Well, let's get started. Next week is Pro-Life Sunday, and I thought we would set aside some time this morning to consider this important topic. And one of the reasons I set it aside for this morning rather than next week, which is sort of officially Pro-Life Sunday, is that we're going to spend a good bit of our time this morning outside of Proverbs, although we are going to close in the book of Proverbs. So I thought we'd just use this as sort of an interim, and then next week when we get back to Proverbs it'll be full. tilt. So what I want to do, as I said, is think about the issue of abortion. And the goal really is to develop sort of a biblical and theological perspective on this. I suppose most of you have this and it'll be a review, but it's important review. So, well, let's ask for the Lord's blessing and we'll get to work. Father, we thank you for the great mercies you've shown us this week. Your grace has been lavished upon us day by day. And each day we look to Jesus and know he's ours. It's a placard. We can refresh and review our responsibility to be defenders of life. So give us wisdom and thoughtfulness this morning. Help us to be renewed in our energies and zeal to advocate for those who are helpless and can't speak up for themselves. And we just pray that all that's said and done this morning will be to the praise and glory of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, even Jesus Christ, amen. By the way, don't hesitate to ask questions, just shoot up your hand or if you wanna make comments. I know many of you have been to the Grand Canyon and most people when they see it for the first time, one of the words that's often used to describe the experience is breathtaking. And even if you've never been to the Grand Canyon, it's likely that you've been someplace where God's creation so stunned you with its majesty and its glory that your heart felt like it would explode if you just didn't simply erupt in praise to so great a creator. And here's a tantalizing thought for us. Can you imagine what it would have been like to observe God calling the creation into existence, of seeing some of that. Well, some of God's angels had that privilege. They had the privilege of observing a bit of God's creative handiwork. We're told in Job 38 that when God was creating the universe and laying the very foundations of all that we see, that the angels looked on and couldn't contain themselves and they burst forth in songs of joy. And we know there was at least one angel according to Ezekiel 28, that was in the splendor and beauty of the Garden of Eden before the fall, an angel whose beauty was commensurate with that very paradise. I'm speaking of Lucifer. Now, of course, we know Lucifer would fall and would take a third of the angels with him. But it's worth pointing out that he would have seen and experienced and heard glorious things in and around the garden. He would have known that man and woman are created in the image of God. He would have known that in all creation, man possesses a special dignity that even eclipses that of angels. Because only man is made according to God's likeness. Lucifer would have known that it required both male and female to best reflect God's glory. And he would have observed that first wedding. where Adam and Eve were joined together and the two became one flesh. And with those divine building blocks in place, the sanctity of human life, the sanctity of human sexuality, the sanctity of marriage, human beings could live for and marvelously reflect God's glory. Back to Lucifer. Again, we know when he fell, It was because of pride. He despised God because in his heart he wanted to be God. And so he's become the very enemy of God and he opposes every goodness of God. So here's what we need to ask ourselves. When we see the sanctity of human life or the sanctity of human sexuality or the sanctity of marriage come under attack, who do we think is ultimately behind it? It's not enlightened society. It's not forward-thinking progressives who are concerned with reproductive and gender justice. Whatever those terms mean, it's the devil. When the argument is made that a tiny baby in its mama's womb is disposable, or that marriage between one man and one woman is simply one of many ways to express intimate love, that's not culture. evolving, it's the aggravations of the devil. And as Bible-believing Christians, we need to know that. Murder is the currency the evil one trades in, and abortions are basically his jackpot. No sooner had man fallen into sin, and murder became part of our sin-cursed reality. We see this gruesome truth unfold in Genesis 4. This is printed out for you there in your handout. Now Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, I have acquired a man from the Lord. Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel in his offering, but he did not respect Cain in his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. So the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door, and its desire is for you, but you should rule over it. Now Cain talked with Abel, his brother, and it came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him. So the story of Cain and Abel brings the horrible realities of murder front and center. As a congregation, we've actually had some experience with the reality of murder. It's a dreadful thing. to contemplate that a person you know well, a person you may have trusted and loved, could do something so heinous. But murder happens a lot. In 2022, there were 28,849 homicides in the United States. That breaks down to about 68 each and every day. I got that from the CDC, the Center of Disease and Control. And of course, if you're a Christian, you ought to read that and immediately know that number is a big, fat lie. Because there were actually 613,383 babies that were aborted in 2022. And that breaks down to about 1,680 of them every day. To put a finer point on it, about 12 babies were slaughtered in their mom's womb in the time I've been talking this morning. That means, by the way, 2022 we're closer to 640,000 murders. And the question we need to ask is where did this murderous intent come from? How is it we find ourselves living in a culture of death? Where did this depravity come from that holds humanity so cheaply that it's regularly snuffed out even the lives of innocents? Well, I already mentioned that it harkens back to the devil, but I want to flush this out a bit, beginning at the garden. I know most of you are probably familiar with the events of Genesis 3. After Eve was enticed by the devil and her first parents rebelled against God, he came down from heaven to confront these sinners, Adam and Eve, the serpent, the woman, and the man. And in Genesis 3.15, we're given that first announcement of the gospel, the first promise that God would graciously address man's sin problem. Here's what he says to the serpent in that promise. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. In this verse, the sovereign God proclaims how he's going to address man's sin problem. It's through providing a serpent-crushing Redeemer. And this is glorious because it tells us something wonderful about our God's character, that He is indeed merciful and gracious, that He's long-suffering and abounding in goodness and truth. But in that verse, you also have God issuing a declaration of war between the seed of the woman and the seed of Satan. And if you wonder how long it took for that war to begin to unfold and take shape, you need only turn the page from Genesis 3 to Genesis 4. In Genesis 3, God promises a Redeemer who will come from the seed of the woman to crush the head of the Satan. That's war. In chapter 4, you have the seed of the serpent, who is Cain, murdering the seed of the woman, who is Abel. Everybody tracking with me? And by the way, I'll come back to this in a moment, but we know Cain is of the evil one. We know that specifically because of 1 John 3, 12. Again, I'll get back to that. To quote the almost always helpful Dr. Vodie Bauckham, in Genesis 3, God declared war. In Genesis 4, Satan took the first shot. So we see right off the bat, we're in a war, a war over life. And it's the devil's desire to destroy The seed. And again, something we ought to have in the back of our mind is what Jesus said about the devil when he was speaking to the Pharisees in John 8.44. He said, you're of your father, the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning. The Pharisees had said that they were the seed of Abraham. And Jesus is saying to them, no, because you want to kill me, it's proof that you're of the seed of the devil. You have his attributes, and he was a murderer from the beginning. And this really is what we have to understand. The impulse to unjustly take life is in the fallen DNA of the seed of the serpent. Everybody with me so far? Any questions, comments? When Genesis 4, it's interesting. murder isn't actually the first activity of the seed of Satan. The first activity directed against God is Satan's desire through Cain to corrupt worship. Satan's desire through Cain to to corrupt worship. Now what I'm going to do here over the next few minutes isn't meant to be a tight kind of expositional sermon, but I do want to show you how I'm getting at and how it connects back to the issue of being pro-life. Genesis 4 begins with a description of Cain's birth and then Abel's, and the next thing we know about these two is that they're grown men who are old enough to accept adult responsibilities. They have adult vocations. In other words, they have jobs. It tells us there at the end of verse two that Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. So Abel went into the livestock business. Cain was a farmer. And then in verses three through five, we get an account of what is really the first recorded worship service after the Garden of Eden. Listen again to those verses. And in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock, and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offspring, but he did not respect Cain and his offering." Now one of the questions that immediately arises is just how much had God disclosed to Cain and Abel about what he expected in worship? Had God given them commands and regulations about worship? And the answer we have to derive from the text is clearly yes. We don't know for certain if God communicated these things directly to the brothers or if Adam and Eve taught them these things, but the text indicates they knew quite a bit about worship. Let me show you why I say that. First off, there was clearly a prescribed place of worship. Glance here at the text. In verse 3 it tells us that Cain brought his offering, and in verse 4, Abel brought his offering. Now what does that teach us? Cain didn't just go out in the garden and pick up some nice tomatoes, hold them up to heaven, and say, hey God, this is for you. And Abel didn't go into the pasture, slaughter a lamb, and offer up to God right there. No, they both understood that there was an appointed place to go to to meet with God for worship. By the way, that's an early, early picture of the church, isn't it? And not only was there an appointed place, there was an