You can turn back in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 21. Exodus chapter 21. Just to sketch where we were this morning, we looked at the sanctity of human life in all its stages. Before the fall, after the fall, true in the womb, true with reference to children, true with reference to the handicapped, the sick, the elderly and certainly dignified in the Redeemer of sinners himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, who certainly is the image of God as perfect man, the image of God as deity himself.
Secondly, we noted the personhood of the pre-born. We looked at various passages in both the Old and the New Testaments to substantiate and to affirm the reality that the baby in the womb is, in fact, a baby in the womb. It's not a product of conception, it's not a lump of undefined cells, but rather it is an image-bearer of the living and true God. And then thirdly, we noted the prohibition against abortion in the Bible. the specific or rather the general principle is given in the sixth word of the Decalogue, you shall not murder, and then we looked at this particular case law in chapter 21 verses 22 to 25.
We saw the specific translation issue is accurately reflected here in the New King James, in the ESV, I believe in the updated New American Standard as well as NIV and other translations. The idea here is that a woman gives birth prematurely, not that she miscarries. If she miscarries and no harm follows, it does not take into account what happens to the baby. But the fact is, she brings forth these children early, and they are protected by the law, so that if harm follows to either her or her child or children, then is the lex talionis applied.
We noted as well that there is an increased sense of protection here for the pre-born and the specific penal sanction is up to death if it is in fact the case where the man causes death to either the mother or the child. Then we looked at some lines of application, the Bible and murder. The Bible is not silent on this particular subject. we then looked at the state and abortion and what we ought to think concerning this particular sin which is also a crime and therefore is punishable or ought to be punishable by the state and then we turned our attention to the church and abortion. We noted the prevalence of abortion the potential precursor to abortion, and tonight we're going to take up a few hard questions.
Some of those things that are often proffered as thorny issues for us to consider, I think it's best to take them straight on and try and deal with them biblically. So that is where we are going tonight, the hard questions. I've got four and I hope that nothing is surprising to you tonight. I just want to read Exodus 21, 22 to 25 again put us back into this biblical mindset.
If men fight and hurt a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman's husband imposes on him. And he shall pay as the judges determine. But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. Amen.
Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank you again for your Holy Word and we pray that tonight you would guide us by your Spirit, illumine our hearts and our minds. Give us grace to receive these things. Give us grace, Father, to be faithful witnesses in this world.
God, we live in a world filled with sin. The heavens declare the righteousness of God, the glory of God. The streets certainly display the wickedness of men. And we pray, or I pray, that you'd help us to have a good response to those things that we come into contact with in this place, in this world.
Give us grace, Lord God, as well, to restrain and to resist the current tendencies of our age. Give us grace to esteem life, to esteem the sanctity of God, or the sanctity of life and the image of God. Help us, Father, to truly be faithful in these things. And we ask through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
Is It Ever Right to Have an Abortion?
Well, the first particular question I'm going to ask and then attempt to answer is going to be the bulk of our study tonight. Because oftentimes people that oppose abortion and if not oftentimes it should be the case that Christians who oppose abortion will also defend the death penalty and certainly when you hear or when you propagate this mindset people say how could you be against the killing of babies but not against the killing of others isn't it inconsistent if you want to be pro-life then you have to be pro-life across the board you have to advocate against the death penalty How can you Christians on the one hand oppose killing here and on the other hand affirm killing here? Well, the first thing I would say is there's a fundamental difference between killing and murder. We saw that already alluded to this morning.
There is accidental homicide. If I accidentally swing my axe and the axe head flies off and hits you in the head, that was not premeditated. There was no malice involved. There was no hatred.
There was no modus operandi that dictated I wanted to take this particular person out. Biblical law makes that distinction. There is accidental homicide. It is not the same as murder.
Murder is a vicious intrusion upon the life of another person. with the intent to snuff it out. And so, is it ever right to have an abortion? This is the first hard question that I would offer. And I would say there are three instances of lawful killing in the Bible.
So that when we define these three instances of lawful killing in the Bible, we will see that abortion is not one of them. So no, it is never right to have an abortion. But what are those times? What are those things stipulated in Holy Scripture that indicates lawful killing?
