder? It's schizophrenic, isn't it? 
Isn't it? And then just recently, that 
ghastly, ghoulish situation in Pennsylvania. I mentioned a man 
by the name of Kermit Gosnell. Fox News ran a story on January 
19th, 2011. Yesterday was the 38th anniversary 
of Roe versus Wade in the United States of America. The very week 
Kermit Gosnell makes the news. I'm just going to read a clip. 
I would read it all, but I'd be afraid you'd vomit. Probably 
I should read it all. Lech Habanen. Then we can associate 
what abortion is. It says an abortion doctor who 
catered to minorities, immigrants, and poor women was charged with 
eight counts of murder in the deaths of a patient and seven 
babies who were born alive and then killed with scissors, prosecutors 
said Wednesday. Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 69, made 
millions of dollars over 30 years performing as many illegal late-term 
abortions as he could, prosecutors said. The article goes on to 
quote District Attorney Seth Williams who said, or said during 
a press conference Wednesday, that Gosnell induced labor, forced 
the live birth of viable babies in the sixth, seventh, eighth 
month of pregnancy, and then killed those babies by cutting 
into the back of the neck with scissors and severing their spinal 
cord. The article goes on to describe 
that when investigators searched this place, they described it 
as a house of horrors. He isn't guilty of only killing 
eight people. He's made millions of dollars 
in 30 years for killing people. We need to pray to God that first 
and foremost, the church And then society at large would see 
every abortion clinic as a house of horrors. Schizophrenic. Schizophrenic. This is the day and age in which 
we live. This is what's going on. We are Christians. We have answers. Some would say, 
oh, Pastor, you should be preaching on Jesus today. I am. Jesus is 
life. We ought to preach against anything 
that is contra that life. We ought to preach the whole 
counsel of God. We ought to know that Exodus 
21, 22 to 25 is in our Bible. We ought to know that the Bible 
regulates life from cradle to grave. We ought to know that 
that baby in the womb of a woman is indeed a human being, and 
that to murder it is a sin against God. Sometimes people have questions. 
So we've got the folly of the pro-abortion movement. Secondly, 
the question, is it ever right to perform an abortion? You'll 
often hear people say, well, in the case of incest or rape, 
certainly we ought to have abortion. What they fail to tell you is 
that's probably 1% of all abortions reported. But even in that respect, 
do you ever compound sin with sin? I'm not asking you rhetorically. Yeah, I'm sure we probably all 
do because we're wretched. But is an effective answer to 
deal with incest or to deal with rape answered by murder? No. You don't do that. In the case of the life of the 
mother, you do everything you can to save both of them. Right. We are not given the option by 
God to engage in abortion. There are three lawful instances 
of killing in the Bible. Capital punishment by the magistrate, 
a legitimately waged war, and self-defense. I think exegetically, 
theologically, biblically, we can flush each of those out. 
You can never justify abortion with the Bible. What is our response 
supposed to be as a church? Well, I think as we scour the 
scriptures, we see a lot of things. Weeping is a good one. It's legitimate 
to think about this and actually be brought to the point of tears. 
Compassion is a wonderful expression on the part of God's people. 
Jesus walked into the city of Nain. He saw a woman weeping 
because her child was dead and Jesus felt compassion for her. 
We see the psalmist say, rivers of water run down from my eyes, 
because men do not keep your law. The prophet, I believe it 
was Elijah or Elisha, standing before Hazael, who would ascend 
the throne in Syria. The prophet looked grieved, and 
the king said, or the would-be king said, what's your problem? 
What's the matter, man of God? And he says, I know that when 
you take the throne, you're going to be a brutal king. You're going 
to rip open the wombs of women and kill their little babies. Prayer is a good thing. You can 
pray. I know oftentimes, all I can 
do is pray. No, you pray. Read the Psalms. Read the Psalms. God of vengeance. Oh, Jehovah. God of vengeance. 
Oh, shine forth. Render to the proud their worth. 
Psalm we read in Psalm 97 at the outset of worship, Psalm 
82, God stands in the congregation and he exhorts the gods. The 
gods there are the human judges and magistrates. Rule justly, 
he says. We need to pray. Pray through 
the Psalter on this issue. You need to know the truth. Please 
take these texts to heart. Have an answer. Have a reason. 
Be able to argue. Be able to speak clearly to a 
very difficult issue. That's not real popular today. I'm sure you didn't get up this 
morning saying, wow, I can't wait to hear a sermon on abortion. 
This is the toughest sermon to preach. It's a horrible topic. It's vile, man. I mean, who wants 
to think about babies being murdered? Who wants to refresh themselves 
by looking at the pictures, by looking at the websites, by going 
and seeing for oneself the things that are done in secret? It's 
hard. We need to know. We need to witness in our community. We need to shine as lights in 
a crooked and perverse generation. We need to be pro-life. We need 
to take responsibility. We need to abstain from sexual 
immorality. We need to guard our hearts. 
We need to guard our minds. We need to guard in this area. 