appointed time for worship. Again, verse 3 begins with, and in the process of time it came to pass. In the original, it literally says, when it came to pass at the end of days. And what that means is at the end of a precise or prescribed period of time, it was time for something. And what it was time for was a sacrifice. And both Cain and Abel knew this because they came at the same time. And here's why that's important. There was an appointed place and an appointed time for worship. There was also an appropriate offering to be brought for worship. Abel brought an offering, please God. Cain had more of a Frank Sinatra theological vibe, I'll do it my way. And God didn't respect his offering. And we know why. because John tells us in 1 John 3, 12. Again, that's printed for you. The apostle says, we're to love one another, not be like Cain, who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brothers were righteous. probably worth pointing out that the word that's used there for murder is fratso, and it's a very graphic, violent word. It means slit throat, slaughter, really a gruesome act of violence. The reason that's important is because it reminds us that this wasn't just a sibling rivalry that sort of got out of control. It wasn't a squabble that went to a little bit further than it should have gone. This was a determined act of intense violence Cain was furious that his brother had faith and that his brother sought to rightly worship God and he was so filled with envy he slaughtered his brother and of course what was going on in the background is Satan establishing a culture of death through his son Cain because he wants to snuff out the promised seed. And it is interesting that there's a progression here from false worship to murder, from false worship to a culture of death. And that makes sense for a couple reasons. First off, we worship a living God who is the author and architect of life. And if you don't worship the living God, you ultimately can't have a value and appreciation for life. And second, there can be no doubt the devil loves to corrupt worship, but in the end, He can't actually do anything to hurt or destroy God, but he can incite all those from his wicked seed to destroy God's image bearers so they can't worship him on this side of glory. And that's what we see unfold in redemptive history. The devil wants to keep the Messiah from coming, and he also wants to kill those who would potentially worship the one whose image they bear. Let me say it as plainly as I can. God's the author of life, the devil's the father of murder, and every murder and every abortion is a vile trophy for the evil one. And listen, we know the devil's seed, when it's flourishing, will surely unfold in a culture of death. I mean, just down in the next section of Genesis 4, you get Cain's genealogy. And the high-water mark, if I can say that, the high-water mark of his genealogy is with Lamech, Cain's great-great-grandson. Listen to what the Bible tells us about Lamech. This is, in his own words, verses 23 to 24. It's printed for you. Then Lamech said to his wives Adah and Zelah, Hear my voice, wives of Lamech, listen to my speech. For I have killed a man for wounding me, even a young man for hurting me. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold. What a song to sing to your wife. I'm a murderer. Aren't you proud of me? And this is the seed that will not worship the true and living God. And that will inevitably devolve into brazen violence and murder into a culture of death. You see, what Lamech is saying is my life is what matters. You get in my way, you hurt me, you trouble my plans, you inconvenience me, I'll kill you and I'm going to be perfectly happy doing it. The great thing about Lamech is he's at least honest. My life matters, yours doesn't. How can this produce anything other than a culture of violence and death? And again, worship grounds us in the realities away from that. I mean, this is a guy who murders and sings about it. He sings a song of praise to his willingness and ability to murder indiscriminately. And isn't that exactly what abortion advocates do? What is my body, my choice, but a song of worship? exalting in the belief that I'm my own God. I have power over life and death, and I'm perfectly happy killing my baby if it inconveniences me. I worship me, and my praise song is my body, my choice. And here's what I want us to get. This is the context in which we need to see the abortion issue. The culture of death flows out of false worship, and the culture of death will exist and thrive in any social condition that dismisses the reality that every human being has dignity from the moment of conception because they bear the likeness of God. And ultimately, the one who's inspiring and motivating abortion is the devil. Again, we need to know that, believe that, and live and function as though we believe that. Well, I do want to transition over to a few Proverbs and kind of start pulling some of this together and maybe work out a right attitude, but let me pause. Any comments, questions? Well, glance there at the handout, and I want to read Proverbs 6, 16 and 17. The Lord mentioned seven things that he hates, but we're only going to read the first three, beginning of verse 16. These six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to him, a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, pride, lying, and hands that unjustly take life through murder. God hates them. And you can't miss that what we just read in Proverbs 6 are primary descriptors of Satan. He fell because of pride. Lying is his