Several people, several of you have commented, even including my own children, that said, Pastor, you look nice this morning. Say, Pastor, you look good in black this morning. I want you to know the reason that I put black on this morning was not to look good. The reason that I put black on this morning is because I am in mourning. And you'll understand a little bit more about it when we are done. And I know you've already been in your Sunday school class and you've heard a lesson. And when it's all done, may the Lord put on us, God's people, a sackcloth and ashes. And that we would turn our laughter into mourning. And that we would realize and recognize that there is a sin in our nation. that we ought to mourn over and we ought to grieve over for the fact that even though it's under the umbrella of law and legalized, it is all right in the eyes of the court, but in the eyes of God, it is sinful and it's wrong and we must mourn. Open your Bibles this morning to Job. Go to the middle of your Bible and it's right in front of the book of Psalms. Job is the oldest book that we understand that we have in the 66 books of God's word. And you remember the story of the account of Job. That there was a, Job was a, as it says in verse one in chapter one, I'll try to give you time. My wife last week during the sermon she was mouthing a word while I was in the middle of the preaching. And afterwards she explained to me that she said to me, Langsam. And I'm thinking I'm right in the middle of preaching a sermon and she's speaking in a foreign language. How am I going to respond to that? And I know I get eager and I get anxious in getting covering the truths of the scriptures, but I'm going to try to do better. That when you, that you have an opportunity to find the portions in the scriptures and you can perhaps mark it and underline it. Job chapter one, there was a man in the land of Oz whose name was Job and that man was perfect and upright and one that feared God and eschewed evil. And then you remember the rest of the story where Satan comes and he obtains permission to tempt Job. In chapter 1 verse 10 we read, Hast thou not made a hedge about him and about his house and about all that that hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands and his substance is creased in the land. Then he said, But put forth your hand now, And touch all that he had, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he had is in thy power only upon himself. Put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord." And then we come to the ear count. I don't want to spend the time around that. But I want you to know how Job responded for you. You see, Job was an upright and righteous man. And when you begin to read all of Job, you see that there was much that Job knew about God, but there was much that he didn't know about himself. In all of that, he had a good grasp of God and what God does. In chapter one, verse 20, we read, and then Job arose and rent his mantle, shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground and worshiped. and said, naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return hither. The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all of this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. And then now turn with me to chapter 10. Chapter 10, and we'll read from verses eight through 12. Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round and about. Yet thou dost destroy me. Remember, I beseech thee that thou hast made me as the clay, and wilt thou bring me into dust again? Hast thou not poured me out as milk and curdled me like cheese? Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and has fenced me with bones and sinews. Thou has granted me life and favor. Thy visitation had preserved my spirit. Now go to chapter 12, verse 10. In whose hand is the soul of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. Now go to Job chapter 13 verse 15, I'm sorry, 31 verse 15. Job 31 verse 15, did not he that made me in the womb make him and did not one fashion us in the womb? And then Job chapter 33 verse four. The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life. Our gracious Heavenly Father, we come and bow before you this morning. Meet with us. Lord Jesus, you are in our midst, and we pray that you would open your word to us. You be our instructor. Remove those things that would Keep us from hearing the truth. We pray that those things, the mundane things of life and our responsibilities and all of the things that have come in our lives, that they will not rob us this morning from the truth. Give us ears to hear. Open your words to us, instruct us. And we pray, Lord, that you'll be merciful to us as a nation. We realize, Lord, you must move in our nation. You must move in our hearts. You must move with a spiritual awakening. We humble and bow before you. Give great grace and minister as only you can. We ask it in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen. You know, it seems like just a few days ago that we considered this very theme on this particular Sunday. And I know right now across our nation, in the Christian community across our land, there is this thing of sanctity of life. And so the first thing that I want us to consider this morning, the history of sanctity of life, where is that come from? It was in 1983, an organization named Christian Action Council, known as Care Net today. Founded with the help of Francis Schaeffer and former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, asked President Reagan to create a special day to focus on the intrinsic value of human life. The same year, President Reagan issued a proclamation establishing a national sanctity of human life. It was last year You remember that we