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turn with me in your Bibles to 
Exodus chapter 21. Exodus chapter 21, we're considering 
sanctity of life Sunday. It was in 1968 and 69, the Criminal 
Law Amendment Act in Canada, 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. Of course, that wasn't enough. 
In 1988, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled 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 has had no criminal laws governing the subject 
and abortion is a decision made by a woman with her doctor. Well, 
the United States passed Roe vs. Wade 41 years ago in 1973. The numbers of abortions are 
staggering in North America. When we add to that the worldwide 
figures, I was just reading this week, Israel's laws have greatly 
increased in terms of facilitating abortion, places like China, 
throughout the earth, the bloodshed certainly is prevalent. So it 
is helpful for us as the Church of Christ to understand what 
the Bible says concerning this very relevant issue so that we 
may be able to speak to our particular age. If you are taking notes, 
you will see a lot of similarity with the message at this time 
or from this time. Last year, it is my conviction 
that if you get these things down, it is most helpful in terms 
of this particular issue. Now, what I say concerning abortion 
applies equally to the subject of euthanasia. In fact, when 
we trace out the sanctity of human life in all its stages, 
certainly that applies not only to babies in their mother's wombs, 
but it applies to elderly folks at the end or getting near the 
end of their lives. The biblical warrant for a sermon 
such as this, obviously, is the case law in Exodus chapter 21, 
and I'll just 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. Well, let 
us pray. Our Father, as we come to consider 
this most serious topic, it grieves us to consider how wicked man 
is to kill babies in that most vulnerable state, or to kill 
elderly folks in a most vulnerable state, or to kill those who are 
ill in a most vulnerable state. We know the blood of righteous 
Abel cried out to you. God, we trust that the blood 
of all these people, all these judicially innocent people, equally 
cries out to you. God, help us as the people of 
God, help us as the church of the Lord Jesus Christ to know 
what the scripture says, to pray in light of such things, and 
to seek to be faithful witnesses in a generation that truly has 
demonstrated that the hearts of men are filled with madness, 
with folly, with sin, and rebellion. We ask now that you would fill 
each and every one of us with your Holy Spirit. We pray that 
He would guide us, that He would illumine our minds and our hearts, 
to cause us to receive with gladness the joy or the truth of Holy 
Scripture, even if that truth does affect us. We pray as well, 
God, that you would forgive us for all of our sins and cleanse 
us from all unrighteousness. We know that whenever we look 
into that holy law of the living and true God, we are mindful 
of our own departure. We are mindful of our own iniquity 
and our transgression. So we cry out to you even now 
for the forgiveness of sins and for cleansing in and through 
the blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And it's in his 
most blessed name that we pray. Amen. Well, John Murray, former 
professor of Westminster Theological Seminary, said this in a book 
called Principles of Conduct. He said, nothing shows the moral 
bankruptcy of a people or of a generation more than disregard 
for the sanctity of life. Proverbs 8, the Lord Christ speaking 
as wisdom says, that he who sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death." 
Certainly as we look around at a culture given over to such 
widespread shedding of blood, it evidences this reality. Those 
that despise Christ love death. An early Christian document called 
the Didache in about the year 120 says this in Chapter 2 verse 
2, you shall not abort a child or commit infanticide. Proverbs 
30 verses 8 and 9 says, open your mouth for the speechless 
in the cause of all who are appointed to die. Open your mouth, judge 
righteously and plead the cause of the poor and needy. Again, 
we cannot do that if we do not understand what the Scripture 
says. And it's an unfortunate reality that Christians don't 
always evidence the ability to articulate what Scripture says 
on these most important subjects. And it is to this end that the 
sermon is offered this morning. I pray that you'll take notes, 
pay attention. If you want the notes, write 
me, email me, call me. I will send them to you so that 
you have these texts in your minds and in your hearts. We 
need to be able to give a legitimate response to the evils of our 
particular age. We need to know what we believe 
when it comes to things like voting, when it comes to things 
like being functional citizens in a body politic. All of these 
things bespeak the necessity for God's people to understand 
God's truth. I want to look at three things 
this morning. First, the sanctity of human 
life in all of its stages. Again, this applies to abortion, 
it applies to euthanasia. Secondly, we'll focus specifically 
on the personhood of the pre-born. And then thirdly, we'll look 
at the prohibition against abortion in the Bible. So first, the sanctity 
of human life in all of its stages is seen in the fact that man 
bears the image of God. No, he doesn't just bear the 
image of God, he is the image of God according to Genesis chapter 
1 verses 26 to 28. You can start turning. It's important 
that you understand what the scripture says concerning this 
very important subject. Genesis 1, 26 to 28. Then God 
said, let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the 
fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, 
over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps 
on the earth. So God created man in His own image. In the 
image of God, He created him. Male and female, He created them. 
Then God blessed them and God said to them, Be fruitful and 
multiply. Fill the earth and subdue it. 
Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the 
air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. So our 
confession says, after God had made all other creatures, He 
created man, male and female, with reasonable and immortal 
souls, rendering them fit onto that life to God for which they 
were created, being made after the image of God in knowledge, 
righteousness, and true holiness. The Psalter, the Scriptures, 
everywhere affirm this reality that man is the image of the 
true and living God. Francis Schaeffer realized that 
it's upon this foundation that the Church effectively speaks 
against abortion. He says, 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. Why is it wrong to kill a baby? Because they bear the image of 
God. Why is it wrong to commit infanticide? Because that child is the image 
of God. Why is it wrong to terminate 
the life of an older person? Because they are the image of 
God. We need to understand that there 
is a difference between us and the raccoon. There's a difference 
between us and the goat. There's a difference. Within 
God's created order, it is man that alone bears the image of 
the living God. He goes on to say, 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 
in the incarnation of Christ, which we know from the Bible. 
It is the scriptures to which we must go. Then we see the image 
of God displayed, as I said, in all of its stages. Let's run 
through these pretty quickly. First, the image of God is displayed 
in the pre-fall state of man. In other words, before the fall 
into sin, God, of course, makes man in his own image. Some have 
taught in the history of the church that after the fall, man 
no longer is the image of God, but that is untrue. After the 
fall, recorded in Genesis chapter 3, in Genesis chapter 5 in verse 
1, we read that man is created in the image of God. in James 
3, when that dear brother is condemning our ungodly use of 
the tongue. He says, with our tongue, with 
that self-same tongue, we bless our God and Father, and we curse 
men who are made in His likeness, or who are made in His similitude. So we are the image of God both 
pre-fall, pre-lapsarian, if you like the theological term, and 
post-fall, or post-lapsarian. We see that the image of God 
is displayed with reference to the womb, with reference to babies 
in their mother's womb. And we'll spend a little more 
time on that in just a moment. The image of God is displayed 
in children. Leviticus 18, there's a prohibition 
against offering your children to mullet. You're not to engage 
in human sacrifice. In Ephesians 6, as fathers, we 
are told, do not provoke your children to wrath. Why is that? Because they're image-bearers 
of God. You cannot abuse them, you cannot 
molest them, you cannot murder them, because they are God's 
image-bearers. As Vos says, that when we murder, 
when we assault man, it is the image of God that is our target. The image of God is displayed 
in the handicapped. Leviticus 19.14. Leviticus 19.14. Far from seeing a marginalized 
view of the handicapped, the vulnerable among us, the Bible 
says that they have protection and we are to esteem. In Leviticus 
chapter 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 don't mess with people that 
are handicapped. You don't make sport of people 
that don't have all the same faculties. In the book of Mark, 
isn't it endearing when our Lord Jesus is passing through the 
city of Jericho and blind Bartimaeus raises up his voice and says, 
Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy upon me. What's the response 
of the crowd? They want to marginalize this 
man. They say something to the effect like, he doesn't want 
anything to do with you. He's a busy man. He's the Son 
of God. He's the Redeemer. He's the Messiah. 
He is moving through Jericho. What does Bartimaeus say? He 
raises his voice louder and he says, Jesus, thou Son of David, 
have mercy upon me. The text says that Jesus stops, 
Jesus walks over to the man, and he says, what would you have 
me to do? And Bartimaeus, of course, says, Lord, I want to 
see. So Jesus heals him, gives him his sight. And that man then 
lays eyes upon the glorious Lord Jesus himself. The image of God 
is seen in the sick among us. James chapter 5. James chapter 
5. No brethren, we need to come 
to grips with passages like these, not only for the abortion debate, 
which shouldn't even be a debate, or euthanasia, but for churchmanship. Within the context of the local 
church, there are people that are physically not well. There 
are people that are hurting. There are people that are tried. 
There are people that have difficulties. It simply isn't enough on a Sunday 
morning for us to mention them in prayer. Pray for them during 
the week. Pick up the phone and call them 
during the week. Get in your car and drive a meal 
over to them during the week. This is God's heart for image 
bearers. In James 5, verse 13, is anyone 
among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? 
Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let 
him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over 
him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the 
prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise 
him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Now, 
there's some things in this particular passage that might stretch our 
minds a little bit, in terms of the anointing with oil. If 
you're interested, email me. I'll send you some notes on this 
particular text. But this much is sure, that when 
there is sick in the church, they're not forgotten about, 
they're not cast off, they're not marginalized. But rather, 
if they were to pick up the phone and say to the elders, can you 
come over here and pray with me and anoint me with oil, the 
elders show up. There's dignity in every single 
human being in whatever stage of life they find themselves 
in, whether it's the womb or it's the final or eleventh hour, 
whether they are handicapped, whether they are maimed, whatever 
the situation and instance is. The image of God is displayed 
in the elderly. Again, in Leviticus 19, young 
people, stand up in the presence of your elders. It's sometimes 
embarrassing to see the way that society as a whole, and the church 
in particular, treats people. Stand up! Give honor to those 
who have hoary heads! They deserve our respect. They 
deserve our esteem. They deserve our love. They deserve 
honor. This is why Paul, when he's writing 
to Timothy, tells him how to deal with various people groups 
within the context of the church. He doesn't tell young, middle-aged 
Timothy to rise up against the older men and put them in their 
place. No, he says, do not rebuke an 
older man, but give honor to him. He may be wrong theologically, 
he may be wrong ecclesiastically, he may be wrong on this particular 
instance or detail, but Timothy, do not berate him, or do not 
belittle him, or do not disparage the image of God in this man 
by treating him as if he's a little child. You see, every stage of 
human life reflects and is the image of God Most High. The image is not only displayed, 
but dignified by the Redeemer. The Lord Jesus Christ as second 
Adam is the image of God as true humanity. Now, of course, the 
Lord Jesus Christ as God the man is the image of God in His 
deity as well. But He does not take on angels. He does not take on the nature 
of angels according to Hebrews chapter 2. But rather He takes 
on the nature of Abraham. He dignifies our nature. He shows 
that it's good. And He shows that in His redeeming 
work that man has value. man has significance, and the 
Lord Christ has come to save his people from their sin. So that's a brief outline of 
the sanctity of human life in all of its stages. Now secondly, 
the personhood of the pre-born. Just to give you a couple of 
quotes, what others have said concerning this issue. Associate 
Justice Harry Blackman One of the authors of Roe versus Wade 
said this, we need not resolve the difficult question of when 
life begins. When those trained in the respective 
disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive 
at any consensus, the judiciary at this point in the development 
of man's knowledge is not in a position to speculate as to 
the answer. then-candidate, President Barack 
Hussein Obama. in 2008 said, this is something 
that I have not, I think, come to a firm resolution on. I think 
it's very hard to know what that means when life begins. Is it 
when a cell separates? Is it when the soul stirs? So 
I don't presume to know the answer to that question. What I know, 
as I've said before, is that there is something extraordinarily 
powerful about potential life and that that has a moral weight 
to it that we take into consideration when we're having these debates. 
Obviously these fools have never heard the maxim, it's better 
to err on the side of caution. Imagine a hunter going out to 
the woods, seeing something rustle behind a tree and just shoot. Well, he got a doe instead of 
a buck. Horror of horrors, doesn't he 
know? It's not the season for does. 
He didn't verify his target. Imagine that self-same hunter 
seeing the stirring behind the trees, taking his .30-06 and 
shooting a child. Horror of horrors, didn't that 
man take the time to investigate rightly the target that he was 
shooting at? He would be vilified. He would 
be public enemy number one. You can hear the liberal media 
now. He would have wanted posters out for him. How dare this hunter, 
this pro-gun nut, actually shoot somebody without verifying the 
target. And yet we have an Associate 
Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court say, we don't need 
to verify the target. We can kill it! Does anybody 
see the disconnect that we're dealing with? Does anybody enter 
into the reality of how foolish man is? And how set they are 
upon murder. Proverbs 8. Those who hate me 
It really is the case. I like what Gordon Clark says, 
Christian philosopher. 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 a 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. He's right. Do you hear what the Chief Associate 
Justice of the highest court in the United States of America, 
and this is not to let Canada off the stage, there's no law 
concerning abortion in Canada. Do you realize that the peer 
nations to Canada and the United States are places like North 
Korea and China? It's not those dirty, despicable 
heathen over there. An Associate Chief Justice with 
the backing of the Supreme Court behind him, and 57 million babies 
dead as a result of it, has said, we don't need to verify the target. 
We can go in and cut, we can go in and suction, we can go 
in and put saline solution in there. It doesn't matter what 
it is. That's amazing that we've come 
to this place. You know, that news concerning 
Israel and their very, very liberal policy on abortion. Just in my 
research this week, Josephus, writing to Appian, says, we are 
forbidden from such a thing. It was unheard of to a Jew to 
go into the womb and kill the seed. Why? Because they're looking 
for the seed. They're looking for the Messiah. 
There's a promise in the Garden in Genesis 3.15. You don't mess 
with the seed. It could be the one whom God 
sends to save His people. Boy, that's changed, hasn't it? The personhood of the pre-born 
is seen in Genesis 25, 19 to 23. Jacob and Esau are called 
children. They are called nations. Job 
10, let's just rehearse these particular passages again so 
that you see them with your own eyes and you hear them with your 
own ears and you receive them with your own hearts. so that 
you can go to your own prayer closet, and you can go into the 
voting booth, and you can go with some information, and act 
and conduct yourself consistently with the Scriptures of the Old 
and the New Testaments. Job 10, your hands have made 
me and fashioned me, and intricate unity, verse 8, 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 curl 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." Job 31, when he's 
rehearsing his righteousness in the sense that he has not 
oppressed, he has not been ill-willed toward others, he has not been 
evil. Job 31.13, 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? He's talking about people. He's 
talking about him, Job. When he was in the womb was Job. 
It's the same idea in Psalm 51, when David is tracing back his 
native depravity. He goes to the womb. He says, 
in sin did my mother conceive me. That doesn't mean the conjugal 
relationship was sin. It means that as soon as David 
was, he's a sinner. But it was David. It wasn't a 
lump of cells. It wasn't a product of conception. 
