Our scripture reading this morning is from Psalm 139. I will spend a few Sundays on the sixth commandment, you may not murder. Psalm 139, and I will also read a few verses from Genesis chapter one and two. Listen to God's word. Oh Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up, you understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down and are intimately acquainted with all my ways, even before there is a word on my tongue. Behold, oh Lord, you know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before and laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is too high, I cannot attain to it. Where can I go from your spirit, or where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night. Even the darkness is not dark to you, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to you. For you formed me, formed my inward parts. You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, and I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. Your eyes have seen my unformed substance, and in your book were all written. The days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. How precious also are your thoughts to me, O God. How vast is the sum of them. If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with you, so that you would slay the wicked, O God. Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed, for they speak against you wickedly, and your enemies take your name in vain. Do I hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with the utmost hatred. They have become my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts, and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way." Then also in Genesis chapter 1, 26-28, Then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness, and let him rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply. and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And then also in Genesis chapter two, seven, and the Lord God formed man of dust from the earth, from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a loving being. So Father, reading of God's word. As I said, when you teach through, preach through the commandments, it becomes a little bit more like a topical kind of sermon, which we usually don't do often, because we usually take verses one by one and go through the Scriptures. But there's a place also for this, because God wants us to understand what He's teaching us from the Scriptures about these commandments. So as we come before the Lord today, beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ, I want to make the statement that any healthy nation or society values life and does everything in its ability to protect it. If we look at our own nation right now, it seems that we are spiraling down in some way or form. and that a culture of death has gotten a foothold in our midst for quite some time. In 2023, to give you just some statistics, there were an estimated 1,025,690 abortions in the formal healthcare system. or if you would, 15.7 abortions per 1,000 women. Some 63% of them were medication abortions, up from 53% in 2020. Termination of life in the womb measured since Rowan Wade in 1973, only up to 2021, escalated now to an enormous 62 million killings. And this is information I got from key believing ministries. They put it in perspective as follows. If we take the population of Georgia, Michigan, Virginia, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Iowa, South Dakota, Rhode Island, Arizona, Oregon, Kansas, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Mississippi. And add the population of Alaska, that would total approximately 62,000 people. That is 15 states gone. Wiped out. Illegally killed. On top of that, the number of murders in the USA increased tremendously from 16,374 in 2019 to 21,510, which came in 2020 down a little bit to almost 19,000. Why I bring this about is just to illustrate to you that if we look at all these things, and there's definitely more statistics that we could look at, it brings us and gives us a sense of how little value life has in some people's eyes. Many don't want to talk about topics like these. But remember what I often say, if the light of God's word shines on these matters, we need to address it and we need to listen to what the word of God tells us about these things. Many say the murder number is so high because we have guns. But you and I know that guns don't kill people. People kill people. Sin is in the heart of people. Jesus himself said, for from within, out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man. Sin is from within. And we will focus on that specifically at a later time. Today, I just want us to hear again that life is important and why. When God says, thou shalt not kill, there's a good reason for that. Every human life is important. The life in the womb, the life of the elderly, the life of the weak and the infirm, the mentally challenged, and those with other limitations. Doesn't matter who it is. All human life is dear and important, and all human life should be equally valued and protected under the law. When we look at our society, it looks as if the words of 2 Timothy chapter 3, and I have mentioned 2 Timothy 3 quite a few times lately, that it is still true. Describe the world around us. You can go and read the first five verses again. But the behavior of man in the last days is described there, and some of those characteristics are lovers of themselves, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, and reckless. So let me guide you today through two things afresh. And the first is where lives originate and what it means to take a life. And may the Lord use this exposition to strengthen us again and to value life more deeply. First, if we look at the origin of life, first the view of the world is kind of devastating in a way. Sometimes you just want to smile about it, but for them it's reality. When considering