natural tongue, and he's been a murderer from the beginning. Now we've talked about murder. I want to briefly talk about how Satan uses lies to promote the murder of unborn. And lies really have been the oil that's greased the abortion machine for the past six decades. Anybody here heard the name Bernard Nathanson? He was an abortion doctor in the 1960s and 70s. He was truly one of the leaders in the movement to make killing babies legal in America. Dr. Nathanson was one of the founding members of NARAL. Have you ever heard of that group? The National Abortion Rights Action League? who's also director of an abortion clinic in New York City in the mid-70s, which at the time was the largest abortion clinic in the world. And by his own testimony, his practice and the practices he oversaw were responsible for some 75,000 abortions. All that by way of saying this guy was no moderate. He was a radical abortion activist who was making bank on account of murder. When the late 70s, his view changed. With the development of ultrasound technology, he came to realize that abortion was nothing less than the unjust killing of a human being. And he became a prominent pro-life advocate. He wrote an article called The Confessions of an Ex-Abortionist. By the way, I put a link to that in the handout. It's worth just going and reading the whole thing. It's short. Now, the piece is a bit dated, to be sure, but it's still profound in the way it explains the deceptive tactics that he and other abortions used to make abortion legal and socially acceptable in the United States. It tells how he and other abortionists fabricated lies and fed them to the media who were more than willing to swallow them. They told the media back in 1968 that the number of illegal abortions that were done in the US was nearing 100,000 a year. But he says, we were lying about that. We made that number up. In reality, we estimated the number was closer to 10,000. They told the media that 10,000 women a year were dying because of illegal abortions. And he said, we were lying. The number was probably closer to 200 to 250. Let me read you a quote from his article. Again, this is printed for you. We persuaded the media. that the cause of permissive abortion was a liberal, enlightened, sophisticated one. Knowing that if a true poll were taken, we would be soundly defeated. We simply fabricated the results of fictional polls. We announced to the media that we had taken polls and 60% of Americas were in favor of permissive abortions. This is the tactic of the self-fulfilling lie. Repeating the big lie often enough convinces the public. Repeating the big lie often enough convinces the public. Well, Dr. Nathanson goes on to explain a second tactic they used was the vilification of the Catholic Church and made it seem that anyone who dared oppose abortion was just someone who was so socially backwards that they ought not to have an opportunity to even speak in public. He said a third tactic they employed was the denigration and suppression of any scientific evidence that life begins at conception. Again, I want to read another little snippet from his piece. A favorite pro-abortion tactic is to insist that the definition of life, excuse me, the definition of when life begins is impossible, that the question is a theological or moral or philosophical one, anything but a scientific one. But fetology makes it undeniably evident that life begins at conception and requires all the protection and safeguards that any of us enjoy. Now, if you read his article, this is it in a nutshell. From about 1968 till 1973, we lied. We lied about it all. We lied about the numbers. We lied about the public accepting it. We lied about the science. But the media was with us and they sold it for us. Repeating the big lie often enough convinces the public. And I can't reiterate this too much. Abortion is built upon pride, lying, and murder. And in that way, it's altogether demonic. And here's the thing. While Roe versus Wade was overturned in 2022, and supposedly it's a state matter, abortions actually went up in 2023. In 2023, there were a tad more than a million abortions. In 2024, while the total numbers haven't been tallied yet, it looks to be about 1.2 million. So even with Roe versus Wade having been sent back to the states, as it were, the numbers are increasing. So we do well to understand The devil and the sons of Cain have not lost their lust for murdering innocents. Any questions, comments, thoughts? No. These numbers are grossly underrepresented for sure. Yeah, for sure. It doesn't count if you take a pill. Yeah, anything else? So how do we respond? Yeah, we'll go this way. Well, no matter how the lie gets spun or dressed up in sophisticated language, what abortion is is infanticide. And God's people need to take a stand, speak up, and be willing to defend the defenseless. Look there at Proverbs 24, verses 10 and 11. If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. So verse 10 assumes that you and I are gonna sometimes find ourselves in adverse situations that are gonna require a tremendous amount of spiritual strength and moral courage. And the exhortation is simply don't grow faint, don't falter in those moments that ultimately prove to expose your character. And the point is don't give up and don't give in. Bruce Waltke, who's probably one of the preeminent scholars in the book of Proverbs, makes these helpful remarks. He writes, a person reveals the degree and extent of his strength by his conduct in crisis. That's when his powers of endurance are stretched and an estimate of his toughness