Pastor Andy Davis preaches a verse-by-verse expository sermon on John 1:1-5. The main subject of the sermon is how Christ’s giving of life compels us to preserve it.
Pastor Andy Davis preaches a verse-by-verse expository sermon on John 1:1-5. The main subject of the sermon is how Christ’s giving of life compels us to preserve it.
There are two images of God and I’ve told you this a number of times before, but they are very much on my mind right now that are biblical and powerful and difficult for us to harmonize. One of them is that our God is a consuming fire. The other is that our God is the father of the prodigal son. They are very difficult for us to harmonize because God is a consuming fire, as a God of terror, a God of justice, a God of wrath, a God of power, a God, who is not to be trifled with a God that we have to deal with as sinners and to know that we face judgment and condemnation and hell for our sins, and deserved and God has the power to condemn us and that we should tremble before such a God. There are many verses that teach this. But then you have that incredible parable of the Prodigal Son in which the Father is there. I picture him at the end of the driveway waiting day after day for his son to come back, and when he sees him, he runs to meet him and embraces him and weeps over him and is delighted to welcome him back. I think you see the same dynamic in John the Baptist preaching that was predicted through Isaiah the prophet a voice of one calling in the desert, “Prepare the way for the Lord, every valley shall be raised up, and every mountain and hill made low.” John the Baptist was not a civil engineer, he didn’t come to actually literally build roads in the desert.
So what are the valleys that need to be raised up? What are the mountains that need to be leveled? It must have to do with the disposition of his hearers. They’re spiritual demeanor, their attitude what’s going on in their lives, how are they responding to the ministry of the Word? And there were some that were like mountains of arrogance, and rebellion that needed to be leveled for the Word of God to make progress in their lives. And then there are others that are like valleys and they are so broken and low by sin that they can barely hear and they think there’s no hope for them. There’s no possibility of forgiveness, there’s no possibility of reconciliation with such a Holy God, and they have given up and they have to be lifted up and be told there is a savior, there is a redeemer who is coming, who sandals, I’m not worthy to untie and he has the power to forgive sins. And so as we come to the topic of abortion this morning, I’m just thinking about different individuals on this issue.
I’m thinking about legislators that are cheering the right to kill a baby at 40 weeks, they’re cheering it. Some of you saw that video, as democratic politicians in the State of New York. And I’m not shrinking back from saying what their political party affiliation is, Democratic. State representatives cheered a law that codified really what was already involved in Roe vs. Wade, the right to kill, right to the end, and they cheered it. And perhaps you saw that, and it was sickening. What is there to cheer? But the shocks were going to get worse as the days followed other states like Rhode Island and Virginia, wanted to have similar laws. I think the pro-abortion forces are afraid of what the Supreme Court might do. And so they’re trying to get ahead of the curve and codify these rights as they see them.
And in the state of Virginia a bill was introduced by the Democratic Virginia delegate Kathy Tran, that would significantly roll back restrictions on late-term abortions. Under current Virginia law, in order for a woman to abort her baby in the third trimester, three doctors had to together certify that continuing the pregnancy would likely cause the mother’s death or “substantially and irremediably impair,” her mental or physical health. Well, Kathy Tran’s proposed bill would reduce the number of doctors from three to one and remove the “substantially and irremediably impair” qualifier. All that was needed thus for a late-term abortion was one doctor saying that the mother felt greater emotional distress over giving birth, then she did over having an abortion and it would be legal.
In the committee hearing, (and this was on YouTube and on Twitter), another Virginia delegate pressed Kathy Tran to answer the question, “Does your bill allow for abortions, even if the mother is in labor?” After some hemming and hawing, she finally came out and told the truth with these words, “There are no restrictions in my bill.” But worse shocks followed two days later, the Democratic Governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, was asked about the bill in a radio interview (also viewable on YouTube) and he addressed what would happen if a child were born after a failed attempt at a late-term abortion. He said this, “If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen, the infant would be delivered, the infant would be kept comfortable, the infant would be resuscitated, if that’s what the mother and family desired, and then discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.” Now for me, that’s absolutely staggering the word “If.” We’re talking about a baby that’s been born, it’s separated from its mother, it’s fully alive and like all newborn children in that state need direct care in order to stay alive. Human babies are born completely dependent on others to give care. The baby, according to the governor, the Democratic Governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, said, “Would receive that care if that’s what the mother and family wanted.” If not, then the baby, it seems, would be allowed to die. There would be a discussion that would ensue, concerning whether to allow the baby to live or die.
Well, for me, this seemed like a key moment to stand up and speak again on the issue of life. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl, instead they put it up on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven.”
So we’re called on as Christians, to shine light in this present darkness, and to do it with courage, and clarity. So I’m moved by these recent events. I’m horrified by what I see in some of these hard-hearted individuals concerning abortion, but I’m also mindful that it’s quite possible that I’m addressing individuals in this church that feel intensely guilty over past sins in this area. Maybe women that have chosen to get an abortion, maybe men that have pressured other women in getting abortion. Maybe there are individuals that have been involved in the legislative side, or the medical side and feel terribly guilty. There’s just so much guilt to go around for all of us. And even if we haven’t done any of those things, we live as Isaiah said in a people of unclean lips, and we ourselves are people of unclean lips, all of us need salvation. And so, I can’t be hamstrung, or straight-jacketed by over-concern about the one to not address the other. But I can’t be so un-feeling as I address the other to not realize about the first. And so we just have to venture ahead.
And I was talking to Andy this morning as I’m doing scripture memory in Hosea. Hosea 6, you ought to look at it. Hosea 5 and 6 show us that God’s word wounds and then heals. That’s the rhythm, it seems, of our salvation. We get wounded by conviction, and healed by the redemption of Christ. And so maybe for some of you, it’s not my desire that any of you be ultimately hurt or wounded, it’s my desire that you be healed but maybe God’s will is that you feel wounded for a time, and then find forgiveness in Christ, which is there.
“That’s the rhythm, it seems of our salvation. We get wounded by conviction, and healed by the redemption of Christ. “
I. In Jesus Is Life Physically
So, my desire is to look at Christ. I’ve preached many pro-life sermons from this pulpit, but I just want to get close to Jesus this morning. There’s just a desire I have to think of Christ and life and God, I think led me to John 1:1-5 and also, verse 14. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made in him was life and that life is a light of men, and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not understood it.” So I began with this, Jesus… In Jesus is life physically. Physical life is staggeringly complex, it is crafted, by God. Some time ago, I was doing a talk some work on a talk on creation evolution.
