THE PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

Almighty and eternal God, Creator of all things visible and invisible, You knit us together in our mother’s womb, and have given us life so that we might know You and love You and serve You all our days. Send Your Holy Spirit upon us with power, we pray, and renew our minds in accordance with Your Word, so that our lives may be more thoroughly transformed by Your grace and truth, and we may be strengthened to turn away from all our sins to follow Jesus Christ more nearly in the way of life and peace; to the glory of Your name. Amen.

THE READING OF GENESIS 3:1-7

THE ASCRIPTION OF PRAISE

Now to Him who loves us, who has freed us from our sins by His blood, and has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father - to Jesus Christ be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

THE SERMON

“Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ... “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:1, 4 ESV).

Those were the words of the evil one. He still speaks today: pleasantly, craftily, cunningly, deceptively, destructively. The basic strategy of evil is to question the word of God and the character of God. This was Satan’s first move in his conversation with Eve in the Garden of Eden. “Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” The fact is that God did not say that, but with that twisted question, Satan laid the snare for Eve, drawing her into a conversation which would lead to the ultimate temptation: to eat the fruit of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Yes, it was Satan’s invitation to a sacramental meal - a sacrament of evil design - the eating of which would bind Adam and Eve and the whole human race in a covenant of misery and death under the tyranny of Satan, cast out of communion with God. And, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food (the ends justified the means), and that it was a delight to the eyes (it was appealing and pleasing to her desires of self-interest), and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise (it was a source of power for self-rule), she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths (Genesis 3:6-7).

It wasn’t so wonderful after all. Death had come upon them. What had been life in fellowship and peace with God, was now a living death in fear and shame. They had believed the lie, and reached out to grasp God’s rightful authority as their own, to be like God so that they could displace God and take His place. Still today, fallen man believes the lie, “you will be like God,” meaning, “you can take the place of God.”

That is the lie which Satan wants you to believe, you and your children. This lie seduces fallen man into believing that we are indeed wise enough to live without God and to determine good and evil for ourselves. We ascribe the wisdom of God to ourselves, the wisdom to determine when the ends justifies the means, though the means be wicked (if something is “good for food,” then eat it). We grant to ourselves those things which are a “delight to the eyes,” satisfying our self-interest and pleasing ourselves, no matter the expense of others or the command of our Creator. And so, you see, fundamentally, it is this lie - “...you will be like God” - which advocates and promotes the abominations of abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, and human cloning. Philosophically, ideologically, and politically, the culture of death is founded upon Satan’s manipulative lies and fallen man’s sinful inclination to doubt God’s Word, rebel against God’s rule, and to grasp God’s authority for ourselves, in order to displace God out of our lives and out of His creation, so that we may do what we want.

For thirty-one years - since the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision on January 22, 1973, which legalized abortion in this nation - the elders and pastors of this congregation have been unified in leading this congregation as a distinctively pro-life congregation, and have authorized the observance of “Sanctity of Life Sunday” each January. We seek to hold our pro-life convictions with compassion and humility. This is not about pointing the shaming finger at women who in a time of crisis in the past, abandoned or threatened by the irresponsible father of the child, or coerced by parents looking for a quick fix, or being destitute and all alone with seemingly nowhere to turn, chose to have an abortion. Being pro-life has nothing to do with condemning women who have had an abortion, any more than Jesus condemned the woman caught in adultery.

The fact is that everyone in this sanctuary today, everyone - including me first of all and most all - is guilty of sin and worthy of God’s just condemnation, and therefore utterly and absolutely dependent upon the mercy of God revealed in Jesus Christ. I am a sinner:

My only comfort is that I belong - body and soul, in life and in death - not to myself, but to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. At the cost of His own precious blood, He has fully paid for all my sins and has set me free from the dominion of the devil.

Without Him, I would be helpless and hopeless, hiding from the past and afraid of the future, with nothing but fig leaves to cover my shame. But the wonderful thing about Jesus is, as the Scripture says, “...while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). He died for us, knowing the kind of people we are and the kind of things we would do, the very sins we would commit. Nothing surprises Him. He knows us better than we know ourselves; and that is precisely the reason that He came into the world to seek and to save the lost, and to give His life as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

The wonderful thing about Jesus is that, with Him as our Savior, we don’t need to try to cover up our sins with the flimsy fig-leaves of excuses, rationalizations, and defensive anger. When we come to Jesus seeking mercy, He clothes us with His own holiness and righteousness. He Himself is the covering for our sins, and when He covers us with Himself, our sins are absorbed and absolved in His grace and mercy, removed from us, so that there’s nothing left to hide.

