Let's take our Bibles and let's turn to Psalm 139. And gonna look at a few scriptures this morning. And we have begun a series of entitled, What is Truth? And we're trying to embrace a biblical worldview. What we mean is we take those divine principles. As Christians, we are people of the book. And these divine principles stand for every age, they never change, no matter what society or culture tells us. And they are reliable because they are outside of us. I didn't make these up, you didn't make these up, God did. There's certain moral laws that God himself has written as a moral law giver for human beings. And so we're considering what is truth. And this morning I want us to consider what is the truth about abortion? What is the truth about abortion? This is a very significant issue in the country we're living in, the people we're living in. As Christians, we have to have an answer to this issue. You might feel this morning, well, I already have an answer. Well, that's good, that's great. I hope this encourages you. Maybe this morning you might say, I know that I'm right about this issue, but I have a hard time explaining myself. So I hope this message will be a help towards that regard as well. But we're gonna start here, Psalm 139. Verse 13, Psalm 139, verse 13. The Bible says, for thou hast possessed my reins. Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee for I am 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 parts 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." I'd like you to also turn with me to Jeremiah chapter 1. Jeremiah chapter 1 and verse 5. Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 4 begins, Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. Before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Let's stop here. Let's pray before we continue this morning. Father in heaven, we ask that your spirit would guide us into all truth. Lord, we pray that you would just speak to us regarding this important issue. Lord, I pray that we would have a biblical mindset, not an emotional mindset, not a cultural mindset, but a biblical mindset. Pray that you would hide me behind your cross, Lord. I believe that there's a gospel answer to this issue. And may we as Christians get to the gospel on this issue. and be an encouragement, be a voice for truth in an age of so much confusion and darkness. So would you use this time for your honor, for your glory, we pray in Jesus' name, amen, amen. So today I wanna talk about the truth about abortion. And this is a very controversial issue, but I want to explain to you that it's not a very complicated issue. That when you decide to live by the divine principles, those moral laws that God has written, It is not a complicated issue. It's a controversial issue because our culture is rapidly changing, which means it's increasingly difficult. You're going to be unpopular. People will not like you if you take a stand for truth in this area. So I don't think it's a very complicated issue, but it is a controversial issue. The other day, I read about a celebrity couple, John Legend and Christy Teigen. I don't know much about them. I know he's a singer. I know they're famous celebrities. They have millions of followers on Twitter and Facebook and all of that. And they went through what a lot of couples go through, where she was pregnant and she miscarried. Very sad. Very difficult time. And they shared that hurt with the world online, and the love was being poured out upon them, trying to encourage them, which I think was great. As sometimes social media, I guess, doesn't have to be so toxic. But people were sharing their love, sharing their concern, and interestingly, Planned Parenthood has a Twitter account and shared their concern. And you can imagine this brought up an interesting question. I can't remember the trimester she was in, but obviously it was just a child in a womb, early stages, miscarried. And so the question was broad that people were arguing and debating is why should we be sad over that? Why should they be hurt? Why should they be sad over that? And why are abortion clinics sharing their compassion concern as well? What does this mean with abortion? How do we rectify this? And you see, as a Christian, we have a Bible answer for that, that I think is, again, it's not complicated. It's very simple, what we just read. But let me just explain, maybe you don't know this, maybe you do, but the world's answer is not based on the Bible, so it's always changing. It's grounded in just nonsense, really. So what some people will say is that life inside the womb is only life, it's only a person, it only matters if the mother is deciding to bring that child to term. That's the only way that life has value, is worth, is a person, should be mourned over. But if the mother determines that she does not want to bring that child to term, then it's not really a life, it's not really a person. Many, many problems with that. See, when you go down that road, human beings are playing God. And human beings are determining, well, this person has value, this person