It was David. Psalm 139. Who can forget that 
whole psalm dealing with the omniscience and the omnipresence 
and the omnipotence of God Most High. And the psalmist is marveling. The psalmist is amazed at the 
reality that God has knit him together in his mother's womb. 
Again, it's not a lump of undefined cells. It isn't some cosmic trash 
that we can dispose of. It's a human being that bears 
the image of the true and the living God, and we need to take 
these things seriously. When Jeremiah traces his call 
to the prophetic ministry, he says that God separated me from 
where? Not from my playpen, not from 
my nursery school, not from kindergarten, not from middle school, but from 
my mother's womb. The Apostle Paul says the same 
thing in Galatians chapter 1. It pleased God who separated 
me or called me from my mother's womb. You see, if they practiced 
abortion in those particular days, we'd have no prophet Jeremiah. 
I speak as a man. We'd have no Apostle Paul. We'd 
have no Edomites. We'd have no Israel. Isn't Jacob 
the father of the nation? I know Abraham specifically, 
but Jacob takes the very moniker Israel. If the abortion rights 
advocates were there at the time, if the haters of Christ were 
there at the time, practicing their sacrament of vicious cruelty, 
there'd be no nation. Luke chapter 1, we see that John 
the Baptist will be filled with the Holy Spirit when he's in 
his mother's womb. How do you explain that? In Luke 
1, 41 to 44, the word brephos is used and applied to a baby 
in the womb. The same Greek word is used in 
Luke 18 when they bring the little children, the brephae, to Jesus 
in order to bless them. The word is used synonymously 
with paideia. We've heard that word, paedobaptism, 
infant baptism. Hydea Grephos refers to the same 
thing. Human beings that bear the image 
of the true and the living God. If the abortion rights advocates 
had their way, there would be the extermination of the Lord 
Jesus Christ in the womb of his mother. And it's very intriguing 
in considering this whole affair. When Elizabeth comes to visit 
with Mary, what does Elizabeth say? She's shocked. She's blown 
away. She says, how is it that the 
mother of my Lord has come to see me? Jesus is Lord in the 
womb. Not a product of conception, 
not a mass of cells, not something that for convenience we can suck 
out and dispose of. Thirdly, the prohibition against 
abortion in the Bible. Exodus 21. Exodus 21. Just to give you a brief synopsis 
of the context. Exodus 20, as I'm sure you'll 
all remember, is the giving of the 10 words, the giving of the 
10 commandments, also known as the Decalogue. That simply means 
10 words. Sinai, God spoke. Sinai, God 
says. Sinai, God prohibits. In the 
sixth word, murder. He says, you shall not murder. You shall not take the life of 
another human being. without cause. The rest of the 
Bible makes clear. There are three instances of 
lawful killing. Self-defense is legitimate, Exodus 
22. Legitimate war or just and necessary 
war, Deuteronomy 7, 1-5. And capital punishment, Genesis 
9. and Romans 13. Those are the 
three instances of lawful killing. It's not murder. Murder involves 
malice. It involves a forethought. It involves particular motive. And so the sixth word prohibits 
murder. Now notice specifically in chapters 
21 to 23 of Exodus, we find those laws, those general principles, 
words 1 to 10, fleshed out for society. In other words, we take 
the general statements and principles given at Sinai in Exodus 20 and 
21 to 23 explains how those principles are to be fleshed out in society. In fact, Kaiser makes this comment, 
while these judgments deal mainly with temporal matters, they nevertheless 
are based on one or another express commandment in the Decalogue. 
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. Look at Exodus 21, 1. Now these 
are the judgments which you shall set before them. Again, the law 
has been given generally, the principles enumerated in the 
Decalogue in chapter 20, and now they're fleshed out. How 
then do we live in society with reference to this binding moral 
law that God Most High has given to the body politic? And that's 
where we find 21, 22 to 25. Now, the context, beginning in 
verse 12 of 21, going to verse 32, deals with murder, manslaughter, 
and bodily injury. God speaks to these issues. If 
you've not read Exodus, you've not read Deuteronomy, please 
do so. What does God say concerning 
rape? Deuteronomy 22. What does God 
say concerning abortion? Exodus 21. Now notice, specifically, 
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. Three specific observations. First, the correct translation. The New King James is correct. 
