What Makes Abortion Plausible? What Makes Abortion Unthinkable?, Part 6
The following is an edited transcript of a message preached by R. Albert Mohler, Jr. for "Sanctity of Human Life Sunday" on January 18, 2009. Today's installment is the sixth and final part in the six-part series.
The Gospel tells us that even in light of the fact that we are sinners
beyond even our own imagination to understand our sin, even though we
rob God of His glory, even though we do everything we can and
everything within our power to do new ways of doing evil, even though -
"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" - God loved us so
much! It was His purpose in the very beginning before we ever existed.
He knew us and He loved us, before we were formed in the world He had a
plan for us and He sent His Son, to die on the Cross, to shed His
blood, to pay the penalty for our sin, to pay a price that we could not
pay, to die in our place, and yes, by that one death, to accomplish
salvation for sinners.
And there comes the promise that if we trust Jesus, if we come to
know Christ as Lord and Savior, if we believe in Him, then we are
justified by faith. Indeed, we are made new creatures in Christ, the
old things are passed away and behold all things are become new. The
dead have become the living.
You see, it would be absolutely unchristian to talk about abortion
as if the last word is death. We can talk about abortion because we are
the people who know that the last word is life. We are the people who
know that in the great story of what God is doing, there is a reckoning
that is coming. There is no safety for anyone - abortionists, a woman
who has an abortion, a doctor who participates in abortion, murderers,
adulterers, liars, robbers, children who are disobedient to parents -
you know the Bible's catalog. We are all there, and we are all nailed.
But that isn't the last word. The last word is that that sin was
nailed to a Cross. And the last word is life because we know that
history is hurtling towards an end, an end that includes a reckoning
with no safety for those who do not know Jesus Christ as Savior. But
for those who come to know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, we
experience the forgiveness of sins.
And in the forgiveness of sins, so far as God the Father is
concerned, they are wiped away. Will we remember that we are sinners?
Yes, because as we wait for the perfect which is yet to come - as we
wait for God to bring all things to completion - we see the
consequences of sin still in our lives. Will we remember things that we
have done? Yes, we will. But, what should that memory lead us to do if
we are believers in Christ? If we have come to know new life in Christ,
and we have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, then the memory of
that sin leads us to love the Savior all the more.
Abortion is an issue that must sear the national conscience.
Abortion is an issue that is so real and relevant that right now -
right now - there are babies being terminated in wombs. Abortion is
such a crucial issue for us, however, because as Christians we know
that it is a Gospel issue. And we know that right now it is not just a
baby that is being terminated, it is not just a pregnancy that is being
ended - it is a life that is known by God before God made it in the
womb. It is a life that is being destroyed.
And brothers and sisters, as much as that must motivate us to
action, as much as that must simply sear our conscience into a state
whereby we cannot be satisfied until this scourge is brought to an end
- as much as it is all those things, it is also that which drives us
back to the Cross, to the Gospel, and back to the realization that the
only one who can bring life out of death is the one who is the author
of life from the first.
Let us pray: Our Father, we are so thankful for Your Word, we are
thankful for this word from Jeremiah as you spoke to Jeremiah, we are
thankful for this Word from David as you spoke to David, we are
thankful that as we come to this issue we come not as those who are
groping for some kind of insight, but as those who have heard your Word.
Father, we pray that you will speak, through us, to a nation, and we
pray this day to see the horrible atrocity of legalized abortion ended
in this nation.
Father, we pray that you will strengthen all who are in this task, and bring all of us into this task.
Father, we pray especially that if there be anyone here this morning
who does not know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, may they come to
understand, that when we talk about the sanctity of human life, we are
talking about a Gospel issue. And may they be drawn to the Cross of the
Lord Jesus Christ and come to know what it means to be saved by the
blood of the Lamb, to trust Christ as Savior and Lord, this day.
Father, may your people rejoice not because we know merely that
every single human life has dignity, but because we understand that
every single human life is sacred, because every single human life is
yours.
And to You alone, in Christ's name we pray, Amen.
Click here for Part One of this message, here for Part Two, here for Part Three, here for Part Four, here for Part Five.
Originally published January 30, 2009.