and stamina can be made. Another commentator, Derek Kidner, says it this way. Adverse circumstances are fair tests, not unfair ones, of a man's mettle. Both of these excellent biblical scholars are getting at the same thing. God's people don't shrink back in the face of so gross an injustice. And then this moral courage that we're called to have is immediately applied in verse 11 to protecting life. Notice the word there, it's the word deliver, deliver those who are drawn toward death. In the original, it means to snatch a person from the jaws of death. It's the same word used in 1 Samuel 17 when David was trying to convince Saul that he had the courage and strength to go out and face Goliath. Listen to what David said. This is from 1 Samuel 17, 34 and 35. David said to Saul, your servant used to keep his father's sheep, and when a lion or bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went after it and struck it and delivered that lamb from its mouth. You see, verse 11 is telling us from Proverbs to protect, to deliver those who are facing. unjust death. Again, let me restate the duty of verse 11 like this. If there are a group of people who are being led away to death who ought not to die, God's people have the responsibility and calling to try to rescue them. It really is an that simple. And the second half of verse 11 says the same thing in a slightly different way. If there are a group of people who are slipping toward the slaughter, who ought not to be slaughtered, it's our responsibility to gather them up and hold them back. So what's being commanded here of God's people is a kind of intervention. When we become aware that there are people who are being killed who ought not to be killed. The broad brush application of this is to protect the innocent, to stand up for those who don't deserve a death sentence. And certainly, I think we can apply this very directly to abortion. Because we're talking about innocents who have committed no crime, and they have a death sentence imposed on them, largely because they're viewed in some way or some fashion as inconvenient. Any questions, comments? Well, let's just briefly look at Proverbs 31.8 and then we'll take some time to flesh this out a little more. Proverbs 31.8, open your mouth for the speechless and the cause of all who are appointed to die. Again, if I can refer back to Proverbs 6, it's very illuminating. God hates a proud look. He hates a lying tongue. He hates hands that shed innocent blood because those things are, they're a portrait of the devil. And they're also a portrait of the so-called abortion industry. It's made up of proud looks and lying tongues and hands that shed innocent blood. And we can't be speechless in light of that. We can't be speechless in the cause of those who are dying unjustly. We can't remain silent in light of so much evil. So what do we do? Now we'll discuss that. I'll ask you a question. How should our language express these things? How should our language express the view we have about abortion when we're talking about it? Well, depending on who you're talking to and what the scenario is, I've noticed that it might change. If you're talking to somebody who's had an abortion and has a history with that, your language may be a little bit different than somebody that you are having a debate with or at a protest or things like that, if that makes sense. So I've noticed that depending on who the discussion is with, you may tailor it a little differently. And that's generally true. I mean, we're going to speak differently to different groups of people. But I think we need to, I agree with Thomas, but I think we need to emphasize clarity and absolute truth through this because as As you made the point, the devil's main tool is deceit. So what the culture tries to do is create all these gray areas, right? That's where all the... I've heard Thomas speak on this when he gives presentations. They try to give all these exceptions. They bring forth the rape and the incest, and that becomes all of a sudden the main arguing point instead of the exception, right? and there are many, many more gray areas, so-called, than that, that are thrown out there by the culture. So we need to lean in the opposite direction and lean into clarity. So I think regardless of who we're talking to, there has to be clarity, there has to be an emphasis on standing upon the truth while still bringing in the love that we need to have as God's people. I had a conversation Less than a month ago, with a person, we were talking about the way we use language and talking about the use of the word murder. And I said, we have to call this murder. And the question was, so you think women who have an abortion are committing murder? I said, I do. I actually believe that. And here's what I said. And I'm sure smart people would find a way around this, but it stumped him. I said, let's just imagine we're not talking about abortion. And I said to you, Tell me what context an innocent can be premeditatively murdered and not get justice. Just what context is there for that? Everybody would say none until you say the word abortion. Then all of a sudden, that crumbles. And people will say, but that's not politically expedient. Maybe this is speaking from the cheap seats, but I don't care. I think I shared this with you. There's actually a congressman, I can't remember the district, who this next session in the state legislature, I get it's probably going to get knocked down, but he wants to make abortion a murder. I get it's going to get knocked down, you keep bringing it back and keep praying