how life began, many scientists have tried to make a name for themselves and the theories they suggested for the origin of life really shows us to what extent almost or absurd conclusions the unconverted heart could lead man to. Some say that life was seeded on Earth by intelligent aliens from other planets. Others say that organic compounds ejected by stars have fortified the solar systems, asteroids, and meteorites, as well as Earth, with the building blocks, what they call, of life, which become a source for the process of evolution from molecules into man. We need exegesis just on that sentence, right? Others again say, in a quiet pond somewhere on early Earth, the many complex chemicals necessary for life came together to produce the first living cell. Yes, billions and billions of dollars are spent to find life out there in space today, while a few dollars spent on a Bible will show the answer to the question of the origin of life and that it is right in front of us. because it is very clearly written down by the creator and God of the whole universe. So the view of the believer, there's two things that stand out in how we approach the origin of life. First of all, the truth that God is the creator and the giver of life himself. Genesis 1 is clear on who created the whole universe. Not only did God create the whole universe, but he gave life to it as well. And when David speaks of himself in the womb of his mother, he says, for you have formed my inmost being, my inward parts. You weaved me in my mother's womb. You see, there is nothing difficult about it. It is really easy to understand. And what I mean is that it is easy to understand that God created and that God gave life. How God did this, that's a different matter, because that is not that easy to understand. Only God knows. But faith is not about understanding, but about accepting in a childlike manner the truths that God has laid down in His Word to us. So secondly, if God is the creator, he's also the rightful owner of what he creates. The psalmist state in Psalm 33 verse 6, God did not use material or components that someone or something else provided to him when he created. God did not get a plan from another architect in order to do what he did. He did not get his ideas from someone else. No, he created everything forth from, as the Latin says, ex nihilo, out of nothing. And that makes him the creator. That makes him the rightful owner. of His creation. And because He created everything through His Son, Jesus Christ, nothing that is created exists without God. That is why Paul wrote to the Colossians in chapter 1, 16, 17, for by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him, in Christ, all things hold together. Christ holds everything in God's creation, but for that matter, also in our lives, together. Take Him out of the equation, and everything comes crashing down, whether it's in your personal life or your family life. Thirdly, God, the rightful owner, that's another truth that we stand on, created the crown of his creation as well. Look at the words that David used in Psalm 139 in verse 13, 14. He says, for you have formed my inmost being, my inward parts. You have weaved me in my mother's womb. I will give you thanks, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it very well." Now, if we pause there for a brief moment, when David said God created his inmost being, he literally used the word, his kidneys. The Hebrew people use this expression like we use the heart. We say, I miss you with all my heart. They said, I miss you with all my kidneys, you know, with my kidneys. That's kind of a strange expression, I know. So as David said this, I think we must remember what God said about himself in Genesis 1 and 2, that he created man. Every part of it. He was the one that made him in his own image. In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created him. And then in Genesis 2-7, then the Lord formed man of the dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being. You see, in these two verses there are a few undisputed, unchangeable truths about man as God's creation that we must always remember. I'll give you a few points that I think we must remember. First is, man is the crown of God's creation. And that means that there is something special about man and man's life. God did not only create us as a physical being. No, there's more to us. We are more than just an animal or the result of a process of evolution that brought us from an animal to a human being. By the way, if that was the case, what is the next step in the process of evolution, I ask? We are people created in the image of God. Imago Dei. That is true of every person walking the face of this earth. And this is also true of every child in the womb, because we know when life begins, right, it begins with conception. But it is also important that we remember that how God has made us. how he put us together in our DNA, in our body, in the development of our body, we are what he made us. If you are a male, you are a male. And if you are a female, the same. And any effort to change that is a direct rebellion against the creator of the universe and his eternal purposes for us. The Bible is also clear that God created us for his own purposes. That means that even in the womb, before a baby is born, God has a plan for that baby. Psalm 139, 16, Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance, and in thy book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them. Jeremiah chapter 1, 5, where the Lord came to Jeremiah and said, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. And before you were born, I consecrated you, I have appointed you a prophet to the nations. You see, God has a perfect plan for each person on this earth and thus for every child in the womb already. And whoever takes a life away, whether it is the life of an adult or the life of a child or the life