does not have value. This is a person, this is not a person. By the way, we've seen this before in human history. I'll get to that in just a moment. That's a very dangerous road to go down. And so do you see how wicked and really how foolish it is that it's only, we should only mourn and grieve if it's a life that was meant that the wife or the mother wanted to keep that life. It's only, it's desirability. But non-desirability means it's not really a life there. And if your head is spinning, that's because that's just baloney. That's what it is. But that's what our culture is saying. And so we have to be able to answer our culture on this. Should Christians care about this issue? Because sometimes we can be indifferent and say, well, I wouldn't do that. It doesn't affect me. Why should I even care? Here's the issue. If we're wrong on this issue, that life does not begin at conception, that the child in the womb is not really a life, if we're wrong on this issue, then we are infringing upon a woman's right. We definitely are. If we're wrong on this issue, we are hindering a woman from being free to choose to do with her body whatever she wants to do, and that's wrong. We don't want to be doing that. But if we're right on this issue, there's tremendous ramifications, and I believe that it's murder. It's a crime against humanity. I believe that it implies it really is a form of a Holocaust, that since 1973, over 60 million abortions that we know of that have been reported have been taking place, and millions more each year. There's tremendous ramification, there's a lot at stake here. I don't think we should just gloss over this issue as unimportant. The Bible is not silent on this topic, neither should we. If we're wrong about when life begins, then the unborn are not human beings. And then, like I say, we're infringing on the rights of women. But if we are right, and it is a person in there, then there is no justification for taking the life of a person. There's no justification. We don't kill people for the reasons that people usually give for abortion, like inconvenience or emotional trauma and things of that nature. And I believe it is a crime against humanity. And you can probably tell, I'll just be honest with you, full disclosure, I am very passionate about this issue. I think that there's a tremendous implication about the natural order, how God created us. And so this issue really does swing the way I look at politics. It swings who I vote for. I refuse, if I have a choice to vote for a candidate that's going to stand for life, and one that's gonna be totally in the other direction, I'm gonna choose the one that stands for life every time, regardless of party. To me, it's not left or right. To me, it's right or wrong. To me, I refuse to be a part of indulging this mentality in our culture of making this okay. As long as it's still a fight, as long as it's still on the table, I think as Christians, we have to have a voice and speak out. But more importantly, this is not just a political matter. This is most definitely a spiritual matter. I don't care who you elect. I don't care who's sitting on the Supreme Court. There's a spiritual problem that we need to address when it comes to this issue, how we value life. So first, I want us to answer a question. First, is abortion murder? is abortion murder. And just to be clear, we're not talking about those situations people bring up where the woman's life is at risk and she's about to die. No one wants the mother to die. I think we should do everything we can to save the life of the mother. It's tragic. Before modern technology, many women died in childbirth. And we want to do everything we can to save the mother's life. I don't consider that an abortion. I consider that trying to save the life of the mother. We're talking about something very simple here. The intentional killing of an innocent life. The electing surgery of, this is an inconvenience, I don't wanna have this, and so I'm gonna terminate the pregnancy. That's what we're talking about this morning, just so we're clear. So is abortion murder? Well, murder, biblically speaking, is the intentional killing of an innocent person. One of the Ten Commandments, thou shalt not kill. If we were to be more clear on that, really it means thou shalt not commit murder. Because not all killings are murder. In the Bible, Genesis chapter 9 verse 6, God tells us and teaches us about capital punishment. That if you take the life of someone in a senseless act of murder, that the punishment for that is your life should be taken because life is so protected under God. Romans 13 explains that as well. You read that. And so capital punishment is not murder. That's the government performing justice. Warfare is not murder. We see God sending the Israelites in warfare. That's not murder. That's a government acting there. It's not an individual going and attacking innocent persons. In some cases, self-defense is not murder. And so not all killings are murder. So we have to make that clear. But is abortion murder? Is abortion the killing of the