This document is a sermon from First Baptist Church in Jackson, Mississippi on the sanctity of human life. It discusses that human life has sacred value as humans are created in God's image. It examines biblical passages indicating that life begins at conception. It defines abortion and provides abortion statistics. It discusses perspectives on when life begins and whether abortion is a form of murder. The sermon addresses how one's view of the sanctity of life should affect how they treat others and themselves. It also discusses appropriate Christian responses to the issue of abortion.

1. Genesis 1:27; 2:7
Protect And Serve
“God created humanity in His image,
giving human life sacred value.”
January 20, 2019
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA
What’s the number one thing?
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The Glory of God!
http://www.thecitychurch.org.uk/sites/default/files/glory-god.jpg
1 Corinthians 10:31 NKJV
31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of
God.
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2. January Memory Verse
John 1:1 NKJV
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God.
References
• MacArthur, John. The MacArthur Study Bible NKJV (Nashville, Nelson
Publishing, 1997).
• Sproul, R.C. Abortion: A Rational Look At An Emotional Issue (Colorado
Springs, Navipress, 1990).
• Centers for Disease Control, www.cdc.gov.
• Guttmacher Institute, www.Guttmacher.org.
• Sproul, R.C. Now, That’s A Good Question (Wheaton, Tyndale House, 1996).
Sanctity of Human Life Sunday
• A proclamation by President Ronald Reagan on January 22, 1984 for the
11th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade.
• Reagan was a strong pro-life advocate who said the Supreme Court
“struck down our laws protecting the lives of unborn children.”
• Annual proclamations also issued by Presidents George H. W. Bush,
George W. Bush and Donald Trump during their presidencies.
The Baptist Faith and Message, June 2000
• Section XV The Christian and Social Order.
• “We should speak on behalf of the unborn and contend for the sanctity of
all human life from conception to natural death.”
• Sanctity = Sacredness.
Focus of Lesson Today
1. Examine how the Bible defines and teaches the sanctity of human life.
2. Illustrate how one’s perspective on the sanctity of human life affects every
area of our lives.
3. How should Christians respond to the divided culture on the sanctity of life
issues?

3. God is the Creator of Human Life.
Genesis 1:27 NKJV
27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him;
male and female He created them.
Genesis 2:7 NKJV
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 being.
Created in the Image of God (imago dei).
• God is a spirit, so the image of God would not be the physical body but
the immaterial soul/spirit.
• The likeness of God involves our mental, moral and social capacities.
• Our physical bodies, before sin entered the world, had perfect health and
were not subject to death.
Created in the Image or Likeness of God.
Ephesians 4:23-24 NKJV
23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man
which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
• Mental – Humans can think, reason and choose.
• Social – Created for fellowship with God and man.
• Moral – Created in righteousness and perfect innocence with capacity to
choose obedience.
When does life begin?
• Adam was created from dust and was given breath by God.
• All the other parts of creation were spoken into being.
• The Bible does not specifically state, but a fundamentalist view of
scriptures indicate that life begins “at the time of conception.”
Psalm 139:13-14 NKJV
13 For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.

4. Scriptures indicate that life begins at conception.
Jeremiah 1:5a NKJV
5a “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
Before you were born I sanctified you;”
Psalm 51:5 NKJV
5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
What is abortion?
• Abortion – The deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often
performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy.
• Late Term Abortion – The deliberate termination of a human pregnancy
after the fetus could potentially survive outside the womb.
Mississippi Abortion Statistics:
• 2014 – 2,303 Abortions (5.6% of pregnancies).
• 2015 – 2,613 Abortions (6.4% of pregnancies).
• 2016 – 2,569 Abortions (6.0% of pregnancies).
• Average of 7 per day!
US Abortion Statistics:
• 2014 – 926,240 (19% of pregnancies).
• 2015 – 913,000 (16% of pregnancies).
• 2016 – 885,000 (15% of pregnancies).
• The abortion rate doubled between 1973 and 1979 and peaked in 1990.
• Abortions have declined about 2% per year since 2000.
• 1973-2011 there were 53,000,000 legal abortions in US.
Who has abortions?
• In 2015, unmarried women accounted for 86%.
• Women in their 20’s accounted for 60%.
• Women under 19 accounted for less than 10%.
• 89% of abortions are in first trimester.
Reasons given for abortion:
• 25% – Not ready for child yet.
• 23% – Can’t afford a baby.
• 19% – Done having children.
• 8% – Don’t want to be a single mother.
• 7% – Not mature enough to raise a child.
• 7% – Physical health problems/fetal health problems.
• 4% – Would interfere with education or career.

5. Defining Terms:
• Pro-choice – The belief that a woman should have a legal right to abort
her unborn child at any point in the pregnancy.
• Pro-life – The belief that every human life is sacred and no one, including
the mother, has the right to end an innocent life.
The Core Issue on Abortion:
• The core issue on abortion: “Is abortion a form of murder?”
• Many pro-abortionists and pro-choice advocates do not believe abortion
is murder because they do not consider an unborn baby to be a living
human person.
• Most surveys show that the US population is divided 50/50 on pro-life vs.
pro-choice.
Why pro-abortionist do not consider abortion a form of murder?
• In the Roe vs. Wade decision in 1973:
• The court used the so-called “point of viability” as a reference point for
life.
• The unborn were regarded as only having the “potential for life” until
the point of viability.
• The decision rested largely on the perceived Constitutional right to
privacy guaranteed in the Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments.
What about a woman’s right to her own body?
• In Roe vs. Wade, women were granted the legal right to “their own
bodies” as it relates to abortion.
• The Court ruled that this right was implied by the Constitution’s right to
privacy provisions.
• Pro-life believes that the right to life transcends the right to privacy.
Mississippi Abortion Restrictions:
• Abortion would be banned if Roe vs. Wade is overturned.
• There is a 24-hour waiting period after counseling.
• Health plans and public programs cover only in cases of life
endangerment, rape or incest.
• A minor must have parental consent.
• Ultrasound done with option to view.
• Cannot be performed after 20 weeks gestation.

