Sunday night we had a service to think biblically about abortion and to entreat God to bring an end to this in our land. Below are my sermon notes. If you had to miss the service, maybe the notes can be used to exhort you to be involved in rescuing those being taken to slaughter.
Rescue Those Being
Taken to Slaughter
Proverbs 24:10-12
I.
Introduction
a.
Read Prov 24:10-12
b. William Wilberforce
i.
He was elected a member of British Parliament in
1780 during the height of the slave trade
ii.
Five years later, 1785, he became a Christian
1.
Considered leaving politics,
2.
but under the guidance of John Newton, he
decided to stay and take up fighting the slave trade in parliament.
iii.
Took about 20 years of fighting (1808) that he actually
sees any real victory…that is when a bill finally passed outlawing the slave
trade (not slavery).
iv.
Took another 25 years (1833), that England
finally voted to emancipate slaves
v.
Took about 45 years from his first attempt until final success
vi.
Adversity abounded
1.
Fellow politicians who would not vote with him
for fear of losing their seats…
2.
The financial motivation for keeping slavery
going was huge
3.
Slavery was easy for the average Englishman to
justify and hard to condemn
a.
The slaves’ suffering was out of direct sight…
b.
Creature comforts might be lost (less sugar form
plantations)
vii.
He is an example of one who kept fighting to
rescue those being “taken away to death” even the face of constant adversity
c.
It is easy to look back and not “faint” or
grow weak kneed as we ponder the great adversity faced by so many before us….
i.
We are quick to think how we would have
1.
We would have fought for the end of slavery in
the 1700’s in England
ii.
But that isn’t our “day of adversity”….
1.
It is easy to talk big, but it is in the day of
adversity a person’s mettle gets tested.
2.
It’s another thing to face the distress and
adversity and do what Prov. 24 says…
3.
Our generation faces adversity which presses us
to ignore those being oppressed and led to slaughter.
4.
Babies are systematically ripped from the warm
security of their mother’s wombs with cold forceps wielded by cold hearted
“doctors.”
5.
And we’ve been told not to mess with the right
of a woman to choose if her baby lives or dies….
7.
What will we do?
d.
My goal this evening is to encourage and
exhort us, as Christians, to see that we have a God given mandate to rescue
those being taken away to slaughter.
i.
Look at the command
ii.
Note that excuses for not obeying it won’t work
iii.
And then think about how we might apply it
II.
Rescue Those Going to Slaughter (v. 11)
a.
Read v. 11
Rescue those who are being taken away to death;
hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.
b.
What is the situation v. 11 address? Who
are those being “taken away to death” and “lead to slaughter”?
i.
Does it refer to
1.
Those about to be victims of vigilante justice?
2.
An innocent person falsely accused in court?
3.
A murder?
4.
Child sacrifices being offered to pagan gods?
ii.
As with most proverbs, we don’t have a
historical setting
1.
Proverbs are short statements of God’s wisdom,
2.
Proverbs apply the fear of the Lord to everyday
life
3.
So it gives us a principle which applies in all
sorts of situations.
c.
What is the clear principle and command of
v. 11?
i.
We are commanded to intervene to “rescue” and to
“hold back” those being unjustly taken to death.
ii.
We are not to overlook any group of people being
killed who ought not be killed
1.
The text doesn’t say, “your kinsmen” or “Jews”
or “the important in society”
2.
It says “those”…anyone being unjustly taken away
to death.
3.
Jews, whites, blacks, elderly, unborn. Christian
or not.
iii.
So, we have a command from our King, our God, to
intervene so that, if possible, we might rescue those being unjustly taken to
slaughter.
iv.
Fearing God means seeing this as right even if
we face distress or adversity.
d.
The problem is that we often make excuses
not to intervene…v. 12a
III.
Excuses Will Not Absolve Us of Guilt
v. 12
If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,”
does not he who weighs
the heart perceive it?
Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?
a.
“If you say, ‘Behold we did not know this’….”
i.
This defense as to why they did not rescue the
weak has some plausibility to it or it wouldn’t be offered as an excuse.
ii.
It is the case that slaughter is often concealed
under the cover of night or a relabeling of what is going on
iii.
But God sees through our excuses.
b.
“…does not he who weighs the heart perceive
it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it,” and
will he not repay man according to his work?
i.
Perhaps we really are ignorant of the facts of
those facing slaughter….
1.
