Bibles to the book of Exodus, Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20. You have heard this message before. It is a repetition of a message that I preach often at this time of the year.

I recently heard Ben Shapiro mention something. Ben Shapiro, a great advocate for anti-abortion, a very strong advocate in the pro-life cause, and he had mentioned that that many of the young people associated with the pro-life movement today aren't necessarily religious zealots. They're not pro-life by conviction because the Bible tells them to be so. He said that science and 3D ultrasounds and the various strides that have been made in showing us what's actually inside of a woman's womb have convinced a large group of young people to be pro-life.

So science certainly has its place. God is sovereign over all truth. But we are religious people. We are Christians.

We are those committed to the book of God. And so it is absolutely imperative that we know what God's book says concerning this issue. So I want to read two passages. First, Exodus chapter 20 at verse 13.

You shall not murder. Now turn over to Exodus 21 at verse 22. Exodus 21 at 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, 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. Let us pray.

Opening Prayer

Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the written word. We know God. It's given by inspiration of God. And we pray that it would profit us today as we have the mind of Christ with reference to this sin of abortion.

It's not just abortion that is prevalent in our generation. Euthanasia, the wanton disregard for the lives of babies and older people and sick people. God, we see this, not only in our country, but throughout the earth. And we know the blood of righteous Abel cried out to you from the ground.

Certainly the blood of these judicially innocent persons cry out to you as well. So help us to think your thoughts after you. Help us to be prayerful concerning these things. Help us to have biblical answers for these foolish arguments that are promoted to killing or legitimizing the killing of innocent people. and do provide now for us the Holy Spirit.

Again, we pray, forgive us for our sins and unrighteousness, and we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.

Introduction

Well, after the fall of man in Genesis chapter 3, the Bible indicates somewhat of a disturbing trend with reference to murder. In Genesis chapter 4, of course, Cain murders Abel. When he is initially investigated about this, Cain tries to deny it. Cain tries to distance himself.

Well, his great-great grandson, Lamech, a couple of generations later, is actually glorying in murder. And then in Genesis chapter six, prior to the flood, one of the reasons we see why God sent the flood was because the earth was corrupt and exceedingly filled with violence. And in Genesis chapter nine, after the flood, one of the instructions or commandments given to Noah in this post-flood situation is that the civil government must bear the sword to punish by death criminal offenders with reference to the crime of murder. The Bible is not sanitized.

The Bible highlights, obviously, the glory of God, but it also reveals to us the wickedness of man. And the wickedness of man is seen, as I said, in our day with reference to abortion. Again, that'll be the focus this morning, not to suggest that euthanasia shouldn't demand sermons, or shouldn't get attention, or shouldn't get prayer, or shouldn't get activism, but we're going to focus our attention on what the Bible says concerning the pre-born. Now John Murray said, nothing shows the moral bankruptcy of a people or of a generation more than disregard for the sanctity of life, a sentiment I agree with heartily.

Proverbs 8, the Lord Jesus speaking His wisdom says in verse 36, but he who sins against me wrongs his own soul, all those who hate me love death. Murderers are ultimately associated with the father of murder and the father of lies, even the devil. The apostle tells us we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers of darkness and corruption. Behind every abortion clinic, ultimately, is the devil.

Behind every sort of act of euthanasia is the devil. So there's a spiritual element to be sure. There are physical expressions of it. And we, as God's people, need to know how to respond.

I want to do three things this morning. First, look at the Sixth Commandment, Exodus chapter 20. And then secondly, highlight the sanctity of human life. And then thirdly, look at the specific application of the Sixth Commandment that I read for you in Exodus chapter 21.

See, Exodus chapters 20 to 24 go together. Exodus chapter 20 have the Ten Commandments, or what we call the Decalogue, or Ten Words. Those ten general principles are then fleshed out in chapters 21 to 23 specifically. In other words, how do we apply the commandment, do not murder, to society?

Well, Exodus 21-22 tells us something specifically with reference to abortion. And

The Sixth Commandment

so we'll look first at the sixth commandment. Notice Exodus 20, verse 13. You shall not murder. Now, the basis for the camp commandment is God.

God is lawgiver, God is creator, God is maker, God is ruler, and in this particular context, God is redeemer. Notice in Exodus 20 at verse 2. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. So God liberates his people, God delivers his people, and then God gives them this law on how they're supposed to conduct themselves as his redeemed people.

And he tells them with the authority that is his, that you shall not murder. You shall not take the life of somebody judicially innocent.

Killing Distinguished from Murder

Not all killing in the Bible is murder. There are three instances of killing that are not murder. Self-defense. If in that exchange the guilty party is killed, that is not murder.

Legitimate war. When a nation goes to war against another nation and killing ensues, that's legitimate. Again, discussing what is a legitimate war and what isn't is a whole other series of sermons, but the principle is there. When Israel was told to go in and utterly dispossess the land of the Canaanites in Deuteronomy chapter 7, that was legit, that was just, and therefore it wasn't murder.

And then as well, capital punishment. The Bible makes the case, both the Old and the New Testaments, for the civil government wielding the sword of vengeance against criminal offenders. Again, We have preached on that. We have taught on that.

If that piques your curiosity, look at Sermon Audio. You'll probably find some messages there. But God has absolute, unrivaled authority, and He commands these people not to murder. Now,

Internal and Positive Dimensions

with reference to the prohibition of the commandment, we need to appreciate that it's not simply external. If you haven't cut somebody's throat today, or you haven't actually shot somebody in the head ever, it doesn't mean you're somehow free from having committed this particular sin. It not only applies to the external act, it not only applies to the abortionist, but it also applies to people that have hatred in their hearts for others. It applies to people, according to Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, to professing people of God that have unwarranted anger and sometimes act upon that in ungodly ways.

