We are here in Matthew chapter 1, and obviously this is a famous scripture which we just read. We are starting the first sermon in the Alphabet of Bible Doctrines series, with the letter A — Abortion. Believe it or not, Matthew 1:23 is our first verse for a sermon on abortion. Normally it is going to be a Christmas verse, and I am sure I will use it next week in the sermons, but notice what it says in Matthew 1:23: "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."

Keep your finger in Matthew 1 and go to Isaiah chapter 7.

What is abortion? Abortion is the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks. One major reason it is often done in the first 28 weeks is that it is extremely dangerous to the woman if done late term, because there is a large human inside at that point and you have got to get all the body parts out, otherwise infections can happen and a lot of dangers can come to the woman. So abortion is usually done very early, and it is a deliberate termination. Usually people abort babies because they are fornicating outside of marriage, they get pregnant, and they want to cover it up. That is the reason why most abortions take place.

As I said in the introductory sermon on this series, doctrine is very divisive. In a poll in America it is about a 50/50 split — slightly more than half of men are against abortion, slightly more than half of women are for abortion. Around the world it is probably going to be about a 50/50 split. Well, the question is — what does the Bible say? It does not matter what your own personal opinion is, or how you were raised, or what your parents thought, or what you were taught. What does the Bible say?

Point 1: The Creation of Life

Point number one is the creation of life. What it says in Matthew 1:23, where your fingers should still be, is "Behold, a virgin shall be with child." Notice what it says in Isaiah 7:14: "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Matthew 1:23 is a quote from Isaiah 7:14, but it changes it slightly to teach us something. In the Old Testament: a virgin shall conceive — conception. In the New Testament: a virgin shall be with child. Do you know what that teaches us? Life begins at conception. This is what Bible-believing Christians say, and it is biblical. Life begins at conception — not at one month or two months or three months, or right out of the womb. Life begins at conception, according to the Bible.

Go to Hebrews 11. In Hebrews 11 we see the story of Sarah and Abraham from the Old Testament. The Bible teaches that Sarah was basically barren — unable to have a child for a long time. The heart of every single woman is to be able to have a child, and Abraham and Sarah prayed and prayed. God said they were going to have a child, but it reached the point where she was past childbearing. What the Bible very clearly teaches is that God is the one who opens and closes the womb. Somebody could be married for a long time and not be blessed with children, or they could be blessed with children immediately — God is the one who opens and closes the womb.

Hebrews 11:11: "Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised." Sarah is barren, unable to have a child, and the point at which she has a child is when she receives strength to conceive seed. You are seeing life beginning at the point of conception.

Is there any dispute about what has been shown so far? No dispute whatsoever that life begins at conception. Some people say well, life does not begin at conception — a fertilised egg at that point is not life, it begins at implantation. Implantation occurs basically 7 to 14 days after conception, and people are trying to change the definition of conception. But the Bible shows in Hebrews 11 that her having strength to conceive seed is significant. The seed is a significant thing at conception. What takes place is the seed of a man comes in contact with the egg of a woman, you have a fertilised egg, and according to the Bible life begins right there. Seven to fourteen days later is implantation. When does life begin? Not at implantation 7 to 14 days after conception — at conception, because by the time implantation occurs, there is no longer seed of the man. You have got what is called a zygote or a fertilised egg at this point. The seed of the man is gone. The significance in Hebrews 11 is to conceive seed, showing you that life begins at conception, and the seed is significant in that it is gone by the point of implantation.

Why is this significant? Well, because in the 21st century we now have something called birth control pills and the day after pill. Now, a birth control pill or day after pill — and I understand there are a lot of different kinds — claims to prevent pregnancy from occurring. But actually it is more accurate when it says birth control, because it is not necessarily preventing pregnancy. It is preventing birth. It prevents birth by two mechanisms. Number one, it prevents a woman from ovulating. If a woman does not ovulate then you cannot have the seed of the man come in contact with the egg of the woman, so it does prevent pregnancy from occurring. However, it is not always effective, so there is a backup mechanism where it makes implantation very difficult to occur — basically it creates a hostile environment so the zygote, the fertilised egg, will die off before implantation can occur. It is 99% effective at preventing births. It is not 99% effective at preventing conception. The backup mechanism finishes the job if it did not prevent ovulation.