The ESV is correct. If you have in your lap a Bible 
that says when this woman is struck and she miscarries, your 
Bible is wrong. Your translation is wrong. Listen to what the argument is. Pay attention because it's huge. There are variant readings in 
New Testament manuscripts. Just going to give you one. If 
you hear me read from the New King James, you'll see Bethesda 
referred to. In some of the other translations, 
it's Bethsaida. Guess what? If you believe Bethsaida 
is the correct name, and I believe Bethesda is the correct name, 
No harm, no foul. But if you mess up on Exodus 
21, 22, and you envision a text that speaks to miscarriage, and 
then no harm follows, you missed the point. Look at it. If men fight and hurt a woman 
with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm 
follows. You see what happens? You've 
got two geniuses in Israel. Two brilliant men that want to 
fight with each other. I'm being sarcastic and facetious 
here. Two knuckleheads that want to 
fight with each other. And there's a pregnant woman 
that happens to be standing there, probably the wife of one of them. In the midst of their scuffle, 
she gets smacked. As a result of the trauma that 
she suffers, she gives birth prematurely. Literally, her children 
come out. That's the language applied to 
Jacob and Esau. The hairy one came out, didn't 
he? It's the language used throughout 
Old Testament Scripture to speak of childbirth. So premature birth 
is legit. It is what's in view. The plural 
form of child is used to envision the possibility of twins or triplets. or quintuplets or whatever the 
uplets are. However many children that are 
in there, if she gets smacked and as a result of the trauma 
she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows to her and 
the children. That's how the text is supposed 
to be read. If you have the older version 
of the New American Standard or you have the Wretched Message 
Bible, It says that when she gets smacked, she miscarries, 
yet no harm follows. What's the implication to the 
woman? That's not what the law is saying. 
The law is speaking not only about the woman and the protection 
afforded to her, but it's the protection afforded to those 
babies that come out It's not a miscarriage. There are Hebrew 
words for miscarriage that are absent in this passage. There's 
a Hebrew word for one untimely born that's not in this passage. It is the language of coming 
out, a child being born. It comes out prematurely, and 
if no harm follows to the woman or to the child or children, 
then the man shall pay. You see, your actions have consequences, 
don't they? If you go out on the street and 
you have a fight, and you happen to strike somebody, you may get 
into a felony situation. You take one too many drinks, 
or you smoke one too many things, or you snort one too many things, 
and you get in a car and you go out and commit a felony? It's crazy foolish. So you see what's in view here. 
Two men fight, a woman that's pregnant gets hit, and then the 
baby or the babies come out. If no harm follows, then the 
man is fine. He has to pay a recompense. He's 
caused trauma, he's caused difficulty, he's caused issues, and he needs 
to pay money in order to deal with that eventuality. But notice, 
if harm follows, This is where most of the people that oppose 
abortion in the Christian Church jump ship. We don't like the 
penal sanction attached. We like the fact that abortion 
is prohibited, but we don't like that the punishment must fit 
the crime. That's what eye-for-eye, tooth-for-tooth, burn-for-burn, 
and stripe-for-stripe actually means. It's the Lex Talionis, 
the law of retribution, and it means that the punishment must 
fit the crime. So if these two men are fighting, 
and they cause trauma to the woman and death to her or her 
child, then they must recompense by their own life. Notice back in chapter 21 at 
verse 12. There's a distinction here between 
murder and manslaughter. Verse 12, he who strikes a man 
so that he dies shall surely be put to death. That's murder. 
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 that? That's manslaughter. That's accidental homicide. The 
rest of the Pentateuch illustrates for us. If I take an axe and 
I'm mad at my neighbor, and I hate him in my heart, and I cut him, 
and I bury that axe in his head, I've committed murder. But if 
I go out and I'm swinging my axe and the axe head flies off 
because of my irresponsibility and it falls on that man's head 
and kills him, that's accidental homicide. God appoints a city 
of refuge for me to flee to. But even in that, he has to stay 
in that city of refuge until such time that the high priest 
dies, which indicates that even your accidental situations have 
consequences. That means that when you're an 
Israelite and you went out to chop wood in the morning, you 
better take notice of your ax head and make sure it's not going 
to fly off. You see, personal responsibility 
is built into the law of God. Not this, I didn't know, I'm 
the victim, everybody's mean to me and that's why I do what 
I do. I run people over with my car because someone was unkind 
to me back. That's just not legit. personal 
responsibility and self-government. It's what the Bible, the biblical 
law is dealing with. But notice here for a moment, 
accidentally this man kills his neighbor. He can run to the city 
of refuge. When we get to this situation 
in verse 22, and these two men are fighting, and they accidentally 
hit a woman who is pregnant, and she gives birth, and harm 
follows to her child, he is worthy of execution. There's increased 
protection for this particular situation. It's unavoidable, 
or unavoidable, or inescapable. Calvin says this concerning this 
particular place in God's law, with reference to a baby in its 
mother's womb. He says, 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. This is the language at times 
championed by the pro-abortion cause. Fetus. Let's depersonalize 
it. Let's dehumanize it. Let's reduce 
it to something abstract that doesn't have hands, it doesn't 
have feet, it doesn't have eyes, it doesn't have sexual organs, 
it doesn't have a nose. Is that what Calvin means by 
fetus? This is how foolish the pro-abortion movement is. Fetus 
is Latin for unborn baby. And yet it's been effective, 
hasn't it? There's something we can disassociate with when 
it's a fetus. Let me read Calvin again. Listen, feel it, understand what 
he's saying. 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. You're walking around Coltus 
Lake, and robbers prevail upon you and in the midst of the scuffle 
they kill you. That's bad. Nobody's suggesting 
otherwise. But there's something specifically 
nasty and wretched about a home invasion robbery, isn't there? 