So it's not just external, but there's an internal dimension as well. And then with reference to the positive aspect of the commandment, I think the best treatment of the Ten Commandments is in the Reformed tradition. And I think the best treatment in the Reformed tradition of the Ten Commandments is represented by the Westminster Larger Catechism. Because it gives you a block statement on what is prohibited in the commandment.

And then it has what is commanded in the commandment, or the positive aspect, what you are supposed to do. If we're told not to murder, well then we ought to be promoting life. If we are told not to murder, then we ought to be caring for our neighbors. If we are told not to murder, then we ought to be concerned about life.

So that's the positive aspect of the commandment. So the sixth commandment is operative under the assumption that God the Lord is creator, God the Lord is lawgiver, God the Lord has made us. God the Lord has called us to function in a particular way. Something I think as well assumed with reference to the Ten Commandments is the image of God.

God made man in His image. To kill an animal is not murder. Pita, notwithstanding. Meat is not murder.

Now, if you kill an animal in some torturous display of sadism, you've got problems. I'm not here to argue that you don't. But it's not murder. Only image-bearers can be murdered.

And only man is the image-bearer of God Almighty. So, the dignity of man, the doctrine of creation, we say the sanctity of life, there's sanctity in life because life, man's life, is in the image of God Most High. So,

Sanctity of Human Life

let's look secondly at the sanctity of human life displayed in various aspects of man's existence. actually turn to a lot of passages and I hope that this will be an exercise of familiarity to most and perhaps some sort of maybe new information for some, but as I said,

Image of God Before and After the Fall

the image of God is displayed in man before the fall. You can turn to Genesis 1, Genesis chapter 1. The image of God is displayed in the pre-fall state of man, Genesis 1, 26 and 27. God says, let us make man in our image.

That's the Trinity. 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. So prior to the fall of man, God made man in his own image. Man bears the image of God prior to the fall. Now there's been some debate as to whether or not man retains the image of God after the fall.

I think the Bible teaches that man does. If you look at Genesis chapter 5. Genesis chapter 5 at verse 1. This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. in the day that God created man, he made him in the likeness of God.

He created them male and female and blessed them and called them mankind in the day they were created. And Adam lived 130 years and begot a son in his own likeness after his image and named him Seth." I don't think the reference to Seth bearing the image of Adam is accidental with reference to Adam bearing the image of God. There's a link between God and Seth. And in James chapter 3, James tells us, with reference to our use of the tongue, he says that with our tongue, we bless God, but with that selfsame tongue, we curse men who are made in God's image.

We curse men who are made in God's similitude. The very mandate of capital punishment is founded upon the image of God in man. Genesis 9, 6 says, whoever sheds man's blood By man his blood will be shed, for in the image of God he made man." In other words, you execute with capital punishment criminal offenders who murder other people. You don't do that with people who club baby seals to death.

Again, not advocating clubbing baby seals to death, but it's a different category of violation. The Bible highlights the sanctity of life is found in the fact that man bears the image of God. So we see the image displayed in pre-fall state of man. We see the image displayed in a post-fall state of man.

Image of God in Children

We see the image in children. Look at Leviticus chapter 18. Leviticus chapter 18. Just looking at how image bearers possess that image every step of the way in their lives.

Leviticus 18 at verse 21. You shall not let any of your descendants pass through the fire to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God. I am the Lord. Now, for those of you who perhaps aren't sort of privy to or in lockstep with Canaanite worship services, Molech was a god of the Canaanites.

Moloch essentially was a big statue, which that's what idols are, right? They're not real. They're not God. They're not omnipotent.

They're not the God that we find there in Psalm 139. But they made this big image of this God called Moloch. And Moloch had outstretched arms. And what they would do is burn a fire around Moloch.

And then they would take their children and throw them up into the arms of Moloch. Well, Molech can't catch. He doesn't have opposable thumbs. He doesn't have the dexterity, say, even of a human being.

So inevitably, those babies would fall and go into the fire. This was an ancient form of infanticide. It was child sacrifice. So God says to the children of Israel, don't let your children, don't let your descendants pass through those fires.

Do not sacrifice your little ones to Molech. We see the dignity of children as image bearers in Paul's commandment in Ephesians 6. Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath. Do not exasperate them.

Do not bring a heavy hand to bear upon them. Do not shrink back from disciplining them and seeking to teach them and admonish them in the things of God. Why? Because they're image bearers.

As well,

Image of God in the Handicapped and Sick

we see the image of God displayed in the handicapped. Euthanasia is targeting the weakest among us, and God says we are to be concerned for handicapped persons among us. Notice in Leviticus 19. Leviticus 19, verse 14, you shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shall fear your God, I am Yahweh.

You see our Lord Jesus Christ and His respect with reference to the handicap when He deals with blind Bartimaeus. Remember, Jesus is passing through Jericho, and everybody wants to see Jesus. And blind Bartimaeus, who was a beggar, cries out, Son of David, have mercy upon me! And the whole crowd tells Bartimaeus, be quiet.

He doesn't have time for you. He's got, you know, a busy schedule. He's got places to be and things to do and others to see. Well, when Bartimaeus hears that, he cries out even louder.

Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy upon me. Jesus stops. in the midst of all of that hustle and bustle, in the midst of all of that crowd, in the midst of all of that rabble, and he wanders over to Bartimaeus and he says to this blind man, what would you have me to do? And Bartimaeus says, I want to see. And Jesus healed him.

He doesn't say, well, you know, you're fit for euthanasia because you're no contributor to society. You're fit for euthanasia because you're just sucking off of society. No, he shows the dignity of the handicapped, brethren, as well. We see the image of God displayed in the sick.