read the first proclamation that he gave on January 13th of 1984. Ronald Reagan designated January the 22nd of 1984 as the first national sanctity of human life, and the date was chosen to coincide with the 11th anniversary of Roe versus Wade, the Supreme Court case that first recognized the constitutional protection status of abortion in the United States. You say, what's the significance of Roe versus Wade? Some of you may be here this morning. You say, well, I've heard that knocked around. I don't know really what that means. The significance of that decision of the Supreme Court was this. In one statement, with this decision, abortions became legal for all women across the United States. That's the bottom line. President Reagan issued the proclamation annually thereafter, designating Sanctity of Human Life Day to be the third Sunday in January, which represents, as we said already, the closest Sunday to the original date. His successor, George H. W. Bush, continued the annual proclamation throughout his presidency. Bush's successor, Bill Clinton, discontinued the practice Throughout his eight years in office, Bush's son and Clinton's successor, George W. Bush, resumed the proclamation and did so every year of his presidency. Last year I read the first one. I was thinking yesterday with the 17, you see, with the 17 such proclamations, I was thinking, Pastor Haling, if I live long enough when I have 17 more Sanctity of Life Sundays before me, I try to figure it out, I'll be way in my 80s, that I want to read, you see, one of these proclamations that come from a president, and that was, you see, there to encourage the citizens of the United States to think upon the sanctity of life. Think about it. That was coming from the top as we would consider the president. And so that it was there that the citizens to affirm their belief in the sanctity and dignity of human life. The proclamation that I want to read was read, you see, proclaimed on January 14th, 1985. America was founded by men and women who shared a vision of the value of each and every individual. Our forebears strove to build a nation in which the dignity of every person was respected and the right of all were secure. Our laws have sought to foster and protect human life of all its stages. Legal acceptance of abortion imperils this cherished tradition. By permitting the destruction of unborn children throughout the term of pregnancy, our laws have brought about an inestimable loss of human life and potential. Yet, the tragedy of abortion extends beyond the loss of nearly 17 million children who have been robbed of the gift of life. This tragedy is multifaceted, inflicting emotional harm on women, denying prospective adoptive couples the joy of sharing their loving homes with children, and eroding respect for the most fundamental of rights, the right of life. No cause is more important than restoring respect for this right. because the freedoms we hold so dear cannot endure as long as some lives are regarded as unworthy of protection. Nor can our commitment to defend the dignity of all persons survive if we remain indifferent to the destruction of 1.5 million children each year in the United States. I do not believe that Americans will continue to tolerate this practice. Respect for the sanctity of human life remains too deeply ingrained in the hearts of our people to remain forever suppressed. Disrespect for life is evident in communities throughout our nation where people are reaching out in a spirit of understanding and helping to women with crisis pregnancies and to those who bear the spiritual emotional scars of abortion Such efforts strengthen the bonds of affection and obligation that unite us and ensure that the family, the primary guardian of life and human values, will continue to be the foundation of our society. If America is to remain what God in his wisdom intended to be, a refuge, a safe haven for those who are seeking human rights. Then we must once again extend the most basic human rights to the most vulnerable members of the human family. We must commit ourselves to a future in which the right to life of every human being, no matter how weak, no matter how small, no matter how defenseless, is protected by our laws and public policy. Now I, therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim Sunday, January 20th, 1985, as National Sanctity of Human Life Day. I call upon the citizens this blessed land, to gather on that day in homes and places of worship, to give thanks for the gift of life and to reaffirm our commitment to the dignity of every human being and the sanctity of each human life. Secondly this morning, these statistics We read just a moment ago a statement from President Reagan back in 1985. This statement, quote, yet the tragedy of abortion extends beyond the loss of nearly 17 million children who have been robbed of the gift of life. 1985. 29 years have passed. since Roe versus Wade. And I want you to know I've spent a lot of time to deal and to research the numbers and where do these statistics come from. I have sought to look at the statistics You see from a variety of perspectives, both of those who are pro-choice and pro-life, and the statistics have come in most places from AGI, Allen Guttmacher Institute, Planned Parenthood, CDC, the Center for Disease Control, or NRLC, National Right to Life Committees, or CIRTL, Central Illinois right to life and there's the statistics very somewhat but as a as a as Generally, they are pretty much on the same page You can have the statistics broken down in a variety of different ways. You can have it with color and ages and race. You can have it with status and place and income of life, all kinds of variety of ways. But you cannot get away from the fact that as President Reagan had mentioned 1.5 million abortions per year in 1984, I believe that we can safely say that 1.3 million abortions have been taking place since 1973 to where we are today, there are some 4,000 plus abortions that take place every day in our nation. And the numbers that we have are staggering. 