When some poor guy hears a knock on the door and he goes over 
to the door and thugs come in and they destroy him. In his 
house It's crazy, isn't it? Men want 
to actually debate the perversity of man, the sinfulness of man? If this seems more horrible, 
it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy a fetus 
in the womb before it has come to light. The commentary on the 
Decalogue throughout the rest of the Old Testament affirms 
this privileged position concerning babies. What does God hate, according 
to Proverbs 6? These six things Yahweh hates, 
yea, seven are an abomination to Him. If I was an abortionist, 
or I was a legislator, or I was a father or a mother who had 
the inkling to go out and destroy my child, I would hope somebody 
would say, you know what, God abominates hands that shed innocent 
blood. He loathes it. He hates it. He despises it. He abhors it. This is something marked out 
peculiarly by God, most I, in terms of the things that are 
on his top seven list of things he hates. Hands that shed innocent 
blood. What does Jesus do with the Decalogue? Does Jesus invalidate it? Does 
Jesus abrogate it? Does Jesus say the sixth word 
that is no longer binding upon the church today? We just love 
everybody? Yes, we love everybody according 
to the law of God. Do not think, he says in Matthew 
5.17, do not even let it begin to rise in your mind that I have 
come to abolish the law. I did not come to abolish, I 
did not come to abrogate, I did not come to tear it down, but 
rather to fulfill it. When he gets to the exposition 
of that general principle in 5.17-20, in 5.21-22 he deals 
with murder. He says specifically that if we hate our brother in 
our hearts, we are guilty of violating the command. Well, 
I've got to say, if we hate each other in our hearts and we're 
guilty of breaking the sixth commandment, how much more doctors 
with surgical instruments going into that utterly safe and secure 
place called the womb and destroying image bearers? It's terrible. Absolutely terrible. The way 
that we treat the image of God. In terms of some concluding thoughts, 
the Bible and murder tells it like it is. There's an interesting 
progression early on, after the fall of man, after Genesis 3, 
what happens? Everybody lived happily ever 
after with their newfound liberty? No. Cain murders Abel, doesn't 
he? Even without guns, Cain murdered 
Abel. You see, they want to say, get 
rid of all the instruments. It's the heart that's deceitful 
above all things and desperately wicked. If we don't have a gun, 
we'll use a knife. If we don't have a knife, we'll 
use a rock. If we don't have a rock, we'll use our bare hands. 
If we don't have bare hands, we'll use our feet. Because our 
hearts are deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. 
Who can understand it? But it's an amazing progression. 
When Cain is called to answer, what does he do? He tries to 
hide it. He tries to cover it up. He tries 
to say, no, I don't know where he's at. God says, the blood 
of your brother cries out to me. It doesn't take long for 
devolution. Genesis 6, 11 and 12. I'm sorry, Genesis 4, 23 and 
24, Cain's great-great-grandson Lamech glories in bloodshed. He glories in the body count 
that he has gotten. By the time we get to Genesis 
chapter 6, the earth is filled with violence, and after the 
flood, God arms the magistrate with the sword and the responsibility 
to execute murderers. You see, the Bible tells us a 
lot about murder. Secondly, when we look to the 
state, what should we think concerning the Bible about abortion in the 
state, or the civil government, whatever you want to call it? 
the powers that be. I've already quoted, and I will 
quote again, the criminal law amendment 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. In 1989, it was 
overruled. And not to delimit, not to take away, 
but to make wide open the access to abortion. As I said, in the United States, 
41 years ago Roe versus Wade was 
passed. 57 million babies in the US alone 
since that time. That's staggering, isn't it? 
And I've often thought, personally, that somebody that's killing 
babies for money isn't probably the most honest in reporting 
those facts. So a lady by the name of Carol 
Everett, that served or worked as a nurse in an abortion clinic, 
got out of it. wrote a story, started educating 
people, started teaching people about the money that's involved. 
Sacks and sacks of money. You think they're all honest 
and accurate reporters? I would imagine the numbers are 
a lot bigger, personally. When you look at the population, 
300 million in the United States, about 100 million, I'm sorry, 
about 1 million per year abortions, more than that. You got Canada, 
about 30,000, 35,000, 35 million people, and you have about 100,000 abortions per year. I 
checked with Josh last year, the percentages are the same. So before you Canadians say, 
those bloodthirsty, wretched Americans, yeah, it's because 
they love guns, it's because they hate God, Canada is doing 
the same thing. Jonathan Van Maren, in a very 
helpful blog post, once indicated to me how non-pro-life and how 
non-supportive of the pro-life cause Prime Minister Stephen 
Harper is. President Barack Obama, as a 
senator, voted three or four times against the Born Alive 
Infant Protection Act. That there's six million professing 
Christians in the United States that voted for him is staggering 
to me. Could you imagine casting your 
vote for a political figure that says, I support rape? Could you 
imagine casting your vote for someone who says, I support pedophilia? I support theft. I support lawlessness. We'd say never! And yet six million 
people claiming the name of Jesus Christ in the United States of 
America voted for Barack Hussein Obama. Christians in Canada think 
he's hunky-dory. In case you don't know what the 
Born Alive Infant Protection Act is, it's that. The law was 
written to specify that if a baby survives an abortion, the doctors 
must do everything in their power to take care of it, to help it, 
to make it live. What manner of ghoul opposes 
such a piece of legislation? Consider currently in the United 
States of America, research is showing something we already 
knew, but scientific data is showing that a baby in the womb 
at 13 to 14 weeks feels pain. So several states in the United 
States are challenging They are saying we must forbid and prohibit 
abortion past 20 weeks. Again, I'm not happy with any 
of that. It should be criminalized flat 
out. But the Supreme Court continuously upholds a woman's constitutional 
right to kill her baby. With a SCOTUS and a POTUS like 
that, babies do not stand a chance. And when we in the church don't 
know what the Bible says, when we in the church don't pray, 
when we in the church don't offer compassion and kindness and those 
things that Jesus says are consistent with the second great commandment? 