Again, if you've not had this debate, if you've not talked to people, if you've not said, I oppose abortion, but I'm perfectly fine with capital punishment, you will see people roll their eyes. You will see them lift their eyebrows. You will see them think that you are utterly inconsistent. But as I said, the scripture delineates for us three instances of lawful killing, and abortion is certainly not one of them.
Lawful Killing: Self-Defense
The first instance is self-defense. Self-defense is legitimate. Self-defense is an instance of lawful killing. Now, when we defend ourselves, the particular emphasis is not to kill the other person.
It is to use that force necessary by which we can defend ourselves. There's an instance where Abraham goes to fetch Lot. He takes 318 of his household servants and he arms them so that they can go and extract Lot from whatever difficulty he has found himself in. Specifically, though, in Exodus chapter 22, we see that self-defense is legitimate.
It is biblical. In fact, God assumes that people will indeed defend themselves. Notice, in Exodus 22 at verse 2, If the thief is found breaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed. So a thief breaks into your house, and you crack him one on the head.
The scripture says that if he dies, there will be no guilt in his bloodshed. Now this is qualified in verse 3. If you continue to read, it says, if the sun has risen on him, there shall be guilt for his bloodshed. He should make full restitution.
If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. So I think the idea is simply this, that if it's the hours of darkness and a thief breaks into your house, you do not know what his intentions are. You cannot assess what his purpose is. Is he coming to steal a vase from your mantle or is he coming in to abuse your wife?
You do not know, so you strike him and he dies. This qualification in terms of verse 3, with the sun rising or the sun shining, you're better able to assess the situation. You're better able to call upon neighbors to help you to rebuff this particular man. If in the case, however, you do need to defend yourself, that is legitimate.
Matthew Henry says that a man's house is his castle, and God's law as well as man's sets a guard upon it. He that assaults it does so at his own peril. You see, it was simply unconscionable or unheard of that if someone broke into your house and they cut their hand on the glass as they were shimmying through, that they could sue the homeowner for damages upon their hand. That is not biblical law.
That is madness and folly. The Lord God assumes, the Lord God has instituted, the Lord God has provided within biblical law this ability for one to defend himself. In Nehemiah 4, when they go to build or rebuild the city walls, They are facing opposition from peoples in the land. And it says with one hand they held their tools, and with another hand they held a weapon.
That was to defend themselves against the opposition in the land so that they could effectively engage in building the walls of Jerusalem. That's Nehemiah 4, 13 to 18. The Lord Jesus assumes that men will defend their homes. The Lord Jesus assumes that men will defend their families.
In Luke chapter 11, at verse 21, the Lord Christ says, You just find 11. I'm looking at 12 here. 1121 says, when a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. You see, he's not a gun nut. He's not a wingnut, he's not a crazed man, he's not a strange man.
Jesus assumes the legitimacy of such a thing. Now I realize the specific application has to do with Jesus plundering the kingdom of darkness. But in order for him to make this analogy, he has to appeal to something that is in fact true. And in 21, he says, when a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace.
But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoils. And then again, in chapter 12, verse 39, the same idea is present. 12, 39. It says, but know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. You see that?
Am I making sense here? If you knew that a thief was coming, you wouldn't say, I want to go get a cup of coffee. Jesus assumes that if you knew that the thief was coming, you would barricade the door, you would be armed with whatever weapon you were able to subdue this particular offender should he bypass the barricade and get into your house. Self-defense is legitimate.
The Bible condones it.
Lawful Killing: Just War
The second instance of lawful killing is just and necessary war. Now the wars of Canaan are certainly an example of this. I've often wondered how anybody could ever be a pacifist in light of the Bible. I just don't understand the mindset that says that pacifism is indeed the biblical way.
Deuteronomy 7, very specifically the Lord God tells that when you go into the land of Canaan, verse 2, and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them, nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son, for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods so the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. But thus you shall deal with them, you shall destroy their altars and break down their sacred pillars and cut down their wooden images and burn their carved images with fire." The emphasis here on this holy war is that when the children of Israel go into Canaan, they are to utterly destroy all the persons there.
They're to make no political treaty with them, they're to have no social engagement with them, and certainly they're not to engage in religious. aspects with them. They are supposed to be separate from the Canaanites. This is a legitimate act of killing authorized by God to go into the land of Canaan and to do His will. Now some will say, well, holy war no longer applies.