But God knows when our ignorance is a guilty
ignorance as Piper explains
“He sees through all our rationalizations and knows
perfectly when we have neglected a duty out of ignorance or out of laziness or
fear or apathy or preoccupation with lesser things. There will be no evasion
with God…When we are called to account for our actions, he not only will say,
‘Why didn’t you act this way if you knew this much?’ He will also say, ‘Why did
you allow yourself, in view of how much was at stake, to remain in such an
insensitive ignorance?’” (“Rescuing the Unborn: Required and Right” Sermon,
1989).
ii.
So, God knows what we know
iii.
and what we are culpably are ignorant of.
iv.
He knows what our hearts know, but he also
weighs our hearts and why we know or don’t know things.
1.
If we are ignorant b/c
a.
We didn’t care to find out…we’d rather not think
about heavy things
b.
We were lazy…we’d rather be entertained than
summoned to put our time and energy on the line to love our neighbor….
c.
We unthinkingly just buy into the satanic
thinking the World throws at us…
c.
Before moving on to applying this passage to
abortion, I want to show that we know (or don’t’ know) in a culpable way.
i.
Claiming ignorance on the issue of abortion will
not do.
IV.
The Unborn Qualify as “Those” Being
Taken to Slaughter and in Need of Rescue
a.
Briefly make the case the unborn are human
and that abortion is them being taken to slaughter
i.
This is important b/c if they are human persons
then the question of women’s rights, economic hardship, etc. do not justify the
termination of their lives…
1.
All those other issues should be addressed
2.
But abortion goes off the table
ii.
Think about it, this is how our nation, during
slavery, and Nazi Germany, during WWII, did horrific things…
1.
Slaves are “not human” and then 3/5 compromise
(a slave is 3/5 of a person)
2.
Jews etc. are a different race (sub-human race)
3.
So do what you want to them…
4.
If a woman having an abortion is just like her
getting a tooth pulled then fine
5.
But if this is human person,
a.
then abortion is the slaughter of the innocent
b.
and we have an obligation to do what we can to
rescue them…
b.
From Conception, we are Human’s
i.
The Bible
teaches their full personhood
1.
A lot of passages could be brought in, I’ll just
do one
Psalm 139:
For you formed
my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
You knitted “Me” not some other organism that I
came into being out of…no it was me.
ii.
Science
tells us they are human beings
1.
At conception, you have biological life
a.
cell division,
b.
metabolism,
c.
response to stimuli,
d.
etc.
2.
And what type of life…human life.
3.
It is human life at its earliest stages
a.
Just like you were a toddler, so we all were an
embryo.
b.
You didn’t come from a toddler as if a toddler
is something wholly different from the present you
c.
It is you at a different stage of development.
d.
In the same way we were all at the stage of
embryo
4.
Embryology textbooks state the facts over and
over again. One example:
iii.
Third point I’ll make to prove the unborn are
human and qualify as “those” who we must rescue is Our laws prove we know they are humans
1.
We have fetal homicide laws in 38 states
2.
FL has several…
a.
DUI killing a baby in the mother’s womb…you are
charged with manslaughter of both mom and baby….
b.
Murder a pregnant woman and the baby in her dies
too, you have 2 counts of murder
3.
If that woman, though went to an abortion clinic
and “terminated the pregnancy”…no charges…
4.
Why?
a.
Because she didn’t want the baby, she
decided
it wasn’t a person.
5.
So, we know there is human life,
a.
we just have convenient ways of looking the
other way when we want to.
b.
Our nation is willfully ignorant
c.
They can’t say “we didn’t know”
d.
And neither can God’s people who are to
represent our God who rescued us from death.
c.
They are in need of rescue on a grand scale
i.
Abortions in the US
a.
In WW2 we lost 400,000.
b.
Cf to abortion in US from 1973-2014 there were
54,560,000
2.
There are now over 1 million abortions in the US
each year.
3.
That is just in the US
ii.
Worldwide
1.
In 2008 there were ~40 million abortions
worldwide
2.
This doesn’t even take into account the number
of “embryos” destroyed for “research” or left frozen as “unwanted” after IVF…
iii.
Florida
1.
24%
of all pregnancies in FL ended in abortion in 2011.
2.
Florida ranked
#3 in the nation in the number of abortions
3.
with about 85,000
abortions (though California and New York (1, 2) had 100k and 50k more than we did).
4.
We had almost 85,000 abortions, that is more
than the number of people that can fit
in Doak Campbell Stadium
a.
legally killed with no trial, no due process.
b.
The innocent are being slaughtered
d.