Machen said it this way. He said the civil government 
is not intended to produce blessedness or happiness. They're not. You don't want your government 
helping you to be blessed or happy. That's God's job, isn't 
it? You see, the state, with its 
total planning and control, wants to usurp the predestinating decree 
of God and come and be your mother. We don't want that. Maitreyan 
was right. The civil government is not intended 
to produce blessedness or happiness, but intended to prevent blessedness 
or happiness from being interfered with by wicked men. They're not 
supposed to bring us blessedness, they're not supposed to bring 
us happiness, but they are supposed to stop those thugs that are 
trying to break down our doors to take blessedness and happiness 
away from us. They are supposed to stop those 
thugs that with sterilized medical instruments are going into that 
most sacred place called the womb and killing image bearers 
of the living and true God. You see, not all sin is crime. 
Covetousness should not be punished by the state. Not all crime is 
sin. If you were in a Muslim nation 
and they told you you could not preach Jesus, you must obey God 
rather than men. But you see, abortion is both 
sin and crime. It is something that we need 
to consider. It is something that ought to 
affect us. It is something we need to consider 
the way God does. What about the church and abortion? The first thing I would say is 
there is a prevalence of it. A prevalence of it. That means 
a lot of it in these various ways. First, the professing people 
of God lack understanding about the subject. Do you know how one group is 
celebrating Sanctity of Life Sunday today? They're having a fundraiser for 
abortion. It's a group of comedians, led by comedienne Sarah Silverman. It's called the Night of a Thousand 
Female Lady Parts. But it's not female lady parts. 
It's the word that rhymes with the capital of Saskatchewan. Look at the ingenuity! If we 
advertised a night of a thousand butchered babies, a night of 
a thousand severed heads, a night of a thousand severed arms, are 
people going to come out in mass and support? But we tell a few 
jokes, we make it about reproductive rights, we make it about the 
women. People will go, yuck, yuck, yuck, 
listening to their comedy, and then cough up money to support 
abortion. And yet you can meet Christians 
sometimes that couldn't flip to one of the texts I mentioned 
to you earlier to save their lives. I think the Bible says 
abortion's wrong. We've got to get past that. We 
have got to move beyond the ignorance that has become acceptable among 
the people of God. What does God say through the 
prophet? I believe it's Hosea. My people perish for what? A 
lack of knowledge. A second evidence of the prevalence 
of abortion within the church is surgical abortion. Randy Alcorn 
in his very helpful book, Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Objections 
or Questions, says that within evangelicalism, within the reformed 
community, within that camp of people professing to be born 
again, girls and women come for abortions. It's interesting in 
the prophet Jeremiah when God deals with the covenant people, 
He says, I never commanded you to offer your children to Molech. 
I never commanded you to sacrifice your children. He's not talking 
to the Hivites. He's not talking to the Hittites. 
He's not speaking to the Canaanites. He's speaking to the covenant 
people of God who took the babies of their bosom and threw it into 
the arms of Molech and watched them die. It's happening in the 
church. Thirdly, the professing people 
of God and the voting booth. We've already touched on this, 
but let me just ask you again. Would you vote for the candidate 
that openly espoused rape? Would you vote for the candidate 
that openly espoused pedophilia? Would you say, well, his policies 
and his fiscal responsibility is so stellar here, You really want somebody that 
advocates for pedophilia to be your president, or your prime 
minister, or your fearless leader? Do you want somebody that doesn't 
respect the image of God in their mother's womb? Fourthly, the professing people 
of God and chemical abortion. I understand whenever I come 
to this Sunday, it's one of the most difficult. This is not a fun subject. This 
is not a happy topic. Chemical. Birth control pills. Not going to get into the whole 
issue of birth control. Birth control pills. We all know 
about RU486, the morning after pill. But birth control pills 
work the same way. It's just a lesser dose. There 
are three mechanisms within a birth control pill to try and stop 
a woman from having a child. The first is actually contraceptive. It inhibits ovulation. Again, 
I'm not a scientist or a biologist, but I know this. If she doesn't 
ovulate, she can't get pregnant. That is contraceptive in nature. 