unborn? To answer this question, we have to answer another important question. What is life and when does life begin? At what point do people receive personhood? You know, if you think about this question of whether it's right or wrong or take a life, think about if you who have children perhaps, maybe if you think of this example, if one of your children cried out to you, Mom, Dad, can I kill this? Before you could answer that question, you'd have to ask another important question. What is the this that you want to kill? If it's a spider, that's one thing. But if it's your baby brother or sister that's annoying you, well, there's an entirely different answer there, isn't it? So we're talking about human dignity, human rights. When do people receive that? How does that come into being? And I want you to understand that human rights is not a United States of America thing, it's a God thing. Even our framers, our founding fathers understood that these inalienable rights do not come from the government, they come from God. Genesis 1, 26 and 27 is so critical. By the way, the book of Genesis itself is the foundation for every building block of society. That every human being is uniquely made in the image of God. Every person that's of that species, homo sapien, is an image bearer of the creator, of the king of the universe. It doesn't matter if they are a crack baby, they have the image of God. Does not matter if there are unfortunate circumstances like rape, there's an image bearer there. Does not matter if they have developmental diseases and autism and Down syndrome and all types of disease, if they're missing some limbs and birth defects, that's an image bearer that bears the image of Almighty God and life has sanctity. The Bible tells us all of this. It doesn't matter if they're born in a different country from you. They are image bearers. It doesn't matter if they have less money than you. They are image bearers. Life is precious. It doesn't matter where people come from or how they came into being. All human life is precious. And so we're asking this question, is abortion murder? Well, both science and the Bible teach that life begins at conception. Life begins at conception. David prayed in Psalm 51, and sin did my mother conceive me. He didn't mean that his parents were fornicators. He meant that at the moment of conception, he became a person. And the fall took its impact right there at the moment of conception. We just read in Jeremiah 1, verse 5, where God told this prophet, before you were formed, I knew you. I had a divine purpose for you. Right in the womb of your mother, you were a person. In Psalm 139, right here, we see David, again, in this beautiful, beautiful poem, beautiful song, expressing the fact that we're fearfully and wonderfully made, even in our secret parts where no one can see. Maybe before modern medicine, we couldn't see it. Now we can see it. And David's talking about how, Lord, you were working and designing me and creating me. That means that I had value. I had human worth. Science and the Bible both teach that life begins at conception. If you don't believe this, then you are in an unenviable position of deciding when is a person a person. Is it when there's a heartbeat? Because that happens very quickly. You can hear it after about a month, am I right? About a month, you can hear the heartbeat, but the heartbeat is beating before then. Is it when there's cognitive ability? That happens after a week. They say after a week, there's already some cognitive ability happening there. When is a person a person? You have to decide. What the pro-abortion advocates say is, the mother decides if she wants to keep it if it's a person. I think that's playing God. It's a very dangerous road to go down. The terms that science has given us, a human embryo, a fetus, et cetera, whatever you want to call it, it has human DNA that is distinct from both mother and father. Let's go back to biology really quickly. Man and woman come together. Egg is fertilized. It's a human embryo. It has its own unique DNA. I believe God at that moment says, let there be life. There's life there. It grows. Only living things grow. It's a life. It's a person. And it begins at the moment of conception. Some people say it's just a lump of cells. That's all it is. If I go and remove my tonsils or I vacuum out the contents of my uterus, it's the exact same thing. Let me tell you something, a human being is not a tonsil. The contents of a uterus, listen, it's much more than that. We cannot dehumanize what it is to be a human being, a person. It's not just a lump of cells. Tonsils are not human beings. Human beings can have tonsils. I want to give you just a quick acronym that maybe in your mind you can refer back to that can be a help to you. It's the acronym SLED, S-L-E-D. Of what determines human dignity? SLED, S-L-E-D. S, size, does not determine human dignity. Size, you know, they say, well, it's so small, it's just a human embryo. And I say, well, that's exactly how every single one of us looked at that point of our development. Size