of an elderly, that person is denied the right to become or be what God wanted him to become. You see, this history demonstrates the biblical understanding that unborn children are also fully human. If we just think that even we read in the Bible that the baby in the womb experienced even emotions When we read in Luke chapter 1 and 44, when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped inside her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. When God created us in His image, He also breathed the breath of life in us. That is what makes us human. That makes us different than animals. Man could talk. Man could make moral decisions. Man has knowledge and even wisdom. Man is able to believe. And above all, man is also a being with the ability to live in eternity after this life is over. Yes, man is so wonderfully created that he will continue to live even after he dies. The Bible is clear about that. You see, God is not a God of life and death in the sense that he brought death into this world. No, God is a God of life and death was brought into this world by man's sin, his rebellion against God. Why do you think Cain killed Abel? Why do you think man became so wicked that God was sorry that he created them and destroyed them with the flood? It was because man did not listen to God. Because of this sin, man's relationship with God was broken, and man was completely divorced from his creator. Because remember, God created man in a complete relationship with himself. So there is, I hope you see, another dimension of life that we have not even talked about, which I just briefly mentioned now. And that is that only in a true relationship with God we experience God's true purpose for our lives. And that is to glorify and enjoy him forever. And the only way man is able to experience that is to flee to our Lord Jesus Christ, the mediator between God and man, to confess his sin and accept him as his redeemer and king in faith. When you do that, It has consequences for you and for how you will continue to exist one day after you die. Why? Because Jesus says in John 5, 28, 29, do not marvel at this for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear his voice and came forth for those who have done good to the resurrection of life. and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. And in Matthew 25, 46, these people will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life. If you put your trust in Jesus, you will, after you die, live forever without God. And today, once again, the Lord's Supper is going to assure us in a visible way of this wonderful truth. But remember also that it is also His truth that those who deny the Lord Jesus Christ will eventually end up in eternal wrath and experience His eternal punishment. So if we take away a life, We do not acknowledge that God is the giver of life. And no man, if we acknowledge that truth, may take life away. God has given man life, and no one but God himself may take it away. It doesn't matter who that person is. It doesn't matter in what stage of his life he is, whether it is through murder or putting yourself deliberately in danger, or when life is ended, as I said. while still in the womb. Jesus continued, and if the Lord wills, we will focus on that passage too later. Whoever sheds man's blood, his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God he made man. Brothers and sisters, I want you to remember that death is ugly. Today, even with the young people that watch so many movies and play so many video games, they don't see the ugliness of death. Many today think death is normal, death is okay, as if death is the answer to man's jealousy or selfishness and inconvenience. No, death is inevitable, but there is nothing normal to it. And I believe that one of the reasons there is no value for human life anymore, among many other reasons, is that for too long generations have believed the lie of evolution. Think about it. If man is just the result of a meaningless evolutionary process who developed into something a little smarter than a chimpanzee, then when he dies, he just stopped to exist. Why would people care to spare a life? When someone is killed, he's actually saved, in their minds, from this terrible, evil environment that they live in. It is tragic, and it is so far from the gospel truth. Thus, it is time for us to value life again. It is time to see again that the purpose of man's life as we represent God on earth, created in His image, is to glorify Him and to enjoy Him forever. When you kill an elderly person, you may call it euthanasia, or a child in the womb, you may call it healthcare, or any other human being, you might call it justice. You still rob someone of this wonderful status we have as the image of God. You play God because you challenge the giver of life. You deny the plan that God had for someone's life. You deny that the fetus was a human being, but most of all you offend the holy God, the creator of the universe. That being said, let me share this with you also immediately. Like any other sin, the taking of a life is a heinous sin. and the influence it has on society, but also on the one who commits the murder, is traumatic. No less when someone had an abortion performed. But I want you to hear again this morning, this sin is not an unforgivable sin. This sin, like all other sins you and I commit, drives us to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. to our Savior, who is our only hope and our only forgiveness. And when we confess our sins before Him, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And He Himself becomes the propitiation for our sins. So what else should we do? Proclaim and spread God's Word. protect life, advocate and support those whose life mission it is to do that, and pray because we cannot change the world, but God can. Let us continue to value life for His glory. And God's people say,