Consider this in James 5, 14 and 15. If anyone's sick among you, what do we do? Do we call the doctors and tell them to come and deal with him? No, we call the elders and have them pray over him, anointing him with oil.

You see, there's a dignity, even amongst sick people, that the people of God and the people in this world ought to respect. The image of God displayed in the elderly. You're still hopefully in Leviticus. Look at Leviticus 19, 32.

Leviticus 19, 32, you shall rise before the gray-headed and honor the presence of an old man, and fear your God, I am the Lord. Boy, wouldn't this be nice if this were practiced today, if we just showed the basic common courtesy that society once afforded to the elderly? In other words, young people, get up. Give them your place on the bus.

Open the door for them. Do something nice. Do something kind. Honor the hoary head among you.

Recognize they have wisdom. They're not only fit for termination because they're somehow a burden on society.

Image of God in the Pre-born

with reference to the image of God in the pre-born. The image of God displayed in the pre-born. Go to Genesis chapter 25. Genesis chapter 25.

We'll look at several of these passages. Notice in Genesis 25 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. Notice that the Bible doesn't say the product of conception. The Bible doesn't say a lump of undefined cells.

The Bible doesn't say there's this mass of meat that really doesn't matter. It refers to them as children struggling together within her. And she said, if all is well, why am I like this? So she went to inquire of Yahweh.

And Yahweh said to her, 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. So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed, there were twins in her womb.

And the first came out red. I'm going to ask you to remember that language, came out. The first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over, so they called his name Esau.

Afterward, his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau's heel, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was 60 years old when she bore them. Look at Job, the book of Job, Job chapter 10, and just looking at the image of God, The dignity of man in the womb. Of course, when I say the dignity of man, I include woman, because man, at least until we all lost our collective minds, meant man and woman.

Notice in Job 10, verse 8, 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, 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." Notice in Job 31.

Job 31. Job 31, he is rehearsing his righteousness. He is rehearsing the fact that he had been indeed an upright man. And notice in Job 31 at verse 13, if I have despised the cause of my male or female servant when they complained against me.

See, he's saying, this is the way I operated. Before all these things befell me, I was an upright man." Job may go a little bit too far, but what he is saying is accurate. Before this trial came upon him, he had a life of uprightness. And in one of the ways that that was exemplified or displayed was in the way that he treated his servants.

He says, if I have despised the cause of my male or female servant when they complain 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?

Again, it's not an undefined mass of cells. It's not the product of conception. weasel word language employed by pro-choice advocates to try to dehumanize the very babies that are in the womb. Brethren, that's orchestrated and that's calculated. And the fools are so foolish as to think fetus does that work for them.

Fetus means unborn baby in Latin. That's just simple that everybody should already be tracking with that. But product of conception, undefined lump of cells, it's all propaganda to dehumanize the personhood of the one in the womb so that murdering it isn't murder, it's just getting rid of something that's a bit inconvenient. It's like that woman perhaps you have seen on YouTube talking to eight-year-olds about how wonderful her abortion was and she likens it to having gone to the dentist.

The way that the dentist fixes your teeth, the way that the dentist pulls your teeth, that's the good the abortionist does when he sweeps out the womb of the baby that was in there. It's propaganda. It's devilish. How does the devil operate?

He is a murderer from the beginning, and he's the father of lies. How else can he achieve his goal of murder without lying along the way? Dehumanize your opponent. It's a whole lot easier to beat them up and get everybody to rah-rah right along with you.

Notice Psalm 51, when David, that great king of Israel, is rehearsing his native depravity. He traces it back to the womb. As soon as David was, David was a sinner. Psalm 51.5, Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me.

It's not suggesting that the conjugal relationship that obtains between a man and his wife is somehow sinful. He is saying that when I was, I was a sinner. Product of conception. It's not an undefined lump of cells, rather it is David.

Psalm 139 we already read. Look at Jeremiah chapter 1. Jeremiah chapter 1. Verse 4, And the word of Yahweh 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. You seeing a pattern and a trend here? If Planned Parenthood was prevalent back in this particular day, nations wouldn't have been.

Because there were nations in the womb of Rebecca. Planned Parenthood was operative, or the Liberal government of Canada was operative in these days, then Joe wouldn't have been. then David wouldn't have been. The prophet Jeremiah wouldn't have been. When the Apostle Paul traces or rehearses how he was called to the apostolic ministry, he uses language reminiscent of Jeremiah chapter 1.

He speaks of his having been separated from his mother's womb to engage in the task of the apostolic ministry with reference to our Lord Jesus Christ. Go to the New Testament just to see a couple of examples. Again, just to show you the personhood of the babies in the wombs. They're not products of conception.

I guess technically they are a product of conception, yeah, but that means human. It doesn't mean undefined lump of cells, undefined mass. Notice in Luke 1.15, Luke 1.15, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord, this is about John, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.

Now, again, that text is oftentimes used by paedobaptists. That's not my purpose here. If you want to use that text to advance the cause for paedobaptism, go right ahead. It certainly advances the cause of personhood with reference to babies in the womb.

The Holy Spirit comes upon John the Baptist even from his mother's womb. And then notice in Luke chapter 1 at verse 41. Luke 41, and it happened when Elizabeth heard, oh, back up in verse 39. Now Mary, 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. Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. You see what's happening. Elizabeth's saying, you're blessed, Mary.

You've been chosen for a sacred, blessed, wonderful task. And Elizabeth recognizes this and highlights this. But then notice what she says in verse 43. But why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to you?

Where's the Lord at this particular time? The Lord is in the womb of Mary. He's not a product of conception or an undefined mass of cells. He is the Lord of all while he's in the Virgin's womb.