does not determine human value. Otherwise, what some people call little people or midgets or dwarfism, whatever it is, are they people? Size does not determine human dignity. L, level of development. Again, the human embryo is a stage of human being's development. Just as a toddler is a stage, a teenager is a stage, a fully mature adult that can reproduce is a stage of development. The stages in human being development does not mean you're not a person. E, environment. Location does not confer upon you human dignity. Where you are located does not determine whether you are a human being or not. Otherwise we would say kids in the ghetto aren't people, kids in the suburbs are. Kids that are in these terrible environments aren't people, kids that are in really good environments are. Environment does not determine worth and value. The seven inches that a child travels through the womb does not all of a sudden make it become a valuable person. Noah was always a person before he was born. D, dependency, the argument is made, well, it can't live by itself. Neither can my two-year-old. She's totally dependent, and some of you have chosen a little bit older than that that are still totally dependent. And some of us have grandparents that are totally dependent. And this issue kind of dovetails on all of that. What is actually valuable life? Are we just able to just cut out what we think is not useful, not valuable? What determines human dignity? The mere fact that it's a human. The mere fact that it is a human, that it's of mankind, of that species, automatically means it has rights, dignity, bears the image of God. Science tells us when life begins, the Bible tells us how to treat that life. And the Bible teaches that pre-born human life is still human life. There's countless passages. Genesis 25, remember Jacob and Esau wrestling there in the womb? We just read Jeremiah, God said to Jeremiah, I knew you. David understood this principle. Hey, how about the first person to acknowledge who the Messiah was? You know the first person who acknowledged who the Messiah Jesus Christ was? It was John the Baptist. as he was in the womb, and Christ was in the womb, probably at the first trimester. And the Bible says he leapt, and he understood who the Messiah was. Listen, human life, whether born or unborn, is human life! It has dignity. Jesus Christ had dignity before he was born. John the Baptist had dignity before he was born into this world. I mentioned before, people with disabilities, people born in unfortunate circumstances, they're still valued. We value the sanctity of human life. In the beginning, in Genesis 1, when God was creating everything, he said it was good. But when he created mankind, he said it was very good. Mankind is the crowning point of God's creation. It's critical what we believe about this. And so the embryo, the fetus, whatever you want to call it as part of the species, fetus just means offspring, by the way. And what happens after a fetus? Well, then it becomes a newborn. Then it becomes a toddler. Then we call it a child. Then we call it an adolescent. Then we call it an adult. Then we call it elderly or senior. Whatever you call it, it's a human being. It's a person. So is abortion murder? I think the answer is definitively yes. It's the intentional killing of innocent life. It is a life. Just because it's not born yet doesn't mean it's not a life. Secondly, here's kind of going deeper beyond the surface. Abortion is not a root issue. Abortion is a symptom. The reality of abortion today is a symptom. of where we are in our modern society. The issue is more than just political. It's a spiritual problem that no politician can solve. Only the gospel can solve. A couple of questions. How should we deal with human beings in our care that are in our way that may bring difficulty to our lives? Is taking their life the right solution? Does that really solve the problem? See, what's being made is the utilitarian argument that if it's not useful, if it's difficult for me, then I need to get rid of it. If it doesn't help me, if it hurts me, then I can't be in my life. And again, you can apply that to aged people, disabled people, all types of things. Abortion is a symptom. Here's a few stats that I read that you can find online. They're readily available. By the way, abortion, unfortunately, is underreported, because it's not mandated to be reported. So these stats here, I think, are very telling. The majority of women who get abortions are between 20 and 30, are unmarried, and do not have their own health insurance, which can typically be an indication of a lack of wealth. And many already have other kids, actually. That's the largest demographic and majority are minorities, unfortunately. So you see where abortion clinics are located, the poor part of town where a lot of minorities are, often it's sad. You study Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood and what her goal was, especially regarding minorities. But does abortion really help? Abortions don't help the child, we know that, it kills the child. Does