We can turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Exodus, Exodus chapter 21. Today is Sanctity of Life Sunday. You've heard this sermon before. I'd love to not ever have to preach it again, but such is life in this present evil generation.

Our focus will be on chapter 21, verses 22 to 25. As I speak specifically concerning abortion, it's not to suggest that the other types of murder are acceptable, but that's one that's really out of sight and out of mind, unless you kind of keep up with pro-life issues or you're paying attention to the news, you don't really think much about it. I see made in the news quite a bit. I think that's relevant too to what I'm going to preach on this morning.

But this is a crime and a sin that does display and reveal the fact that this is indeed an evil generation. So I want to read beginning in chapter 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, and stripe for stripe. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our gracious God and Father, this is a serious and a sobering subject that we consider this morning.

It is a difficult thing to wrap our minds around. We know that there is such lawlessness in the world. There's lawlessness in our own hearts. There is that prohibition in the sixth commandment that certainly does apply. to your people.

God, we pray that you'd help us to think clearly concerning these things. Help us to understand the scripture so that we may give a reasonable defense for the hope that is within us. And God, as we consider your law, may we afresh appreciate the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on our behalf. We know that His blood shed is for the remission of sin, and that includes the sin of murder.

And in this, we greatly rejoice. We pray now that Your Holy Spirit would guide us. We pray that You would give us grace to receive these things. And though, again, it may be difficult, may You help us to think clearly concerning Your Word and its application with reference to such things.

And we ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Introduction

Well, as I said, you've heard this before. Hopefully it just seals the deal in terms of the things that you know concerning this from a sort of a scriptural vantage point. Now, with reference to this particular sin, it is an expression of the cruelty of man. I read recently John Owen.

He's writing about the Lord Jesus Christ and the fact that he assumes our humanity and thus realizes the image of God in man. and commenting on the virtue of compassion. He says, with reference to Christ's compassion, he says concerning us, hence they are justly esteemed to be fallen into the utmost of degeneracy from our first make, frame, and state, and to be most estranged from our common original, who have cast off this virtue of compassion, where it may and ought to have its actual exercise. Nor are any more severely in the Scripture reflected on than those who are unmerciful and without compassion, fierce, cruel, and implacable. No man more evidently defaced the image of God than such persons." And then John Murray, writing a couple hundred years later, makes this observation in his Principles of Conduct.

He says, nothing shows the moral bankruptcy of a people or of a generation more than disregard for the sanctity of life. And again, when it comes to the arena or orbit of abortion, it's already just accepted. We can't even question it. We can't even make that a part of the platform in conservative politics.

It's unthinkable that we would even challenge the thought that every woman has a right to choose to abort her baby. It is unthinkable and it does express the cruelty of man. It does express the fact that we are indeed a debraved people. Christ speaking as wisdom in Proverbs chapter 8, he says in verse 36, but he who sins against me wrongs his own soul.

All those who hate me love death. So the lovers of death express an anti-Christian sentiment. They expressed anti-Christian principle. They are those opposed to God, most high, who spoke his law relative to the protection of human life.

Now that does not mean we disregard animal life, but animals are not created in the image of God. Man is. And as a result, there is a strict prohibition against taking the life of another human being. So

Sermon Overview and Outline

I want to look at three things this morning. First, the sixth commandment of the Decalogue. Secondly, the sanctity of human life in the Bible. And then thirdly, the specific passage in the law of God that I read here in Exodus 21, 22 to 25.

But

The Sixth Commandment

in terms of the Ten Commandments, you can go back to chapter 20, and the basis of the commandments is the fact that God made man. the fact that God created, the fact that God then governs and legislates, the fact that God is lawgiver, He is perfectly righteous and just, so He commands His creatures how they are to function in His world. Now with reference to the specific commandment in view, notice verse 13, you shall not murder. Now, by implication, we are taught that we should promote life. We should promote health.

We should take care of ourselves. We should seek to take care of others. But the commandment comes from the hand of God specifically as a negative. It's a prohibition against murder.

Now with reference to murder, later legislation will make a distinction. There's accidental homicide. If I swing an axe and the axe head falls off and I was just reckless and it finds its way into your head, I am not a murderer.

Murder Defined and Distinguished

Murder includes malice of forethought. Malice includes premeditation. Malice, or murder rather, includes malice of forethought or premeditation. Murder would be me waiting in your bush, knowing that you're coming home, jumping out and swinging the axe at your head.

So with reference to murder, Webster's 1828 gives it a very basic definition and a good working one, to kill a human being with premeditated malice. Now there is a distinction made in God's law, I've already alluded to, the case of the swinging axe. If you do it accidentally, that is homicide, it's not good. there is stipulation in the law for you to go to a city of refuge, you're going to have your life a bit altered for a period of time, again, to teach that recklessness is frowned upon in the civil polity. But it's not murder.

Again, it doesn't have malice aforethought. So there's a distinction made in the law of God between homicide and murder itself. And then this commandment not only speaks to the external act of burying an ax in somebody's head, but it speaks to the internal heart disposition. And you see that in Leviticus 19, 17 and 18, Zechariah 7, 9 and 10, Zechariah 8, 17, and then most famously for our purposes is in Matthew chapter five, verse 22.

The Lord Jesus is giving a series of antitheses there between what he teaches and what prescribes and the Pharisees taught. You've heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder. But I say to you, he's not pitting himself against Moses. Moses makes the same argument in the book of Leviticus in chapter 19.