Life is Staggeringly Complex… Crafted by God
And number of years ago, as I was working on that talk I came across a website that was offering an origin of life prize. This was an evolutionary group that was working on what they considered to be a great weakness in their evolutionary argument. I would agree, I think it’s a fatal flaw. And that is, “Not how did apes evolve into humans?” Let’s go way back to the beginning, “How did life evolve from non-life?” Tremendous weakness. Planet earth, nothing but non-living chemicals then suddenly you have the first living cell. Head scratcher. The website was offering a $1.5 million prize on just a plausible scenario whereby that could come about. And they define the first living cell as having nine attributes or you wouldn’t win the prize.
So the cell had to have a cell wall, a membrane that separated it from its surrounding environments through which things could pass. It had to have information on how to live, how to make chemicals and all that, just how to live all that information. Staggeringly complex. It had to be able to move from information to the chemicals needed for life. It had to be able to eat, which is taking nutrients from its surrounding and deal well with it. It had to be able to reproduce because it probably wasn’t going to live long and we needed cell number two, soon after. So it had to pass on all of this information on to its progeny. It had to be able to heal which is to self-monitor things that would happen and be able to deal with its deteriorating aspects, it had to be able to grow from immaturity to maturity, whatever that means, for a single cell thing. It had to be able to deal with its environment. Productively relate to environmental stimuli, light and heat and things like that. It had to be stable yet adaptable that was the most interesting of them all, listen to this. It had to possess genetic stability to maintain its identity yet sufficient diversity to allow for adaptation and the obvious evolution that’s coming.
Fascinating. In an instant, non-life to first living cell. No one ever collected the prize. I marvel at that. Actually I don’t. But here’s the thing, that’s a single cell. Imagine something as staggeringly complex as a human body. In which you’ve got massive systems of specialized cells that do their own particular work within that system, but are dependent on other specialized cells to do their work, interdependent. You got the skeletal system, you got the circulatory system, the nervous system, respiratory system, digestive system, and all the rest, each of them made up of billions of specialized cell each with its own job to do. Physical life is staggeringly complex. It’s amazing. And so the Psalmist says in Psalm 139 verse 14, “I praise you, because I’m fearfully and wonderfully made, your works are wonderful. I know that full well.”
The Psalmist there in Psalm 139, celebrates the direct activity of God in crafting his physical body. Psalm 139:13. “For you created my in most being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Now, don’t you think knitting is an interesting verb to use? Knitting? I think I can picture the skillful fingers of a craftsman, a woman let’s say, who’s just knitting and making a scarf or a sweater or something, blanket. Shows intricacy and skill. And so it is as God knits together every single human being that’s ever born. Knits their bodies together in their mother’s womb. Cell upon cell, system upon system if you could picture with a knitting analogy, row upon row of complexity unbelievable, it’s amazing. And every hour that the embryo is being formed more and more majestic complexity is being combined to craft a living body. And life is not only complex, but it’s very fragile. Just the re-ordering of a few cells in a fully developed body like through a knife thrust or a bullet can end life just a few cells rearranged.
So you got this knitting image. I remember a few years ago, my daughter and I were traveling. I hate to bring up a painful memory, but you know exactly what I’m going to talk about. This was after 9/11, and we were in Paris, in route to a missions conference. And she was working on a knitting project, I don’t know what it was, but she was working on knitting. And the security at the Paris airport thought that my 12 or 13-year-old daughter was a threat to the plane with her knitting needles and slid them out of her project. I don’t know whatever happened to that, but I can imagine it unraveled or began to unravel, I thought that was unjust. But that says nothing to the devastation of abortion. Instantly stopping the knitting process. Inserting ourselves into what God is doing line upon line, complexity upon complexity.
All Physical Life Crafted and Sustained Through Christ
Friends, there are no accidental human beings on planet Earth. God doesn’t reluctantly or unwillingly knit babies together in their mother’s wombs. I understand there are different life circumstances for how people get together, and babies are conceived. I understand there’s different levels of intentionality on the part of the parents. I understand all that. And there are incredibly difficult socioeconomic situation going on there. I’m just saying in terms of God’s activity in the womb, he’s not doing that reluctantly, he’s not under compulsion, he is doing this because He delights in life. And all physical life is in Jesus Christ.
It’s in Christ, it’s sustained by Him, it exists in Him and it’s sustained by Him. Jesus is called “The Word” in Verse 1. That’s tied to God’s use of words (I think) to create everything. As you read the Genesis account that John clearly wants us to think about “In the beginning…” Just like Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” In John 1,”In the beginning, was the word.” And so if you read the Genesis account, God says, “Let there be light, and there was light.” God says, “Let the land produce vegetation…” and there is vegetation. God says “Let there be birds and let there be fish.” And they’re birds, and they’re fish. God speaks and it is. It’s by the Word of God, that all these things happen. And Psalm 33:6 says, “By the Word of the Lord where the heavens made their starry host by the breath of His mouth.” So by God’s Word He makes everything. And Jesus is, that word.
God the father, did everything through Jesus. He is the word of God. And so God speaks life through Jesus Christ, and I mean not only in original creation way back when or even the new creature, being born, but in Jesus all life is sustained every moment, every single day, on planet Earth. Life is sustained and continues in Jesus. In Hebrews it says very plainly, “The Son [Jesus] is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word.” Sustaining all things Jesus does. So, that means, every porpoise that’s playing in the sea, every bird that’s just winging its way across the sky as the sun sets, every living thing on earth, every human being in whatever walk of life whatever they’re doing. Children that are playing, bankers that are going to work, engineers that are designing things. In Christ, they continue to exist. In Christ, they live and move and have their being. So as you think about embryonic development we must think about the direct activity of God through Jesus Christ. It is in Christ that the embryo continues to develop.
Now, Christ became flesh, that means He took on a human body, He embraced personally embraced physical life. Look again at verse 14, “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of the only begotten Son who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Well, this is the miracle that we Christian celebrate… Of the incarnation of God the Son becoming human in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Remember how the Angel Gabriel came to Mary, and said, You this is Luke 1, “‘You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus… He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of his father David and his kingdom will never end.’ Mary asked the angel, ‘How will this be since I am a virgin?’ The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.” So this passage shows, that Jesus was a human from the moment of conception he was the son of David from the moment of conception. He did not become human or become the son of David, when he came out or emerged out of the womb. Now Jesus came to share in our humanity, he embraced the physical life we know as a full human being.
II. In Jesus is Life Eternally
Secondly in Jesus’s life eternally, in Jesus’s life eternally. The life that John celebrated is clearly more than just physical life, look at verses 4 and 5, “In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness but the darkness has not understood it.” So clearly, that’s going beyond merely physical life. We’re talking about the significance of Jesus’ life as He came to earth, Jesus’ life was the light of the world, specifically because he showed us the true nature of God. Look again at Verse 14, “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us and we have seen his glory, the glory of the only begotten who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” So by looking at Jesus, you’re seeing God, you’re seeing the nature of God, the glory of God. Look at verse 18, in the same chapter. “No one has ever seen God, but God, the only begotten [that’s Jesus] who is at the father side, has made him known.” he has explained him, he has revealed him.