6. How does your belief about the sanctity of life affect other areas of your life?
• It affects how you treat others.
• Do you see others as God’s creation and treat them with dignity and
respect regardless of whatever?
• It affects how you treat yourself.
• Do you treat your body as God’s creation and a temple?
How you treat others?
Proverbs 22:2 NKJV
2 The rich and the poor have this in common,
The Lord is the maker of them all.
Malachi 2:10 NKJV
10 Have we not all one Father?
Has not one God created us?
Why do we deal treacherously with one another
By profaning the covenant of the fathers?
• Every human being is made in God’s image regardless of gender, race,
socioeconomic status or any other differences from us.
Do you show partiality?
James 2:1, 8-9 NKJV
1 My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with
partiality.
8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your
neighbor as yourself,” you do well; 9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin,
and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
How you treat yourself?
1 Corinthians 3:16-17 NKJV
16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God
dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For
the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NKJV
19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in
you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20 For you were
bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are
God’s.

7. What about capital punishment?
Genesis 9:6 NKJV
6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood,
By man his blood shall be shed;
For in the image of God
He made man.”
• Capital punishment is reserved for those who violate the sanctity of the life
of another and must forfeit his right to his own life.
Abortion vs. Capital Punishment:
• Being anti-abortion and also pro-capital punishment is not biblically
inconsistent.
• A high view of the sanctity of life is foundational to both positions.
Is killing the enemy in war justified in the Bible?
Romans 13:1-7 NKJV
Submit to Government
1 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority
except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.
2 Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those
who resist will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good
works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good,
and you will have praise from the same. 4 For he is God’s minister to you for
good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he
is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil.
5 Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for
conscience’ sake. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s
ministers attending continually to this very thing. 7 Render therefore to all their
due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom
fear, honor to whom honor.
• Romans 13:1-7 teaches that:
- God has ordained civil government on earth.
- The purpose of it is his glory and our good.
- God has given to civil officers the power of the sword.
- Christians may lawfully exercise the power of the sword upon just and
necessary causes.
End of Life Issues:
• Sanctity of life is as precious at the end of life as at the beginning of life.
• Please have a “Health Care Directive” (Living Will) that clearly expresses
your wishes and beliefs to guide those making decisions for you at that
time.

8. Is there division in our churches on the sanctity of life abortion issues?
• Abortion should be legal according to:
‐ Jewish 87%.
‐ Presbyterian USA 65%.
‐ United Methodist Church 58%.
‐ Presbyterian (PCA) 54%.
‐ Catholic 48%.
‐ Southern Baptists 30%.
‐ Jehovah Witness 18%.
How should Christians respond?
1 Peter 5:8 NKJV
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a
roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
2 Corinthians 11:14 NKJV
14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.
• Recognize who the enemy really is.
‐ We are in spiritual warfare!
1 John1:9 NKJV
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness.
Romans 8:1a NKJV
1a There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,
• Help those who have had abortions to experience healing and
forgiveness found only in Jesus.
• Provide support services for those needing help.
• Examples: Bethany Christian Services, adoption, etc.
• You cannot have it both ways.
• You cannot be pro-life and not support those who choose to give birth.
The Need in Mississippi:
• Mississippi has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the US.
• Only 38% of teen mothers will get a high school diploma.
• Daughters of teen mothers are 3 times more likely to become teen
mothers.
• In 2014 there were 3,853 births to teens in Mississippi.

9. How should Christians respond?
• Support government officials who share your views on sanctity of life.
- Supreme Court nominations appear to the be most important at this
time.
- If the Supreme Court overturns Roe vs. Wade, then abortion reverts
back to states’ rights.
John 10:10 NKJV
10 “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have
come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
• Share the gospel of Jesus with our community.
Next Sunday
Genesis 35:1-15
Assurance
January 27, 2019
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA
The Plan of Hope & Salvation:
John 3:16 NKJV
16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
John 14:6 NKJV
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the
Father except through Me.”
Romans 3:23 NKJV
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23a NKJV
23a For the wages of sin is death,
• Death in this life (the first death) is 100%.
• Even Jesus, the one who doesn’t deserve death, died in this life to pay the
penalty for our sin.
• The death referred to in Romans 6:23a is the “second death” explained in
Revelation 21:8.

10. Revelation 21:8 NKJV
8 “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral,
sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with
fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
• Anyone who’s lifestyle is one or more of the sins listed in Revelation 21:8,
will experience the “second death” if they do not repent.
Romans 5:8 NKJV
8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.
Romans 6:23b NKJV
23b but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Revelation 21:7 NKJV
7 “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be
My son.”
• Romans 10:9-10 explains to us how to be overcomers.
Romans 10:9-10 NKJV
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that
God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one
believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation.
Romans 10:13 NKJV
13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Do you have questions?
Would you like to know more?
Please, contact First Baptist Church Jackson at 601-949-1900 or
http://firstbaptistjackson.org/contact/