The really wonderful thing about Jesus Christ is that He invites us, one and all, to take and eat freely of the Tree of Life, which was once a beautiful tree in the Garden but because of our sins was transformed into a hideous cross and planted upon a hill, on which He was crucified. Now He calls us to Himself, and offers us His body broken and blood shed upon that Tree, and says, “Take, and eat,” so that in covenant with Him we might be redeemed from the curse and receive life everlasting.

So, there’s no room for self-righteousness, no room for condescending religiosity, no room for self-congratulation about being on the “right side” as we hold our pro-life convictions, and work for the pro-life cause. If we are truly pro-life, then we are pro-life in the name of, in the Spirit of, following the example of, the One who gave His life to save us from our sins.

So to the broken and broken-hearted, we must always show compassion and mercy, and the healing power of Jesus’ love. That’s the reason that we support, and encourage your support of, the Blue Ridge Pregnancy Center, for example. But, at the same time, as followers of Jesus, as citizens of the commonwealth of Heaven, as spiritual soldiers sworn to the duties of truth and righteousness, we must also be prepared and willing to expose the works of darkness, to resist the devil, to stand firm in the fire of spiritual warfare. This has nothing to do with earthly, physical violence or harm to anyone else. Rather, it is a matter of shining the light of truth in a world clouded by the darkness of Satan’s lies. It is a matter of doing and supporting that which is right according to God’s Word, though faced with ridicule and persecution.

There are forces in our culture - philosophical, political, and worst of all, theological - who propagate Satan’s lies and advocate abomination. Before the 1960's, there was no place in Christian civilization or Christian theology or ethics for the acceptability of abortion, infanticide, or euthanasia. These were pagan practices clearly condemned by the Church from antiquity. But as the mainline protestant denominations became more and more conformed to the world in the 1960's and ‘70's, that which had been “unthinkable” throughout Christian history suddenly became “acceptable,” not only in the culture at-large but also within mainline Protestantism. In fact, in 1970 - three years before the Supreme Court decision! - the mainline Presbyterian Church issued a report suggesting the acceptability of abortion. And so, it was not long before very nice, and otherwise very decent people, professing Christians, began to fall for Satan’s lie and believe that mankind has the wisdom and the freedom to determine what is good and evil in contradiction to God’s word. What throughout Christian history has been unthinkable is now being advocated as acceptable, even by those who call themselves Christian.

The very same thing is happening now with regard to the blessing of homosexual unions and the legalization of homosexual marriage. I am not straying from the topic; it is related to the sanctity of life, and to the sanctity of sexuality. Who created male and female? Who brought male and female together, that they might become one flesh? Who ordered the creation so that the union of male and female would bring forth life, for His own glory? Who willed, and ordained, and defined marriage from the beginning? You see, for the state of Massachusetts to re-define marriage, such that it would include and identify a relationship between homosexuals, or for any politician, or church body, or pastor, to assert that there could be such a thing as “homosexual marriage,” or homosexual unions with God’s blessing, is quite simply to take the place of God, to grasp God’s authority, and to speak as God with the voice of Satan.

Of course, this is precisely the same thing that has happened, in the assertion that unborn children are not really “persons,” or that newborn infants, or the mentally retarded, or the severely disabled, or the aged are not really “persons,” not really worthy of having their lives protected and their well-being promoted. This is precisely the same thing that has happened with the Supreme Court’s ruling that one’s right to autonomy and privacy takes absolute precedence over the life of another. All of this is based on the Satanic lie that there is no God; or that even if there is a God, He is of no consequence because He has been displaced from this world. Ultimately, all of these issues are theological issues. Ultimately, they all have to do with what people believe about God.

So, what do we do? First of all, we do what Jesus has commanded and empowered us to do - the work of the Great Commission: evangelism and discipleship. Being pro-life is not first of all about winning the culture war but about winning the hearts and minds of people who have been seduced by Satan. Jesus Christ, by His death and resurrection, has triumphed over the powers of darkness and has ultimately destroyed the work of the devil. His Kingdom cannot fail, and the gates of hell shall not prevail. When people come to know the power of Christ’s love, and the joy of salvation - the forgiveness of sins through faith in Him, and renewal of life by His Spirit - they will turn away from the path of destruction. If indeed we are true Christians, then we know that it is God who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light; it is God who did that, not a politician (!), and He did that by the power of His Spirit through the gospel of His Son. So, first of all, the pro-life cause must be empowered by the cause of the gospel; for it is only Jesus Christ Himself, by the power of the Holy Spirit, who can open the eyes of the blind, and set the prisoners free.

