The Shedding of Innocent Blood

"The Shedding of Innocent Blood"

Cleveland Baptist Church, Cleveland, OH

Text: Psalm 94

Introduction: We are going to read the 94th Psalm this morning. As we read I will make some comments. Let me give you a little background so that you have a better understanding of what are reading. The author of this Psalm is crying out to God to show Himself. The wickedness around this pious man was more than he could stand vv. 1-3. Notice he catalogs some of the sins of this people vv. 4-7. Now notice that prophet shares with them and with us a message… vv. 8-15. Then he asks some questions.. vv. 16-20.

It as if in v. 20 the prophet asks the question why are those in authority allowed to make laws that make wrong seem right? Then he answers that question by acknowledging the fact that evil exists in this world v. 21. We are told that the Devil is the god of this world. He is the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience. Now note where this man is looking for answers, he realizes that God has His way of righting wrongs vv. 22-23.

Now I shared that with you this morning because as I see it, that seems to be where we are as a people and a nation. Today is what has been designated as Sanctity of Life Sunday. 26 years ago 7 of the 9 members of the Supreme Court passed a landmark decision in case known as Roe vs. Wade in which they declared that life in the womb is not protected by the Constitution in this society. Therefore abortion on demand became the law of the land. Can’t you see how vv. 20-21 fit into that… “THEY FRAMED MISCHIEF BY LAW.” The word “MISCHIEF“ carries the idea of “wickedness, perverseness, sorrow.” Then he says they gather themselves against the soul of the righteous, and condemn innocent blood. The idea is expressed means that the most innocent and most upright in society suffer and die because of their wickedness. Notice in particular the last verse….

We have had 26 years of the most innocent of our society dying in the abortion mills of America. David Miller in an article entitled “Abortion issue is U.S. holocaust” printed in The American Family Journal gives these sobering statistics. “NOW A GENERATION INTO THIS AMERICAN HOLOCAUST, IT IS ESTIMATED THAT OVER 37,000,000 BABIES HAVE DIED AT THE HANDS OF ABORTIONISTS. THIS IS MORE THAN SIX TIMES GREATER THAN THE 6,000,000 JEWS MURDERED BY HILTER. THEIR NAMES WOULD FILL THE VIETNAM VETERANS’ MEMORIAL WALL OVER 700 TIMES. DURING THESE 25 YEARS, ONE CHILD WAS ABORTED FOR APPROXIMATELY EVERY THREE BORN.”

I challenge you this morning Christian to go through your Bible and look for what God says about the shedding of innocent blood. God will forgive a lot of things, and He will forgive the sin of abortion, but there is a price that is paid by the individual and the nation for that sin. I believe that we as a nation of people this morning have already begun to experience the judgment of God. God has begun to bring on this nation its own iniquity…

Who would have ever believed we have an impeachment trial going on in the Senate dealing with such perverse and graphic material? Think about the fact of who is crusading for the President. Mr. Larry Flynt not exactly Mr. Noble.

Who would have ever believed that we have such a low moral standard for leadership in our nation? Yet the attitude of the people is, as long as we have a good and strong economy, as long as there is peace and prosperity in the nation leave things alone. As long as the economy is good the devil himself could run and win.

They tell us that violent crime is down, but it seems to me that our city streets are not all that safe, that gangs and guns rule.

Our young people are not growing up in innocence but at younger ages are becoming street smart. They set by the hour and play video games filled with blood and violence. They listen to music that promotes coarse behavior and morality. They turn on TV and they find programs that promote raunchy and promiscuous behavior. Hollywood keeps cranking out more and more filth that our society consumes with an insatiable appetite. They go on the internet and bring on to the screen things that are so vile and perverse that no human should see. In school they are taught that there are no moral absolutes, that sexuality is just another appetite to be satisfied. Parents are sadly missing from the formative years of young people’s lives. They grow up with out discipline and without love. Many times the parents that are there for their children, lack the core moral and social values that mold character and change the face of the nation.

The heroes of the youth of America are perverted rock stars, raunchy shock jocks and morally bankrupt movie stars and starlets.

The elite in our society have told our kids that there is no God, that they are descendents of animals. They in turn tell the kids that they are gods. That all they have to do is tap that inner hidden potential and they have anything and be anything they want. Then we wonder what is wrong with them when they take a gun and murder their parents and classmates? We wonder what is wrong with them when they have a baby and dump its body, and leave it to die in a garbage can or a dumpster?

It would seem to me that God is allowing our iniquity to come back up like a sewer backs up. Our nation is dying and many of us are too blind to see. We want to come to church and let the preacher entertain us. Make us laugh and feel good about ourselves. Let’s not talk about the sin sick soul of America.

This morning I want to preach about the issue of The Shedding Innocent Blood. The Evil of Abortion. I want you to see what Abortion has done to this nation and to any nation that allows its practice.