Jesus is pitting himself against scribal misinterpretation. Because as far as they were concerned, as long as you didn't bury an ax in somebody's head, then you were perfectly innocent. Well, Jesus says, no, if you hate your brother in your heart, if you call him fool or raka, if you engage in that inner disposition wherein you want to tear down the life of another person, that is as equally heinous. 1 John 3.15, same sort of an emphasis. It is not righteous conduct for one to hate his brother in his heart.

That is prohibited, that is forbidden by the sixth commandment. And then with reference to the text itself, you shall not murder. That's a good translation. The old King James has kill.

But as I said, the Bible makes a distinction between killing and murder. All murder is killing, but not all killing is murder. And

Lawful Homicide: Three Instances

there are three instances that the Bible authorizes for killing. The situation of capital punishment, Genesis 9, 6, Romans 13, 1-4. God gave the civil magistrate the sword in order to punish evil doers, those who engage in evil works. It's not been suspended.

It's not been abrogated. And again, this reflects our moral degeneracy. The Bible demands the execution of those who murder other people. The problem with our government isn't that they kill people.

The problem is, is that they kill the wrong people. They kill babies in the womb. They kill the elderly. They kill the sick. all the while murderers are scot-free, engaging in the sorts of things that God Most High has said you need to restrict them from doing that.

Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood will be shed, for in the image of God he made man. Capital punishment is an instance of authorized homicide. As well, self-defense. Exodus chapters 22, 2, and 3.

And then Jesus assumes this principle in his teaching in the gospel narratives. It is not right for somebody to say, you don't have the right to defend yourself. That is innate, that is ingrained, that is a feature of our image-bearing of God Most High. We are to protect ourselves and defend ourselves and to use that force necessary, including lethal force, should it come to that, in order to stop a criminal offender.

And then the third instance of lawful homicide is just war. Just war is indicated in Deuteronomy chapter 7 with reference to holy war. God says to the children of Israel to go into the land of Canaan and dispossess the land of the Canaanites. That wasn't by invitation, that wasn't by Facebook announcement, that was by killing them and destroying things.

And then Romans 13, one to four again, the sword that the magistrate wields is for the punishment of criminal offenders within the civil polity, but defense against foreign invaders. And so there is a just nest to war. There is a time for war according to Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes. Now, what looks like a just war is probably something you and I have not seen, but the principle in and of itself is in fact biblical.

So with reference to the commandment of God, we see the definition, the distinction made between accidental or homicide and then murder, the disposition of the heart is included, and then the translation of our text is specific, you shall not murder. And what is at the basis of this besides the fact that God is creator and the fact that God is lawgiver, but the fact that we are image bearers of God? If you turn back to Genesis chapter one, The opening chapters of Genesis, as you know, is the account of creation. And in Genesis chapter 1, God makes all of the creatures who fill the sky, that fill the sea, that fill the land, but it's the creature called man that is the pinnacle of his creative activity.

It is man that alone bears the image of God. It is man that comes from the hand of God as a rational soul, as one that can communicate with God. You'll notice in Genesis 1, there's not a stage or a progression where Adam sort of grunts, and he drags his knuckles, and then he figures out how to, you know, make fire and cook food. He comes from the hand of God, hardwired in the image of God.

He's able to communicate with God. He's able to think about things around him. Well, why is that? Were there stages of evolution that brought him to this place?

No, he comes from the hand of God as the special creation of God, and as I said, the pinnacle of God's creation. Notice in Genesis 1, 26 to 28, the mandate for Adam and Eve was to multiply and to fill the earth with additional image bearers to extend that garden sanctuary to encompass the entirety of the earth so that God would be glorified through mankind. Genesis 126, then God said, let us make man in our image. I believe that to be a reference to the triune God.

This us and our speaks of the plurality of persons in the Godhead. 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.

You see, the anti-Christian approach to passages like these is to preach depopulation. As far as God's concerned, babies in the womb is a good thing. The multiplication of babies in the womb is a good thing. The population of the earth with image bearers is a good thing.

The depopulation is contrary, it is anti, it is against God. And it seems to be those very things that our world is championing right now. So that's basically the sixth commandment.

Sanctity of Human Life in Scripture

Let's move now to the sanctity of human life in the Bible. And I realize there's been a push to replace, thus saith the Lord, with, well, science says. That's to put a contrary where it doesn't belong. God, according to the psalmist, is the Lord God of truth.

That includes nature and revelation. Science simply means knowledge. When you engage in science, you'll learn that what the Bible says is in fact true. Now, there's an antithesis between scripture and state-sanctioned science. when they twist science to make it fit what they have in terms of an agenda.

But we ought not to be afraid of science so-called. We ought not to be afraid of knowledge. We ought not to discountenance the fact that God is sovereign in nature, light of nature, general revelation. These things bespeak the glory of God.

We can move from the created effect to appreciate the glory of the creator himself. There's no antithesis between nature And grace, grace takes nature and perfects it. It's a wonderful thing that God does in terms of redemption. So when we look at the sanctity of human life in the Bible, we need to keep that image of God concept in our mind.

We need to see that it applies at every stage. It's not just sort of, you know, when a child is two, well, then they've arrived at the image of God. When a child is two months, he's arrived at the image of God. When he's in utero, he's not the image of God.

Well, the Bible says otherwise, and we need to understand what the Bible says. So with reference to the image of God displayed in man,

Imago Dei Before and After the Fall

you have first the image of God displayed in pre-fall man. And you saw that in Genesis 1, 26 to 28. God makes man in a way that is different than the way that he makes the beluga, in the way that he makes the sparrow. Not in the way terms, logistically, he spoke and it came into being.