53 million, give or take a million or two, either way, they are staggering numbers. Worldwide, some 40 million babies have been aborted annually and there have been some 1 billion abortions taking place in our world around the globe since they have taken numbers and keeping records and statistics. How do you translate that? How do you translate those numbers in an understanding and what this, how huge this problem is? I'm going to ask you. Abortion has taken a toll equivalent to the population of the 60th largest cities in the United States. I'm going to hang that map up there in the back of our bulletin board and I want you to look at it. And when you think about the numbers that we have here, they are staggering. We're talking about 53 million plus, which amounts to the 60 largest city in the United States. We're talking about counting everything from Chicago, to New York, to San Francisco, to Austin, to San Antonio, to Houston, to Dallas, to Tulsa, to Oklahoma City, to Kansas City, to Colorado Springs, to Denver, to Sacramento, to San Jose, to Anaheim, to San Diego, Memphis, Nashville, we're talking about Cleveland, we're talking about Baltimore, Washington, we're talking about Charlotte, Atlanta, Miami, Tampa, New Orleans, and on and on and on and on. Those are, that's what it amounts to. Thirdly this morning, The question that I ask in my point here is this sanctity of life with a question mark. Is there a question mark in your mind? How many of you that are here this morning have been born after 1973? Could I see your hands? Would you stand, get on your feet? Would you mind? I think that we can probably honestly say probably half of the congregation here. Would you say, would you agree with me? Oh, you may be seated. And since you have come into the world, abortion has been legal. And I know since you've been in this world and you've grown up and some of you are in your 20s and 30s, And then I know that some of you have listened, you see, to some of the arguments. You have heard that statement, Roe versus Wade. You have listened to the pro-life arguments. You have listened to the pro-choice arguments. You have listened to some of the legal aspects and experts. You have seen and portrayed and seen before your very eyes the rallies and the demonstrations and the passions and the anger and the violence you may have seen life change. You may have seen people with signs that are standing on corners, with all kinds of messages you see, and with all kinds of images that are on it. You may have listened to the politicians. And I want to just simply say very few politicians are talking about this. Because you see, it's this issue that the politicians are saying, if I put myself in this camp of being pro-life and being a person that has the same conviction as what we read a moment ago about President J. C. Reagan, if I have the same convictions, I will not be elected. You may have listened to that. You see, you may be the person that have said, well, the Supreme Court has made a ruling. The woman has the right, you see, to choose over her body. You may have listened to all of that. You say, well, they're having all kinds of, I listened to all kinds of pro-life organizations, and they have put in place all kinds of safety guards, you see, and things, safety abortions, ultimately, I want to say, you may have jumped through all of these hoops we've done this and that but then yet at the same time when it's all said and done there is still the abortion you're still killing the baby such as the ultrasound or such as parental control or we can just go on and on and on with all of that you see with all of that done then the abortion can take place because the courts have made a decision because the Supreme Court has ruled after all it is legal and that may be all of this in your head and heart. The fourth thing this morning I want to say is this, who is going to judge over this matter? Who is going to judge over this matter? We have the nine justices, you see. We have the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. But I want you to know something, beloved people, there is a supreme judge of all of the earth. The Supreme Court is not, you see, when you think about what we have in Washington, they are but, you see, in the hands of the supreme God, the ruler of the universe, the sovereign one. He has given us the standard of his word. And that he's saying to us as a society, and as a community, as our currency says, as our currency still says printed on it, in God we trust that we ought to say as a society. And I want to say to you, those of you that have been born after 1973, that you've listened to all of these sites and you hear all of this stuff and you say, where do I go? Who is right? You see, the Word of God tells us in Deuteronomy chapter 32, verse 36, for the Lord shall judge his people. In Judges chapter 11, verse 27, we read, Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me. The Lord the judge shall be judged. 