I agree wholeheartedly. We are not under the mandate, New Covenant Christianity, to engage in holy war. So I used the example on Wednesday. We do not connive, we do not strategize, and we certainly do not descend upon Abbotsford to take what they've got in the name of Jesus.
That is simply not acceptable in New Covenant Christianity. But certainly in Romans 13, we're going to look at this in more detail in just a moment under the death penalty. But if the civil government, if the magistrate, has been entrusted the sword for the execution of the wrath of God in history against criminal violators, I would argue, and I think the reform tradition is behind me on this, that that self-same magistrate armed with that self-same sword has the ability and has the requirement to protect its citizens against invaders. In other words, the magistrate exists to punish criminal offenders in society, but it also exists to defend us from those enemies that would seek to do us harm.
She has the sword for a specific reason. So when it comes to the question, is it ever right to have an abortion? No, it's not self-defense. A mother does not find herself in the position of having to terminate her baby because she needs to defend herself.
It is not a just and necessary war. I know this sounds a bit outlandish, but if we ask the scriptures what are legitimate instances of killing, the Bible tells us abortion is not one of them.
Lawful Killing: Capital Punishment
The third instance of lawful killing is capital punishment. Turn to Genesis chapter 9. And interestingly enough, this is an argument for the sanctity of life. I know that sounds paradoxical, I know that may sound a bit strange, but the death penalty itself is an argument for the sanctity of life.
Because in the death penalty we see how much God values life, how much God prizes life, and what is to be the penalty inflicted upon those who take life. So when we come to the sanctity of life Sunday, some would say, horror of horrors, how could you ever preach on the death penalty? Because the death penalty is an argument for the sanctity of life. Look at Genesis chapter 9.
The context deals with the propagation of life, verses 1 and 7. Secondly, it deals with the protection of life, verses 2, 4, and 6. And it deals thirdly with the sustenance of life in verses 2 and 3. It is post-fall.
It is God's instructions to Noah. This world had become exceedingly corrupt and filled with violence. So when Noah departs from the ark, God makes a covenant with him. And God tells him certain things concerning society and its regulations. in this situation.
Notice the specific text in Genesis 9, 6. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God he made man. So the particular offense in view is whoever sheds man's blood. Again, the Mosaic economy will distinguish what the difference is between accidental homicide and murder.
Here, because of the penalty applied, we deal with murder. Whoever sheds man's blood, similar to the way Cain did, similar to the way Lamech did, similar to the way that the pre-flood world did. If somebody engages in that conduct at this particular juncture, Noah, the magistrate, is to be armed, they are to have the sword, and they are to execute God's wrath in history. Notice the punishment.
Whoever sheds man's blood by man, his blood shall be shed. You see, that is very specific. If I murder someone, God says I am to be executed. That is not murder.
That is punishment. It's not with malice aforethought. It's not born out of hatred. It is the retribution of God Most High inflicted in society through the agents that He Himself has chosen.
So whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed." And notice the agent. It is by man his blood shall be shed. You say, well, people get things wrong. Yes, they get things wrong, which in our generation with DNA fingerprinting, with the automatic appeal process, and with all the rigmarole that one goes through on this side of the Noahic Covenant, It will be difficult to put to death innocent people in terms of the sorts of technology that currently exists.
But the agency that acts on behalf of man, on behalf of God, is man to inflict this punishment. Luther said this, this was the first command having reference to the temporal sword. By these words, temporal government was established and the sword placed in its hand by God. Gordon Clark says God gave the right of capital punishment to human governments.
He intended it to be used wisely and justly, but he intended it to be used. Abolition of the death penalty presupposes the falsity of Christian principles. And for those of you who were present in our studies in the book of Deuteronomy, you will see that when capital punishment was executed or when the death penalty was inflicted, there was procedure. There were witness testimonies.
There was the evaluation of evidence. You had to go through a juridical process. It wasn't as if I said, wow, Steve Lawson did this, kill him, and off with his head. That's not.