But the dignity that they possess, man's is there because he's in the image of God. He's a rational soul. He's a body and a soul. He's reasonable.

He's able to think. He's able to communicate. And that, again, doesn't denigrate the whales that are able to communicate to one another. But they don't do math.

They don't parse verbs. They don't cook cakes or bake cakes. There's limitations in the animal kingdom. There are limitations in man's kingdom because we're creature, but we're creature that bears the image of God.

And so the image is present pre-fall. The image, secondly, is present post-fall. Notice in Genesis chapter 5. Genesis chapter 5, after the fall of man in Genesis 2 and 3, we have this statement again reiterating the image of God present.

Genesis 5.1, 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 then it goes on to list a whole bunch of other people that descend from Adam by ordinary generation.

The implication seems to be that they possess the image of God. James chapter 3 highlights this fact as well, or highlights this reality. Again, the degree to which we possess that image as fallen man, Owen uses the language of defacing the image. That's another argument or another discussion, to be sure, just giving you an overarching approach to what Scripture says concerning this image of God and how it separates us from the animal.

Notice in James 3 verse 9, well verse 8, but no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in the similitude or likeness of God. So you see, the argument is, don't use your tongue to bash men who are made in the likeness of God.

In other words, there's a dignity they possess. There is a rightness that they possess. They've come from the hand of God, and therefore, you're not supposed to curse them. With it, we bless men, and then we curse men.

Imago Dei in Children, the Disabled, the Sick, and the Elderly

Thirdly, the image of God is present in children. Children, now I do subscribe to the older model, children are better seen than heard, just kidding. But I appreciate that they are image bearers. There's a prohibition in Leviticus 18.21 that you're not supposed to throw your seed to Moloch.

You're not supposed to let your descendants pass through the fire. Why is that? Because they're little image bearers. They're not sacrifices.

They're not disposable. They're not arbitrary. You don't just chuck them in the fire to appease the pagan god, Moloch. And then, of course, in Ephesians 6, we're going to come to that passage, God willing, next Sunday night.

What does Paul tell children? He says, children, obey your parents and the Lord for this is right. And he goes on to say, honor your father and your mother. So children are addressed as image bearers of the living and true God.

And then fathers are told very specifically, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. They're not for abuse. They're not for perversion. They're not for use.

They are image bearers of the living and true God. Therefore they have dignity, intrinsic dignity, and you're supposed to treat them as image bearers of the living and true God. And then as well, fourthly, the Bible shows us that the image of God is in the handicapped. Again, Leviticus chapter 19, 14.

Don't put a stumbling block before a blind man. That's absolutely positively wretched. Don't mock them. Don't engage in sport with them.

Why? Because they are image bearers of the living and true God. What about the case of Bartimaeus, the blind Bartimaeus, who is begging by the side of the road and hears that Jesus is coming in the streets of Jericho. And what does Bartimaeus do?

Bartimaeus says, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And of course, all the crowd around him tells him to be quiet. Shh, be quiet. He doesn't have time for you.

So what does Bartimaeus do? He lifts up his voice even louder and says, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. Do you know what's absolutely positively glorious in that scene? Is that Christ stops in the midst of the hustle and bustle, in the midst of the multitude, and he comes over to Bartimaeus and he says, Bartimaeus, what would you have me to do?

Why does he do that? Because Bartimaeus is an image-bearer. Bartimaeus has dignity. Bartimaeus may not have his eyesight, but Bartimaeus is special in the sight of God Most High.

And of course, Bartimaeus says, Lord, I want to see. And so Jesus heals him. So the image of God is present. We don't marginalize or we don't say, well, you know, maid's probably the best option for you.

Maid would be what we would recommend to you. That is barbaric. That is degeneracy. That is cruelty that expresses our fallenness from God Most High.

We see, fifthly, the image of God in the sick. Turn to the book of James. Well, you might be there. James 5, 14 and 15.

James 5, 14 and 15. There may be some perplexing things about this particular passage. I can answer or try to answer questions later, but I just want you to see the point. Notice in James 5 at verse...

Well, 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. He's an image-bearer.

That's not forfeit, that's not sacrifice, that's not gone because the man is sick. Sixth, you have the image of God in the elderly. The image of God in the elderly. Again, when we get to this discussion of medical assistance in dying, you need to see how barbaric this is.

They're taking image bearers and saying, you know what? You're just not that important. Remember how offensive it was when COVID first started and we were told that the churches were not essential? What?

Why did so many people accept that? Why do we, okay, yeah, let's shut down the church, but keep the bars open, keep hockey open, keep the movies going, keep all that going, but you know, church, it's not essential. Well, isn't that what made is, essentially? You're not essential.

You have no value. You have no worth. There's nothing that you contribute now. What does God through Moses tell us in Leviticus 19?

Rise in the presence of a gray-headed man. How does Paul treat Timothy when it comes to treating old men in the context of the church? Don't rebuke them. Don't come in with bravado.

You're 30 and you know everything and that 70-year-old better get on board. No, you treat him with love and respect and with dignity. Why? He's an image-bearer of God Most High.

Now,

Imago Dei in the Preborn

the particular application is the image of God in the pre-born in the womb. The image of God in the preborn, in the womb. It's good for us to go through these texts. Turn to the book of Genesis.

Genesis chapter 25. Genesis chapter 25. Notice specifically at verses 19 to 23. 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 notice the language, the children.