Randy Alcorn reports that those coming to abortion clinics very 
often are from professed born-again homes. He says we're killing 
our own within the church. Incidentally, that's not just 
Protestants but Roman Catholics who are supposed to be staunchly 
anti-abortion nevertheless. When the accident occurs, they 
go to seek the surgical instruments to deal with it. No, it's not 
an option. You young people, you children, 
you think in terms of God's holy word. Guard yourselves. You don't engage in this. You 
resist it. It's vile. God hates hands that 
shed innocent blood. And rather than the instruction 
of the psalmist in Psalm 97, he says, You who love the Lord 
hate evil. Does your pursuit of holiness 
include the hatred of evil? That the psalmist says we ought 
to be about, we ought to hate evil. The more we love and value 
and prize God and His purity and His holiness and His glory, 
we're going to abhor that which is evil. We're going to loathe 
abortion. We're going to get fired up. 
We're going to raise our voices. We're going to plead with people. 
We're going to beg people. We're going to try to force them, 
not physically, I wish we could, but to see the truth and to resist 
this, to guard against it. And then finally, as far as a 
solution, we need God's law and we need his gospel. I've read 
in some of the literature, oh, don't preach on abortion, because 
sometimes ladies in your church, they all have had abortions and 
it will be hard for them to hear. Ladies, if you have, there is 
a fountain open for sin and uncleanness. What better thing to hear that 
Jesus paid it all, that Jesus died for sinners and rose again. 
That the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. We need gospel 
to be preached. We need to tell women. We need 
to tell fathers. We need to tell abortionists 
that Christ saves sinners. Believe on him. Repent from your 
sin. You'll have everlasting life. 
But there is a place to preach the commands. The restraining 
power of God's law is something that is gone from modern evangelicalism. Carl F.H. Henry said, 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. 
Traditional reform theology sees three uses of the law. Of course, 
it's a tutor to bring us to Christ. Of course, it's an instructor 
to tell us how to live after we've come to Christ. But there 
is that political or that civil use wherein it restrains. It's a parameter. It's a hedge. It's a wall placed up. One man 
says you cannot legislate, or they all say you cannot legislate 
morality. Every single law is an attempt 
at legislating morality. Putting up a no driving past 
55 is an attempt to legislate morality. Certainly we Christians 
can say no abortion plans, no murdering babies. Henry goes 
on to say, 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 evil doers. It fulfills a political function, 
therefore, by its constraining influence in the unregenerate 
world. We need the law of God. We need 
to come to exodus. We need to go to the sermon on 
the mount. I mean, Jesus says, if you hate your brother in your 
heart, you've committed murder. If you hate your brother in your 
heart, you've committed murder. What about Morgenthau? What about these men who are 
eyeball deep in blood? Is that not murder? Is that not 
wretched? Does not God oppose that and 
hate that and abominate that? You know, the Proverbs teaches 
that righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any 
people. Romans 1 demonstrates that when 
a people perversely follow their lusts, God gives them over. I submit that these things indicate, 
the prevalence of them indicate the fact that God has given us 
over. We need to start crying out and 
praying with watts, pity the nations, oh our God, and constrain 
the earth to come. We need to cry out with the prophet, 
in wrath, remember mercy. Brethren, we need God's law. 
We need God's gospel. We need to preach the totality 
of his word from Genesis to Revelation. We need to insist on the doctrine 
of creation. We need to insist on imago Dei, 
which means man bears the image of God. We need to insist that 
he regulates every aspect of our lives or every phase of our 
lives. We need to insist upon the redeeming 
work of our Lord Jesus. We need to call men to repentance 
and faith We need to call men to believe the gospel. We need 
to exercise compassion to those who are in need. I had the blessed 
privilege, and all of this has been coming out pastorally, I 
had the blessed privilege paternally a couple of weeks ago to go watch 
an ultrasound, a 3D ultrasound. If you ever meet a girl who is 
struggling with this issue, give her my number. I will take her 
physically to this 3D ultrasound place. I will pay the dime, whatever 
it takes, so that she can see her baby on that screen. Because 
I'm convinced when she sees that baby on her screen, she's not 
going to want to kill it. She's not going to want to murder 
it. She'll give it up for adoption. She'll do any number of noble 
things so that that baby's life is preserved. You cannot argue 
with the face of that little one looking at you. I mean, we 
already saw the resemblance to the father. We saw him sucking his thumb. 
Plan with the umbilical cord. Doing what he should be doing. 
Chilling in his mother's womb. Not having to avoid a scalpel 
and a needle or scissors or a suction tube. God have mercy upon us. Have mercy upon a people who 
think in their technology we're so far arrived when we are so 
much more barbaric. in multitudes before us. We need 
to know the law. We need to know the Gospel. And 
we need to preach them both. Well, let us pray. Father, we 
thank You for Your Word. And God, while we confess this 
is a hard subject, we know that Your Word speaks very clearly 
to it. We ask God that You would help 
us to take these texts, to take these passages, to take these 
things to heart, to pray them in and to have an answer for 
those in our generation who would insist that it's a woman's right 
to murder her baby. God, have mercy upon Canada. 
Have mercy upon those who would engage in this activity. And 
yet, Father, we also pray, render to those vengeance who will not 
stop those who continue in this murderous rampage. We pray that 
you would stop them in your sovereign power. God, we just ask that 
you would be with us in the remainder of this day as we seek to honor 
and glorify you. And we pray through Christ the 
Lord. Amen.