That is a caricature of biblical revelation that does not find merit whatsoever in exegesis. Even the other night when we are considering Joshua chapter 22, when the Western tribes thought the Eastern tribes were engaged in idolatry. It says in Joshua 22.12 that they had decided to go to war against those Eastern tribes. They had biblical warrant for this according to Deuteronomy 13.
But prior to engaging them, they sent a delegation, Phineas and 10 representatives from the particular tribes in Israel went and asked them questions. They didn't just engage in this warfare, they didn't just start swinging the sword, but they used due process. And the same thing is true with the Law of Moses. There is due process.
There is two or three witnesses. A capital offense could never, or a capital punishment could never be carried out, except for a plurality of witnesses. It was built into the structure so that it would be just and it would be equitable. So God the Lord determines in this that man is to lose his life by man if he commits the crime of murder.
And the theological reason for this, the very underpinning or foundation of this is why I say that the death penalty is an argument for the sanctity of life. Because he says whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed for In the image of God, he made man. Some commentators say it's because of that, that man serves as the agent of execution. I take the other position that says, because man is the image bearer of God, if another sheds his blood, then that man should die.
Because God's image is beautiful. God's image is glorious. God's image is to be preserved. So we have biblical warrant in Genesis chapter 9, verse 6 specifically, concerning capital punishment.
Capital Punishment in Romans 13
Lest you say, well that's the Old Testament, turn to Romans chapter 13. It's an unfortunate hermeneutic that we have to battle in our day that says, well that's the Old Testament. As if the Old Testament has no binding authority upon the people of God today. Search your New Testament and look for a prohibition against bestiality.
You will not find one. Thankfully God has spoken to that in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is binding, it is authoritative, it is God's Word. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.
It is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly furnished unto every good work." In the context, in 2 Timothy 3, when the Apostle Paul says that and stipulates that, he's talking about the Old Testament primarily. We need to remember that. Notice Romans 13 1-4 highlights the reality of capital punishment in this new covenant era. Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities for there is no authority except from God and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.
Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same.
For he is God's minister. We just announced this morning two men to serve as ecclesiastical ministers. This is the same Greek word. It is a deacon.
Deacons function in the church, but there are deacons that function civilly in the magistrate. He is God's deacon to you for good, but if you do evil, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is God's minister and avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Now a few observations concerning this particular text. First, we need to notice the context.
The context begins in chapter 12. Notice in chapter 12 verses 17 to 19. Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men.
If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath. For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. This is a prohibition against private revenge.
It is similar to Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount when he talks about turning the other cheek. He doesn't want us to be a vindictive, pharisaical lot. If somebody has sinned against you, if somebody has engaged in a crime against you, Paul does not advocate going down to the local gun store, purchasing for yourself a Glock 9, and finding that person and putting a slug between their eyes. He prohibits that.
Do not avenge yourselves. Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. Now here's where we have a disconnect.
Christians come to this passage and say, well, it's wrong to ever want vengeance. That's not what Paul says. It is wrong to avenge yourselves. It is right to give place to vengeance.
It is right to give it into the hands of God. It is right to call upon Him to judge and do so justly. Now when we flow into Romans chapter 13, there's no adversative. If there were no chapter divisions introduced into the text, we'd have no problem seeing the connection.
As Christian individuals, we are not to avenge ourselves. We are rather to give place to wrath, God's wrath. That doesn't just mean a postponement of wrath until the eternal state, but according to Romans 13, 1-4, God executes wrath temporally. God executes wrath in society, and he does it through the civil authority.
This is Paul's point. Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. Why? For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.
You see, Christians are supposed to be those who live according to the laws of the land. Provided we are not told to sin, provided we are not told to engage in crime, we are to be submissive to the governing authorities. We are to realize that the authorities exist because of the sovereignty of God. Christ speaking his wisdom in Proverbs 8 says, by me kings reign.
The whole history of Israel's monarchy evidences and indicates that men are put in high places because of God. Nebuchadnezzar, when he's strutting around Babylon, plucking his feathers, thinking that he has built all this, God the Lord sends him out to live like a beast until he learns this most important lesson, that God most high rules and that God most high gives kingdoms to men. Paul tells us, as God's people, to be submissive to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.
Now notice verse 2. Therefore, whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. It's not godly to resist. It's not holy to revolt.
It's not holy to sin. Verse 3, for rulers are not a terror to good works, notice, but to evil works. It's important we understand this. They're not a terror to good works.