that the Lord will institute justice. Because again, if we believe in biblical justice, and this is an innocent whose life is being taken. Any comments, questions? What is your thought on the church's responsibility through all this? Like this right here, what we have here. What is the church's responsibility? I'm just curious because Thomas and I have had a lot of interactions about this, where he's gone to different churches trying to get pastors and members to sign petitions and all that. And I'm just curious, what is your thought on that? I'm not exactly sure what you're asking me, so if I'm not getting at what you're getting at, just tell me and I'll shift gears. The mantra, again, if you talk to Anne, I've shared this, most of you probably know this, it's been a couple years back, Anne was trying to do a big pro-life piece in the Holland Sentinel. They were going to take out a whole page ad in the Holland Sentinel, and the goal was to have all the ministers in Holland sign that ad, and I think she could only get like 14 ministers in all of Holland, and there's probably a thousand of us in Holland, everybody's ordained to something and all it seems so but but they but they and here was here was their rationale that is a political issue that is such a cop-out thou shall not murder that's a biblical justice issue and God's law is applicable to all people in all times especially if you're a reformed person who believes your confessions So yes, are you asking practical strategies or if we should take a stand? just trying to clarify in my mind. I guess I'm more talking about the practical side when it comes to things like signing petitions, like having a petition in the church or signs or organizing events to go stand in front of the abortion clinic, stuff like that. Does that make sense? I understand that, I think we're all in agreement that we should take a stand. It's just a matter of how we as a church decide, okay, how do we take that stand? Todd, if I speak out of turn, correct me because you're, and I mean that for real because you're an elder, but I wouldn't have a problem. Here's what I wouldn't do on the Lord's Day. I wouldn't stand behind the pulpit and spend 10 minutes to talk about our abortion work that we're going to do this week. I would preach a sermon similar to that because it's biblical and it's moral and that belongs in the pulpit, right? I wouldn't take 10, 15 minutes to discuss it, but I would certainly announce it and say, hey, and we've done this in the past. That's the thing. The folks who are relatively new here, you don't know Isla Yonker, but she was actively involved in these issues since about 1973, 74. She was truly a foot soldier. And so we used to announce those things all the time and encourage people to participate. And for example, I've done, couple times with the right to life and then spoken at the chapel afterwards, you know. So yeah, we're gonna promote it that way. Is that what you're asking? Yeah, that's exactly what I'm asking. Any other thoughts, comments, questions? There are a lot of great ministries that do a lot of great work with street evangelism and street preaching outside of abortion mills. I know Gabe knows some of those guys. Did you see the picture that Ann took of, I believe it was at some sort of Holland Art Center or something like that, where it was a celebration of abortion with blood and all sorts of stuff. Yeah, yeah. Anyways, and it was recent. Anyways, but when you said celebrating, That's exactly what they're doing. So it's not St. Nicol Brer. It's not anything like that. It's a celebration. I've seen videos of people celebrating it with like a birthday cake afterwards and having a little party. You know what? They do that for the same reason homosexuals want homosexual marriage to be legal. Their conscience is burdened and they're hoping If enough people say, even though your heart is telling you, in your heart of hearts it's wrong, if enough people will tell you it's okay, maybe it'll satisfy. And see, this is where you have the opportunity to bring the gospel to bear. The one thing that can actually remove that guilt, if you have had an abortion, the one thing that can take away the shame, and the one thing that can empower you to do the right thing, is the power of Jesus Christ offered freely in the gospel. Any other questions, comments, thoughts? Well, I also like how you linked murder to false worship. I think that was a very good link and you see that playing out today for sure. Because worship is a sacrament. Right. Exactly. That's what it is. It's a secular sacrament. show how religious we are. And here's the thing, if you can actually say, I rejoice in participating in my sacrament, you're really a pious secularist. Yeah, it's gross. Anything else? All right, let's pray. Father, again, we thank you and bless you for your word and just the profundity of it. And we pray, oh God, that you would help us to be men and women who love you and love your word and who love life. and extol virtues who not only care for the unborn, but indeed all the little ones. Help us to have a big heart, charitable minds, and a charitable frame, and just a desire to be a blessing. We pray, Lord, that opportunities for things like adoption and foster children would be prevalent in and among our churches. And again, that these little ones would find good and godly homes to live in. Again, help us now as we gather to worship you. Help our hearts and minds be empowered and enlightened by the Holy Spirit to marvel at the glories of Jesus. We ask all this in his precious name, amen.