So, when we look at Jesus, you’re seeing what God is like. So, Jesus came to teach us the true meaning of life, and that is knowing God, and He defines eternal life as knowing God, in John 17:3, in his prayer, Jesus prays to his father, said, “Now, this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” So that’s life is to know God and to know Christ. Now, eternal life was determined in the mind of God before the world began. We should not shrink back from the Bible is clear teaching on this. God elected people, chose people before the world began to be holy and blameless in a site. Ephesians 1 says it this way, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him [that is in Christ] before the creation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight, in love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ.”
So all of that’s in Christ in Him is eternal life. So what that means is, babies have a destiny, even in the womb. Even in the womb, they have a purpose of destiny. Jeremiah 1:5, speaks of this, God spoke to the prophet, Jeremiah. “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” It is not ours to interfere with that to insert ourselves in that, that’s God’s work. Now, spiritually apart from Christ, we were all dead spiritually dead. Ephesians 2 makes this very plain, as for you he says, “You were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you follow the ways of this world or the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
Apart from Christ, we are all dead in sin even while we live and we follow Satan, the spirit who is ruling this world. That’s the condition now, I believe abortion is a subset of a larger problem of sin. In the world, and it comes because people are spiritually dead while they live. All of our lusts and our sinful desires come from seeking defined meaning and purpose and pleasure and fulfillment in the physical things of this world and not in God. That’s the essence of being dead while you live. Sexual immorality, which is behind the overwhelming majority of abortions comes from men and women who are idolaters seeking meaning and temporary pleasures and end up getting pregnant. Sinful selfishness, then leads men to turn away from their responsibilities, walk away from them as the father of the child and women in the course of time have sought to have similar sexual freedom that men have. They think it’s unjust that the men can walk away and the women can’t. And so they desire to be able to engage in sexual freedom with no responsibility, is able to just walk away like the man does. This doesn’t cover every single case, but it covers the overwhelming majority of the cases. The ultimate outcome of all of this is death, the wage of sin is death, and so we are in a culture of death. It’s what abortion is, it’s the killing of a person. And so it’s a culture of death that we’re seeing. Now Satan, I believe is powerfully active behind all of this culture of death.
“Apart from Christ, we are all dead in sin even while we live and we follow Satan, the spirit who is ruling this world. That’s the condition now, I believe abortion is a subset of a larger problem of sin. In the world, and it comes because people are spiritually dead while they live. “
He is the unseen mover behind all of this, he is the spirit of this age, Jesus says of him. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. But I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly.” And so Jesus came to give us life, Satan comes to steal and kill and destroy. Jesus said of Satan in John 8:44, “He [he devil] was a murderer from the beginning not holding to the truth for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language for he is a liar and the father of lies.” Now, I cannot overstate how satanic, how demonic this whole abortion the thing is. I will never forget years ago being overwhelmed the feelings that I had being part of a pro-life ministry in Brookline, Massachusetts. We would go down to an abortion clinic on Saturday mornings early, very early and there would be anti-life forces down the pro-abortion forces waiting to meet us. And our task was to try to persuade women at the 11th hour, the last possible minute to turn away to keep her baby that we would surround her with resources, with help, with counsel, with money, whatever is needed. And there forget the savage looks on the faces. Some men as they are assuring the women in and don’t want any input at all at that point. And so the men were sometimes fiercer in their faces.
It was a hard ministry. Hardest I’ve ever done. And I remember getting in my car and driving it, it was around noon. We were done and driving back and driving too fast through the streets of Brookline because I felt I was being chased. It was like a paranoia that was on me gripping me and I would go home, it was early in my marriage, and I would just sleep through the afternoon, I had no strength left. So hard because there’s a demonic force around that place. It’s like a cloud of demonic power, it’s satanic. Now, Jesus came, praise God, to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8. “The reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work,” and the way he did this was by dying for us, sacrificing himself for us.
III. In Jesus is Life Sacrificially
So the third point I want to make is in Jesus is life sacrificially. Hebrews 2:14-15 says this, “Since the children [us] have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity.” He became flesh and blood, “so that by His death, He might destroy him who holds the power of death–that is, the devil–And free those who all their lives, were held in slavery by their fear of death.” Jesus by becoming human was enabled to shed His blood for us as an atoning sacrifice, to set us free from Satan and from fear of death. He has that power and he gave it gave his life to win that power. So I said, minutes ago, numbers of people feel horribly guilty about this topic and I don’t think there’s any way you can hear this without feeling hurt, feeling wounded. But like I said from Hosea 6, God’s desire is to wound so that he can heal like a surgeon. And Christ’s death on the cross is sufficient for our sins, it is an ocean of grace, it is enough for sinners like you and me, but we have to repent. It’s not enough to just be cleanse and not feel guilty anymore. We have to turn away from the sins that made us feel guilty, we have to turn away from the lifestyle of sin and walk in newness of life, that’s the salvation that we’re talking about here.
I love 1 Timothy 1:15 cling to this. If you’re feeling guilty, crushed by sin, listen to 1 Timothy 1:15, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserve full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst.” 1 Timothy 1:15, cling to it. It is by dying, that Jesus took away our guilt. So call on him as a merciful and loving Savior and then live sacrificially like him. 1 John 3:16, “This is how we know what life, what love is, Jesus Christ laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” So the church is called on to be willing to lay down our lives for the suffering, the weak, the loss, the dying. The only way the church can win this battle is by sacrificially denying ourselves for others while we tell the truth. That’s the combination of costly love and a bull telling of the truth will win. We don’t win by arguing better with feisty arguments. That’s not how the church wins.
I remember when I was first involved in the pro-life movement in that ministry I mentioned the pro-abortion demonstrated used to yell at us, we cared nothing for the women and we don’t care anything for the babies after they’re born. Well, the Church of Jesus Christ has ended that in the years since that time over 2500 crisis pregnancy centers have been started by Christians that have surrounded women in crisis pregnancies with truth, with the word of God and other ministries come alongside to give resources money, to help the woman keep her baby if she desires, give the baby up for adoption, all kinds of… And so many people have been one to Christ through that kind of sacrificial ministry and it continues on to this day. Most Crisis Pregnancy Centers and the network of life that surrounds them show that by sacrificially loving those that are in crisis, the Gospel shines and the arguments can be heard at that point, they’re able to hear and listen. One of the most powerful things these crisis pregnancies centers have are those 4D ultrasound machines that you can see your baby, you can see his or her little face and moving like a movie, they’re expensive but incredibly powerful and they’re effective in enabling women to see their babies is what they are human babies and to a desire to protect them.