Here is the point: if implantation is prevented but conception occurred, that is the death of a human life. And then people say, well, no, it is just a cell. Wait a minute — as Bible-believing Christians, we all saw what the Bible said. Life begins at conception. They say they prevent pregnancy because they prevent the seed of the man coming in contact with the egg of the woman, and they also prevent pregnancy by preventing implantation from occurring. Does life begin at implantation? No. Life begins at conception. And so when women are taking birth control pills and day after pills, it is what is called a silent abortion — where babies are being killed at the zygote or fertilised egg stage. We do not believe that is merely a cell. We do not believe life begins at implantation. Show me the Bible verse that life begins at implantation. I showed you clear verses — Matthew 1:23, a verse we have all heard preached a hundred times — and what do we see? Life begins at conception, no doubt about it whatsoever.

Go to Genesis 2. Now let me explain something. When I preach the Bible on any sermon in this doctrinal series, it is not criticising anybody in this room for what they have done in the past. The past is the past. Number one, this is about teaching the young children in this room so they know what the Bible says. Number two, it is about learning from mistakes and correcting things for the future.

When it comes to saying we are a new IFB church, we have very unique beliefs compared to other Baptist churches. The first thing I got converted on in terms of topics after getting saved was birth control. Shortly after I got saved I visited my sister — she is two years older than me, got married at 17, had her first child at 18, and when I visited her I was 19, she was 21, and she was pregnant with her third child. Everybody was saying things like, well, how many children is she going to have? Surely after three — don't you want to live a little? People were clearly criticising the choices that she and her husband made. I asked my sister in a non-critical way what the Bible says about this, and my sister said, well, the Bible says be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. We leave it in God's hands. If he wants us to have a child he will bless us; if not, that is fine. And as a 19-year-old I said, that makes perfect sense. Do not the simple things confound the wisdom of the wise?

I will be honest, though — at the time I believed what my sister said was correct but I did not have a super strong conviction about it. If I had gotten married at that age and did not think I could financially afford kids I probably would have used some sort of birth control, because I did not have a strong enough conviction. The same reason some of you will go home later today and listen to rock music — you know it is wrong but you do not have a super strong conviction about it. I did not have a super strong conviction as a 19-year-old. I do now. I also realise not everybody in this room has a strong conviction about this.

So here is what I am saying: I would never advocate any form of birth control. The Bible says be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. The Bible says children are a blessing. I am against all forms of birth control — which, by the way, throughout human history most people have been against, and even the Roman Catholic Church said it was a major sin for the first 1500 years of their existence. But here is what I am saying: if you do choose to use a form of birth control as a married couple, do not use a form that could end human life. I am against all forms, but do not use the day after pill that will prevent implantation after conception has already occurred. If you are going to use a form of birth control because you do not have enough faith that God is going to provide, do not use a form that is going to end a human life. Why? Because some sins are bigger than others. Aborting a baby is murder.

How did the day after pill get invented? There was a woman by the name of Margaret Sanger who founded Planned Parenthood and funded the day after pill. They used tests on women in Puerto Rico, and originally when they had the day after pill it was 20 times as strong as it is now, so a lot of women died during the testing. The reason why Margaret Sanger and the others involved did this — and they did not say it in these exact words, but this is what they were saying — is that women should have a right to fornicate as much as they want and not have to worry about the consequences. That is the reason why the day after pill was invented. Look it up. It is a fact. Because women wanted the right to fornicate and get away with it, and men also wanted to sleep with their girlfriends and not have to worry about any consequence. They had posters up showing a woman saying "Guys, I'm on the pill" and all these men getting excited. What a wicked culture, just wanting to fornicate and get away with it. But here is the thing — you are never going to get away with it, because God knows everything that you do.

One argument people make is that life does not begin at conception, it begins at implantation. When you try to nail people down on it, they say it is just a matter of semantics. No, it is not a matter of semantics. As Bible-believing Christians, this affects whether or not the day after pill is preventing pregnancy or ending human life. Another argument people make is that it is not really alive until the baby has body parts. Again, life begins at conception before that point, but you can hear a heartbeat at five to six weeks. I am sure many people have gone to ultrasounds and the first reaction you have to looking at that baby is wow — it looks so human, it has body parts, you are amazed at a very young age.

Another argument is that life begins when the baby leaves the womb — which is generally what the world will say. To me this is just stupid, because what about during labour when it is not quite out? The baby's on its way out — is it not human yet? And there are Bible-believing Christians that support this as well. They say life does not begin at conception — it actually begins when the baby leaves the womb. Here is a quote from a famous Baptist pastor, and I will tell you who said it afterwards. He said: "I do not teach that abortion is murder." He said: I do not teach it for two reasons. In the first place, the clear scriptures in Genesis 2, as well as Job 30–31 and Ezekiel 37, teach that there is no life in the human sense until there is breath — so no breath, no life according to this pastor. Who is it? Peter Ruckman. A lot of people know who Peter Ruckman is — a famous Independent Baptist pastor before he died. I did not just see this quote online; I listened to him say it. He taught that abortion is not murder. Where was he getting that from? Genesis 2:7: "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." He says, until there is breath in that human it is not alive, so a baby has to leave the womb to get breath.