1st Samuel 24 verse 12 we read, the Lord judged between me and thee and the Lord avenged me of thee but mine hand shall not shall not be upon thee. In other words the Lord shall judge this matter. You see there will be also a final judgment which we all will appear one of these days. And in that final judgment we read in the book of Revelation chapter 20 verse 12, and I saw the dead and small and great stand before God and And the books were opened and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the book according to their works. You see, who is going to judge in this matter of sanctity of life? It's he that has given us his word. And I want to say to us, our appeal is to, in order that, Lord, will you give us clear and precise direction from scriptures. It behooves us. and not just annually, not just to the closest day, you see, where Roe versus Wade was, you see, the anniversary we look at, not just closest to that date, but Lord, will you help us that we both be a people that 365 days of the year, that we would have biblical convictions and realize and recognize God has given us his word. He's shown us clearly and plainly Why life is sacred? It's because He is the one that has given it to us. Think about it. So this morning, further we would ask the question, why then sanctity of life? You see, the word sanctity really comes, when you think about it, the word sanctity comes from the word holiness. And when you think about it, at Mobile, you prayed this morning. You prayed, Lord, you have made us in your image, in your likeness. You see, life is sacred. You see, there is the sacredness of life because God is the one that gives life. Did we not read? And we're talking about the oldest book of the scriptures. Did we not read from Job, you see, when he said, Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together. Job recognizes that. He recognizes the fact, thou hast made me as the clay, thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and you have fenced me with bones and sinews. Thou hast granted me life and favor, and thy visitation has preserved my spirit, in whose hand is the soul of every living thing. Did not he that made me in the womb make him, and did not one fashion us in the womb? The Spirit of God had made me, and the breath of the Almighty had given me life. You see, the proof of that, when I think about who is going to decide as far as pro-life and pro-choice and all of this, we need to go back to the fundamentals of what does the Word of God say? Who is the giver of life and who is the creator of life? Who is it that does that? Stand up here among us here. Is there anybody here that will you get on your feet and will you say, and let there be? Anybody here? Get on your feet if you're a creator and you're able and capable in given life. Will you show us that today? I've got news for you. There's not anybody here. It is the Sovereign One. The Lord said in the book of Genesis, And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth up on the earth. So God created man in his own image. In the image of God created him, male and female, created he them. Those precious little children that you've got in your lap. I want you to know they're not an afterthought of some kind of hot passionate night. Children are not an accident. They're not a product of an accident. Children are a gift from God. Low children are a heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward. And I know there are all kinds of circumstances, sometimes planned and unplanned. Sometimes, you see, even you see with rape and incest, you see, at the same time, I want you to know that which is in the womb was not created by man, and that which is created in the womb is life, and that has been given by God. You see, the question is, And this whole discussion is when does life begin? I want you to know and it said, here's what it says, and Adam knew Eve. That marvelous relationship that man has with a woman of intimately knowing her. And Adam knew Eve and she brought forth a son. Think about it. It was in the Psalms we read, for thou has possessed my reins, thou has covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee for I'm fearfully and wonderfully made, marvelous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well my substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest part of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect. And in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God, how great is the sum of them." You see, what is that? When does life begin? And what is it that's in the womb? Is it simply another organ, you see, that has somehow or another like the liver and the heart and the lung? Is that what it is? Absolutely not. It's that, you see, when Adam knew Eve, she brought forth a son. At conception, you see, everything is in place. The DNA has been set. It is all there in place. There is life and there is a person. It's very interesting to me when I think about it that in the arguments that were and have come before the courts was the question of viability. And you know there was that they had changed the viability, in other words, when does it come, you see, from a part of organs, when does it become a human being and a person, when does it come to that? And what they've argued was is that, you see, if it comes into the world and is able to live on its own with life support, you see, but if able to sustain itself, they have moved it I believe from 24 weeks to 23 weeks and to 22 weeks and I think they're even talking about moving it to 20 weeks and I want to say what happened to all of the abortions that took place you see in the pregnancy of 24 and 25 and even late term abortions what was that? You see what's in the womb listen to me from day one is a person. You know, you think about it. And all we need is God's word. That's all we need. It was Paul that said in Galatians chapter one, when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal his son in me that I might preach among the heathens. You see, God is, you see, he's the one that gives life and that which is in the womb is a person and God is the giver of life and he determines the length of life. In Job chapter 14, verse