IV. Jesus’ Call on Us: Fight for Life
So finally, Jesus calls on us to fight for life sacrificially. So there’s a spiritual war going on in our country in New York and Virginia and Washington and Christians have to stand up and courageously speak the truth. We have to make the pro-life case, make the biblical case. Life begins from conception, it’s just biblically clear, we don’t have to wonder about it. So in Luke chapter 1, when Elizabeth gives a very old age advanced age becomes pregnant with John the Baptist and Mary is already pregnant with Jesus and they come together, there’s an incredible encounter there and Elizabeth fill that the Holy Spirit gives us some insights into what’s happening inside the womb. She feels John leap inside her and speaks by the power of the spirit saying as soon as the sound of your greeting reach my ears, the baby in my womb left for joy. The keywords are for joy. Human, person, filled with joy. That was just John, that was his zeal for Jesus. But even more significantly, Elizabeth calls Mary the mother of my Lord, she’s already a mother of her Lord and Jesus is just weeks after conception at that point. Human with identity from conception.
“Jesus calls on us to fight for life sacrificially. “
If I can just say in a side this is I think why they fight so viciously for late-term abortion. It’s all or nothing friends. It’s either human from conception, or it’s not. And it’s hard to see a 40-week baby as not human and that’s why it’s an untenable ethical position. It’s just very, very difficult to make but it’s an all-or-nothing argument. That’s why they’re fighting for it. There’s only one other way station along the way and it’s this movable line called viability. I don’t know what that keeps changing as medical science becomes more and more amazing. It’s human before the moment of viability, everybody knows that it’s human from conception. But the Bible makes it clear, we don’t have to wonder. David, the Psalmist in Psalm 51:5 said, “Indeed, I was guilty when I was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.” The only way you can be sinful is if you’re human. And so he’s human from conception, Psalm 51:5.
So we have to make the biblical case. You have to make the biological case. Concerning the development of the child, prior to the earliest abortions, the unborn already has every body part, he or she will ever have. At 18 days after conception, the heart is forming and the eye start to develop, 18 days. By 21 days, the heart is not only beating but pumping blood through the body. By 28 days, the unborn has budding arms and legs. By 30 days, the baby has multiplied in size 10000 times. The baby now has a brain and blood is flowing through his or her veins. By 35 days, mouth, ears and nose are already taking shape. By 40 days, the baby’s brain waves can be measured, the child’s heart beat which started three weeks before that can now be heard by an ultrasonic stethoscope. By 42 days, the skeleton is formed and the brain is controlling the movements of muscles and organs, the unborn reflexively response to stimulus and may already be capable of feeling pain, all this before the earliest abortions take place.
And from that point on, nothing happens except they just get bigger and more developed and more capable, which continues. So I’ve noted long after they’re born. Then there’s the legal case, 37 states maybe more now, at this point, have feed homicide laws but yet all 37 of these states also permit abortion. What’s a fetal homicide law? What it means is, if an individual attacks a woman to the point where it causes a miscarriage, then the person is guilty of manslaughter if the woman wants the child. But if she doesn’t want the child, she has the freedom to aboard it. Do you not see how horrendous a legal ethic that is? That is a might makes right ethic in which the strong-defined life for the weak. That cannot be that because an individual male or female, woman, man, father, mother says you’re human then your human. If I say you’re not, then you’re not. That makes no sense. Legally, it’s this legal schizophrenia.
The medical case have already noted. Neonatal care is staggering and developing all the time, people are working on the ability to even do surgery in utero. But in the same hospital and even more developed baby could be aborted. It doesn’t make any sense. It’s a medical schizophrenia. And then ethically when you have competing rights, the person with the greater right must win out. So you think about no one being deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law. What that means is, life is greater than liberty and liberty is greater than property. There’s an order of things. And so therefore, if you’ve got a woman whose life is going to be hugely impacted by the pregnancy and then the subsequent parenting, no doubt that’s a claim, an ethical or legal claim, but the babies claimed to life is greater. Finally concerning government, we need to define what governments even for, what it’s even about.
What is the purpose of government? To establish righteousness and justice, to protect as it says in the Declaration of Independence. The inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That no government would ever deprive another of life, liberty or property without due process of law. Any governmental leader who doesn’t understand that basic premise is not fit to govern, everything else is less than that. I’m not that interested in being charged of being a one-issue voter. This is so important that the government realizes that they’re there to protect, the strong is there to protect the weak, they’re not fit to government.
Let’s not mince words. We have a basic two-party system. Democratic Party, Republican Party. The Democratic Party will not embrace a pro-life candidate, or platform, it’s just not part of their make up. So, anything else that they want to do is suspect below it the higher level of protection of life. I cannot and will not vote for any candidate (Republican either) that does not uphold the right to life. And so, if there are aspects of the democratic party that are appealing or attractive then put pressure on them to change this unjust platform or plank, but I just can’t vote for any candidate like that on either side of the aisle. So educate yourself on this, go through the things that I’ve looked at, and look at it and see if it’s so biblically, look at the facts and see if it’s so biologically, look at the facts about fetal homicide laws and see what you think about that legal schizophrenia. Get up on these kinds of things and then boldly speak and be willing to serve, be willing to serve in this issue of sanctity of human life. Pregnancy support services – PSS, we’ve partnered with them locally, they’ve moved their center more toward Chapel Hill a number of years ago, but I’ve heard they want to move another or have another center back here in Durham.
It’s going to take time, energy, money. It’s going to take sacrifice. And I think people from our church and from other good church around here need to step up so that we have yet another healthy Crisis Pregnancy Center. And for those that have gifting and abilities to step in there, you’re going to be ministering to people who are at absolutely a fork in their road and you’ll be able to speak the words of the life and gospel in and see people cross over from death to life in marvelous ways.
Close with me in prayer. Father, one final application in the sermon is to pray and we’re doing that right now. Father, we know that we can’t defeat Satan, he is absolutely determined not to give up this ground. As you said to one of the churches in Asia Minor in the seven churches. “I know where you live, where Satan has his throne.” And Father, I pray that you would please show yourself more powerful in this throne, this dark throne of abortion satanic throne of abortion, topple him from this throne. Father, I pray that we’d be faithful to pray for the political process, for the Supreme Court, for the justice is to not waffle on their convictions, but to be strong and stand up for life. I ask O Lord, that the states would do their responsibilities until finally then, we can deal properly with women in crisis pregnancies and with the surrounding issues about the baby that will be born and the life that has to be led after that. I pray that you’ll help the church to shine in this dark hour. In Jesus name, Amen.