Elizabeth recognizes this, Elizabeth confesses this, Elizabeth knows this, and Elizabeth rejoices as a result of it. 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. Now, intriguingly, this word babe, this word that is used by Luke for babe, is also used for children that are outside of the womb in Luke 18.

When persons bring babies, children, slash whatever you want to call them, to the Lord to bless them, a baby outside of the womb is known as a brephos. A baby inside of the womb is known as a brephos. Not anything different, not some unique terminology, but he's a baby inside the womb, he's a baby outside the womb. He's a child inside the womb, he's a child outside of the womb.

Gordon Clark made 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. 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. I think he's absolutely right in that assessment. They're babies.

They're humans. They have hearts that beat. They have hands. They have feet.

They have a separate DNA code. They are unique. They are made by God. The scriptures highlight this from beginning to end.

There's no wiggle room. The thought that there could ever be somebody who professes faith in Jesus Christ and waxes on the issue of abortion is unthinkable at a grammatical and lexical level. There's no way you can justify the murder of babies in their mother's wombs and somehow say, well, it's in the Bible. It is not in the Bible.

The Bible provides for us a vocabulary that highlights that what is true of children outside of the womb is true of children inside of the womb. And therefore, they are to be afforded protection. Now, when we consider the image of God, we obviously see it dignified in the God-man. Christ assumed our humanity.

Christ took on our humanity with all the essential properties and the common infirmities thereof, yet without sin. And he did this in order to save us. As the fathers would say, whatever is not assumed is not redeemed. He had to be one of us in order to redeem us.

This idea of the sanctity of life is consistent throughout the Old and the New Testaments.

Exodus 21 and the Pre-born

Now, thirdly, and finally, let's look at our text in Exodus 21. Exodus 21. As I said, 21 to 23 are connected to Exodus 20. You've got the general principles set forth in the Decalogue or in the Ten Commandments.

If Israel was to ask the question, well, how do we apply these things in our day-to-day life? That's what Exodus 21 to 23 does. In fact, Walter Kaiser makes this observation. While these judgments deal mainly with temporal matters, they nevertheless are based on one or another express commandment in the Decalogue, the Ten Words, the Ten Commandments.

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. The two belong together in time as well as in interpretation. Our confession speaks to the judicial law of Israel. The confession says that judicial law expired with the Commonwealth of Israel, but there's abiding wisdom in that judicial law.

And certainly the abiding wisdom of this judicial law is to highlight for us and demonstrate to us how wicked, how reprehensible, how evil and abominable it is for persons to go into the womb of a mother and murder their babies.

Correct Translation: Premature Birth, Not Miscarriage

Look at the text. We need to understand the correct translation, represented in, I think, most of the translations here. If men fight and hurt a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, That's absolutely crucial. If you have a translation that says, she miscarries, your translation is wrong.

Hebrew has a word for miscarriage. Hebrew has a word for one untimely born. That's not the word here. The word utilized here specifically is what I've asked you to remember from Genesis 25.

The text literally says, if men fight and hurt a woman with child, so that her children come out. Okay? So what happens with Isaac's babies? They come out.

And the noun here is plural. It's not if the child, but it's literally if her children come out. Why? What does this case law envisage?

It envisages the potential of a Rebecca-like situation. She had more than one child in her womb, didn't she? So what this text demands is that if two men get into a fight, now, we could probably step back just a ways and say, you know, men, you probably shouldn't get in fights around pregnant women. Probably shouldn't get in fights, period.

But you really shouldn't get into a fight around a pregnant woman. Because if in the midst of that fight, you happen to strike a pregnant woman, and her children come out, and then no harm follows, the man who struck her is liable to pay a price. Everybody follow that law? You have to appreciate what's happening here.

So two men fight. Me and Pastor Cam get together and we start throwing down. A pregnant woman gets hit and then she gives birth prematurely. If those babies come out and no harm follows, then whoever's responsible for hitting her has to pay a fine.

Why? Pain, suffering, distress. Risking another human being's life see personal liability is all throughout scripture the victim mindset Well, I didn't have control over my hand that doesn't matter You are responsible for what happens at the end of your arm And if you strike a woman who's pregnant and those babies come out no harm follows You're gonna have to pay but look at what the text goes on to the man. I Yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman's husband imposes on him, and he shall pay as the judge has determined."

Lex Talionis and the Pre-born

Now notice, but if any harm follows, to whom? To the woman and her children who've come out. You see, if we render it as miscarriage, there's only one living person at this particular time. It's to suggest that the babies in the womb didn't matter.

She gets struck in the midst of this exchange, her babies come out and her babies die, and then no harm follows to her then. the guilty man will pay. But if harm follows to her, then this law of retribution is applied. See, that's not what the text is saying. The text is saying that the woman and the children are protected.

No harm follows to the woman and the children. No harm follows to the woman and the ones who came out from her womb. The text is particularly protecting babies in their mother's womb. See, you'll not find a text in the Old Testament that says Planned Parenthood is an evil thing, don't ever send money to them.

You'll not find texts in the Old Testament that say, you know, doctors ought not to go into mothers' wombs and murder babies there. You won't find that. You find this sort of lesser form of abortion. But notice what the penalty involved is with reference to this.

Verse 23, but if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life. See, it treats the dignity, not only of the woman, but of the children that come from her. If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life. This is what is called the lex talionis.

And what the lex talionis is, is the law of retaliation. It's the eye-for-eye ethic. It goes on to specify that. Eye-for-eye, tooth-for-tooth, hand-for-hand, foot-for-foot, burn-for-burn, wound-for-wound, stripe-for-stripe.