In other words, if you're conducting yourself the way you're supposed to in society, you ought not to fear the magistrate's sword. If you're like me, you still, when a policeman pulls up behind you, your heart starts pounding. I always feel guilty. And when I'm coming through the border, I feel like I'm smuggling.
I went over for gas. I'm not a criminal, but I feel like that. Well, what Paul's saying is if you're righteous and you're obedient, you don't have to feel like that. That's the point.
Rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil, and we ought to supply works. This is another caricature. If you Christians had your way, and the civil magistrate executes God's wrath in history via the sword, then people would be punished for their thought crime. No!
That's Orwellian. That's not New Testament. It's when they engage in evil works. It's when they take it and apply it in society.
That's when the government is to step in and to bring the heat to bear upon them. Notice the implication, 3B. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same.
You don't want your heart to race every time you see an RCMP? Drive the speed limit. You don't want your heart to race every time you come through the border? Don't smuggle diamonds.
Diamonds. Drugs. Whatever it is, don't smuggle them. And when he says you will have praise from the same, that's not blessedness and happiness pronounced.
That's not when they bring you to the five corners and say, boy, this man is a paragon of virtue. I think it means they leave you alone. That's the praise from the government that you and I should want, is just for them to leave us alone. Just don't mess with me, don't inhibit my ability to pursue blessedness and happiness, and certainly punish those who try to restrict my blessedness and happiness.
Now notice, do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same. Now notice verse 4, for he is God's minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid.
Sometimes you hear people say, well the death penalty doesn't deter. It's not a deterrent for anyone. It's not supposed to be. Do you realize that when capital punishment is inflicted on a person, it's retributive justice?
It is punishment. Now, I would argue there is a deterrent effect, certainly on the criminal that's executed. He will not repeat. And do you know what else?
Other people won't either. Paul is to be trusted more than the social engineers of our age. What does he say? He says, be afraid.
In other words, if capital punishment was being inflicted on persons as it ought to be, the rest of us would see and fear. You'd think twice about smuggling diamonds across the border. You would think twice about engaging in the sorts of things that go on. Solomon describes the problem in the book of Ecclesiastes.
He says, because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the hearts of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. In other words, it is a lack of punishment, a lack of consistency, a lack of bringing this to bear upon criminal offenders that promotes lawlessness. Paul is to be trusted. He is God's minister to you for good, but if you do evil, be afraid.
For he does not bear the sword in vain, for he is God's minister and avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Remember the connection. Chapter 12, do not avenge yourselves, but give place to wrath. God will bring vengeance and one of the ways he does this prior to the eschaton and the eternal state when he sends criminals to hell is that in time, in space, in history he has equipped the civil magistrate with the sword so that they can function as an agent in order to execute the wrath of God.
John Murray says, the sword which the magistrate carries as the most significant part of his equipment is not merely the sign of his authority, but of his right to wield it in the infliction of that which a sword does. It can be wielded to execute punishment that falls short of death. but to exclude the right of the death penalty when the nature of the crime cause for such is totally contrary to that which the sword signifies and executes. Crucial. Thomas Watson said it this way, the Puritan in the book The Ten Commandments, to kill an offender is not murder, but justice.
A private person sins if he draws the sword. A public person sins if he puts up the sword. A magistrate ought not to let the sword of justice rust in the scabbard. Now, in Numbers 35, it stipulates that no ransom is to be taken for a murderer.
In other words, when you look at the penal sanctions within God's law, we saw it even this morning, we saw it as I read in Exodus 21, 22 to 25, if no harm follows to the woman and no harm follows to her children, he will pay a fine. That was certainly a punishment in Israel. There's instances where a man, if he was victimized, had the opportunity to either say, yeah, I want his eye gouged out, but more than likely he would take financial recompense. That would probably be more typical.
He probably wouldn't say, I want that guy's tooth to be knocked out. He'd probably say, can I have money for the sufferings that I've gone through. But when it comes to murder, no ransom is accepted. This is a passage in many ways that scares me more than anything we've considered today.
Because the land is filled with blood guiltiness. It is saturated with blood guiltiness. Remember the Lord God said, the blood of righteous Abel cries out to me. The blood of your brother cries out to me.