Pastor Andy Davis preaches a verse-by-verse expository sermon on John 1:1-5. The main subject of the sermon is how Christ’s giving of life compels us to preserve it.
There are two images of God and I’ve told you this a number of times before, but they are very much on my mind right now that are biblical and powerful and difficult for us to harmonize. One of them is that our God is a consuming fire. The other is that our God is the father of the prodigal son. They are very difficult for us to harmonize because God is a consuming fire, as a God of terror, a God of justice, a God of wrath, a God of power, a God, who is not to be trifled with a God that we have to deal with as sinners and to know that we face judgment and condemnation and hell for our sins, and deserved and God has the power to condemn us and that we should tremble before such a God. There are many verses that teach this. But then you have that incredible parable of the Prodigal Son in which the Father is there. I picture him at the end of the driveway waiting day after day for his son to come back, and when he sees him, he runs to meet him and embraces him and weeps over him and is delighted to welcome him back. I think you see the same dynamic in John the Baptist preaching that was predicted through Isaiah the prophet a voice of one calling in the desert, “Prepare the way for the Lord, every valley shall be raised up, and every mountain and hill made low.” John the Baptist was not a civil engineer, he didn’t come to actually literally build roads in the desert.
So what are the valleys that need to be raised up? What are the mountains that need to be leveled? It must have to do with the disposition of his hearers. They’re spiritual demeanor, their attitude what’s going on in their lives, how are they responding to the ministry of the Word? And there were some that were like mountains of arrogance, and rebellion that needed to be leveled for the Word of God to make progress in their lives. And then there are others that are like valleys and they are so broken and low by sin that they can barely hear and they think there’s no hope for them. There’s no possibility of forgiveness, there’s no possibility of reconciliation with such a Holy God, and they have given up and they have to be lifted up and be told there is a savior, there is a redeemer who is coming, who sandals, I’m not worthy to untie and he has the power to forgive sins. And so as we come to the topic of abortion this morning, I’m just thinking about different individuals on this issue.
I’m thinking about legislators that are cheering the right to kill a baby at 40 weeks, they’re cheering it. Some of you saw that video, as democratic politicians in the State of New York. And I’m not shrinking back from saying what their political party affiliation is, Democratic. State representatives cheered a law that codified really what was already involved in Roe vs. Wade, the right to kill, right to the end, and they cheered it. And perhaps you saw that, and it was sickening. What is there to cheer? But the shocks were going to get worse as the days followed other states like Rhode Island and Virginia, wanted to have similar laws. I think the pro-abortion forces are afraid of what the Supreme Court might do. And so they’re trying to get ahead of the curve and codify these rights as they see them.
And in the state of Virginia a bill was introduced by the Democratic Virginia delegate Kathy Tran, that would significantly roll back restrictions on late-term abortions. Under current Virginia law, in order for a woman to abort her baby in the third trimester, three doctors had to together certify that continuing the pregnancy would likely cause the mother’s death or “substantially and irremediably impair,” her mental or physical health. Well, Kathy Tran’s proposed bill would reduce the number of doctors from three to one and remove the “substantially and irremediably impair” qualifier. All that was needed thus for a late-term abortion was one doctor saying that the mother felt greater emotional distress over giving birth, then she did over having an abortion and it would be legal.
In the committee hearing, (and this was on YouTube and on Twitter), another Virginia delegate pressed Kathy Tran to answer the question, “Does your bill allow for abortions, even if the mother is in labor?” After some hemming and hawing, she finally came out and told the truth with these words, “There are no restrictions in my bill.” But worse shocks followed two days later, the Democratic Governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, was asked about the bill in a radio interview (also viewable on YouTube) and he addressed what would happen if a child were born after a failed attempt at a late-term abortion. He said this, “If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen, the infant would be delivered, the infant would be kept comfortable, the infant would be resuscitated, if that’s what the mother and family desired, and then discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.” Now for me, that’s absolutely staggering the word “If.” We’re talking about a baby that’s been born, it’s separated from its mother, it’s fully alive and like all newborn children in that state need direct care in order to stay alive. Human babies are born completely dependent on others to give care. The baby, according to the governor, the Democratic Governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, said, “Would receive that care if that’s what the mother and family wanted.” If not, then the baby, it seems, would be allowed to die. There would be a discussion that would ensue, concerning whether to allow the baby to live or die.
Well, for me, this seemed like a key moment to stand up and speak again on the issue of life. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl, instead they put it up on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven.”
So we’re called on as Christians, to shine light in this present darkness, and to do it with courage, and clarity. So I’m moved by these recent events. I’m horrified by what I see in some of these hard-hearted individuals concerning abortion, but I’m also mindful that it’s quite possible that I’m addressing individuals in this church that feel intensely guilty over past sins in this area. Maybe women that have chosen to get an abortion, maybe men that have pressured other women in getting abortion. Maybe there are individuals that have been involved in the legislative side, or the medical side and feel terribly guilty. There’s just so much guilt to go around for all of us. And even if we haven’t done any of those things, we live as Isaiah said in a people of unclean lips, and we ourselves are people of unclean lips, all of us need salvation. And so, I can’t be hamstrung, or straight-jacketed by over-concern about the one to not address the other. But I can’t be so un-feeling as I address the other to not realize about the first. And so we just have to venture ahead.
And I was talking to Andy this morning as I’m doing scripture memory in Hosea. Hosea 6, you ought to look at it. Hosea 5 and 6 show us that God’s word wounds and then heals. That’s the rhythm, it seems, of our salvation. We get wounded by conviction, and healed by the redemption of Christ. And so maybe for some of you, it’s not my desire that any of you be ultimately hurt or wounded, it’s my desire that you be healed but maybe God’s will is that you feel wounded for a time, and then find forgiveness in Christ, which is there.
“That’s the rhythm, it seems of our salvation. We get wounded by conviction, and healed by the redemption of Christ. “
I. In Jesus Is Life Physically
So, my desire is to look at Christ. I’ve preached many pro-life sermons from this pulpit, but I just want to get close to Jesus this morning. There’s just a desire I have to think of Christ and life and God, I think led me to John 1:1-5 and also, verse 14. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made in him was life and that life is a light of men, and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not understood it.” So I began with this, Jesus… In Jesus is life physically. Physical life is staggeringly complex, it is crafted, by God. Some time ago, I was doing a talk some work on a talk on creation evolution.
