Text: Psalms 139

 

I.         To watch as a child grows in a mother’s womb is a thing of wonder.

            A.        People refer to the “miracle of birth,” though it is not truly a miracle – this is the way God made the process of life to happen.

            B.        Still, it doesn’t make it any less awesome - Psalms 139:13-16

            C.        Think about it: two cells with half the DNA of each parent combines and grows into child you hold in nine months.

II.        Throughout mankind’s history, there is a demand that life be respected - Genesis 9:5-6

            A.        Animals also have life, and we show respect for it by not eating blood - Genesis 9:2-4; Leviticus 17:10-14

            B.        But human life is different because unlike the animals we are made in the image of God - Genesis 1:26-27

            C.        God is the giver of life - Acts 17:24-28

            D.        We pass laws to protect the life of protected species.

                        1.         People get upset when eggs of turtles or eagles are destroyed

            E.        In Nebraska, the death penalty has been difficult to enforce because people have been doing everything they can to make all forms of death of a criminal illegal.

                        1.         Yet, as we’ve seen just a few weeks ago, people cheered in New York to pass laws that allow children to be killed even by lethal injection, so long as they are not yet born

            F.        Where is the logic in this madness?

III.       When does life start? When does someone become human?

            A.        To avoid the obvious charges of murder, those advocating abortion have long claimed that it is a fetus in the womb and not a child

                        1.         Is an eagle’s egg an eagle or something else?

                        2.         When a woman is expecting, we say she is “with child” and not “with a tissue mass”

                        3.         If a pregnant woman is killed, the murderer is charged with a double homicide – taking the life of a woman and her child - Exodus 21:22-24

            B.        When Rebekah became pregnant, her children struggled within her - Genesis 25:21-23

            C.        Job bemoaned the night a male child was conceived - Job 3:3

            D.        Notice that David described his forming as a child in the womb as being himself - Psalms 139:13-15

            E.        Isaiah talks about God speaking of Jesus as the anointed from the womb - Isaiah 49:1,5

            F.        Elizabeth conceived a son (not yet born) - Luke 1:36

                        1.         That child later recognized the voice of Mary - Luke 1:41, 44

            G.        Neither the Hebrew or the Greek terms make a distinction between a child conceived and a child born

            H.        Thus, the conclusion that anything stating that it isn’t human life after conception is just making arbitrary decisions.

                        1.         What we are witnessing is an evil where human life is claimed to have less value than animals; in fact, no value at all.

IV.      But we also have problems at the other end of life

            A.        While we find a few wicked men committing suicide in the Bible, we find that even extreme circumstances, righteous men would not end their own lives.

                        1.         It was something they left in the hands of God

                        2.         Job - Job 3:20-22

                        3.         Elijah - I Kings 19:4

                        4.         Jonah - Jonah 4:3

            B.        In several European countries, such as the Netherlands, euthanasia (voluntary deaths) have been steadily rising – somewhere between 4 and 5% of the deaths.

            C.        Again, it shows a lack of a respect for life.

V.        In describing the decay of the Greek society, Paul charges them with many sins - Romans 1:28-32

            A.        In Romans 1:31, the second to last word is the Greek word astrogos “without natural affection”

            B.        It is describing what is happening in our society. We’ve lost the natural love for our fellow human beings.

            C.        The world is rapidly losing the concept of “love your neighbor as yourself.”

            D.        Let us change this by first understanding and respecting life itself