Secondly, within the life of the Church, we and our children and grandchildren must learn true wisdom - not the wisdom which Satan promised Eve, but the wisdom of humility under the sovereignty of God: wisdom rooted in the fear of God. The fear of God does not mean being afraid of God - though we ought always to be afraid of sinning against God - but the true fear of God is found in a deep and awe-filled reverence for God as the Creator of all things and Ruler over all things. Parents, you must realize that your children are growing up in a secular and increasingly barbaric culture in which there is little reverence for life or respect for anything because there is hardly any reverence for God. There will never be any reverence for human life if there is no true awe-filled reverence for the Creator. True humility in the fear of God is that psychologically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually gripping realization that “there is a God, and I am not He.” Our children must learn to say in their hearts, with fear and trembling, “There is a God, and I am not He; and to try to be God, or to try to become God, is the sure prescription for my destruction and the destruction of others.” It is our responsibility to raise up the next generation of God’s people as Christians who love and trust His word so much that the unthinkable will always be unthinkable.

This includes, thirdly, raising the next generation as spiritually- sexually healthy and wholesome people. Parents, the first thing that contributes to this is to maintain the health and happiness of our own marriages. It is not easy: it takes commitment, takes time, and costs money. But the spiritual health and happiness of our own homes is the strongest base on which to build a pro-life worldview in the next generation. Fathers, are you teaching your sons what it means to be a Christian gentleman in relation to young women? Have you warned them to beware of the poison of pornography? Are you a role model of Christian love and respect toward your wife? Do your daughters know and feel how much you love them, so that they don’t have to go looking for love from someone else? Men of the church, are we reaching out to show love and respect and support for the single women who are raising children in our church family, the household of God? Mothers, are you carefully teaching your daughters what Christian modesty looks like, no matter what the world is wearing?

And, furthermore, with the long-view in mind, are we raising and teaching our children to understand that their schoolwork, academics, is not about “getting a job and making money,” but is a way that they are preparing themselves to serve God in His world and to make a difference in the world for the sake of Christ’s Kingdom in the world? We, of all people, ought to be the most zealous for raising up the next generation of outstanding medical professionals, biomedical engineers, Constitutional lawyers, attorneys, educators, philosophers, theologians, pastors, political leaders, journalists, and entertainment and media professionals who are committed to serving God in obedience to His Word, in their professional and public life as well as in their private life. In other words, we must raise up the next generation to answer the call of God upon their life, to live as the image-bearers of God, and to tend His Garden in obedience to His Word, under His sovereignty, for His glory, unswayed by the lies of Satan.

Fourthly, yes, there is a political aspect to it, and it is important, because the laws of the land do shape the morality of the land, for better or for worse. Pro-life legislation is not the only answer, and it is certainly not the first or most important answer; but it is a part of the answer. And if we as Christians in America do not exercise our God-given freedom, our providentially-granted freedom, to vote for pro-life candidates, then we are part of the problem.

But, fifthly, in Jesus’ name, we must continue to support pro-life ministries of mercy and compassion, doing deeds of mercy ourselves, and being willing to make personal sacrifices ourselves for the sake of helping another choose life. Being pro-life must not be merely, only, a political position for us or only a theological conviction in our heads as Christians; in some tangible way, each of us should find a way, however small it may seem, to put our faith into action, to walk the walk as well as talk the talk.

In commenting on the Sixth Commandment, “You shall not murder,” the Heidelberg Catechism teaches us that God not only forbids actual murder, but also requires us, positively

... to love our neighbor as ourselves, to show patience, peace, gentleness, mercy, and friendliness to our neighbor, to prevent injury to him as much as we can, and also to do good to our enemies.

This is truly what it means to be pro-life: not merely being against the abominations that others advocate or commit, but being truly for the well-being of our neighbor, acting for the good of our neighbor, seeking to bless our neighbor --- loving our neighbor as we love ourselves; that’s what it means not to commit murder, to be truly pro-life. You see, we are called to live as the citizens of heaven in a world haunted by hell; to be people who live according to the love of God in obedience to the Law of God in response to the gospel of God, for the glory of God; that all the world may know that Jesus Christ is Lord and that in Him is life, and life abundant, and that by believing they may have life in His name. Amen.