Numbers 35 31 says, moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death but he shall surely be put to death and you shall take no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge that he may return to dwell in the land before the death of the priest. So you shall not pollute the land where you are for blood defiles the land and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it except by the blood of him who shed it. Therefore do not defile the land which you inhabit in the midst of which I dwell for I the Lord dwell among the children of Israel." Terrifying passage in light of abortion, in light of euthanasia, in light of infanticide, in light of drive-by shootings in light of any murder that has happened or been transacted in this recent modern history and there's no atonement made. Terrifying.
So when we ask the question, is it ever right to have an abortion? Not according to the Bible. Self-defense? No.
Just and necessary war? No. Capital punishment? Absolutely not.
Back to our series of hard questions.
What About Rape and Incest?
The second big one is what about rape and incest? What about rape and incest? What about those instances? Well, first of all, with reference to these issues, they're horrific, they're terrible, absolutely wretched, but it doesn't justify abortion.
You never compound sin with sin. You don't atone for sin with sin. You do not make things right by making them worse. The instances of rape and incest, which percentage-wise are very minuscule, but they exist nonetheless.
There are people, there are persons who have been raped, who have carried their children to term, who have either gave them up for adoption or kept them for themselves. It happens. People do this. They do not compound a crime with another crime against the living and true God.
In the case of rape, consider this. In the book of Deuteronomy, according to biblical law, it is the rapist who is to be executed, not the baby. It makes no sense. It's wrong.
Why punish? Why penalize? Why destroy the life of somebody who didn't have anything to do with the crime that was perpetrated? It is absolute madness and folly.
Deuteronomy 22 is very clear. specifically dealing with the rape of a betrothed woman. In verse 25, but if a man finds a betrothed young woman in the countryside and the man forces her and lays with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. But you shall do nothing to the young woman. There is in the young woman no sin deserving of death.
For just as when a man rises against his neighbor and kills him, even so is this matter. For he found her in the countryside and the betrothed young woman cried out, but there was no one to save her. You execute the rapist, not the baby, not the child. It makes no sense.
Do you see that? Deuteronomy 22 is very specific. And you know sometimes people have this warped idea that when a woman gets raped somehow she was complicit. That's ungodly.
That is wretched. That is vile. In light of a passage like this, men should never, ever think those sorts of things.
The Surefire Prevention of Abortion
Thirdly, this isn't a hard question. It's a very easy one. What is the surefire way to prevent abortion? Absolutely, positively, 100% effective. 1 Thessalonians 4.3.
For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality." Why don't we hear about a woman's right to say no? A woman's choice to resist? A man acting like a man and not pressing himself upon his girlfriend so that she can evidence that she loves him. Absolute wickedness.
God has provided a covenantal context for sexual intercourse. It is marriage. Outside of marriage, sexual sin is sin. It is a surefire, 100% effective way to avoid abortion in your life.
Be chaste. Be righteous. Pursue purity. Be that person that says no, that resists the temptation, that cuts off the hands, that gouges out the eyes, that exercises self-control.
Because no sexual intercourse, no pregnancy, no abortion. Surefire, 100%. Not a biologist, not a physicist, not anything like that, but I can tell you this much. If you take Paul seriously in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, you won't ever have to deal with this issue on a practical level with yourself.
The Church's Responsibility
And then fourthly, what is the church's responsibility with reference to this sin and crime of abortion?
Preach the Law of God
First, she is to preach the law of God. She has to preach the law of God. She's not an entertainment entity. She's not up to make people feel good.
She doesn't just give you the be happy attitudes. She can come get your batteries charged on a Sunday and go live and whistle and sing for the rest of the week. You need to hear the law of God. The church needs to hear or the church needs to preach the law of God.
We need to tell people what God says concerning His Word. We live, as they tell us, in a post-modern age. We live in a situation where a lot of people have no concept whatsoever of biblical revelation. And I don't mean the last book of the Bible.
I mean Genesis through revelation. We are dealing with heathen right in our own neighborhoods, and we ought to tell them that God's law absolutely, positively, 100% prohibits abortion. It prohibits euthanasia. It prohibits infanticide.