Life is Staggeringly Complex… Crafted by God
And number of years ago, as I was working on that talk I came across a website that was offering an origin of life prize. This was an evolutionary group that was working on what they considered to be a great weakness in their evolutionary argument. I would agree, I think it’s a fatal flaw. And that is, “Not how did apes evolve into humans?” Let’s go way back to the beginning, “How did life evolve from non-life?” Tremendous weakness. Planet earth, nothing but non-living chemicals then suddenly you have the first living cell. Head scratcher. The website was offering a $1.5 million prize on just a plausible scenario whereby that could come about. And they define the first living cell as having nine attributes or you wouldn’t win the prize.
So the cell had to have a cell wall, a membrane that separated it from its surrounding environments through which things could pass. It had to have information on how to live, how to make chemicals and all that, just how to live all that information. Staggeringly complex. It had to be able to move from information to the chemicals needed for life. It had to be able to eat, which is taking nutrients from its surrounding and deal well with it. It had to be able to reproduce because it probably wasn’t going to live long and we needed cell number two, soon after. So it had to pass on all of this information on to its progeny. It had to be able to heal which is to self-monitor things that would happen and be able to deal with its deteriorating aspects, it had to be able to grow from immaturity to maturity, whatever that means, for a single cell thing. It had to be able to deal with its environment. Productively relate to environmental stimuli, light and heat and things like that. It had to be stable yet adaptable that was the most interesting of them all, listen to this. It had to possess genetic stability to maintain its identity yet sufficient diversity to allow for adaptation and the obvious evolution that’s coming.
Fascinating. In an instant, non-life to first living cell. No one ever collected the prize. I marvel at that. Actually I don’t. But here’s the thing, that’s a single cell. Imagine something as staggeringly complex as a human body. In which you’ve got massive systems of specialized cells that do their own particular work within that system, but are dependent on other specialized cells to do their work, interdependent. You got the skeletal system, you got the circulatory system, the nervous system, respiratory system, digestive system, and all the rest, each of them made up of billions of specialized cell each with its own job to do. Physical life is staggeringly complex. It’s amazing. And so the Psalmist says in Psalm 139 verse 14, “I praise you, because I’m fearfully and wonderfully made, your works are wonderful. I know that full well.”
The Psalmist there in Psalm 139, celebrates the direct activity of God in crafting his physical body. Psalm 139:13. “For you created my in most being, you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Now, don’t you think knitting is an interesting verb to use? Knitting? I think I can picture the skillful fingers of a craftsman, a woman let’s say, who’s just knitting and making a scarf or a sweater or something, blanket. Shows intricacy and skill. And so it is as God knits together every single human being that’s ever born. Knits their bodies together in their mother’s womb. Cell upon cell, system upon system if you could picture with a knitting analogy, row upon row of complexity unbelievable, it’s amazing. And every hour that the embryo is being formed more and more majestic complexity is being combined to craft a living body. And life is not only complex, but it’s very fragile. Just the re-ordering of a few cells in a fully developed body like through a knife thrust or a bullet can end life just a few cells rearranged.
So you got this knitting image. I remember a few years ago, my daughter and I were traveling. I hate to bring up a painful memory, but you know exactly what I’m going to talk about. This was after 9/11, and we were in Paris, in route to a missions conference. And she was working on a knitting project, I don’t know what it was, but she was working on knitting. And the security at the Paris airport thought that my 12 or 13-year-old daughter was a threat to the plane with her knitting needles and slid them out of her project. I don’t know whatever happened to that, but I can imagine it unraveled or began to unravel, I thought that was unjust. But that says nothing to the devastation of abortion. Instantly stopping the knitting process. Inserting ourselves into what God is doing line upon line, complexity upon complexity.
All Physical Life Crafted and Sustained Through Christ
Friends, there are no accidental human beings on planet Earth. God doesn’t reluctantly or unwillingly knit babies together in their mother’s wombs. I understand there are different life circumstances for how people get together, and babies are conceived. I understand there’s different levels of intentionality on the part of the parents. I understand all that. And there are incredibly difficult socioeconomic situation going on there. I’m just saying in terms of God’s activity in the womb, he’s not doing that reluctantly, he’s not under compulsion, he is doing this because He delights in life. And all physical life is in Jesus Christ.
It’s in Christ, it’s sustained by Him, it exists in Him and it’s sustained by Him. Jesus is called “The Word” in Verse 1. That’s tied to God’s use of words (I think) to create everything. As you read the Genesis account that John clearly wants us to think about “In the beginning…” Just like Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” In John 1,”In the beginning, was the word.” And so if you read the Genesis account, God says, “Let there be light, and there was light.” God says, “Let the land produce vegetation…” and there is vegetation. God says “Let there be birds and let there be fish.” And they’re birds, and they’re fish. God speaks and it is. It’s by the Word of God, that all these things happen. And Psalm 33:6 says, “By the Word of the Lord where the heavens made their starry host by the breath of His mouth.” So by God’s Word He makes everything. And Jesus is, that word.
God the father, did everything through Jesus. He is the word of God. And so God speaks life through Jesus Christ, and I mean not only in original creation way back when or even the new creature, being born, but in Jesus all life is sustained every moment, every single day, on planet Earth. Life is sustained and continues in Jesus. In Hebrews it says very plainly, “The Son [Jesus] is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word.” Sustaining all things Jesus does. So, that means, every porpoise that’s playing in the sea, every bird that’s just winging its way across the sky as the sun sets, every living thing on earth, every human being in whatever walk of life whatever they’re doing. Children that are playing, bankers that are going to work, engineers that are designing things. In Christ, they continue to exist. In Christ, they live and move and have their being. So as you think about embryonic development we must think about the direct activity of God through Jesus Christ. It is in Christ that the embryo continues to develop.
Now, Christ became flesh, that means He took on a human body, He embraced personally embraced physical life. Look again at verse 14, “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of the only begotten Son who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Well, this is the miracle that we Christian celebrate… Of the incarnation of God the Son becoming human in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Remember how the Angel Gabriel came to Mary, and said, You this is Luke 1, “‘You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus… He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of his father David and his kingdom will never end.’ Mary asked the angel, ‘How will this be since I am a virgin?’ The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.” So this passage shows, that Jesus was a human from the moment of conception he was the son of David from the moment of conception. He did not become human or become the son of David, when he came out or emerged out of the womb. Now Jesus came to share in our humanity, he embraced the physical life we know as a full human being.
II. In Jesus is Life Eternally
Secondly in Jesus’s life eternally, in Jesus’s life eternally. The life that John celebrated is clearly more than just physical life, look at verses 4 and 5, “In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness but the darkness has not understood it.” So clearly, that’s going beyond merely physical life. We’re talking about the significance of Jesus’ life as He came to earth, Jesus’ life was the light of the world, specifically because he showed us the true nature of God. Look again at Verse 14, “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us and we have seen his glory, the glory of the only begotten who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” So by looking at Jesus, you’re seeing God, you’re seeing the nature of God, the glory of God. Look at verse 18, in the same chapter. “No one has ever seen God, but God, the only begotten [that’s Jesus] who is at the father side, has made him known.” he has explained him, he has revealed him.