Keep that sort of in your mind right now. The children, the children struggled together within her, and she said, if all is well, why am I like this? So she went to inquire of the Lord, and the Lord said to her, two nations are in your womb, two 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, now this is language you need to consider as well, the first came out red. That's oftentimes the language of the Bible in terms of the birth process. Babies come out. Makes perfect sense, right?

They don't stay in. After the gestation period, they come out. Now again, keep that in your head for when we go back to Exodus 21 eventually. So verse 25, and the first came out red.

He was like a hairy garment all over. So they called his name Esau. Beautiful description. He's like a hairy garment.

Here's your son. He looks like a hairy garment. 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 that. So we've got children struggling in the womb, according to verse 22. Not a lump of cells, mass of cells, a clump of things that we can just discard at will. No, they're children in the womb.

Turn over the book of Job, Job chapter 10. Job chapter 10, verses 10 to 12, or 8 to 12. Job 10, 8 to 12. Job 10.8, 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 with 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. Again, he's not saying what you did in the womb was to some product of conception or clump of cells, but it was me, it was Job in his mother's womb.

Turn over to Job 31, where he's rehearsing his righteousness. And when I say that, there's probably problems with it, and certainly God upbraids him in some sense, but he's basically rehearsing that as far as he's been able, he's tried to be a lawful guy. He's tried to do what he's supposed to do. But notice what he says in 31, 13 to 15.

If I have despised the cause of my male or female servant when they complained against me, what then shall I do when God arises up? When he punishes, how shall I answer him? Did not he who made me, Job, in the womb make them the servants? Did not the same one fashion us in the womb?

Again, this idea that it's just a lump of cells or a product of conception, that always is language designed to dehumanize and to separate and to make it okay, because we're not really killing a person. We're just kind of ridding this woman of some, you know, pesky cells. And then Psalm 51.5, David traces his native depravity back to his mother's womb. He's not saying that the conjugal relationship that obtained between his father and mother was sin.

God ordained sexual union in the context of covenant marriage. What he is saying is that as soon as David was David, there was the presence of sin. David was a covenant theologian. He understood federal theology.

He understood that Adam stood for man. Christ, the last Adam, stood for man. And that in Adam, all die. So notice in 51.5, Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin.

My mother conceived me. Again, the accent isn't on the act. The accent is on David's depravity. So while David is in the womb, he's got this problem.

And then Psalm 139, probably the most read Psalm on Sanctity of Life Sunday, specifically the bit that deals with babies in their mother's womb and how God puts them together. Psalm 139, verses 13 to 14. to 16, for you form my inward parts. You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Marvelous are your works and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed. And in your book, they all were written.

The days fashioned for me when as yet there were none of them. So David is celebrating the attributes or perfections of God. He deals with divine omniscience, verses 1 to 6, divine omnipresence in verses 7 to 12, and then divine omnipotence in verses 13 to 18. What's a good place to showcase God's absolute power? the womb of a mother.

It displays God's power, it displays His glory, it displays His majesty. You could write down and look at later Ecclesiastes 11, 5, but one more Old Testament passage is in the prophet Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 1. Jeremiah chapter 1, he rehearses his call to the prophetic ministry. You see that in the prophets, Isaiah 6.

Isaiah rehearses his call to the prophetic ministry. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord lofty and exalted and the train of his robe filled the whole temple. He's telling us how he came to the place of being the prophet of God. Well, notice Jeremiah chapter 1, verse 4.

Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you. I ordained you a prophet to the nations. In other words, what God is saying is that in his sovereignty, he had ordained the prophetic role of Jeremiah, and that this was true of Jeremiah, even from his mother's womb.

This was his future. This was his destiny. This was his mission in God's world. Turn over to the New Testament, specifically Luke's gospel, Luke 1.

Luke 1. We've often referred to the word as pedobaptism. Pedo means children or infant, child baptism. There's a different Greek word employed here in chapter one, brephos, which is the baby in the womb, but it's applied to babies outside of the womb in Luke 18.

So it's not like there's technical terminology for the pre or for the conceptus and it differs radically. No, what you find outside the womb is a baby or a child or an infant. What you find inside the womb is a baby or a child or an infant. And if you notice specifically at Luke 1 verse 15.

Luke 1 verse 15. Verse 14, and you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And again, how that applies to paedo-baptism is a different story.

The kettle of fish I want you to see is that this is a baby in his mother's womb that is able to receive the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit of God. So it's not a product of conception to depersonalize. It's not a lump of cells to create prejudice, but rather it is a baby in its mother's womb that is capable of receiving the Holy Spirit. And then notice in Luke chapter one, specifically at verses 41 to 44.

Well, verse 39, now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste to a city of Judah and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. And it happened when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary that the babe, Not product of conception, not lump of cells. 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.

Now note verse 43, but why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. That was every much as true, every much as real, every much as present in the womb of Mary. He's the Lord in the womb.

So there's no kind of concept or terminology that distinguishes between a real baby and a potential baby, a baby sort of on the way. No, the product of conception, if we're going to use that depersonalized language and define it rightly, it's called a baby. Just like fetus, that's another thing, to try to distance the... Listen, that just means infant or unborn baby in Latin.

So this attempt to depersonalize is contrary to the Bible. And then one final text is Galatians 1. something of a New Testament apostolic counterpart to the Old Testament prophetic ministry. Remember, we saw that Jeremiah was separated from his mother's womb for the call of God to preach his word. Well, Paul says the same thing concerning his apostolic ministry in Galatians 1.15, but when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through his grace, when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through his grace, So when we look at the Bible and we see this statement in Genesis 1, 26 to 28, about man bearing, being the image of God Most High, and then we ask the question, what about a man at this state?