Now, a couple of things here. Number one, this verse is recapping what took place in Genesis chapter 1. Adam had an unusual creation — it is not that he had two parents where conception took place, spent nine months in the womb, and then came out. He was actually created out of the dust of the ground. So when he was created out of the dust of the ground, it is just a body — that is not the same thing as life beginning inside a woman at conception. God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the body with the spirit is alive, because the body without the spirit is dead. God created the body and breathed into the nostrils the breath of life, the spirit of God is there inside of him, and man became a living soul. If you are going to use that as your proof, why not use a passage in the Bible that actually talks about a woman being pregnant? Because when you think about what that is referring to — a body created and then God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life — how does that say a baby inside the belly does not have life? They have a body, soul, and spirit at the point of conception.

The other verses he mentioned — Job 30 and 31 — I have no idea what argument he is trying to make from those. Ezekiel 37, can these dry bones live? That is not the same thing as a human life inside a belly that ends up being born. The Bible is very clear — life begins at conception.

He also went on — and I am paraphrasing this — and gave an example about nuns raising orphans and said, do you really believe it is God's will for babies to be born into a Catholic home? He basically justified it by saying if your kids are born in the wrong religion they are basically better off dead. Well, here is the thing — you are part of a false religion, Peter Ruckman. The man taught UFOs and aliens and all these bizarre things, and the Bible clearly teaches that abortion is murder.

Point 2: Cleanliness from the Unmarried

Point number one was the creation of life. Point number two is cleanliness from the unmarried.

Ezekiel 16:22–24: "And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood. And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord God;) that thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee an high place in every street. Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the way, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms." In our modern day, the expression "opening thy feet" would be like spreading your legs. That is a bit crude, you say? Yeah, but that is what the Bible says, because it is trying to prove a point of how wicked fornication is.

Why does abortion take place? Because of unwanted pregnancies. Somebody gets pregnant, they do not want the baby, so they end up having an abortion to get rid of it. Abortion is not going to take place if the pregnancy is wanted. So when it comes to the unmarried, what do we need? We need cleanliness. We need going to the altar pure, not fornicating before marriage.

Turn to Psalm 127. The people who need this sermon most, above anybody, are the young children in this room. Everybody in this room knows abortion is wrong, and if you are a member of our church you love God and you are trying to serve God. The past is not a criticism of what happened in the past. But young children need to know what the Bible says and how serious it is. All of us as adults have made mistakes in the past, but you do not want to pass those sins on to your kids. They need to know in our day what is acceptable and what is not. Things are going to get worse and worse.

In the Philippines in 2018, 54.3% of total registered births were born out of wedlock. In 2019, 54.8% — amounting to 917,242 births. The majority of babies in the Philippines were born out of wedlock in 2018 and 2019. Oh, the Philippines is such a Christian country — really? Where are these statistics coming from? Look at the statistics for Japan or countries people would say are heathen countries and you would see a lot lower than the Philippines. In many ways the Philippines is not leading the charge of Christianity in Asia — it is actually leading the charge of sin. Now, are there more saved people in the Philippines than other countries? Yes. But there is also a lot more wickedness in a lot of ways. People that visited for the missions trips were shocked at the level of sin here. This is not an insult to any of us in this room, but we just have to admit it. If over half of babies are born out of wedlock there is a problem. Where is the problem? The problem is in the preaching. Why is this not being preached against? Why are people not learning this at a young age? Because people are grown up and do not even know these things — the Bible is not being preached. We need cleanliness from the unmarried.

Point 3: Confidence in the Lord from the Married

We need confidence in the Lord from the married. Psalm 127:3: "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward." People talk about having children in 2022 and make it sound like a curse. Oh, that is terrible, you are having another child? What an insult. The Bible says it is his reward. It is a good thing. Verse 4: "As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." The Bible says a person who has children is happy. You might say, well, I see people that are parents and they do not seem happy. You know what — they would be happy if they realised the blessing that they have, instead of looking at children as a curse. They are turning a blessing into a curse, because as a married couple it is a blessing to have children.

Go to Exodus 21. We need confidence in the Lord from the married. If God opens the womb and you are a married couple and you do not think you can afford to have children — but God says be fruitful and multiply, and God opens the womb — what God is saying is that you will have the ability to provide for that child. These are hard facts, because it is easy to preach, and nappies are expensive. I do not think anybody who is unmarried or has never been around children realises how expensive it is to have children. But children are a blessing.