abortion actually help the mother when a woman decides to go through with it? I don't think so. I think that there are problems in the heart of a mom that decides to do that that are still there. There's anxieties, there's emotional distress and pain that the killing of a child is not gonna fix or solve. Abortion doesn't help the child or the mother because sin never makes anyone happy. Sin never fixes the issue, it makes it worse. Here are some key issues for why I believe abortion is a symptom. I don't want to go off on a tangent here, but the idea of sex. In our modern technology, we have detached the idea of sex from marriage and procreation. Just really quickly, because of our technology, every generation, my generation has detached it further than your generation if you're parents. There's this, every generation it gets further and further apart where sex is attached from marriage and having kids. When man and woman come together, they don't get a flat screen TV. They don't make a dog, they make a human being. That's what has always happened. But it's becoming a huge shock to people. A baby is coming. Well, that's what happens when you engage in that behavior. I'm not trying to be facetious here, but that's what's happening. People are just in this shock. That's what happens when a man and a woman come together. But in our society, my generation is kind of like, really? Because we think our technology is so great and wonderful, we've detached this idea. I don't want to get too deep on this, but the idea of sex in the Bible is always within the confines of marriage. Marriage is honorable and all in the bed undefiled. It's a beautiful thing God has given to married couples. And when we link sex and children, we think about, well, what kind of a place do I want a child to be born into? A loving home. Two parents that are committed to each other. There's security there. There's foundation there for that child. But when I give you the statistics, most abortions are women in their 20s, unmarried, With other issues too, poverty and maybe some other things, it's no wonder we're in the mess we're in because we're in this free love, free sex era in America now. And we've gone away from the biblical principles. Many women turn to abortions because they feel like they have a lack of community, a lack of support. You know the amazing thing about the church, Ecclesia? We're here this morning, we are a community, we are a family. I don't care how young you are, how old you are, you're my brother, you're my sister in Christ. We have community, we have family, and as Christians, we have to get back to embracing that. Because there's a whole group of people that feel like they don't fit in anywhere, no one wants them, no one's there to help them, and so they feel like they have no other options, and they get desperate. I think a lot of Christians, we're so selfish. We don't invite people to our homes. We don't look out for people who are in need and try to support them. Think about the single moms. Think about if you could do something for a single mom and pay her rent for a month or pay her car. Do you know how much that would mean for a single mom? Think about how much we can be a family and help people. Christians aren't doing that anymore. We're so fragmented in our society. And so women feel like they're all alone. No one's going to help me. And so this is my only option. Again, I'm not saying taking blame away because we're going to stand before God for the individual choices we make. But I think Christians and churches can do more in creating support and community. There's root issues. People have emotional pain and anxiety surrounding having children. I think this is a great place where godly older women can be a blessing here in talking and counseling to the younger women. Abortion is a symptom of an overly individualistic society that says, I need to be free to do whatever I want and be whatever I want to be, no matter the consequences. That's what the next generation, that's the big thing, is I'm free to do and be whatever I want to be with no matter the consequences. And when a child comes, it's like, uh-oh, Now things are gonna change. Now maybe I can't be that high-powered CEO that I wanted to be. Maybe I can't travel the world like I wanted to travel. And my life is over because now this inconvenience is in my life. And so this root issue of when a woman conceives is God allowing that to happen and is he wise in allowing that to happen? Is God ever wrong when he allows a life to be conceived? Is he ever wrong when he does that? Are children gifts or are they curses? See, these are the root issues, I think. You see, I believe that there can be sinful circumstances, but I never believe that the birth of a child is a sin. I believe all children, all lives are a gift, no matter the circumstance. It's a gift from God. And so this issue of abortion, again, it's a greater issue here. We have, as a culture and society, downplayed the role of motherhood. And that's not to say that every woman is destined to be a mother, but women as