five, in that same book, Job, we read, seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are written with thee, thou has appointed his bounds that he cannot pass. It was last Wednesday, we were in the hospital room and here's Rosella, man, she is in the bed and I come in and we end up praying with her. She knew that I was there. We prayed with her and they were going to take her off to do a brain scan on her. And I remember distinctly, outside the hospital room, there was Gail's brother and there was Gail. And I assured them of this. I said, listen, we need to remember that our days are numbered. The Lord is not going to add to, we're not going to lose. There's nothing, there's nothing. He's the one that gives life. And He's the one, as Job said, the Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And I remember we prayed with each other and off we went. An hour and a half later, Rosella was in heaven. And I didn't hear anybody complain to say, I wish we'd have done this or wish we'd have done that. You know, we stand, and I want you to know what that does. We stand humbly before a sovereign God. You see, we like to be so complicated and complex and think that we're so intelligent that we think that we have all of these things in our own hands. Aren't we? We're the sovereign. Who is in charge of your life? I'm the sovereign. I make the decisions. I'll tear down my barns. I'll build me new ones. I'll do this and that. And then I'll say to my soul, sit here and take it easy. You are on the retirement. Take your cruises around the world and around the globe. and enjoy the labor of your hand. And the Lord said, Thou fool, this night thy soul be required from thee. That's what the Lord said about the rich farmer who did not have in mind the sovereign God, who is the one that determines the length of our days. Job said in Job 14, verse 14. If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come. In chapter 12, verse 10, he said, in whose hand is the soul of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. Now, folks, I want you to know something, that this is not just simply talking about the unborn. Sanctity of life, of human life, is life, all life, period. We're not just talking about, you see, those who cannot defend themselves, but we're talking about those, the older ones, the elderly people, the weak and the infirm, you see. We're talking about life, human beings, regardless of color, race, male or female, life is sacred, regardless of the age and condition, and at no time do we take it in our hands You see the lives of others and then we determine that we need to cut it off here and there. There's a statement that said that the courts later rejected Rose's trimester framework while affirming Rose's sinful holding that a person has a right to abortion until viability. You know, that word kind of stuck in my mind, in my head. Sanctity of life. Listen to me. Viability. What is that? Viability was, in their mind, as potentially able to live outside the mother's womb, albeit with artificial aid. What did Hitler do from 1933 on? What did Adolf Hitler do in Germany? There were literally hundreds and hundreds. We're not talking about just three or four concentration camps. We're not just talking about Dachau and Auschwitz. We're not just talking about two or three, but there were literally hundreds of concentration camps in Germany and scattered around Europe. And what did Hitler do? Well, let me tell you what Hitler done. He got rid of all of the undesirables. He got rid of those that didn't have any viability. And you know there are some of the states right now in the United States that have legislation and they're flirting with legality of assisted suicide. You know, you can go to Holland and you can take your mom and dad into a doctor's office. And you can say, we could take my mom and say, well, she's 90. Her mind's going. We know her mind's going. All you do is just watch her how she does with a thermometer. with a thermostat on the wall. About every 15 minutes she's over there with a flashlight. She wants to know what's going on with the temperature. Why is that not working? How come it's not on? Let me tell you what you can do with Mamaw. You can take her to Holland and you can visit a doctor's office in Holland and say, listen, there is no viability there. Will you help me? And then let me tell you what they'll do is they'll put her in a room and they'll put on some of her favorite music. And then they'll inject her with some kind of medication that will put her to sleep, and they'll literally do away with that life. That's not the way Hitler done it. Hitler got the hair off the head, and he got the gold fillings out of the people's mouths. And they filled mattresses with hair. And they took their fillings and all of that, and I mean, they piled them up and he murdered them, gassed them. The viability was, if they were able and capable in producing any kind of energy and effort on their part, he would send them to the rock quarry, skin and bones. And then they would send out a hundred in the mornings, and then ninety of them would come back. Frankie and I visited Flossenburg, which Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a part of, that concentration camp. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was one of the few evangelical pastors that stood up and said, this is wicked. And I want you to know, as I have wrestled over this sermon this morning, that the question you see that I think, what do we need to do? Last year I raised the question and we looked a little bit of the six million, you see almost one out of ten people in Germany, the statistics you can stretch and strain because The numbers vary because there were nations that were a part of the Deutsche Reich that were included in the numbers and it's hard to figure out, but I believe you can almost say that one out of ten or eleven people in Germany, they were simply gone, no longer to be had. And you remember the question that I asked last year, where were God's people? Where were the pulpits? And I want to say to you, beloved people, where are we and what is it that we can learn from that sanctity of life? Listen to me. I don't have the time. Let me just simply read my notes to you. But here's what I want to say to you. Christians, listen to me, Christians, Christians, we are the salt of the earth. Christians, we are the light of the world. Christians, listen to me, brothers and sisters in Christ, if you know the Lord Jesus Christ, we have a responsibility to our society as salt and as light. And as you look at these numbers of 53 million plus, How can we be silent and set on our hands? Where were they? I ask. But where are we? I ask. What is it that we concern ourselves about? How do we affect our society? Do we address this question? Listen to me. Abortion is a symptom of where we are as a nation. Did you hear me? And our effort must be, we must do all that we can to have an effect upon reversing row versus weight. But listen to me, in order for any changes to take place, there must be the change of heart. I want to say to you this morning, you may be here this morning and you may have grappled with your sin. And I think we can use that for an illustration. You have grappled with your sin week in and week out and year in and year out. And perhaps you have been in services where they've said, come and walk the aisle and rededicate your life and come and you do this, raise your hand and everything will be fine and pray this little short prayer. And you've done that over and over again. And there's never been a change of that. And the reason for that is, it is God that must change the heart. And if Roe versus Wade is ever to be reversed, and I make a prediction here, and I don't consider myself a mighty, knowledgeable man and a person, but I make a prediction here, it will never take place unless there is a real revival and spiritual awakening in our land. It's not ever going to happen. It is not ever going to happen. And I want to say to you, let's spend time and energy on getting signatures for personhood. Let's talk to people about why sanctity is life and life is sacred. We need to do all of that. But at the same time, let me tell you how it's going to change. It's going to change one person, one person at the time that they will come to a saving knowledge of Christ. The problem that we have in our nation is this. When you've listened to all of the arguments, bottom line is this. There is no fear of God before their eyes. That's the bottom line. When God, listen to me, When God the giver and sustainer of life, when God is not the key, the life's arithmetic and the equation, the equation is always going to be a disaster. And that's where we are in as a nation. Listen to our politicians. Listen to them. We've got the presidential racists. We've got the people that are talking about unlimited. They used to talk about the moral issues of our nation. They used to mention the moral issues. They used to mention them, but now they're going to call them, they're just simply social issues. Now I want to say something to you here. I want to tell you something. As your pastor, I love you all dearly. We need to have people who are in government, who have biblical convictions about who the giver of life is, where life comes from, and who's the one who takes life. We need to have people who are leading us, you see, who are leading us in government, whether it's local, whether it's city, or local, or state-wise, or federal-wise. We need to have people, if they're not on the same page as what the Word of God says, listen to me, I beg of you, do not vote for them. I want you to know that. And let me tell you what, if we vote for people, listen to me, if we vote for people who have absolutely no chance of winning, but they are champions of life, they have a biblical understanding of what life and who the giver of life is, they have a handle on sanctity of life, we need to vote for them. You say, Pastor Hailing, are you crazy? Don't you think we ought to vote for the lesser of the evils? Let me tell you what, if we don't do that, let me tell you what, we honestly really don't believe in the sovereign God. The problem in our nation, I want to tell you something, listen to me, and I'm very careful here. Because you see, I'm not a politician, but I wanna tell you, I'm so glad that back in 204, 205, that I became a citizen of the United States and I go to the ballot box. We must be a people who communicate our biblical convictions. And that is all the time. Do you know what we are? You take light and salt out of our society, and what is it you're going to have? You see, what are you going to have when you take the salt of the Word of God out of our society? You're going to have corruption and decay. We've got it. You take light out of our society, what do we have? We have darkness. Do you want me to tell you about abortion? Do you want me to tell you? And I've got this from ProChoice.org. I didn't, I want you to know, I've done my best to do my homework in this. I didn't just go to focus on the family and got me an outline for a sanctity of life sermon. I've done quite a bit of research and I want to be very honest with what's going on. Here's what they're saying. Abortion is an integral part of reproductive health care. Learn the truth about abortion." Can you imagine this statement? Abortion is an integral part of reproductive health care? What is that? Folks, it's murder. It's