Sunday, September 6, 2020

Christian Politics – Part 4: Matters of Life and Death – Abortion & Stem Cells

 

Christian Politics –

Part 4: Matters of Life and Death – Abortion & Stem Cells

Pastor Bruce A. Shields

House of Faith Church | www.PS127.org | www.TruthDigest.org

Online Audio Files | HOF Church Facebook | Truth Digest Facebook

 


This Document is a Sermon Outline, you may hear the full audio of the actual sermon by following the link Online Audio Files located above for this, and other Full Sermon Audios.  For a complete list of Sermon Outlines, visit TruthDigest.org or Truth Digest on facebook; for our Official Church website, visit PS127.org, or find us on Facebook at House of Faith Church

 

SERMON INTRODUCTION

Ø  Would Jesus vote if He were physically here in the USA today?

Ø  What about the matters of life and death?

o   Healthcare

o   Suicide & Euthanasia

o   Abortion & Stem Cells

Ø  Crime and punishment

Ø  War, defense, and national security

Ø  Guns and matters of defense

Ø  Immigration and matters of national security

Ø  Marriage

Ø  Education

Ø  Economy, budget, trade, campaign finances

Ø  Green Values

So far, we have established through scripture that if Jesus were on earth today and a United States Citizen He would vote. We have also seen that His vote would NOT be a “straight ticket” or for a single party, but for the man or woman who did things the way God wants them.

We examined the three types of healthcare there are, miraculous healing from the Spirit of God, miraculous through the Lord’s provisional creation in forms of medicines made from His creation, and governmental healthcare which makes the decisions of what medicines you may or may not have, how much and whether you are worth keeping alive or forced to die through either passive means, restrictions of substances and needs or actively by the administration of death causing agents.

Last week we spoke about suicide and euthanasia, again covering the topic of government / corporation or insurance companies having the right and power of life and death over a patient. It is not, and should never be in their hands, rather it is solely the human right of each human to decide on their treatment. God gave us life, and it is His alone to take at the appointed time. Our days may be numbered and written down, but how we live the last of them out is a direct result and consequence to our own decisions, and should not be dictated by an overlord, whether government, politician, insurance company or medical facility.

 

Today we will be speaking bout Abortion and Stem Cells and what the bible says about these matters.

 

Abortion itself is a medical procedure and for this reason doesn’t appear in the text itself. However, this in no way means the bible has nothing to say about abortion, the life of the unborn or how we should view this matter from God’s point of view.

 

SCRIPTURE READING

Exodus 20:13

 

“You shall not murder.”

             I.        IS ABORTION MURDER? WHEN DOES LIFE START?

a.    Murder

                                                 i.    Over the last two weeks we looked at scripture and discussed the difference between killing and murder

 

                                               ii.    Obviously, God is not going to cause man to “sin”

1.    We see in scripture God told armies to fight other nations and kill

2.    This was for many reasons, mostly to preserve the Israelite's so that the savior could be born

3.    Killing takes place during war, this is not murder

4.    Exodus 22:2 “If the thief is found breaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed.”

 

5.    I Samuel 17:50 “So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him.”

 

                                              iii.    Murder is the unjustified death of a person

1.    An “innocent” life

2.    Leviticus 24:17 “Whoever kills (LIT beat, slaughter, murder) any man shall surely be put to death.”

 

3.    Exodus 23:7b “…do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty.”

 

                                              iv.    So, if the death is justified by God (self-defense, protection of life, family, property, war, etc.) THEN is it justified by God and considered KILLING.

                                               v.    If the death is NOT justified by God (murder an innocent person, i.e. purposely ending the life of someone) that is murder, and a sin.

 

 

b.   But when does life begin? Is abortion really ending a life?

                                                 i.    I have heard professing Christians argue life does not begin until the baby is born because of the following verses;

1.    Job 33:4 “The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.”

 

2.    Genesis 2:7 “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life…”

 

3.    The problem with this is these versus are explicitly speaking about God “breathing” His Spirit of Life into man.

a.    God doesn’t “breathe” air.

b.   “Air” is NOT what gives our forms life.

c.    A bellows “breathes” air in and out, is it alive? No.

d.   It is the Spirit of God that makes us alive.

 

                                               ii.    And when do we receive this Spirit? After we are “born” and out of the womb?

1.    Job says when the Spirit of God made him (formed him in his mother’s womb, because that’s where we are “made”) The breath of the Almighty (His Spirit) gave him life.

 

2.    Psalm 139:13 “For You formed my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb.”

 

3.    Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,”

 

 

c.    Life begins in the womb, it IS an unborn child

                                                 i.    Isaiah 49:1 “The Lord called me from the womb; from the body of my mother He named me.”

 

                                               ii.    Psalm 139:13-16 speaks of the wonders of being created in the womb, and how at THAT time, God ordained days, they were written, plans are made for the unborn baby “When as yet there was not one of them.”

1.    It is clear, this all takes place before we are born.

2.    The Lord creates us in the womb

3.    He gives us His Spirit of Life

4.    He names us, and knows us before we are born

5.    He writes our days down in a book

6.    And does all of this BEFORE we even see one day! i.e. before we are born.

                                              iii.    The unborn baby has life at the moment God begins to knit them within their mother womb!

 

 

           II.        IS THE TAKING OF A LIFE BORN OR UNBORN EVER JUSTIFIED?

a.    Murder is never permitted, though there is a time for killing

                                                 i.    Ecclesiastes 3:3 “A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;”

 

                                               ii.    When is there a time to kill?