a general category. You know, the Bible has a lot to say about motherhood. It encourages this wonderful blessing of motherhood. But we've gotten to this place where, you know, we're kind of like, you know, if a woman is a CEO or has a high, wow, she's respected, she's great, you're just a mom. Yeah, someone asked my wife, you know, do you work? Or you just stay home? I think every mother, whether you work outside the home, you know raising children is work. How can you value the framing, the nurturing, the raising up of the next generation? The leaders of the churches, leaders of our nation, impacting their minds and training them. How can you, we don't value that enough. in our society. We downplay that. We look down on women perhaps sometimes for that. We give them a scarlet letter. We look down on them and it's no wonder abortion is the fruit of that. I believe abortion is part of one of many tools that Satan's using to attack the family unit. And I believe women are turning to lies in our society instead of the truth of the word of God. And so really quickly, I wanna make this final point, the gospel witness, the gospel witness. This morning, perhaps there are some that this issue really hits very close to home, maybe closer to home than most, but I want you to know something. Guilt and shame are tools of the devil, but conviction and repentance, that's my goal this morning. Conviction and repentance is a tool of the Holy Spirit, that if this is a sin, that there's conviction, there's repentance, and there's restoration that can be made. We thank God for God's forgiveness, God's mercy. But regarding this issue, generally speaking, we go back, again, not to our emotions. And by the way, I have a lot of strong emotions about this issue. I would definitely be honest with you, after becoming a dad, this issue really, really hits me closer than other people, perhaps. But it's more than just whether I emotionally, how I emotionally feel about this issue. There has to be a principle that I go to that's beyond myself, that's infallible, that's perfect. And we have that. It's the Bible. Here's what we do when we talk to people about this issue. We ask them, where do you get your morals from? Because is your foundation like changing every 10 years? Because my foundation has never changed. Which one do you think is better, is more effective for a moral society? One that's constantly rapidly changing or one that is timeless, never changes? So it's all about divine principles. We are people of the book, as I said earlier. I mentioned the gospel witness. Where does the gospel fit in? John chapter 1 verse 14 explains the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The word became flesh and dwelt among us. Can you imagine? Jesus Christ could have came into this world any other way. But the most unusual thing about the incarnation is how usual and typical it was. He was born the same way you and I are born. Listen, I don't want to be irreverent here, but the reality is when Mary went to go visit Elizabeth in Luke chapter 1, she walked into the room. She did not walk into the room alone. The Bible described that the Messiah was within her. We might say that as a human embryo in the first trimester was the Messiah. And John the Baptist, as a fetus in the womb of Elizabeth, recognized that and leapt for joy, the Bible says. Where does the gospel fit in? Jesus Christ, his incarnation, validates human life at every stage. He gives the stamp of validation that this is life. It's valuable. It's meaningful. It's precious. Jesus Christ came into this world as a human embryo that developed, that grew. The Bible describes the stages. He grew and matured as a child. Can you imagine that? I can't imagine that, but that was God's plan. Can you imagine Jesus Christ growing up in a home and having to be a child? But the Bible describes that's exactly what it was, and he lived on this earth for 33 years before he died. Jesus came into this world. He came in the form of a man going through the entire process. And you know, Mary would have been a statistical candidate to get an abortion. Her and Joseph were not married yet, and she's with child. She would have been given that scarlet letter. That would have been a huge scandal. She was extremely poor, extremely destitute, didn't even have enough to bring a proper offering to the sacrifice. I mean, she would have been in that category. Jesus Christ was born so that he could die on the cross for sin. All sin is forgivable. Redemption is possible because of Jesus Christ. There's the gospel witness. Jesus Christ was born to die for our sin. Anyone can receive new life in Christ. Listen, the only death that really sets people free is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The only death that can set someone free and give them the liberty that maybe they think they'll accomplish only comes from Jesus Christ. We can share that. We should be sharing that. As Christians, like I said earlier, there's a lot at stake in this issue. I think there's calls for action on this issue, that we pray and