Why is it that sometimes parents feel miserable having kids? Because they are turning the blessing into a curse. They are focusing on the negative. Are there negatives about being a parent? Yes, there are negatives and positives in everything. It really comes down to what you are focusing on. The last couple of weeks have been the sickest my children have ever been. I got the least sick by far in my family. If you were here for last Sunday's sermon, I sounded pretty bad — but it was nothing compared to the rest of my family. When you have three kids and they are all sick, nobody sleeps. The reason I got sick is my immune system was so low because I am like a zombie every day. But I go home and my child will smile at me or give me a hug, and there is no replacing that. That small little smile means so much. You cannot really explain it. When I go home later today my son Ezra is going to have a big smile on his face. My son Zeph, my daughter Chris — they are going to be so happy to see Dad. You cannot replace that. Children create a happy home.

My wife and I have three children and they are a blessing. We may have more — I do not know. What we are going to do is leave it in God's hands. If God gives us more children, praise the Lord. If not, I consider the three children I have a big blessing. We need confidence in the Lord from the married.

Point 4: Consequences for Abortion

Point number four — consequences for abortion. Exodus 21:12: "He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death." With a government having a proper law, abortion would be punished by the death penalty. You say that sounds extreme? Well, what sounds extreme to me is killing an innocent human being inside of your belly. What did that child do? The Bible says he that smiteth a man so that he dies shall be surely put to death. The death penalty for abortion — not just for the woman, but for the boyfriend or husband that is complicit in the abortion, the abortion doctor, and anybody else involved. They should be put to death according to what the Bible says. Abortion is murder, no dispute about it. And murder is punished with the death penalty in the Bible.

Murdering a baby is far worse in my mind than murdering an adult. A baby is the most innocent human being there is — the most helpless. They cannot fight back. What Cain did to Abel was terrible, but what is far worse is killing a baby even inside the womb. People can do that and not feel bad because they do not see that baby cry out for mercy. Somebody else is doing it for them, and they feel like they can justify themselves by saying, I did not do it. In 99-plus percent of cases, it is your fault that you got pregnant.

Verse 14: "But if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from mine altar, that he may die." There is the death penalty on abortion, and that should be the punishment for someone who has an abortion.

Turn to Romans 2. I am not talking about retroactively putting this into practice, and I am not saying we are going to go out and kill everybody who has had an abortion. That is in the government's hands and a matter of the laws of the government. But here is what I am saying: if you are guilty of that wicked sin in the past, make sure you have confessed to God and got right with God, and make sure you do not do anything like that again. It is a major sin — it is murder.

Romans 2:14–15: "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another." By default there are certain things that people do not do because they realise they are wrong. Everybody knows it is wrong to steal, to lie, to kill — because they have a conscience. An interesting phenomenon is that half the world supports abortion and in America a third of women get an abortion in their lifetime and think there is nothing wrong with it, and yet they have massive depression afterwards. Why is that?

Now, birth control medication is extremely unhealthy on the body. You start messing with hormones and God created you in a certain way — when you start making modifications there is no telling what is going to take place. One of the major side effects of a lot of birth control medication is weight gain. There are side effects to medication that you take. But the major reason why there is depression after abortion is that most people who have an abortion have a conscience and they know it is wrong. People try to justify their actions, but everybody knows abortion is murder. Everybody. You can come up with whatever argument you want — everybody knows it is murder. This is why the topic is so infuriating to me. With abortion I have always thought it was murder. I do not understand how anyone could disagree. But here is the thing — they realise we are right. They know that they are actually killing human life, but they want to justify their actions. And it is not just those who actually have an abortion who justify it — others that are living in major sin do as well, because it makes them look better if nothing is a sin.

When women have a miscarriage and lose a child, women tend to blame themselves even though they did not do anything wrong. They carry a burden of guilt even though they did not cause it. They feel like, what could I have done differently? My wife and I have had a miscarriage before, and I am sure there are other women in this room who have. Women carry guilt even though they did not do anything wrong. How much more, then, if you intentionally kill that human life inside your body? Most people that get an abortion have a conscience and feel guilty as a result.