So, when we look at Jesus, you’re seeing what God is like. So, Jesus came to teach us the true meaning of life, and that is knowing God, and He defines eternal life as knowing God, in John 17:3, in his prayer, Jesus prays to his father, said, “Now, this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” So that’s life is to know God and to know Christ. Now, eternal life was determined in the mind of God before the world began. We should not shrink back from the Bible is clear teaching on this. God elected people, chose people before the world began to be holy and blameless in a site. Ephesians 1 says it this way, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For He chose us in Him [that is in Christ] before the creation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight, in love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ.”
So all of that’s in Christ in Him is eternal life. So what that means is, babies have a destiny, even in the womb. Even in the womb, they have a purpose of destiny. Jeremiah 1:5, speaks of this, God spoke to the prophet, Jeremiah. “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” It is not ours to interfere with that to insert ourselves in that, that’s God’s work. Now, spiritually apart from Christ, we were all dead spiritually dead. Ephesians 2 makes this very plain, as for you he says, “You were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you follow the ways of this world or the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
Apart from Christ, we are all dead in sin even while we live and we follow Satan, the spirit who is ruling this world. That’s the condition now, I believe abortion is a subset of a larger problem of sin. In the world, and it comes because people are spiritually dead while they live. All of our lusts and our sinful desires come from seeking defined meaning and purpose and pleasure and fulfillment in the physical things of this world and not in God. That’s the essence of being dead while you live. Sexual immorality, which is behind the overwhelming majority of abortions comes from men and women who are idolaters seeking meaning and temporary pleasures and end up getting pregnant. Sinful selfishness, then leads men to turn away from their responsibilities, walk away from them as the father of the child and women in the course of time have sought to have similar sexual freedom that men have. They think it’s unjust that the men can walk away and the women can’t. And so they desire to be able to engage in sexual freedom with no responsibility, is able to just walk away like the man does. This doesn’t cover every single case, but it covers the overwhelming majority of the cases. The ultimate outcome of all of this is death, the wage of sin is death, and so we are in a culture of death. It’s what abortion is, it’s the killing of a person. And so it’s a culture of death that we’re seeing. Now Satan, I believe is powerfully active behind all of this culture of death.
“Apart from Christ, we are all dead in sin even while we live and we follow Satan, the spirit who is ruling this world. That’s the condition now, I believe abortion is a subset of a larger problem of sin. In the world, and it comes because people are spiritually dead while they live. “
He is the unseen mover behind all of this, he is the spirit of this age, Jesus says of him. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. But I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly.” And so Jesus came to give us life, Satan comes to steal and kill and destroy. Jesus said of Satan in John 8:44, “He [he devil] was a murderer from the beginning not holding to the truth for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language for he is a liar and the father of lies.” Now, I cannot overstate how satanic, how demonic this whole abortion the thing is. I will never forget years ago being overwhelmed the feelings that I had being part of a pro-life ministry in Brookline, Massachusetts. We would go down to an abortion clinic on Saturday mornings early, very early and there would be anti-life forces down the pro-abortion forces waiting to meet us. And our task was to try to persuade women at the 11th hour, the last possible minute to turn away to keep her baby that we would surround her with resources, with help, with counsel, with money, whatever is needed. And there forget the savage looks on the faces. Some men as they are assuring the women in and don’t want any input at all at that point. And so the men were sometimes fiercer in their faces.
It was a hard ministry. Hardest I’ve ever done. And I remember getting in my car and driving it, it was around noon. We were done and driving back and driving too fast through the streets of Brookline because I felt I was being chased. It was like a paranoia that was on me gripping me and I would go home, it was early in my marriage, and I would just sleep through the afternoon, I had no strength left. So hard because there’s a demonic force around that place. It’s like a cloud of demonic power, it’s satanic. Now, Jesus came, praise God, to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8. “The reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work,” and the way he did this was by dying for us, sacrificing himself for us.
III. In Jesus is Life Sacrificially
So the third point I want to make is in Jesus is life sacrificially. Hebrews 2:14-15 says this, “Since the children [us] have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity.” He became flesh and blood, “so that by His death, He might destroy him who holds the power of death–that is, the devil–And free those who all their lives, were held in slavery by their fear of death.” Jesus by becoming human was enabled to shed His blood for us as an atoning sacrifice, to set us free from Satan and from fear of death. He has that power and he gave it gave his life to win that power. So I said, minutes ago, numbers of people feel horribly guilty about this topic and I don’t think there’s any way you can hear this without feeling hurt, feeling wounded. But like I said from Hosea 6, God’s desire is to wound so that he can heal like a surgeon. And Christ’s death on the cross is sufficient for our sins, it is an ocean of grace, it is enough for sinners like you and me, but we have to repent. It’s not enough to just be cleanse and not feel guilty anymore. We have to turn away from the sins that made us feel guilty, we have to turn away from the lifestyle of sin and walk in newness of life, that’s the salvation that we’re talking about here.
I love 1 Timothy 1:15 cling to this. If you’re feeling guilty, crushed by sin, listen to 1 Timothy 1:15, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserve full acceptance. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst.” 1 Timothy 1:15, cling to it. It is by dying, that Jesus took away our guilt. So call on him as a merciful and loving Savior and then live sacrificially like him. 1 John 3:16, “This is how we know what life, what love is, Jesus Christ laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” So the church is called on to be willing to lay down our lives for the suffering, the weak, the loss, the dying. The only way the church can win this battle is by sacrificially denying ourselves for others while we tell the truth. That’s the combination of costly love and a bull telling of the truth will win. We don’t win by arguing better with feisty arguments. That’s not how the church wins.
I remember when I was first involved in the pro-life movement in that ministry I mentioned the pro-abortion demonstrated used to yell at us, we cared nothing for the women and we don’t care anything for the babies after they’re born. Well, the Church of Jesus Christ has ended that in the years since that time over 2500 crisis pregnancy centers have been started by Christians that have surrounded women in crisis pregnancies with truth, with the word of God and other ministries come alongside to give resources money, to help the woman keep her baby if she desires, give the baby up for adoption, all kinds of… And so many people have been one to Christ through that kind of sacrificial ministry and it continues on to this day. Most Crisis Pregnancy Centers and the network of life that surrounds them show that by sacrificially loving those that are in crisis, the Gospel shines and the arguments can be heard at that point, they’re able to hear and listen. One of the most powerful things these crisis pregnancies centers have are those 4D ultrasound machines that you can see your baby, you can see his or her little face and moving like a movie, they’re expensive but incredibly powerful and they’re effective in enabling women to see their babies is what they are human babies and to a desire to protect them.