What about man at this state? What about man at this state? What about man who's handicapped? What about man who's sick?

What about man who's old? What about man who's young? The Bible's answer is the same. We are the image of God Most High.

And so, as a result, you're not supposed to destroy it. You're not supposed to murder it. As Gerhardus Voss says in his biblical theology, he says, in life slain, it is the image of God, i.e., the divine majesty that is assaulted. And then Gordon Clark responds to this desire on the part of pro-abortionists to define away the humanity of a baby in its mother's womb.

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?

He says, I think that some babies born 30 or 40 years ago have turned out to be asinine. It is an attempt to evade the conscience that convicts. This is not confined to the arena of abortion. It's pretty much universal.

If we're going to do something nasty and horrible, we've got to have a reason for it. We don't just go out and do nasty and horrible things. We've got to justify it. We've got to redefine.

It's not adultery. It's, you know, playing around. It's flirting. It's not theft.

It's, well, you know, I deserved it anyway. It's not idolatry. Well, yeah, I seek my comfort and safety and everything that is special to me in a creature versus the creator. Brethren, redefining things doesn't make it go away.

And when it comes to this particular situation, there's a lot of redefinition that has come to pass. Now,

The Incarnation Dignifies Humanity

not only do we have the image of God displayed in man, but we have the image of God displayed in the word of God. In other words, Jesus dignified humanity by taking on humanity. The apostle speaks to this in Hebrews 2, 14 to 18. He says, in as much then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

And then in verse 16, he says, indeed, he does not give aid to angels. The better translation is he does not take on angels. That means he doesn't assume angelic nature to redeem the angels. But he continues, but he does give aid.

Again, a better rendering is take on the seed of Abraham. What does that mean? He assumed our humanity for the work of redemption, so He could live for us, so He could die for us, so He could be raised again for us. As the Father said, whatever is not assumed is not healed.

Jesus dignifies, through the Incarnation, man himself. He shows us that this isn't to be disregarded. We're not supposed to treat it cavalierly. We're not supposed to just kill or murder at will.

Now the Bible puts a premium on man because man bears the image of God.

Exodus 21:22–25 Expounded

Now go back to the book of Exodus where we see a specific passage in the law of God that speaks to this issue. Exodus chapter 21, verses 22 to 25. Now Exodus chapters 21 to 23 are something of concrete applications of Exodus 20. So in Exodus 20, you have what's called the Decalogue or the 10 words, the 10 commandments.

God gives those 10 commandments in Exodus chapter 20, they're repeated on the plains of Moab in Deuteronomy chapter 5, but those 10 commandments give you prohibitions. By implication, they give you positive, you know, mandates. And with reference to the sixth commandment, you shall not murder. Well, the questions naturally arise, how do we take that principle and put it into practice in a civil society?

How do we take that abstract principle, you shall not murder, and make it concrete in the day in, day out, ebb and flow, rubbing shoulders with one another in society where we live? Well, that's what Exodus 21 to 23 does. It explains in detail how you're supposed to conduct yourself in the civil realm. And those are applications of the principle in Exodus chapter 20.

You see this very clearly if you look at Exodus 21 verse 1. Now, these are the judgments which you shall set before them. You've got these 10 commandments, you've got these mandates from God, these words from God. Now, these are the judgments, these are the concrete applications, these are the specifications as to how you're supposed to deal with them in civil society.

So when you get to about verse 12, you have laws on homicide in verses 12 to 17. And again, that distinction is made between murder and homicide. Now again, all murder is homicide, but not all homicide is murder. So it makes that distinction between what is malice aforethought and your determination to rid the earth of that person that you don't want around anymore and an accident.

So the laws on homicide in verses 12 to 17. And then you have laws on bodily injuries in verses 18 to 32. And so in this section, you have the occasion of two men who fight. You know, there is nothing new under the sun.

If you're on social media, if you're on Twitter especially, you'll see all these fights all over the world. I mean, you can't go to McDonald's anymore without fighting your way out. You can't buy a donut without getting hooked from behind by somebody that wants to do you harm. So, you know, there's nothing new under the sun.

There were guys back then that would fight, and that's what happened. If you notice, verse 21, if men fight, that's the issue. That's a problem. I think there's a good take-home message here.

Don't fight. Don't go out to McDonald's and, you know, exchange blows with some guy in the line behind you because you're going too slow. Well, let's fight. No, you're not supposed to do that.

And here we notice that in the midst of this fight, a woman who is pregnant is struck. Now, probably she was a wife to one of the men that was fighting. Perhaps she was trying to get in the midst of that, trying to break him up. Honey, don't do this.

That's not a good thing. You shouldn't fight in McDonald's. Not wise. You're going to be all over Twitter.

People are going to see you. They're going to mock you. They're going to say, wow, look at that dummy. Just don't do that.

So let's look at the text a bit more carefully. If men fight and hurt a woman with, it's plural, with children, this law envisages the possibility that she has more than one baby in her womb. She could have had twins. She could have had triplets.

She could have had four, five, six, however many the Lord would give her. If men fight and hurt a woman with children so that she gives birth prematurely. You know what the language is, literally? So that her children come out.

Just like Esau, came out. Just like Jacob, came out. The New King James here translates it well. What's in view is a premature birth.

There are certain translations that use the language miscarriage. Now, I'm gonna tell you why that's a problem in just a moment, but know for the moment that there is a Hebrew word for miscarriage. There is a Hebrew word for one untimely born, but those Hebrew words aren't used here. It's the normal convention for childbirth.

