“Leaping For Joy”

Sanctity of Human Life Sunday January 22, 2006

This past week has been an historical one both socially and politically. Two very important
decisions were made in our nation’s highest court, that directly affect the issues most
closely related to the battle for the recognition of the value of human life.

On Tuesday, January 17, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in favor of the state of Oregon’s
right to permit physician-assisted suicide by determining that the Federal Government’s
authority to regulate doctors is overruled by Oregon’s law giving the right to doctors to
prescribe death inducing drugs.

In his 25 page dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote, “If the term ‘legitimate medical
purpose’ has any meaning, it surely excludes the prescription of drugs to produce death”

In the second ruling in the case known as Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of New England,
the high court sent back for review by the lower courts a previous ruling in which the
lower court had blocked a parental notification law because it made no exception for the
health of the mother.

The law required that parents be given a notice from their minor child within 48 hours of
an abortion. The Supreme Court’s decided that the lower court did not have the authority
to refuse the entire law because of one excluded provision. The high court said that the law
could be valid if it was narrowed in its definition.

Both of these cases were landmark decisions that pro-lifers were watching closely. In the
Oregon case, pro-life groups were very disappointed, while in the Ayotte case, they agree
that it was at least a partial victory.
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I believe that these two cases are a reflection of a monumental battle over the sanctity and
value of human life - one dealing with euthanasia and the other with abortion.

To many people, these are political issues of social concern with little or no spiritual
relevance. But that is the farthest thing from the truth.

Now, I hope you hear me clearly this morning… Euthanasia and abortion are NOT
political or social issues. Not ultimately. No, but they are biblical issues – spiritual issues –
and in fact – GOD issues. You can lay your politics aside, because abortion and euthanasia
are NOT Republican or Democrat issues, nor are they liberal or conservative issues – they
are GOD issues.
And it’s only when we realize this truth that we can begin to deal with these issues in a
truthful manner.

We must understand that ALL life belongs to God. At the heart of Christian doctrine is the
belief that God is our Sovereign Creator, Sustainer, and Lord of our lives. That means that
life is in HIS hands to do with as He pleases. This is the unique perspective of Christianity,
and it should be shared by all here today.
_________________

As I prepared this message I had planned to deal broadly with both abortion and
euthanasia. But I really believe that God was leading me in a different way. I know He has
His reasons and I trust that He will accomplish in this message what He wants.

So, with that in mind, let’s open our Bibles to Luke chapter 1, and our hearts and minds to
the Holy Spirit. And let us pray that God will help us understand His will and purposes for
our lives.
Luke chapter 1:26-56
Let’s look first at some powerful truths…
1. Elizabeth was six months pregnant when Mary visited her. At six months the
pre-born child was already very active in the womb. Notice that the Scripture says
that the babe leapt.
• Did you know that long before this, the child in her womb had been moving?
• Did you also know that at only 8 weeks every organ was in place and the
child had his own unique fingerprints?

2. The baby could hear and even experience emotion. The Holy, Inspired, Infallible
Scriptures that we know to be true and rest our souls in clearly state that the child in
the womb heard the voice of Mary and leapt for JOY!
Just think! At 6 months this child had all of his faculties. And even though he was
not yet fully grown or able to breathe on his own – he was clearly alive and able to
experience emotion! How awesome is that?
3. The Bible calls the unborn a babe (the Greek word is Brephos – carrying the
proper meaning of “unborn infant”. Listen to me – the pre-born child is not a
fetus. It matters not what scientists or linguists call it. We’re not dealing in
semantics here. I believe that making the term fetus the popular name for
discussion of the pre-born was a very calculated move on the part of abortion rights
advocates. After all, it must be much easier to kill the pre-born if we can de-
humanize it – right?
 I listened to an interview between a well-known talk show host the other day with
an abortion rights advocate and she refused to call the life in the mother’s womb a
child. She got angry and kept arguing that it was a fetus – a thing growing inside the
woman that the woman had a right to get rid of if she wanted.