IV. Jesus’ Call on Us: Fight for Life
So finally, Jesus calls on us to fight for life sacrificially. So there’s a spiritual war going on in our country in New York and Virginia and Washington and Christians have to stand up and courageously speak the truth. We have to make the pro-life case, make the biblical case. Life begins from conception, it’s just biblically clear, we don’t have to wonder about it. So in Luke chapter 1, when Elizabeth gives a very old age advanced age becomes pregnant with John the Baptist and Mary is already pregnant with Jesus and they come together, there’s an incredible encounter there and Elizabeth fill that the Holy Spirit gives us some insights into what’s happening inside the womb. She feels John leap inside her and speaks by the power of the spirit saying as soon as the sound of your greeting reach my ears, the baby in my womb left for joy. The keywords are for joy. Human, person, filled with joy. That was just John, that was his zeal for Jesus. But even more significantly, Elizabeth calls Mary the mother of my Lord, she’s already a mother of her Lord and Jesus is just weeks after conception at that point. Human with identity from conception.
“Jesus calls on us to fight for life sacrificially. “
If I can just say in a side this is I think why they fight so viciously for late-term abortion. It’s all or nothing friends. It’s either human from conception, or it’s not. And it’s hard to see a 40-week baby as not human and that’s why it’s an untenable ethical position. It’s just very, very difficult to make but it’s an all-or-nothing argument. That’s why they’re fighting for it. There’s only one other way station along the way and it’s this movable line called viability. I don’t know what that keeps changing as medical science becomes more and more amazing. It’s human before the moment of viability, everybody knows that it’s human from conception. But the Bible makes it clear, we don’t have to wonder. David, the Psalmist in Psalm 51:5 said, “Indeed, I was guilty when I was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.” The only way you can be sinful is if you’re human. And so he’s human from conception, Psalm 51:5.
So we have to make the biblical case. You have to make the biological case. Concerning the development of the child, prior to the earliest abortions, the unborn already has every body part, he or she will ever have. At 18 days after conception, the heart is forming and the eye start to develop, 18 days. By 21 days, the heart is not only beating but pumping blood through the body. By 28 days, the unborn has budding arms and legs. By 30 days, the baby has multiplied in size 10000 times. The baby now has a brain and blood is flowing through his or her veins. By 35 days, mouth, ears and nose are already taking shape. By 40 days, the baby’s brain waves can be measured, the child’s heart beat which started three weeks before that can now be heard by an ultrasonic stethoscope. By 42 days, the skeleton is formed and the brain is controlling the movements of muscles and organs, the unborn reflexively response to stimulus and may already be capable of feeling pain, all this before the earliest abortions take place.
And from that point on, nothing happens except they just get bigger and more developed and more capable, which continues. So I’ve noted long after they’re born. Then there’s the legal case, 37 states maybe more now, at this point, have feed homicide laws but yet all 37 of these states also permit abortion. What’s a fetal homicide law? What it means is, if an individual attacks a woman to the point where it causes a miscarriage, then the person is guilty of manslaughter if the woman wants the child. But if she doesn’t want the child, she has the freedom to aboard it. Do you not see how horrendous a legal ethic that is? That is a might makes right ethic in which the strong-defined life for the weak. That cannot be that because an individual male or female, woman, man, father, mother says you’re human then your human. If I say you’re not, then you’re not. That makes no sense. Legally, it’s this legal schizophrenia.
The medical case have already noted. Neonatal care is staggering and developing all the time, people are working on the ability to even do surgery in utero. But in the same hospital and even more developed baby could be aborted. It doesn’t make any sense. It’s a medical schizophrenia. And then ethically when you have competing rights, the person with the greater right must win out. So you think about no one being deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law. What that means is, life is greater than liberty and liberty is greater than property. There’s an order of things. And so therefore, if you’ve got a woman whose life is going to be hugely impacted by the pregnancy and then the subsequent parenting, no doubt that’s a claim, an ethical or legal claim, but the babies claimed to life is greater. Finally concerning government, we need to define what governments even for, what it’s even about.
What is the purpose of government? To establish righteousness and justice, to protect as it says in the Declaration of Independence. The inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That no government would ever deprive another of life, liberty or property without due process of law. Any governmental leader who doesn’t understand that basic premise is not fit to govern, everything else is less than that. I’m not that interested in being charged of being a one-issue voter. This is so important that the government realizes that they’re there to protect, the strong is there to protect the weak, they’re not fit to government.
Let’s not mince words. We have a basic two-party system. Democratic Party, Republican Party. The Democratic Party will not embrace a pro-life candidate, or platform, it’s just not part of their make up. So, anything else that they want to do is suspect below it the higher level of protection of life. I cannot and will not vote for any candidate (Republican either) that does not uphold the right to life. And so, if there are aspects of the democratic party that are appealing or attractive then put pressure on them to change this unjust platform or plank, but I just can’t vote for any candidate like that on either side of the aisle. So educate yourself on this, go through the things that I’ve looked at, and look at it and see if it’s so biblically, look at the facts and see if it’s so biologically, look at the facts about fetal homicide laws and see what you think about that legal schizophrenia. Get up on these kinds of things and then boldly speak and be willing to serve, be willing to serve in this issue of sanctity of human life. Pregnancy support services – PSS, we’ve partnered with them locally, they’ve moved their center more toward Chapel Hill a number of years ago, but I’ve heard they want to move another or have another center back here in Durham.
It’s going to take time, energy, money. It’s going to take sacrifice. And I think people from our church and from other good church around here need to step up so that we have yet another healthy Crisis Pregnancy Center. And for those that have gifting and abilities to step in there, you’re going to be ministering to people who are at absolutely a fork in their road and you’ll be able to speak the words of the life and gospel in and see people cross over from death to life in marvelous ways.
Close with me in prayer. Father, one final application in the sermon is to pray and we’re doing that right now. Father, we know that we can’t defeat Satan, he is absolutely determined not to give up this ground. As you said to one of the churches in Asia Minor in the seven churches. “I know where you live, where Satan has his throne.” And Father, I pray that you would please show yourself more powerful in this throne, this dark throne of abortion satanic throne of abortion, topple him from this throne. Father, I pray that we’d be faithful to pray for the political process, for the Supreme Court, for the justice is to not waffle on their convictions, but to be strong and stand up for life. I ask O Lord, that the states would do their responsibilities until finally then, we can deal properly with women in crisis pregnancies and with the surrounding issues about the baby that will be born and the life that has to be led after that. I pray that you’ll help the church to shine in this dark hour. In Jesus name, Amen.