Opponents of Scripture oftentimes cite such laws and say, well, that's barbaric, that's horrible. And then we say things like, well, the punishment must fit the crime. It's exactly what this law demands. The punishment must fit the crime.

Don't tell me you believe that the punishment must fit the crime and then deny the biblical statement that the punishment must fit the crime. The law of retaliation demands retaliation, life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Now, my point in pointing this out, again, is to say that if this law is specifying what to do in the case of an accidental abortion, what should we think of doctors? What should we think of mothers?

What should we think of fathers? And what should we think of prime ministers who celebrate that particular deed? If the word of God condemns accidental abortion, my argument is it most certainly condemns intentional abortion. And the text is very specific that way.

The lex talionis is the law of retaliation. If during the struggle, the woman is struck and her baby is born prematurely and no harm follows to either mother or children, a monetary fine will be demanded. But if harm follows to either mother or child or children, should it be the case, like Rebecca, there were twins, if harm does follow, then the penalty is Capital punishment. Now again, you may have problems with capital punishment, but just for now, I ask you, put those problems out of your head.

Actually, let me just hopefully put those problems to rest. The Bible demands capital punishment. It's not a suggestion. If a body politic really wants to do good, they should think, no, it's Genesis 9, 6, and it's Romans 13, 1 to 4.

It's a demand. Why? For in the image of God, he made man. In other words, if you rise up against an image-bearer, the demand is that you will be executed by civil government.

Now, I would suggest we have a topsy-turvy situation when we won't execute criminal offenders, but we'll execute babies to the tune of a hundred thousand a year in this country. There's problems, okay? There's huge issues that we have to face and we have to reckon with in our own generation. But I do want you to notice as well the increased protection here for the pre-born.

Murder, Manslaughter, and Increased Protection

Go back for just a moment to Exodus 21 at verse 12. Exodus 21. Verse 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.

You see what God is doing there through Moses, the lawgiver? God is distinguishing between what we call murder and manslaughter. Murder is intentional. Murder is done with malice aforethought.

Murder is done with a plan. Murder is done when I hate you, I despise you, I've got means, I've got motive, I've got opportunity, and I'm going to stop your heart from beating. Manslaughter is accidental. This whole principle is illustrated in another place with somebody chopping wood with an axe.

If you are chopping wood with an axe, and your irritating neighbor comes home, and you know that he is coming home, and you hide behind his garage, and when he comes out, you strike him dead. You're a murderer. But if you're chopping wood and your axe head flies off and it goes over the fence and it hits your neighbor in the head, you're foolish. Again, you need some help, but you're not a murderer.

You've engaged in manslaughter. The specific point I want you to appreciate is one more step. Stay with me. With reference to manslaughter, you still got punished.

There were still repercussions. They wanted to discourage this within the body politic. And so there were these cities called cities of refuge. And what a city of refuge was was that when you engaged in an un a manslaughter or a homicide of another individual, you went to this city of refuge for a period of time.

That was to inconvenience you. It was to tell others, make sure your axe head is fastened before you start swinging it. There are repercussions for falling within the body politic. But in this particular law that we're considering with reference to abortion, it was accidental, wasn't it?

The man in his fight with the other man didn't purposefully try to induce abortion among the woman that was standing there. He doesn't try to do that. He was exchanging blows with his counterpart, and she got hit accidentally. You see, with reference to this particular law, there's no city of refuge for him.

There is the lex talionis. There is life for life. There is eye for eye. There is tooth for tooth.

That demand is even more strengthened than the guy chopping wood in his backyard who didn't attach his axe head appropriately to his instrument. See, God is not playing games the way society plays games. this redefinition of terms, this dehumanizing the baby in the womb. In terms of the abomination of abortion, consider the Didache. Now, the Didache was an early Christian manual that some date to AD 110.

Some might think Kruger puts it even possibly at 8100. It's kind of like a non-scriptural book that was encouraged to live life according to the scriptures. Didache simply means the teaching. Didache 10.2.2 says, you shall not abort a child or commit infanticide.

Why? Why would the Didache say this? Because it was happening. It happened in the empire.

It happened in the Roman Empire. Infanticide was practiced. A baby would be born. And typically, often, if it was a girl baby, that baby would be placed on the trash heap.

Here we put our trash out on Wednesdays. Probably at your home, it's a Wednesday, it's a Tuesday, it's a Friday. Whatever it is, you put your trash out with the mindset that a big truck's going to come, he's going to pick up your trash, and he's going to put it into his truck. Well, back in their day, they'd throw unwanted babies out on the trash heap.

Well, what would happen to those unwanted babies? Dogs would come and eat them. and not dogs like my little Tikka, but dogs that were ravagers, dogs that were scavengers, or they'd be picked up off the trash heap by persons that would enslave them, that would rear them for a life of prostitution. Infanticide happened. You'll see the word sorcery used in the New Testament at times.

It's the Greek word pharmacy. It's where we get our word pharmacy. The sorcery involved wasn't just like Ouija boards and occultism, but it oftentimes involved drug taking. And drug taking was used in this context to induce abortion.

So the Didache, an early Christian manual, comes along and tells the people of God, don't do these things. This is what you've been brought up in in the empire, but it's wrong to murder image bearers. Don't engage in abortion and don't commit infanticide. Have no truck with society around you when it comes to the utter disregard of human life.

You are image bearers. You are redeemed. You're being renewed in the wisdom and knowledge and holiness of God Most High. You're a new creation in Jesus Christ.

You're supposed to treat with dignity, babies. You're supposed to treat with dignity the elders among us. Paul's whole instruction in 1 Timothy 5 flies against euthanasia. Paul tells Timothy to show respect for old people.