Secondly, to thicken the cervical mucus and making it more difficult 
for the sperm to reach the egg. Again, it's a contraceptive measure. If those two fail, the third 
is abortifacient. This means that if the sperm 
fertilizes the egg and implantation occurs, the third mechanism is 
designed, like the IUD, to irritate the uterine wall so that it cannot 
host this fertilized egg. That's abortion. It is. It's just like that hunter looking 
through a scope at the rustling in the trees. Before you say, 
Pastor Butler, this is what we've chosen for family planning, see 
what's behind the tree. Check it out. Investigate. the prevalence of abortion within 
the church, and I'm really going to probably bother you now, the 
potential precursor to abortion in the church. The potential precursor to abortion 
in the church. Again, Jonathan Van Maren wrote 
a very helpful blog post called, When Porn Goes to Church. And he talked about the effects 
of pornography on the minds and the hearts, primarily of men, 
but it happens to women as well. As I was running through this 
particular list of things, I couldn't help but avoid an inevitability 
with reference to abortion. I am not suggesting to you, young 
men or young women, that every time you click on that internet 
browser, or every time you sneak a peek on your phone, that you're 
going to necessarily commit abortion. However, do you know what the 
foolproof way is to avoid abortion? Guess what? For a woman to exercise her choice 
not to have intercourse. Pornography breaks down inhibition. Pornography has you start to 
think that your feelings and your desires and your needs are 
everything. It reduces inhibition to the 
point where oftentimes the person who traffics in pornography ends 
up engaging in sexual intercourse. Now again, Jonathan Van Maren 
didn't indicate this one, but Solomon did! Proverbs says, he 
who covers his sin will not prosper. When David found out that Uriah 
was pregnant, what did he do? I'm sorry, when he found out 
Bathsheba was pregnant, he didn't send her to the abortion clinic. 
He called for Uriah to set it up in such a way that his sin 
would be covered. Again, do not leave here and 
say, Pastor Butler said every time we look at something like 
that, that we're going to commit abortion. I didn't say that. Some of you young people, some 
of you older people are dealing with things that are going to 
kill your soul. Do you love how Peter says it 
in 2 Peter? He says, abstain, or 1 Peter, 
abstain from fleshly lusts, which do what? War against the soul. You see, sinners will always 
seek to cover. Stay away from it. Resist it. Flee from it. If you've got habits, 
if you've got patterns, do what Jesus says and cut your hand 
off. Gouge your eye out. Because it's 
much better to enter into life maimed than to enter into hell 
full. If the number one way to avoid 
abortion is self-control, pornography certainly is not a means to gain 
self-control. I think we should stop there. 
I think we should be prayerful 
about this situation. I think we should be mindful 
of the reality. I remember a song that a man 
wrote many, many years ago. He says, hey there, young mother, 
a doctor's tool will not cure the shame. The only help is Calvary. For those who've had abortions, 
for those who haven't given two thoughts about abortion, realize 
there is a fountain open for sin and uncleanness. This is 
what conspirators to murder need to hear. The doctors, the mothers, 
the fathers, the parents, the family, the friends that are 
urging people to go out and perpetrate murder against an image-bearer 
in the womb need to hear us say, stop! Stop! Do not compound sin with sin! Flee to the Savior because He 
alone cleanses. Flee to the Lord Christ because 
He alone saves. Flee to the One alone who brings 
pardon for sin and the imputation of righteousness. Luther said, 
Jesus Christ is not a sham Savior for sham sinners, but He is a 
real Savior who offers real atonement for real sin, the gross crimes, 
for shameless offenses, for transgressions of every sort and every size. Just start in Genesis and work 
your way through the Bible. Don't we see that Jesus is not 
a sham Savior for sham sinners? King David of Israel, redeemed. 
Paul the Apostle, redeemed. Peter, denied as Lord, forgiven. 
If you've committed this particular sin this morning, go to the fountain 
that is open for sin and uncleanness. If you are in a pattern of pornography, 
stop. Go to the fountain that is open 
for sin and uncleanness. Start to transform your mind. 
Start to think about women as image bearers of God and not 
objects for your satisfaction. What we are told in Romans is 
not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the 
renewing of our mind. That starts at the cross. It 
continues in God's Word. Be faithful in these things. 
Do not give any vent whatsoever, because the devil is not generally 
content with just a little bit of sin on your part or mine. You need to go to the Lord Jesus 
Christ for forgiveness. And you need to be assured that 
there is a fountain open for sin and for uncleanness. Well, let us pray. Father, we come to a very difficult 
subject to consider this morning, and yet we see how clearly your 
word speaks to it. I pray that we would think your 
thoughts after you concerning this particular matter. I pray 
that in our closets, in our churches, we would cry aloud, that we would 
go to you, go to the throne of grace, that we would sigh and 
cry over the abominations done in our land, and that these things 
would affect the way that we live, the way that we pray, the 
way that we vote, the way that we think concerning ethics in 
the civil realm. We ask God in heaven that you 
would intervene, that you would stop this murder, stop this rage 
of man against babies and against elderly folks and against those, 
God, who are vulnerable. It ought not to be the case that 
we murder them. It ought to be the case that 
we protect them. Help me, Father, to have more thoughts concerning 
these things. Help all of us, God, to know 
what the Scripture says in these matters. And we pray through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.