For those of you who've never heard infanticide, it is exactly that. It is the death of an infant after it has left the womb. There's instances of hospitals where they leave babies to die in buckets. It's terrible.
How did we get here? How did it become like this? How did it become natural? How did it become a political issue?
I am tired of hearing that abortion's a political issue. It is a theological issue for, in the image of God, He made man. It's not part of a platform. It's part of God's revelation.
And the church needs to effectively quit playing games and preach the law. We need to expound the law. We need to talk about the law. God does not say, it's okay for you to do whatever you want.
God gives us 10 specific words in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. He gives us the Decalogue that tells us what we are to do and what we're not to do. And we're not doing anyone any favors by hiding that information from them. I love the idea that in Old Covenant Israel, if a child was asked to recite the Ten Commandments and he couldn't, the father got in trouble.
The father got in trouble. What does that mean? Father's teacher, kids, the law. Mothers, teach your kids the law.
Who is it in the book of Proverbs that's teaching their children the law? I mentioned this morning we didn't have enough participation in terms of Sunday school. You know the primary educator of your children is you? You know that's what's specified in Deuteronomy 6 after the Shema here.
Oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. The response to that Shema is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength. What then goes on or what then is indicated in there? You're going to teach your children when they rise up, when you walk by the way, when you lie down.
The whole society is to be governed by the Word of God. You're to put the Word on your house. You're to put the Word in your children's hearts. You're to put the Word on your gates, your city gates.
That's an evidence or an indicator that this city is given to Yahweh. That's what we need to be doing to our children, to others. Carl F.H. Henry said it this way, 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.
He is reflecting here what is called the threefold use of the law. That first use is the civil or the political use. The idea that God's law serves as a restraint against the wickedness and the madness of men. Henry says, 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. It has usefulness for the unbeliever. It has usefulness for the unregenerate.
It defines the will and the mind of God and he uses that to restrain man from giving themselves wholly unto evil. Secondly,
Love Neighbours in Practice
The church is made up of individual Christians. All of us are to engage in obedience to the second great commandment. We are to love our neighbors as ourselves. We are to exercise compassion.
We can adopt children. We can be kind to others. We can be there for mothers in need. We can do those things that the scripture specifies and stipulates in terms of serving those who are in need.
In short, we can put our money where our mouths are and we can seek to serve those who are on their way to engage in abortion.
Preach the Gospel
Thirdly and finally, in terms of the church's responsibility, we are to preach the gospel. We are to preach the gospel. The law plows up the heart of man. The gospel is the good news of saving grace through Jesus Christ our Lord.
We need to be bold with the gospel. Tell men their sin, but tell them of a Savior. Tell men of their wickedness and their rebellion against the Lord God Most High, but describe to them in vivid detail the doing and the dying and the rising of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's our calling.
That's our task. It is not to be the sorts of buffoons that we see in these YouTube videos. These guys that are engaged in folly and madness and wickedness. It's not real difficult.
Church life shouldn't be hard. I sometimes see that the literature that's written, I see on the internet, you know, these pastoral vision statements and these strategies and managing teams and leading. My head swims. What's Paul saying, or what does the Apostle say in Acts 6?
Appoint deacons so we can pray and preach. Why do we need to have a 10-point strategic outline for pray and preach? We're making it more difficult than it needs to be. Preach the whole counsel of God, law and gospel.
Preach the imperatives. Tell men their sin and tell them of the Savior who alone can redeem them through his precious blood. So those are some hard questions that we as the church need to know the answers to so that we can be faithful to our Lord in this world. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank you for your word and we thank you for its clarity in these matters and issues. We thank you for the law of God and the wisdom that it sets forth. We thank you for the gospel of free and sovereign grace. For Lord God most high, we praise you for redemption through the blood of the Lord Jesus.
We praise you for the power of the Holy Spirit that is in us to pursue those things now. We praise you for the way that law and gospel sweetly relate to one another. As our confession says, it sweetly complies. We just pray now that you would go with us, watch over us in this coming week.
Again, be with our brothers and sisters who are not well physically. We pray that all of your people could gather together on the Lord's Day in this place. All those who have ongoing difficulties with physical problems, we pray that you would give them a measure of health, a measure of well-being, so that they may gather together on the Sabbath day to praise you with the people of God. And we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.