Paul tells Timothy that the church must care for her widows. Paul tells Timothy that we're not to just marginalize the weak among us, but rather we're to care for them, we're to tend for them. The Bible everywhere supports this notion of being concerned for the sanctity of life. It ought not just to be one Sunday in January where we think sanctity of life.

We as God's people ought to have hearts beating with reference to the sanctity of life every single day. It ought to be what actuates us, what motivates us, what moves us. It ought to be something that is non-negotiable in the eyes and the minds of young people. Randy Alcorn, several years ago, wrote a book, Pro-Life Arguments for Pro-Choice Questions.

It's great, or Pro-Life Answers for Pro-Choice Arguments, and it's fantastic. And Alcorn mentions at that particular time, I don't have any reason to think it's any better now, but those within the context of the church, not, you know, the wingnut, sort of marginalized churches, but evangelical churches, have problems with abortion among their own ranks. Why is that? Because in some way we have thought that the way to cover up our sin is by murdering the baby.

No, never cover up sin by murdering the baby. Proverbs 28, 13 says, whoever covers his transgression will not prosper, but whoever confesses it and forsakes it will find what? He'll find mercy. You know, I bear a relationship to our brother Mike in Surrey, and one of the things that I suggested to him if he preaches on this topic, on Pro-Life or Sanctity of Life Sunday, is never make anybody ever think that this is the unpardonable sin.

There may be women in our churches, there may be men in our churches that have come out of a life where they've engaged in these particular practices. They need to know that ultimately there is forgiveness with Christ. This is not the unpardonable sin, but I'll say it to you young people, it is certainly not something that should ever, ever, ever come into your mind or heart, that this is a way to not be found out. Confess, forsake, you'll find mercy.

Confess, forsake, you'll find mercy. You're not going to find solution in a doctor's tools. John Calvin made this observation with reference to abortion. He says, if it seems more horrible to kill a man in his own house than in a field, which I think we'd all agree, It's more horrible to kill somebody sitting in their living room than it would be out in a field.

He says, 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. It just ought to be unthinkable among the people of God. There ought not to be a debate. There ought never to be somebody that says, yeah, I was a Christian, and then I found some more information.

No, it's just part of the warp and the wolf of Christianity, that we love the image of God. We treat it with dignity. We treat it with respect. We don't butcher, we don't slay, we don't say, this is something that's an inconvenience in my life, and so I want to deal with it.

A brother made a very excellent observation this morning. 100,000 people in the March for Life on Friday. Do you hear anything about that on the media? Anything? Oh, there were 100,000 people today marching for, oh no, you don't hear that.

But the next day, you hear about the 10,000 women. I read something. This lady said, my Uber driver is from Iran. And he says, why is there a woman's march?

They can drive. They can go to school. They get all the rights and privileges that everybody could imagine. My family at home would envy what women in America have.

You know what they're out marching for? It's the right to murder babies. When all is said and done, that's what's most important. Oh no, they have rights.

You have rights. But it's when men, nasty white men, especially nasty white evangelical men say, we think abortion is wrong. You have no right to speak against women in their wombs. Oh really, is that true?

Those babies in the wombs are not the woman. They have a responsibility to do what is right.

Application: Church, State, and the Gospel

Consider the judgment of God with reference to the abomination involved in murder. Proverbs 6, 16 to 19. These six things Yahweh hates. Yes, seven are an abomination to him.

A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift and running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren. Hands that shed innocent blood. Typically here where people in the know say, well, you're a Calvinist. You don't think anybody's innocent.

You talk about total depravity even from their womb. David traces his native depravity back to the time of his conception. Judicially innocent. Babies haven't engaged in unlawful activity.

Babies aren't subject to criminal execution by the hand of the state. Babies aren't involved in a war wherein the killing of them would somehow be just or legitimate. These babies aren't invading anybody's personal property or lives such that they need to be defended against and killed in the pursuit of. See, it's folly, brethren.

Never forget what Revelation 21.8 says, 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. Consider in conclusion the state and abortion, the state and abortion. Now, when I say state, I don't mean Idaho. I mean the nation of Canada.

There are a million plus in the US, though that number is declining. I don't think one baby murdered is tolerable at all. But there are states that are making some big strides in the pro-life cause. Apparently, Arizona is one of the safest places to be a baby in all of the United States.

But a million in America. Say, well, those dastardly, wretched Americans. 100,000 in Canada. It's the same ratio based on population. 100,000 babies in Canada a year are murdered. With reference to its history, the Criminal Law Amendment Act in 1968 and 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.

So that's not ever good enough, right? Not that that's good. It's terrible. It's wretched.

It's horrible. But in 1988, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in R. V. Morgenthaler that the existing laws were unconstitutional and struck down the 1969 law.

The then governing progressive conservatives attempted but failed to pass a new abortion law. And since then, Canada, now get this, has had no criminal laws governing the subject. Brethren, I suppose there's a law on whether or not you can build a shed in your backyard. I suppose there's probably still laws on the books that you can't spit on the sidewalk in Chilliwack.

I suppose there's a whole host of laws. I was going to do this this week. I didn't have time. I think it'd be low-hanging fruit.

I'd type in frivolous laws in Canada. I mean, where would you stop, right? Well, you can't this. You can't this.

You can't. But no law respecting the protection of a baby in their mother's womb. You see that sometimes. WeNeedALaw.com.

WeNeedALaw.com. Go there. Because those people are saying, WeNeedALaw.com. There's no law.

You can't spit and chilliwack, but you can murder a baby at any time of the gestational period. Good for you, Canada. You rank right up there with North Korea, with China. You're right up there with the most oppressive regimes on the face of the earth when it comes to baby murder.