Here is a story I found online of a woman who struggled with depression, probably pretty typical for women who have gone through this. She had an abortion, had major depression, ended up seeing a psychologist and a psychiatrist, was on all kinds of medication and in therapy every week. She wrote this article to help other women going through something similar. She writes: it started with a pregnancy, one that was unexpected to say the least. She goes on a date with a guy she does not know well, and says one thing led to another and she woke up the next morning unable to remember the night — meaning she got drunk out of her mind, and unsure of what happened. She says she knows he came back to her house but everything else is a blur. She is trying to justify her actions, but the truth is still being revealed. She got drunk, and this guy she barely knew she invited back to her place. What did she expect to happen? And she talks about the depression that followed. Then later in the article she says: straight away I knew there was no way I would keep the baby. I assumed that because I was so certain on this decision, the procedure itself would be a relief. I was told at the clinic time and time again that most women feel a sense of relief when they have an abortion. However, once the abortion had been carried out I was left with this horrible feeling of "what now?" I had never questioned the morality of abortion before, but when it comes to your own body you start to think about things differently. Translation: my conscience is making me feel awful. She goes on and on about therapy and medication. There are side effects to getting an abortion, and that is a guilt that women are going to carry their entire lives because of the horrible thing that they did.

As a Bible-believing Christian, forgetting those things which are behind — if you committed sins in the past, the past is the past. But let us not justify this action. Abortion is a horrible sin. It is murder, and in my opinion it is worse than murdering an adult because it is an innocent child that has done nothing to deserve this.

In the political news worldwide, the country that Europe, America, and Australia are really criticising right now is Iran — criticising them because a woman was put to death for not having the proper clothing on, and then some 500 people were killed who protested. I think that is horrible. But cast out the beam in your own eye before criticising the mote in someone else's eye. Because in America a million babies are aborted per year — over 2,000 a day. In Iran, 500 people in total have been put to death. I do not agree with those 500 people being put to death — the reason being it is not the biblical punishment. But 2,000 is more than 500. 2,000 every single day. And the ones leading the abortion charge are the United States, all of Europe, Australia. So before criticising Iran for what they are doing, cast the beam out of your own eye. I am anti-sin. I am not going to justify abortion. Abortion is murder, no question about it. What they are doing is worse than what Iran is doing, but the media focuses on one thing and makes you think one is horrible while ignoring the other.

Conclusion

Problems with abortion: it brings the wrath of God. It is a major sin, and the wrath of God and the guilt of your conscience is going to destroy your life.

The past is the past. Forgetting those things which are behind — I am not criticising anybody for what they did in the past, because that is gone, it is done. If you have had an abortion before, or if you are taking the day after pill or methods that cause silent abortions, the past is the past. Change the present and the future. Do what the Bible says.

Every baby that has been aborted is in heaven. 2 Samuel 12:22–23: "And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." What does he mean by I shall go to him? We do not believe in soul sleep. He is saying he is going to be in heaven with his young son that died. Every baby — because life begins at conception — every aborted baby is in heaven today. But it does not change the fact that it is murder and it is a horrible sin.

One of the reasons why false religions are taking over this world is because many of them have a lot of children. Do you know why Islam is going to be the biggest religion in my lifetime — passing Christianity, including all of Catholicism, Orthodox, and Protestant? Because they do not really practice a lot of birth control. Consider children to be a blessing. Trust in God and have children. Raise a bunch of soul winners. We are fighting a losing battle — the vast majority of this world rejects God, is not saved, is not preaching the truth. We need more people rising up. We need to have children and teach them the word of God, get them saved, and teach them to love God and serve God with their lives. That is what we need.

One last thing in closing. Our church is a church that practices church discipline. But let me say this — if a woman at our church ended up getting pregnant out of wedlock, and because of that she had a reality check and came to me or to my wife and said, I am sorry to report this but I have gotten pregnant and I want to serve God, I messed up with my life — she would not be kicked out of this church. Someone gets kicked out of church when they are not getting a sin right. If they got it right and said, I messed up, I am done with that, I just want to be in church, I just want to read the Bible, I want to get right — if someone had the right heart, they would actually be forgiven for that. The reason I say that is this: the worst thing you could ever do is think, I do not want to get kicked out of church, so I will just get an abortion. I do not think that would take place, but I would feel guilty in my conscience if somebody actually did that. It is not justifying the action — it is a horrible sin, something you have to get right — but if somebody got pregnant and decided to get right with God, they would actually be forgiven for that. Of course, you reap what you sow and you are still going to deal with the consequences from God. But in conclusion, abortion is murder, and life begins at conception — not at implantation, not when the baby is formed in the womb, not when the baby leaves the womb, but at conception. Before I formed thee I knew thee, is what God says in Jeremiah. Life begins at conception.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today. I ask you to help us to understand this sermon, help us to understand what the Bible says, and help us as God-fearing people to serve you and do right in our lives — not to fornicate before we are married; us that are married, to consider children a blessing. I ask you to help our church to be pure and help us to teach this next generation of children. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.