She gets struck and her child or children come out. In other words, she gives birth prematurely. See, if we adopt the reading miscarriage, when the penalty comes, it only covers her. Notice what the text says.

So that she gives birth prematurely. Let's just read it for a moment. So that she miscarries, yet no harm follows. It tends to just cover her.

The miscarriage is incidental. As long as she's not hurt, everything's okay. But the premature birth, the children coming out, means that the law covers them as well. So notice, so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows to her or to her child or children that came out prematurely.

If no harm follows any of the people that were potentially injured or potentially killed, if no harm follows, then notice the penalty. He shall surely be punished as the woman's husband imposes on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. Right? It was an accident.

It was a premeditation, a malice of forethought. But you're going to pay. You're going to pay, and you're going to learn that you shouldn't fight in McDonald's while there's a pregnant woman standing there. There's going to be a negative sanction imposed upon you such that the next time you go to McDonald's and you get the desire to go toe-to-toe with some other guy, you're going to think twice.

You're going to be discouraged from doing that. So that's if no harm follows to the mother or to the baby or babies. But look what goes on. Verse 23, but if any harm follows to the mother or to the baby or babies.

See, they're covered by God's law. They're protected by divine command. They're protected by God's word. 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.

In Latin, we call that the lex talionis, which is translated into English, the law of retribution or the law of retaliation. And as we've had cause to consider this in our studies on Wednesday night through the Pentateuch, it doesn't necessarily envisage that there was a squad of men in Old Covenant Israel that carried pliers to pull out teeth. or that carried pokers to gouge out eyes, or carried lighters to return burn for burn. The principle is the standard principle of justice that the punishment must fit the crime. The punishment must fit the crime.

That's what that formula conveys. That's what that formula communicates. If no harm follows, financial penalty. If harm follows, death penalty if necessary.

So the Old Testament envisages the dignity of the baby in the womb. And I want to just up the ante one bit more here.

The Lex Talionis and the Preborn

Go back for just a moment to verses 12 to 14. 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." So you see the distinction?

Murder. Manslaughter, murder, accidental homicide. 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 through providence, then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee. Notice in verse 14, but if a man acts with premeditation against his neighbor to kill him by treachery, you shall take him from my altar that he may die. In other words, there's no ransom accepted for the murderer. And in this particular instance, it's, you know, there's the accidentalness.

What happens when a guy accidentally kills somebody? Well, there's cities of refuge that he can flee to. When you drop down to 22 to 25, they're accidentally killing either the mother or the children. It's a case of accidentalness, but the penalty is stronger.

The penalty is more severe. The penalty is up to and including the death penalty. So the Bible not only dignifies the baby in the womb, the Bible protects the baby in the womb. The Bible cares about the baby in the womb.

It doesn't disregard the baby in the womb. When we consider the abomination of this particular practice, there was an early church manual called the Didache. It's early. It's probably, some scholars put it like 8100.

So just on the heels of the apostles, they basically, whoever wrote the Didache basically wrote, you know, taking the scriptures and applying them for a handy handbook for life in God's world, God's church, God's, you know, society. Didache 2.2, you shall not abort a child or commit infanticide. That was very relevant in the Roman Empire. Very relevant in the Roman Empire when girl babies were discarded with the trash.

Trash day at my house is on Wednesday. If you would have been in the Roman Empire and you had a baby girl on Tuesday night and you didn't want the baby girl, you just put it out with the trash. Well, what do you think happens to baby girls that are put out with the trash? Well, the dogs of the street either eat them or somebody takes them and raises them up for a life of unsavory things.

This was a reality in the world that Paul preached. This was a reality in the world where John and Peter preached. We look at our own generation, we think, there's never been anything. Yeah, there has.

I'm not justifying our present situation, but there was all the kinds of stuff facing them that faces us. Now, state-sanctioned surgical instrument sort of abortion may not have been going on as rampantly, but there was abortion and infanticide. So how does the early church respond? Reflecting upon the word of the living and true God, they make the mandate, you shall not abort a child or commit infanticide.

Calvin said, if it seems more horrible to kill a man in his own house than in a field, because a man's house is his place of most secure refuge, it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy a fetus in the womb before it has come to light. Brethren, that's true. And it is out of sight, out of mind. It is something that, you know, it's hard to think about.

It's hard to preach about. I mean, it is. It's not like, wow, this is great. I get to go speak about the worst or one of the worst things going on, you know, in massive numbers all around us.

It's horrific. There is judgment for those who engage, unrepentant in this practice. Proverbs 6, 16 to 19. These six things Yahweh hates, yea, seven are an abomination to Him.

A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood. Hands that shed innocent blood. That's a thing that God abominates. Revelation 21.8, but the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

Murderers. Again, I say unrepentant because there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. We're going to end on that high note, but

Application: Origin, State, and Church

just a couple of thoughts by way of conclusion. In terms of the origin of abortion, we can bring it right back to the devil himself. Remember when Jesus is disputing with the religious leaders of his time? John 8, 44, he says, you are of your father, the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.

And then he goes on to express the problems with the devil. He says he was a liar and what? A murderer from the beginning. The manifestation of abortion, The devil is behind Planned Parenthood, the devil is behind state-sanctioned murder of babies, but it's ultimately a devilish thing.

Ephesians 6, 12, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. So we need to understand the spiritual battle involved and be a prayerful people. I'm not suggesting we don't protest. I'm not suggesting we don't write.

I'm not suggesting we don't preach. But I am suggesting we ought to pray about this subject. Secondly, we should consider the state in abortion. And by state, I don't mean Kentucky, I mean the civil government.