And then consider our own prime minister, Prime Minister Trudeau. He says, I have, oh, that latter law basically said it was unconstitutional to have a panel of doctors. Now it's just up to the woman and her doctor. Can't actually spread the wealth or wisdom or any of this.

It's just up to the woman, and it's up to her doctor. The current prime minister says, quote, I have made it clear that future candidates need to be completely understanding that they will be expected to vote pro-choice on any bills. The party of choice, the party of free thought, the party of let's just all, you know, chant like hippies, that party, you have to be pro-life. one that was touted as a Christian president, President Barack Obama, when he was a senator in Illinois, he's voted against what was called the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. That's actually coming back in the Senate and House.

A group of either senators or congressmen in the US are retooling the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. For those of you who don't know what that means, it is exactly what it says. If a baby survives an abortion, this particular law mandates that caregivers try to preserve the life of the baby. What ghoul, what fiend would argue against that?

It survives the saline, it survives the instruments, and then you're still going to kill it? That's what President Barack Obama did as an Illinois governor. See, brethren, the state has made their choice. It isn't about, oh, we just want to provide life, liberty, justice, the pursuit of happiness for all people.

I think that we need to understand that we are at war. Now, again, don't take this literally and go out and buy a gun today at dart and tackle and march against Ottawa. That's not what I'm suggesting. We don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities.

How does a man get to the position where he declares himself a feminist? And then when asked, do you have a problem with sex selection abortion? People are killing baby, baby girls, because they're girls. Well, that's up to the mother and her doctor.

That's not feminism, dude. Sorry. You should be about protecting women, no matter what stage of life they find themselves in. It's kind of like saying to the drive-by shooter, well, you know, I don't want to get involved.

Whoever the drive-by shooter and his victim is, you know, that's up to them to figure out and decide. Some people say, well, you can't make this an issue. We'd make pedophilia an issue, wouldn't we? We wouldn't vote for a man convicted of pedophilia and say, oh yeah, I want him to be my governor.

I want him to be my leader. But it's okay when he's a murderer? Have we lost our collected minds? Have we gone on a vacation from intellect and thought and rationality?

Or you can't make this an emphasis in your church because it's political. I'm not telling you how to vote, where to vote, when to vote, though I am suggesting to vote for somebody that that's committed to abortion. I don't know how you reckon that. I don't know how you judge that.

I don't know how you come down on the side of that and say, you know, my conscience is vindicated. We as well need to realize with reference to the state, and this is where people really start getting a little bit shaky and go there. Abortion is not only a sin, it's a crime. If we had a properly functioning state, abortion would be punished, not condoned, encouraged, and at many times subsidized with tax dollars.

There are things that are sins that aren't crimes. Covetousness is a sin. It's not a crime, at least not yet. According to Orwell, it should have happened by now, but covetousness is not presently a crime.

I'm not saying go out and covet all you want. I'm not saying that. God will deal with your sin. But covetousness is a sin that's not a crime.

There are some things that are crimes, but they're not sins. If you were in Saudi Arabia and you preached the gospel to somebody, that would be against the law, but it's not a sin before God. Abortion is both sinful and criminal. That we don't recognize that today, again, is just more reflective on our failure to think God's thoughts after Him.

And I think before we leave the state and abortion, we need to remember what the purpose of civil government is. I think on this, J. Gresham Machen is most helpful. He says, the state exists for the repression of evildoers and the protection of individual liberty.

Why aren't there more Machen's in this world? Why aren't there more people that get it? That's their function. Not to tend to you every moment of every day.

Not to make sure you have everything you need. Not to pour your cornflakes and your milk and wipe your face. That's not their function. It really isn't.

Machen is right. He says the state exists for the repression of evildoers and the protection of individual liberty. He also said the civil government is, quote, not intended to produce blessedness or happiness. It's not their job to produce blessedness or happiness.

Their job is they are intended to prevent blessedness or happiness from being interfered with by wicked men. That's their job. So if we lived in a society where persons had half a clue, we'd not have abortion. Now that we're seeing, again, countries that at one time held fast.

Ireland recently had their big vote, their big referendum, so that now we can kill babies in our country. Have we all gone mad? Have we all lost it? We all just said, forget God, everything that's sacred, good, or holy, or normal and decent.

All bets are off. Let's just murder. Let's just do whatever it is we want. You know, we read the book of Judges, and we see that appendix in chapters 17 to 21.

I actually think that 17 to 21 comes before Judges chapter 1. I think 17 to 21 shows us what life was like before the institution of the judges. And what's the constant refrain? There was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

It's a horrific picture of human conduct. It's a terrible depiction of society without law, without regulation, without government in terms of not wiping your face when you drop milk, but repressing evildoers in society. That was the function of the judges. That was the function of Israel's monarchy.

And then in terms of the church and abortion, I would suggest the professing people of God need to know what the Bible says. You know, if you hear on January 20th next year, the same sermon, don't go, man, he preached this sermon last year. There's a method to my madness. This is actually stuff I hope everyone gets.

I hope everyone gets. I hope you just are conversant with what the Bible says concerning abortion. See, abortion has one of those unique places in our lives where it's out of sight and out of mind. I assume, for the most part, you guys aren't going out having abortions.

I assume, for the most part, you aren't hanging around with people that are going out and having abortions. It's one of those things that's out of sight, out of mind. I purposefully am on some email list so that it's not out of sight and out of mind, purposely brought to my email box every single day. Once in a while, when I'm feeling especially ambitious with reference to how bad I want to feel, I go to numberofabortions.org, and you can watch the actual counter change as you're on their page.

And it's not just in Canada. It's in Canada, but it's U.S., and it's worldwide in the numbers since it was legalized. It's revolting. It's repulsive to consider that every one of the turns of that particular counter are human lives that have been lost to abortion.