1.    Exodus 21:12-14 “Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death. 13 However, if it is not done intentionally, but God lets it happen, they are to flee to a place I will designate. 14 But if anyone schemes and kills someone deliberately, that person is to be taken from my altar and put to death.”

 

2.    Exodus 21:16 “Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper’s possession.”

 

3.    Exodus 21:22-25 If there is an altercation and a pregnant woman gives birth prematurely and the baby dies, there is to be a “life for life” retribution.

a.    The word of God here makes it clear, the baby is ALIVE

 

4.    Deuteronomy 22:25 “if out in the country a man happens to meet a young woman pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die. 26 Do nothing to the woman; she has committed no sin deserving death.”

5.    Leviticus 18 Any incest whatsoever

6.    Leviticus 18:21 Any child sacrifice

b.   The Lord hates hands that shed innocent blood

                                                 i.    Proverbs 6:16-17

 

 

c.    CHILDREN ARE A GIFT FROM THE LORD

                                                 i.    PSALM 127:3 “Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.”

 

 

          III.        THE SANCTITY OF LIFE AND OUR CHRISTIAN DUTY ON ABORTION

a.    What the scriptures say

                                                 i.    Isaiah 58:1 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.”

 

                                               ii.    Jesus said, “You are the light of the world” Matthew 5:14

 

 

b.   Abortion is the intentional killing (murder) of an unborn child

                                                 i.    A child that was created and named by God in the womb

                                               ii.    A child that God knew before the child was born

                                              iii.    A child that when God created, He also breathed His Spirit of life into

                                              iv.    A child that is by all accounts, innocent

 

 

c.    What about stem cells?

                                                 i.    There are 4 types

1.    Adult stem cells from bone marrow and fat

2.    Adult cells altered to have different properties

3.    Perinatal stem cells from amniotic fluid and umbilical cords

4.    And embryonic stem cells

                                               ii.    Of these 4 types, only 1 concerns the killing of babies, and that is the embryonic stem cells

1.    “The embryos (baby) being used in embryonic stem cell research come from eggs that were fertilized at in vitro fertilization clinics but never implanted in a woman's uterus. The stem cells are donated with informed consent from donors. The stem cells can live and grow in special solutions in test tubes or petri dishes in laboratories.” ~ Mayo Clinic website direct quote

2.    Things to note about their description in BOLD

 

                                              iii.    A sperm will never be a baby.

                                              iv.    An unfertilized egg will never be a baby.

                                               v.    A fertilized egg IS a baby, and an innocent life.

 

 

d.   STEM CELL RESEARCH AND THE GOOD IT CAN DO    

                                                 i.    The stem cells do great things, including heal, regenerate other cells, help us fight disease, etc.

                                               ii.    Not ALL stem cell research is bad, not all research kills babies for cells.

                                              iii.    But some do.

                                              iv.    Embryotic Stem Cell Research literally fertilizes eggs to create babies, grows them for a period of time where, as stated on the Mayo Clinic website, they LIVE until the scientists take them for research.

CONCLUSION – So, what about abortion and stem cell research?

 

The bible is truly clear on this matter.

 

When an egg is fertilized God begins the knitting together of life and breathes His Spirit of life into the baby. He knows the baby, and even names the baby in the womb!

 

Stem cells, if taken from embryos kills the innocent child.

 

Some may argue, “But the embryo is in a lab being grown and would never mature to full term anyway.”

 

To this I answer, “The egg should have never been fertilized and kept in a lab then. This is human research and is both unethical, and illegal, reminiscent of Hitler’s Nazi evil and horrific medical experiments carried out on Jews yet is somehow allowed through scientific loopholes.”

 

One of the reasons we need to END abortion in the United States as barbaric, unethical and a waste of human life. It is literally Genocide!

 

As long as we teach that unborn children are not babies, but cells, fetuses, something other than living, this murdering of innocent lives will continue.

 

One may argue, “What about incest or rape, or to save the woman’s life?”

 

Out of all abortions, only 1.5% are due to rape or incest. Allowing all abortions because of this would be like killing all black people if 1.5% of them committed a crime worthy of death. This is a ridiculous argument.

 

With nearly 1,000,000 babies murdered from abortions each year (just the ones actually reported) 1 in 4 women have had an abortion.

 

BUT THERE IS GOOD NEWS!

 

The scriptures teach the ONLY unforgivable sin is rejecting God’s Holy Spirit (i.e. being unsaved)

 

EVERY OTHER SIN IS FORGIVABLE!

 

If you have had an abortion, and feel you are unworthy of God and His love, well, we all are unworthy of His forgiveness and love, however He offers it to us anyway!

 

When we acknowledge Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, Believe He died on the cross as a substitutional sacrifice for our sins, and rose again 3 days later as a sign of our rebirth in Him and Salvation through the cross, confess our sins and repent of them, we will be forgiven!

 

We will receive God’s Holy Spirit, and He will begin a work in us.

 

We can be forgiven and called a child of God through Jesus Christ.

 

 

 

 

NEXT WEEK: Part 5 – Crime and Punishment

 

Other scriptures regarding the sanctity of life;

 

Exodus 23:7     Deuteronomy 18:10; 24:16; 30:19     Psalm 100:3    

Psalm 106:37, 38     Isaiah 49:5     Isaiah 59:3     Ezekiel 16:4-6

Ezekiel 16:20-21     Luke 17:2     Romans 2:11     Galatians 1:15

Revelation 21:8

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