take action. I believe that we have, this is an issue that's still hanging in the balance as far as all The ways that people are pushing this with partial birth abortion, late term abortion. These issues are hanging in the balance. I think there's opportunities for Christians to act. How about if we as a society stopped funding abortion and we funded adoption? Why is abortion taxpayer funded but adoption, man, if you look into adopting. And then I wanna say this in closing because I could preach on this for a while but our time is fleeting. The original use of the term pro-choice, the idea that we can live and let live on this issue. The original use of the term pro-choice was used in the 1860s around the fight for slavery. And our country was in this battle regarding what are we gonna do about slaves. And slavery in America was very easy because what they did is the same tools that are being used for abortion that were used then were if you dehumanize, And you say a person isn't really a person, then you can do whatever you want to them. And so supporters of slavery said, well, they're not really people. So the Constitution doesn't matter for them. Human rights doesn't matter for them. Some people even professing Christians were in that camp. But I thank God they were abolitionists. Many of them were Baptists, by the way. abolitionists who said no, the skin color doesn't matter, the location doesn't matter, the level of development, whatever, it doesn't matter. It's a human life that has dignity. They should be evangelized and they need to be free. Our nation fought a war over this. And the pro-choice position was, well, just every state can decide. And just let people decide. It's not an issue. And eventually, our country came to the realization that this is not just a live and let live. This is a crime against humanity that needs to go away. And thank God, abolitionists won that. And here we are today and made great progress. To me, abortion is on the exact same level. Abortion, in my view, is a crime against the natural order, a crime against humanity, a crime against God and the sanctity of life. Just as back then, skin color or wantedness equals value, abortionists say, well, if you desire that life, then it has value. If not, there's no value there. There's no life there. We realize the immorality of the practice of slavery when we got rid of it in our society. What will we do about abortion? What will happen in the coming generations? What's the trajectory of America today on this issue? And this is where the gospel light really shines bright, because the gospel teaches us that all life is precious. All life is valuable, has worth, because Jesus died for them. By the way, I believe all children who die go to heaven. But all life has a spirit and a soul that's valuable that Jesus Christ died for. So this issue is about life and who will want life. Jesus Christ loves everyone, even if no one else wants him. He loves him and died for him. This morning, I hope to stir your heart and your mind to develop a conviction and to live by that conviction This is the truth about abortion, but we have the answer, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Lord, I pray that you would help us to answer these questions of our society, of our day, and we can have an answer. Lord, you tell us to be ready to give an answer, the reason of the hope that is within us. Lord, I'm afraid too many Christians don't have the answers. They are unable to explain and defend our positions, and we are getting eaten alive in the public square. Lord, I pray that we would be valiant for truth, bold as lions, speaking the truth in love. Lord, because we know the truth we have really does set free. It really brings the answers to all of life's questions. And Lord, I pray that we would, as Christians, be filled with your spirit, filled with grace and compassion. Lord, would you help us to make a difference in this issue? Lord, we pray for your mercy on America as well. Lord, certainly America has a lot of blood on its hands. And Lord, we are ripe for your judgment. Father, would you have mercy? With our heads bowed and our eyes closed, This morning, more importantly than deciding how to defend abortion or defend pro-life or whatever, this morning I hope you understand the value of life. I hope you understand the value of eternity, your spirit, your soul. Jesus Christ died to give us eternal life. And I want to ask you a question this morning. Do you possess eternal life? Do you have eternal life? Have you genuinely been saved? Have you been born again? I wonder if there's anyone this morning that would say, Pastor, I've never been saved. I'm not sure if I have eternal life. Would you please pray for me? Would you slip your hand up? We want to pray for you. It's the greatest decision anyone could ever make to trust Christ and receive eternal life. Lord, we thank you for the testimony of people that profess to be saved. Lord, help us to live out our faith in every area of life. We'll thank you and praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.