With reference to the state and abortion, I've heard it said that, well, what's the big deal? The government doesn't make anyone have abortions. The government doesn't make anyone have drive-by shootings either. But they don't encourage drive-by shootings.

They don't encourage wholesale slaughter of innocent people. To say, well, they don't encourage it, I'd argue they actually do with taxes and subsidies and all sorts of things, legislation. The criminality of abortion is a reality. Abortion is one of those things that is both a sin, sin against God, and a crime.

It's always wrong to murder people in the civil policy. It just is. It's just always wrong to murder people in the civil policy. Not all crime is sin.

It's a crime to preach Christ in Saudi Arabia. It's not a sin. Not all sin is crime, at least yet. You shouldn't be punished by the civil state because you covet.

But abortion is both sinful, an offense against God, and criminal in terms of the body politic. And there's absolutely no reason why anybody should ever stop because there's no wherewithal in anyone to punish this particular criminal activity. Remember the purpose of civil government. They were never intended by God to be a nanny to everyone from cradle to grave.

Civil government's duties are very delimited in the scriptures. And I think that Machen summarizes it well. He says the state exists for the repression of evildoers and the protection of individual liberty. and health care, and abortion, and drugs, and education. That's not what he says.

I think he captures what the Bible emphasizes. The state exists for the repression of evildoers and the protection of individual liberty. He also said this, civil government is not intended to produce blessedness or happiness. I don't want anyone to have my back.

Leave me alone. That's it. He also said 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. Your job isn't to make my life better.

Your job is to leave me alone so I can pursue the better. Your job is to protect me from getting my throat cut in the streets or from being invaded by a foreign power. That's your job. You had one job.

They don't do that, but they do everything else. And may I suggest they do it very poorly. Machen says, it is true. The attack upon liberty is nothing new.

Always there have been tyrants in the world. Almost always tyranny has begun by being superficially beneficent. We're here to help you. We're here to serve you.

And always it has ended by being both superficially and radically cruel. Now, whether you agree with that or not, you may not, and that's okay. We can agree to disagree on certain things when it comes to tertiary issues in the Bible. But I ask you to ponder it.

I ask you to think about it. Was God's appointment of the civil state to hold you from the cradle to the grave? To restrict you from the cradle to the grave? to govern you every instance, every issue, everything in your life? Can you make a move today without thinking government?

Can you put a shed in your yard without thinking government? Can you do anything? Again, you might say, well, that's exactly what the Bible envisages. Well, we can have that debate.

I would suggest thirdly and finally, the church and abortion. You've got the Bible in abortion, the origin of abortion, state and abortion, and the church. It's prevalent, even within the professing church. It is prevalent even within the professing church.

Brethren, these things ought not to be, because we don't think clearly. We don't think biblically. We don't think with conviction. This is not something we ape the world in.

This is not something we follow after. The people of God, at times, have a serious lack of knowledge. That's not to offend you. It's not to disenfranchise you.

It's not to make you feel bad. You've got to know what the Bible says. You've got to know what scripture says. The people of God in surgical abortion.

Again, that's something that happens. Or the professing people of God. The people of God in the voting booth. You're just a one-issue guy.

I can't imagine ever voting for a candidate that was outspokenly pro-rape or pro-pedophilia. I can't imagine that. Yeah, I'm going to stand on a platform where we not only permit, but we encourage rape through our city streets. Who would vote for that?

Probably the people that would vote for murderers that are okay with abortion. It's disgusting. I'm not telling you how to vote. This isn't, you know, the GOP, yay, the conservatives.

I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that, but I'm asking you to think through the implications of the checkmark as to who you are giving your tacit approval to in terms of governing our nation. The people of God and sexual immorality. Why do you think a lot of people have abortions?

Probably it's in the vein of Proverbs 28. He who covers his transgression will not prosper. You don't want to be found out. David didn't want to be found out that Bathsheba was pregnant with his child.

So what does David do? He tries to get Uriah to sleep with his wife. When that doesn't work, he sends Uriah to the hottest part of the battle so that he can die. He tried to cover it up.

This happens. This is not the way to cover up sexual immorality. The way to cover up sexual immorality is through the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who cleanses us from all sin. The people have gotten chemical abortion.

You'll find now reporting where there's abortions coming down. Yeah, because you can mail order abortion pills. You can get them at your door. You could do it in the privacy of your own house.

So maybe the number of surgical abortions is coming down, which I'm not convinced, they're not lying, but the chemical abortions are skyrocketing. And then abortifacient birth control. Not all birth control is contraceptive in nature. Some of it is abortifacient.

That means when a baby is in the womb, there are strategies in place to stop the baby from growing, to stop the baby from moving forward. We have to know these things. We have to understand these things, not at the level of a PhD, but at the level of a responsible Christian man or woman making decisions about things that are of life and death value. And then I would suggest the preaching of the law in abortion.

See, it's a blessing and a privilege to be a minister of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, but that doesn't mean we never preach the law. You'll know if you're in our church, there's a reformed use of the law. You have the civil use, it restrains the wickedness of men. There's the pedagogical use, you preach the law so that sinners see their sin and flee to Christ for justification.

And then there's the normative use of the law. Those who are saved by God's grace receive the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit says, this is how you're supposed to live according to the law of God. You don't have to make it up.

You don't have to figure out what pleases. He's already told you what pleases Him. By God's grace, you seek to obey. Carl F.H.

Henry made this observation about the preaching of the law. He says, even when 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 evil doers.