I. Abortion Devalues the Sanctity of Life.

A. SANCTITY OF LIFE IS DEFINED.

The idea expressed in the phrase “SANCTITY OF LIFE” is that human life is special it is created by an act of God. That every person who lives is a unique and special creation of God. Because we are given life by God, we should do all we can to make life valuable and important in society.
The Bible makes it plain that we know where life comes from…

Isaiah 44: 24a “Thus SAITH THE LORD, THY REDEEMER, AND HE THAT FORMED THEE FROM THE WOMB,”

Jer 1:5 “BEFORE I FORMED THEE IN THE BELLY I KNEW THEE; AND BEFORE THOU CAMEST FORTH OUT OF THE WOMB I SANCTIFIED THEE,”

B. ABORTION IS DEFINED

In Webster’s New World College Dictionary as

a. Any Spontaneous expulsion of an embryo of a fetus before
it is sufficiently developed to survive.

b. Any deliberate procedure that removes or induces the
expulsion of , a living or dead embryo or fetus.

Let there be no mistake, we are referring to the act whereby a living child is forced from the womb of the mother prior to the natural birth procedure. Not for the sake of the woman’s health, nor because the child is seriously physically flawed and could not survive no matter what gestation of life. No, we are talking about a willful decision to evacuate the womb for the sake of convenience and the happiness of the woman with end result being a dead child.
On January 22, 1973 the Supreme Court ruled that unborn human beings are not legal persons according to the U.S. Constitution. An unborn baby is the property of the owner (mother) and she can have the child killed at her request, even up to the time of birth if her doctor agrees.

C. BY ALLOWING THIS THE MURDER OF INNOCENT
CHILDREN WE HAVE DEVALUED LIFE.

We have basically said as a nation, that we will not protect the most innocent of our society. In case you wondering whether or not we are talking about life please consider:

a.. The medical record

                    i. 18 days after conception heart beats on its own.
                    ii. 6 weeks quickly moves in the wom
                    iii. Brain waves present at 8 weeks grabs,
                            swims freely, heartbeat measurable.
                    iv. 12 weeks cries, sucks thumb, sleeps and wakes,
                            All organs systems function, including mental.
                            Can definitely feel pain.
                    v. From this point on nothing new develops just growth
                            and maturing process.

b. The Word of God declares personhood of a child yet in the womb

Jeremiah 1:5 “BEFORE I FORMED THEE IN THE BELLY I KNEW THEE; AND BEFORE THOU CAMEST FORTH OUT OF THE WOMB I SANCTIFIED THEE, AND I ORDAINED THEE A PROPHET UNTO THE NATIONS.”

Psalms 139:16 “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.”

c. The viability of human life…

We have seen babies born as small as a 1 pound and yet survive, the difference the fact that the parents wanted that child and believed in life.
When abortion began in 1973 people tried to warn this nation that it was just the beginning of the downward spiral that would devalue life.

                a. There is clear evidence that infanticide is now practiced
                    in our country. In other words if a child is born with many
                    physical problems that child can be left alone to die.

                b. Euthanasia is now also practiced. There are states that
                    are voting on laws that allow for Dr. assisted suicide. Dr.
                    C. Everett Koop has said that in the future euthanasia will
                    dwarf abortion in size and scope.

c. We see science trying to mettle with life by cloning.

David Miller again states: “WE’VE CREATED AN ATMOSPHERE IN THIS COUNTRY THAT SAYS LIFE IS NOT SACRED. IT IS CHEAP IF YOU CAN CREATE IT IN A TEST TUBE OR PETRI DISH.”

The honest truth is we have so devalued human life that animals are more protected in this country than unborn babies.

Illus. If you took a pregnant female dog and abused her like a woman is abused in an abortion clinic and then evacuated her womb of the pups she was carrying and law found out about it you would be arrested and marked as an unreasonably cruel person. You would no doubt be treated by news media and liberal justice system as the scum of the earth.

II. Abortion Divides the Nation.

A. SLAVERY DIVIDED OUR NATION.

In the mid-1800’s our country began to deal with issue of slavery. It was wrong and it should have never been tolerated and practiced. Those were dark hours in our nations history. On March 6, 1857 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the landmark Dred Scott decision that black people were not “legal persons: according to the U.S. Constitution. A slave was the property of the owner and could be bought and sold, used and even killed by the owner at the owner’s discretion.
Of course the issue was settled by a civil war, that divided our nation. Those who were for slavery fought on one side and those opposed to the practice of slavery fought on the other side. In 1868 after the conclusion of the Civil War the people of this country voted into the Constitution 13TH AND 14TH AMENDMENTS which gave legal protection to all persons regardless of color. Now what constitutes a protected legal person is once again in question.