Let me ask you this morning… What if at six months along Elizabeth had decided that
she was just too old to be having a child? I know… I know… some say that the argument
is moot, because she wanted the baby. But what if she didn’t? Would it really be legitimate
and right morally for her to abort the baby that God had already named John and who was
destined to prepare Israel for Jesus Christ?

Listen, in America today over 140,000 abortions are performed on children just like John –
the pre-born in the second and third trimester of development. And since Roe v. Wade
there have been an estimated 4,620,000 such children aborted.

In fact, in our country a woman has the legal right to abort her child right up until actual
birth. And many of these late abortions are done through the procedure known as dilation
and extraction – or “partial birth” abortion. This procedure is used to abort women who are
20 to 32 weeks pregnant -- or even later into pregnancy.

Guided by ultrasound, the abortionist reaches into the uterus, grabs the unborn baby’s leg
with forceps, and pulls the baby into the birth canal, except for the head, which is
deliberately kept just inside the womb. (At this point in a partial-birth abortion, the baby is
alive.) Then the abortionist jams scissors into the back of the baby’s skull and spreads the
tips of the scissors apart to enlarge the wound. After removing the scissors, a suction
catheter is inserted into the skull and the baby’s brains are sucked out. The collapsed head
is then removed from the uterus.

These are the brutal facts of abortion that we don’t want to hear about! Out of sight, out of
mind, right? If we don’t know about it, we don’t think about it. But God sees it, and God
is definitely concerned about it. Job 34:21-22 says, “For his eyes are upon the ways of
man, and he seeth all his goings. There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the
workers of iniquity may hide themselves.”

For 33 years our culture has given legal to do something morally repugnant, and for 33
years we have swallowed the lies. We have ignored the problem, swept it under the rug,
and even comforted ourselves with the justification that it’s OK for a woman to have an
abortion after all, it’s only a fetus – just a piece of tissue that has no life until it’s born.

O, why can’t we see our own hypocrisy? How can we believe such lies? We can call it a
fetus when it’s unwanted, but when it’s our child and we’re happy about it – it’s a baby!
And we are so excited about this new life and we rejoice at every stage of development!
For 33 years we have allowed our courts to rule and our legislatures to grovel beneath
them as 40 million children have been slaughtered in the United States of America.

But what saddens me the most about this terrible truth is that so many of us are involved in
it.
Maybe you wonder who’s having abortions. Here’s some statistics from the Alan
Guttmacher Institute – the research arm of Planned Parenthood.

In the UNITED STATES the number of abortions per year is an estimated 1.4 Million.
That means that there are approximately 3,700 abortions performed every day.
Who's having abortions (age)?
• Women under 25 account for 52% of all abortions.
• 32% are women aged 20-24
• 21.5% are teenagers.
• The remaining 48% of all abortions are by women over 25.
Who's having abortions (race)? Do you think it’s just minorities?
While it’s true that minorities and blacks have a higher abortion rate per capita, the fact is
that 60% of all abortions are obtained by white women.
Who's having abortions (marital status)? Do you think it’s just single or divorced
women?
• 64.4% of all abortions are performed on never-married women
• 9.4% are divorced women
• 18.4% are married women

Who's having abortions (religion)? Do you think abortion is an atheist problem?

• 37.4 of women identify themselves as Protestants
• 31.3% are Catholic
• 1.3% are Jewish
• 23.7% have no religious affiliation
• 18% of all abortions are performed on women who identify themselves as "Born-
again/Evangelical"
Who's having abortions (income)? Do you think it’s just those poor girls who can’t
afford to raise a baby?
• 28.7 are by women with family incomes less than $15,000
• 19.5% are by women with family incomes between $15,000 and $29,999
• 38% are by women with family incomes between $30,000 and $59,999
• and 13.8% are by women with family incomes over $60,000
Why women have abortions? Do you think it’s because of incest or rape or because the
mother’s health is threatened? This is the BIG argument that helps them win their court
cases – remember?
• 1% of all abortions occur because of rape or incest;
• 6% of abortions occur because of potential health problems regarding either the
mother or child,
• 93% of all abortions occur for social reasons (i.e. the child is unwanted or
inconvenient).
These are the facts straight from Planned Parenthood! Yet, in every case where pro-life
groups seek new laws to restrict abortion rights, the courts strike them down because there
aren’t provisions for the health of the mother.

