Sermon Text

Psalm 82:1-8, “1 God presides in the great assembly; he renders judgment among the “gods”: 2 “How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked? 3 Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. 4 Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. 5 “The ‘gods’ know nothing, they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. 6 “I said, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.’ 7 But you will die like mere mortals; you will fall like every other ruler.” 8 Rise up, O God, judge the earth, for all the nations are your inheritance.”

Interpretation

In ancient Israel, the judges were called “gods” because they had authority from God to judge and lead His people. Thus, this psalm is not meant to teach that there are multiple gods (polytheism), rather it refers to governmental leaders. Here God is rebuking them for abusing their authority and failing to carry out justice for the poor and oppressed (vv. 2-4). In the same way, even though we do not live in a theocracy like Israel, the Bible considers the government as “God’s servant,” for they ultimately receive their authority from God, and are accountable to God for how they govern (Rom. 13:1-9). Thus, the rebuke of God to Israel’s leaders in this text may be applied to United States government, its judges and officials because they have used their God-given authority to sanction one of the wickedest practices known to man: abortion.

Abortion Stats

  • Abortion has been legal since 1973 per the Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe v. Wade.
  • 56 million abortions have occurred in the past 41 years.
  • There are roughly 1.5 million abortions per year / 3,500 per day / 2 per minute.
  • 3 out of 10 women will have had an abortion by age 45.

Definition of Abortion

The deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy (Oxford).

Depictions of Abortion

“Suction Aspiration/Suction Curettage”

Abort1

“Salt Poisoning (Saline Injection)”

Abort2

“Dilation and Extraction (D&X)”

Abort3

The Culture Says, God Says

  • THE CULTURE SAYS… Unborn children are not yet human, but are merely clumps of tissue, fishlike creatures, or parasites.
  • GOD SAYS… Unborn children are miracles (Ps. 139:13-18), blessings (Ps. 127:3-4), fully human (Gen. 1:26-28; 9:5-6), our neighbors (Lev. 19:18; Lk. 10:25-29), and the least of these (Mat. 25:31-46).

Abort4

  • THE CULTURE SAYS… Abortion is healthcare, a woman’s right, and a political issue.
  • GOD SAYS… Abortion is a spiritual issue (Jhn. 8:37-40; 1 Jhn. 3:11-15), murder (Ex. 20:13), child abandonment (1 Tim. 5:8), child sacrifice (Ps. 106:35-40), and our national sin (2 Kgs. 17:13-20; Jer. 7:31-34).

Application

1. REPENT//

  • Of any abortions you’ve had or been involved in.
  • If you have had a worldly “pro-choice” position on abortion.
  • If, as a Christian, you have been too apathetic or afraid to do anything about abortion.
  • Hebrew 9:14, 12:23b-24, “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death,so that we may serve the living God! … You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”

2. REACH OUT//

  • To children, born and unborn, who are unloved, unwanted or uncared for by fostering, adopting, sponsoring and serving in children’s and youth ministry.
  • To parents that feel pressure to have abortions for financial or social reasons.
  • James 1:27, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

3. REFUTE//

  • Pro-abortion lies wherever they may be found.
  • Ephesians 5:11, “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.”

4. REPEAT//

  • What God says about truth, life, justice, the unborn, and abortion to whomever whenever.
  • 2 Timothy 4:1-5, “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage —with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.”