It fulfills a political function, therefore, by its constraining influence in the unregenerate world. Someone has once said, the law does not change the heart, but it can restrain the heart less. Churches that don't preach the law, churches don't ever go to the commandments of God. Brethren, we're supposed to.

We're supposed to preach the whole counsel of God. The law of God is good, it's wise, it's holy, it's a wonderful thing. It's wrong if we use it unlawfully. But what's the implication of 1 Timothy 1.8?

There are lawful ways to use the law. Civil, pedagogical, and normative. We see examples of that throughout scripture on how we're supposed to use the law of God. And then I would suggest the proclamation of the gospel in light of the sin of abortion.

And here I want to consider Acts 2. What was Peter's target audience in the book of Acts in chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost? Well, Jerusalem sinners. the sinners that had crucified, to use Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 2, the Lord of glory. In fact, Peter summarizes or ends his sermon on that note.

He says, God has made this Christ whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. And then on the heels of that, he calls them to repent, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. John Bunyan famously preached a sermon with this theme in mind. He called it, The Jerusalem Sinner Saved, good news for the vilest of men or a help for despairing souls.

The doctrine that Jesus Christ would have mercy offered to the biggest sinners. That Peter uses that to bring conviction to them under the Spirit. He doesn't just go after, you know, you got gossip in your heart, which is bad and it's damnable. Or you've got, you know, this sort of petty theft.

Again, damning, bad. But he speaks of their biggest sin. You crucified the Lord of glory. Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.

In other words, he says, there's hope for Jerusalem sinners. The Jerusalem sinners saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ. As much as we vociferously condemn the act vis-a-vis the law of God, we preach the remedy. through the gospel of God, namely the life and the death and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We say with David, or point them to David, if thou, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?

But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. What about the blessedness and the goodness and the glory and the kindness of God in saving the Apostle Paul? What was Paul's before picture as Saul of Tarsus? He was arresting both men and women, taking them back to Jerusalem for their disposition, which could have included death.

It could have included all manner of lawlessness. This is why in 1 Timothy 1.15, the Apostle Paul says, this is a faithful saying, It's worthy of all acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And then he says, of whom I am chief. There's hope for people who've had abortions, men and women.

There's hope for doctors who performed abortions. There's hope for legislators that have endorsed abortion. There's hope for people that have engaged in the act of murder. There's hope in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Preach, testify, proclaim, evangelize, announce, and declare. There is power in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to deal with sin. This is the blessedness of which we preach. Sin is gross.

It is moral degeneracy. It is an act of cruelty. It is a vile expression of the godlessness of man. but there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. Come to him by God's grace in faith to our Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be forgiven.

You'll be cleansed from all unrighteousness. You'll be washed clean. Not just some of it, and then we're gonna have to purge out that abortion thing once you get to purgatory. No!

The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. And not only are you cleansed, But then you're clothed. He gives you the righteousness of Christ so that you can now be accepted in the beloved. You can enter into that kingdom.

You will know eternal life and eternal bliss, that inheritance. What he does is he keeps you from that lake of fire and brings you into Emmanuel's land. Preach the law, make sure people know how odious this sin is, but preach the gospel so they know how glorious Jesus is to forgive to the uttermost, to save to the uttermost all who draw nigh unto God through him.

Closing Prayer

Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for its clarity on this particular issue, as well with reference to Maid and the various other assaults on the image of God that we see all around us. We pray that in your wrath, you would remember mercy.

She would bless the preaching of the gospel today, that many would come out of darkness into marvelous light. confessing faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. We do pray you'd put the fear of God in the hearts of those in high places, put the fear of God in the hearts of those who engage in medical practice, put the fear of God in the hearts of people contemplating this particular act. And may they resist it and may they run from it. And may you indeed be gracious and glorious and wondrous to receive them.

And we ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. We'll stand and we'll sing the doxology in praise to God. Then I'll close our service with prayer.

And at that time, I'll pray that God blesses the food and we can go upstairs to eat. So 568 in your hymn book. you O Israel, hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is abundant redemption, and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. God in heaven, we thank you for the promise of the psalm. We thank you for the promise of God throughout scripture concerning the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We thank you for so great a salvation. We thank you for your mercy and your grace. We thank you as well for this time to fellowship together with one another. Bless and strengthen us with this food, and may we eat and drink for your glory's sake.

And we ask through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen. After a brief time of meditation, please join us upstairs. If you didn't get the email or announcement that we were having a luncheon, don't let that keep you back. Please join with us.

It's usually the case that people bring lots of extras, so there should be food up there.

Scripture References

• Genesis 1; 1:26-28; 5; 5:1; 9:6; 25; 25:19-23
• Exodus 20; 20:13; 21; 21:1; 21:12-17; 21:12; 21:14; 21:18-32; 21:22-25; 22:2-3; 23
• Leviticus 18:21; 19:14; 19:17-18; 19:32
• Deuteronomy 5; 7
• Job 10:8-12; 31:13-15
• Psalms 51:5; 130:7-8; 139:13-16
• Proverbs 6:16-19; 8:36
• Ecclesiastes 3:8; 11:5
• Isaiah 6
• Jeremiah 1:4
• Zechariah 7:9-10; 8:17
• Matthew 5:22
• Luke 1:15; 1:39-44; 18
• John 8:44
• Acts 2
• Romans 13:1-4
• 1 Corinthians 2:8
• Galatians 1:15
• Ephesians 6:1-4; 6:12
• 1 Timothy 1:8; 1:15
• Hebrews 2:14-18
• James 3:9; 5:13-15
• 1 John 3:15
• Revelation 21:8