Likelihood of abortion: Do you think that abortion is really rare?

In America, an estimated 43% of all women will have at least 1 abortion by the time they
are 45 years old. And 47% of all abortions are performed on women who have had at least
one previous abortion.

Do you know what these things means? Here’s what breaks my heart – statistically
speaking, at least one woman in this congregation today has had an abortion. And it
also means that there’s a good chance that when she had it performed she claimed to be
a Christian.
(Let it sink in – count to 7 seconds and then…)

Maybe you are one of those women here today. Your past is filled with the pain, and your
present holds regret for the abortion you had. Or maybe you are the parents who
encouraged or even forced your daughter to have an abortion – or maybe the husband or
boyfriend who consented to and even paid for an abortion.

There are a few things I need to tell you today.

First of all is that although you have sinned in the taking of a human life, there is hope of
forgiveness in Jesus Christ. The book of Isaiah, chapter 1, verses 16-18 says, “Wash you,
make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the
widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as
wool.”

The Lord has promised that if we repent of our sins and cease to do evil, he will forgive us.
God has promised that if we confess our sins, He will forgive us and cleanse us – He will
for us through Jesus Christ, what no amount of soap and water and tears could not do. He
will wash our hands of our sin.

But to deny what we have done – to rationalize it, excuse it, or pretend it never happened
only invites judgment. We must be willing to lay ourselves before Him in all of our guilt,
no matter what sin we have committed.

1 John 1:8-10 says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is
not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his
word is not in us.”

God will forgive, but we must admit our sin. Through confession and faith in Jesus Christ
we can find grace and forgiveness and release from the bondage of guilt. In this way we
find forgiveness, not condemnation.

Jesus said in John 3:17 “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but
that the world through him might be saved.”

Jesus also quoted the prophet Isaiah in Luke chapter 4, verses 18-19, saying, “The Spirit of
the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath
sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of
sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of
the Lord.”

Jesus Christ came to this earth to forgive the sin of abortion. Yes, it’s true. Among all the
sins of men, this too He came to forgive. And if you need forgiveness, or you need to have
assurance that you are forgiven, listen to these words…

1 John 2:12 “I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his
name's sake.”

John wanted his readers to understand that no matter what they had done, they were
forgiven for Jesus Christ’s sake. Because God so loves His Son and so prizes His obedient
sacrifice of His own life on Calvary, He is willing to forgive your sins when you put your
faith in His Son.

John went on to write in 1 John 5:13 “These things have I written unto you that believe on
the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may
believe on the name of the Son of God.”
God wants you to have assurance of salvation. He wants you to know that Jesus is
sufficient for us. His sacrifice is enough to purchase our pardon – even if we’ve shed
innocent blood. This sin is not unforgivable. Confess it and seek forgiveness in Jesus.

CONCLUSION
The Word of God tells us that John the Baptist leaped for joy the day that he heard the
voice of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. Truly that was a supernatural thing – a joyous
thing. And Elizabeth and Mary were filled with joy over the news that they were going to
give birth to two very special baby boys.

But in truth, every child is special. Every child is God’s creation and every child deserves a
chance to live. And that means that we must do more to stop abortion. We must lend our
voices of disapproval of the practice and we must lend our support to those who are doing
what they can to help pregnant women move in the right direction.

We must do more so that every child can have the opportunity to be born, hear the voice of
God, and leap for joy.