The professing people of God need to avoid surgical abortion. Again, kids, young people, this is never the answer. This is never the response. This can never enter into the vocabulary of the people of God.

Well, you know, there is not always this. It's an abomination. God will judge you about repentance. The people of God in abortifacient birth control.

Not all birth control is contraceptive in nature, but it's abortifacient. That means that after conception has occurred, there are mechanisms in place to terminate the conceptus. You need to be responsible when it comes to such things. The people of God and the voting booth.

Again, if a man stood up and says, I'm convicted of pedophilia, I engaged in that, I enjoyed it, I would still do it if I hadn't have been arrested and I was forbidden from being around kids. I don't think any of us today in our body positive, he's got my vote. Boy, look at his honesty. There's a whole party given to standing up and saying, I'm all for murder, murder, butchery of the most innocent among us.

Bring it on. We'd be horrified. Again, euphemisms are very powerful. It's much nicer to say, oh, that person had an affair versus he's an adulterer or a fornicator.

I've made this observation when it comes to these mass shootings. How are they described? The shooter, the shooter. It almost sounds like he's a video game winner.

He's a murderer. He is taking projectiles and launching them into innocent people and ending their lives. Don't celebrate this. Don't make it sound like a video game.

That's not Call of Duty. As well, the people of God and sexual immorality. I would suggest that our young people, if ever faced with this decision of abortion, would never have been there if they were sexually immoral. Does that make sense?

Everybody get that? What's the best way to protect against unwanted pregnancy? Don't have relations. Well, you can't tell kids that because they're kids and they're going to do what they're going to do.

No, don't do it. Foolproof, 100%. It'll never happen. Never.

Virgin birth occurred. It's not going to happen again. You're not going to be the exception. You're not going to be married 2.0.

That's not going to happen. The only way you'll ever get to that difficult decision in your life is if you're sexually immoral. Don't be sexually immoral. Guard your hearts.

Guard your passions. Control your lusts. What happened to self-control in society? So I said, victim, we blame everybody.

I am the way I am because of my parents. I am the way I am because of my church. I am the way I am because of society. Those can be contributing factors to be sure, but God's word doesn't let you weasel out of your own personal responsibility.

Self-control goes a long way with reference to life in this world generally and with reference to life as God commands. We need to preach the law. We need to preach the law. Now, I believe in being a gospel-centered church. because there's a lot of issues that come up in gospel-centered churches.

But I believe that wholeheartedly. I am convinced of that wholeheartedly. But the gospel isn't good news until we hear the bad news, and the law helps us with that. The law tells us what the bad news is.

The law specifies that that there are murderers, that there are adulterers, that there are thieves, there are liars, there are covetous, there are Sabbath breakers, there are blasphemers, there are, you know, idolaters, there are those insubordinate to authority over them, and they're all us. All of us are convicted by God's law. It paves the way for the preaching of the gospel, and the church needs to be about preaching the law and the gospel. Carl F.

H. Henry said this. He 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. 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." That's great. Another man in the history of the world, I won't say church, but said, the law does not have the power to change the heart, but the law has the power to restrain the heart less. The church has forgotten that.

Oh, no law. No law. We pride ourselves on our antinomian commitment. We pride ourselves with Romans 6.14 and a bad understanding of it, by the way.

We're not under law. We're under grace. Can't preach the Decalogue. Can't preach those commandments.

We're not under law. We're under grace. That's not Paul's point in Romans 6. If you think it is, you need to go to school again and understand Paul's point in Romans 6.

The church needs to preach the law, and finally, the church needs to preach the gospel. As I said, if any have engaged in this particular sin, we need to remember Psalm 25. David's prayer for forgiveness from God is grounded in two things. One, God's name, and two, David's great sinfulness.

Imagine that as an argument. God, you need to forgive me because I'm such a wretch. What? David is saying, you need to forgive me because I'm trying harder.

You need to forgive me because I'm getting better. You need to forgive me, God, because I'm such a wretched person. I'm such a sinner. Pardon my iniquities, O Lord, for they are great.

We need to remember Psalm 130, 3 and 4. If you, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared. Or 1 John 2, John says, my little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin, but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous.

There is forgiveness even for abortionists. There is forgiveness even for women that have engaged in this and men that have forced them at times to engage in this. There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. Never ever forget that. never treated as the unpardonable sin.

There is mercy to be had in the Savior. Look at Saul of Tarsus. He stood by, giving his heart and consent, while Christ's martyr Stephen was stoned to death right before his eyes. And what happens to Saul of Tarsus?

He's conquered on the road to Damascus by sovereign grace. If you are guilty of the crime of murder, if you're guilty of the sin of murder, if you're guilty of any of the transgressions of God's law, the answer for you is not more sin to try and cover it up. The answer is that Christ who in John chapter 6 says, my flesh will give you life, my blood will give you life. Again, metaphorically, he is saying believe on me."

Closing Prayer

Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for the fact that it's so

Scripture References

• Genesis 1:26-27; 3; 4; 5:1; 6; 9:6; 25:19
• Exodus 20:2; 20:13; 21:12; 21:22-25
• Leviticus 18:21; 19:14; 19:32
• Deuteronomy 7
• Job 10:8; 31:13
• Psalm 25; 51:5; 130:3-4
• Proverbs 6:16-19; 8:36; 28:13
• Jeremiah 1:4-5
• Luke 1:15; 1:39; 1:41; 1:43-44; 18
• John 6
• Romans 6; 6:14; 13:1-4
• Ephesians 6:4
• 1 Timothy 5
• James 3; 5:14-15
• 1 John 2:1
• Revelation 21:8