B. ABORTION BITTERLY DIVIDES OUR NATION AGAIN.

Mother Theresa was right when she made this statement: “America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion HAS PITTED MOTHERS AGAINST THEIR CHILDREN AND WOMEN AGAINST MEN. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father’s role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts-- a child—as a competitor, and intrusion, and an inconvenience.”
Since from 1973 through 1997 there have been 25 major court battles over the issue of abortion, costing countless hours and no doubt into the millions of dollars.
In the realm of politics nothing is as hot a political topic as the issue of abortion on demand. It has been the focal point in almost every major election. Both of the major political parties have tried to neutralize the issue by distancing themselves from it, but it refuses to go away.
The news media is sides heavily with the pro-abortion crowd. This past Friday 26 years past the date of Roe v. Wade there were hundreds of thousands in Washington D.C. to march and commemorate the shedding of innocent blood. It got very little news coverage. Yet let a 100 homosexuals rally and it is on the front page and the lead story on the National News. Let a handful of radical feminists protest on Public Square and they would make the National News.

II. Abortion Hardens the Heart of the Nation.

A. LIKE ALL WICKED SIN ABORTION SEARS THE CONSCIOUS OF A PEOPLE.

God has put a conscious inside every man, but when you ignore that voice that speaks to you and you keeping violating the message it becomes easier to do what you know is wrong.

Illus: Melody Green in her pamphlet “Children Things we Throw Away?” shares this testimony “There the unnamed doctor who shared on a radio show that after he performed his first abortion, he became so violently ill, that he thought he would die. He went through weeks of depression and thought of suicide. He said, ‘The first time I felt like it was murder, but I did again and again and again, and now 20 years later I am facing what happened to me as a doctor as a human being. Sure I got hard. Sure, the money was important. And, oh, it was an easy thing, once I had taken this step to see these women as animals and these babies as just tissue.’”

Dr. C. Everett Koop writes this;

“When doctors are willing to become social executioners for millions of babies, we must examine what motives are used to in justifying their actions. Usually, reasons given include preserving the life of the mother, the expectation of a defective child, rape, and incest. Even if these were valid reasons, they would account for only 3% of all abortions. A full 97% of abortions occur for matters of convenience and economy.

Let’s admit it, most of do not feel as strongly about the issue of abortion as we should. We know that it is wrong but because it has gone on for so long we have become hardened to its gruesome and brutal reality.

    B. WE HAVE BECOME SO HARDENED THAT WE
            CANNOT EVEN OUTLAW THE CRUELEST
            TYPE OF ABORTION.

Congress and the U.S. Senate have twice voted on bill known as the Partial Birth Abortion bill. They have passed it on to the Mr. Clinton to sign and he vetoed it and sent it back. On all both occasions they the House and the Senate failed to have 2/3rd votes necessary to override the Presidents veto.
To understand the partial birth abortion procedure would make us sick. And yet these late term abortions are performed regularly, it is nothing but cold-blooded murder.
Is it any wonder that young women are killing their babies as they deliver and dumping their bodies so cruelly and coldly?

IV. Abortion Ushers in God’s Wrath.

    A. THE BIBLE IS PLAIN WHEN INNOCENT BLOOD
            IS SHED GOD BRINGS WRATH UPON THAT
            NATION OR PEOPLE.

2 Kings 24:4 tells us that God will not pardon the shedding of innocent blood.
Look Psalms 106:38-40. We have sacrificed our children to idols.. The idol of self, the idol of convenience, the idol of sexual pleasure.

B. AMERICA IS ALREADY FEELING THE WRATH OF GOD.

According to a 1984 government accounting office report, every human being that is born and lives in America has the average potential of contributing nearly $250,000 to the tax base during their working years. An abortion robs this nation of not only significant tax revenue for the next 40 years, but it also depletes millions of dollars worth of consumption of goods and services that make up the base economy of this country.
We have seen the Hand of God move against our nation… Fires in the west. Mud slides in the West, Hurricanes in the South and East, Flooding in the Mid-west, Drought in the South.
We have watched as our nation went from being first in the world in education to the place where we now seriously lack in major areas of education.

Conclusion: You say OK preacher you are right what do we do?

FIRST: If you have never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior you need to get Saved.

SECOND: If you are saved, and your not living for Jesus you need to get right with God. I am amazed that in my counseling the things I learn that people tolerate and practice as Christians. I may be talking to someone this morning, and you say you are a Christian, you may have had an abortion. You need to make it right with your God. There are many of God’s people who take a casual approach toward morality. Get right with God and read His Word and get His mind on these issues.

THIRD: We need to pray and beseech God for our Nation. Be an intercessor in your prayer life. Ask God to work to end this is horrific sin and change the hearts of the nation.

FOURTH: Get involved in the pro-life ministry of our church. See Bro. Jim Jones and do something to turn back the tide.

FIFTH: Go soul winning, the greatest impact that Christians can have on the culture is to tell people about the saving grace of God.

------------

Return to Sermon Index