killing a baby. We really don't want to say that in our sanitized society. We don't see it. We don't see the 4,000. You see some odd abortions that take place. You say, pastor, what do we need to do? Let me tell you what we need to do. We need to start wearing black. Pastor, you lost your mind. No, I haven't. We need to repent. We need to flee to Christ. We need to plead for mercy. We need to say, Oh, wretched man, Oh, wretched nation that we are. If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked way, then will I hear from heaven and I will forgive their sins and I will heal their land. Listen to me, Calvary Baptist Church brothers and sisters in Christ, the world of our nation is not our income. Do you honestly think, do you honestly think as we go through all of this, we go through all of this religious mechanic and rhetoric and all of it, and then we think about At the same time, there is that self-sufficient haughty and arrogance, you see. We are placing ourselves in a position. We're taking things out of the hands of God. We're simply saying, we are in control. We think that we are in control of our destiny. We have pushed the sovereign giver of life out of our thinking. And we, this nation, now we are reaping what we have been sowing. Did you all study the book of Jeremiah recently, didn't you? I've been doing Jeremiah in my quiet time in the mornings. And I want you to know I was hung up with with Jeremiah's lamentations. I've marked them and I went back the next day and I looked at them again. I can't get out of chapter four and chapter five. I haven't got any further. I just kind of hung up on that. And where Jeremiah is lamenting over the fact of God's people. And he said, will you find me, will you find me one righteous man? Will you find me somebody that speaks the truth? Now, I know Calvary Baptist Church. I know that there are several, many here this morning who you love righteousness, you love truth. And I want to say to you, what is it that we need to do? I believe that we need to pray that, Lord, will you change our hearts? And then will you enable us to preach the gospel clear and plainly and loudly to a lost and dying world? Oh, Lord, will you not come and visit us? I want you to know I am so sick and tired of the moment of emotion that people are moved by. Lord, give us hearts that beat after you. Change our hearts. And then Lord, will you take our hearts? And when the Lord changes our hearts, let me tell you what he does. Then he enables us to follow him. And then wherever we are, listen to me, wherever we are, if it's our families, our children, our grandchildren, that when the arguments come up with the right and wrong and the Republicans and the Democrats and all of this and blah, blah, all of that, let me, I want to just say simply timeout, what is God's word saying? What is the judge of all of the earth saying? How does he judge? And it is he that you see that has given us his word and that we would do those things and follow and pursue after him. I want you to know my heart aches for my children and for my grandchildren. I know that Frankie and I, we're on the way out. It's not going to be long. If the Lord tarries, My children are going to be here and my grandchildren, if the Lord tarries, what are they going to do? I want to read one statement here that I meant to read a little earlier. And this is part of the confusion in our society. It was on the decision of Roe versus Wade. Let me read this to you. The state of Texas urged that apart from the 14th Amendment, life begins at conception and is present throughout pregnancy. and that there the state has a compelling interest in protecting that life from and after conception. Very good. We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins when those trained in the respective... Now listen to me, it's this statement right here. When those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, medicine, and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus, When did your life begin? When did your person begin? It began when your father knew your mom. It's even before that. You see, my substance was not hid, and before the foundation of the world, our Lord already knew us. But you see, there's no question of consensus of coming together with medicine and philosophy and theology. It is the Lord, it is God that gives life. May the Lord take these truths and so burn them into our hearts. And may we be a people who are champions for life. And that we're not going to get into arguments with people on this and that. That we simply insist upon communicating the truths of the Scriptures. Let's let the lion of God's Word out of his cage and let the lion defend himself. And then you see, if the Lord is pleased to give us a Revival and a spiritual awakening, He may not be. We may be, we may have been on the height of our spiritual wealth some years ago, I don't know. But if the Lord is pleased to give us a revival and a spiritual awakening, oh Lord, may He do that. In the meantime, let's keep our eyes on Him and the prize. I want to close with this. Maybe you're here this morning, maybe you have had an abortion. Is that the unpardonable sin? The answer is no. The Lord Jesus came for sinners. The Lord Jesus came to seek and to save that which is lost. And the Lord Jesus is able and capable. The Lord Jesus has paid on Calvary's cross the price for sins. I want to say to you this morning, flee to him. Run to him and say, Lord, I thank you for your mercy and grace. Wash me and cleanse me and forgive me. And Lord, give me a heart that loves you and that serves you. Oh, Lord, do a work in me that is apparent to all those around that you are my God and that I belong to you. May the Lord grant us that. Let's pray.