So, biblically, scientifically, and in our
existing laws we see that what is in the womb is a full human person, not
simply potential human life….
i.
therefore the unborn qualify as “those” being
lead to slaughter that we must rescue
ii.
As Wilberforce said after presenting evidence of
the horrors of the slave trade to British Parliament, “You may choose to look away, but
you may never again say you did not know”.
e.
And the scale is so huge that all of us can
and must be involved….
f.
To not pray, and act is fainting or shirking
and is not pleasing to God.
V.
How Can We Obey God and Rescue the
Unborn?
a.
1st Share the gospel and pray for
revival…
i.
We began with a video clip that reminds us that
this is not simply a social issue.
ii.
It is a “man is in rebellion, suppressing the
truth in unrighteousness” issue.
iii.
Our first allegiance is to God, not the pro-life
movement
iv.
The gospel alone has the power to forgive and
change people.
v.
And b/c we are committed to God we care about
life
vi.
And we care especially about eternal souls.
b.
2st Watch the Center For Medical
Progress Videos or at least know what they are about in order to see abortion for what it really is;
(Provide handout listing what each video shows)
c.
3rd Support alternatives to
abortion with money and time and prayers (AWPC)
i.
I have more info on the communion table
ii.
Behind the scenes help,
iii.
Face to face with clients help,
iv.
This week pressing need regarding their
fundraising banquet Wed and Thur….
d.
4th Know and Make the pro-life argument
i.
The one’s being led to slaughter often are
unable to defend themselves.
ii.
In the case of abortion, they totally unable
iii.
They cannot even have the faint hope of finding
an underground railroad to escape
iv.
They cannot defend themselves or make their case
e.
5th Use your democratic
privileges of free speech and representation and demonstration to press for
legal protection for the unborn.
i.
Voting is not where we place our hope
ii.
But we have a stewardship before God as people
living as citizens in the United States…
iii.
If you don’t think this is a big deal,
1.
Consider that our current president is doing
everything he can to ensure women can legally kill their babies… and that
federal dollars to the tune of 500 million dollars keep going to planned
parenthood whose business is abortion.
2.
Consider the senators refusing to vote to end
the atrocity of abortion or even limit abortion
iv.
Your vote matters, and since gov’t primary job
according to the Bible is to punish the guilty and protect the innocent, this
issue is a non-negotiable…
v.
Know what the candidates believe and how firmly
they believe it on this issue.
vi.
Write to your current representatives so they
know that this issue matters most.
f.
6th Don't grow weary in the fight
i.
This is not a fight for better education or
better foreign policy (as important as those are).
1.
This is a fight for the lives of millions of
unborn human beings.
2.
Over 1 million killed in our country each year
3.
Over 50 million have been killed since Roe v. Wade
(that is the Holocaust x ~10).
4.
And it happens worldwide at that rate EVERY YEAR
ii.
So, we must not grow weary in the battle. We
must be willing to spend our money, counsel others, and have uncomfortable
discussions and pray for the long haul.
iii.
Again we find a good example in William
Wilberforce, who fought the slave trade in England.
1.
He wrote
"Never, never will we desist till we . . . extinguish
every trace of this bloody traffic, of which our posterity, looking back to the
history of these enlightened times, will scarce believe that it has been
suffered to exist so long a disgrace and dishonor to this country” (William
Wilberforce).
2.
He fought for over 40 years before he finally
was able to see the evil outlawed.
3.
Pro-lifers are today's abolitionists.
4.
We have some big shoes to fill. By God's grace
we can.
g.
7th And that brings us to the
last thing, but it is by no means least – pray
i.
Only by God’s grace will we see change on this
issue.
ii.
As his subjects we long to see his will on
earth…
iii.
We want people to stop destroying that which he
is knitting together in the womb…people in his image
iv.
We want revival in our land so that God is
glorified in saving many from judgment.
v.
Pray for awakening in the churches, conversion
of many, end of abortion, law-makers
vi.
Let’s spend time praying now…use handouts to
help.
h.
6th Prayer
We confess that we have been apathetic to your glory and
that we have lacked concern for our unborn neighbor and women in difficult
circumstances. We have not spoken against or prayed about this evil as often as
we should
Help us to see that the ultimate evil of abortion is not
simply the taking of innocent life or damage done to women and men, but that it
is an assault on you, our Creator, the one who makes all people in your image.
Gender at conception: At conception
you now have a human that is a boy or girl- Gender is already determined at
that point though the external features have not formed the genetics are in
place immediately
