Tomorrow is the Last Chance for Pastors to Preach Against Abortion from the Pulpit Before Election Day. They Need to Take It.
Editor’s Note: Tomorrow, November 3, is the last Sunday before Christians across America vote in this upcoming election. In multiple states, including Florida, Missouri, Montana, South Dakota, and more, ballot initiatives are attempting to add the “constitutional right” to abortion up to birth without exceptions. It is our earnest hope and prayer at The Center for Baptist Leadership that Southern Baptist pastors in these states would boldly preach against abortion and rally their church members to make an effort to vote for Christian values and in defense of the preborn on November 5, 2024.
To that end, this Sunday is the last Sunday for pastors to address this issue from the pulpit. If you have already done so in your state, do so again. If you haven’t yet, now is the time. Do not remain silent. Do not let fear of man, fear of the government, or fear of offending those in your congregation stay your tongue when you have a chance to speak up in defense of those “being led to the slaughter.”
To help inspire more pastors to preach against abortion from the pulpit, Pastor Tom Ascol has shared his sermon that he recently preached against “Amendment 4” in Florida. Let Pastor Ascol’s boldness inspire you to do the same in your pulpit this Sunday. He would be happy for you to use whatever is helpful from this sermon in your church with appropriate attribution. Of course, make sure to modify it to fit your state’s specific ballot initiative and context.
But whatever you do, do not remain silent. Preach to rescue the unborn this Sunday.
Introduction
On November 5, our nation will have a general election. The whole world will be watching to see who will become the next President of the United States. That outcome is vitally important and will be extremely consequential for the welfare of this nation and other nations of the world for the foreseeable future.
I urge every eligible Christian to prayerfully cast your vote in that election with a particular view of what would be most loving for your neighbors in this nation.
But here in Florida, we will have another vitally important item on the ballot this November. In addition to voting for the next President, we will be voting on a proposed amendment to our state constitution, labeled on the ballot as “Amendment 4.” It would make abortion constitutionally legal up to the moment of childbirth.
If you have been around this church very long, you have probably heard about Amendment 4 because we have several members who are actively involved in opposing it. But if you haven’t been around much, then you may be like many others in Florida who are either unaware of this amendment or who have been misled by the intentionally confusing language.
The title on the ballot is this: “The Amendment to Limit Government Interference with Abortion.” That is only the first of the misleading statements that the wording of this amendment makes. After all, who is for “government interference” on anything? Yet, the bottom line of what this amendment would actually do is overturn the recently adopted legislation that outlaws abortion in Florida after the 6th week of pregnancy.
To be clear, the current law is insufficient as it stands because babies should not be put to death before the 6th week of their lives, either. But this proposed amendment would enshrine in the Florida constitution the legalization of abortion up to the point of the moment of childbirth.
It is a wicked proposal. It is immoral. It is barbaric. It is murderous. And it must be defeated. And Christians, we who know God through faith in Jesus Christ, should be the most outspoken advocates for preborn babies whose lives are threatened by those who are spending much time & energy to make it constitutionally legal to kill them in their mothers’ wombs.
This has been the strategy of the pro-abortion industry for the last 2 years since the Supreme Court overturned the unrighteous 1973 decision of Roe v. Wade. The 2020 Dobbs v. Jackson decision rightly ruled that there is no right to abortion in the United States Constitution. So now, pro-abortion groups are targeting state laws and constitutions to enshrine the legalization of this morbid procedure in all 50 states.
Thus far, they have been very successful. Over the last eighteen months, the pro-abortion industry has won the vote on this issue in Vermont, Michigan, California, Ohio, Kansas, Kentucky, and Montana. Eleven more states, including Florida, will consider constitutional amendments this November to make abortion legal all through pregnancy.
It takes a 60% majority vote to amend the Florida Constitution. Leftists and those who profit from the abortion industry have spent tens of millions of dollars in Florida to try to convince enough voters to reach that goal. They have often used deception, distortion, and outright lies to do so. According to a survey taken at the end of July by North Florida’s Public Opinion Research Lab, they have been very effective. Their research indicates that 69% of likely voters plan to vote yes on Amendment 4, and just 23% oppose it. The rest were unsure or refused to answer.
Brothers and sisters, this is not only tragic, it is shameful. It is shameful because we who know God, we who are the people of God, we who have been reconciled to God by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, have been given clear instructions from our Master about our responsibility to oppose abortion and to work to see it abolished from our nation and world. This is clearly taught in God’s Word.
By that, I do not mean that you can find “Amendment 4” or even the word “abortion” in the Bible. What I do mean is this: what God has revealed to us in Scripture requires us to recognize that abortion is a violation of God’s law that says, “You shall not murder.” Every abortion is the unlawful taking of human life—an image-bearer of God—and is, therefore, an assault on God Himself.
Preborn babies are babies. Don’t ever allow yourself to be confused on this point. Just as the assassination of a political leader is murder, the abortion of a preborn child is homicide.
This morning, I want us to look at a text from the book of Proverbs in which God tells us very plainly how we must respond to the scourge of abortion in our land.
Our text is Proverbs 24:11-12. Before looking at this text and hearing what God has to say to us about the issue of abortion, I want to say a word to those of you who have had an abortion or who have encouraged or helped others to do so.
Our God loves and forgives sinners. Real sinners. He gave up His Son, the Lord Jesus, to save us from our sin. We have a real Savior, and He really saves real sinners. If you have participated in the sin of abortion, this will be a difficult sermon for you to hear. But I want you to hear it with the hope of the gospel running through your mind. Nobody in this room is righteous before God. None of us can pretend that we have been good enough for God, and none of us is in any position to look down our noses in judgment of any person. That includes the man who is preaching to you. The only way to be right with God is to have our sins forgiven through Jesus Christ. It is HIS life, death, and resurrection that saves us. And every Christian has been made a Christian by the grace of God alone.
If you are a Christian, remember that God loves you. He has forgiven you. He accepts you for Christ’s sake. If you are not a Christian, I and the other Christians here want you to become one. There is grace enough in Christ for you. This message, while hard, is not without hope. Because we have a real Savior for real sinners.
With that said, here is our text. Proverbs 24:11–12 (ESV):
11 Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. 12 If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?
We see here that God calls us to actively work to prevent the slaughter of innocent lives. This proverb has two parts: First, it tells us what God calls us to do, and second, it warns us how God will respond to those who refuse to do it.
First, God tells us to rescue innocent people who are being killed.
Proverbs 24:11-12 teaches us that, in life, there will be people who are being wrongly put to death. Who are the people mentioned here? “Those who are being taken away to death;…those who are stumbling to the slaughter.”
There are obviously people in danger. They are facing death (תֶו ָּ֑ מ māwet). This is a common word Hebrew word for death. They are about to be “executed,” about to be “slaughter[ed]” (ג ֶר ֶֶ֗ה hārag). Harold Stigers says, “Usually [this word] is used of the violent killing of men by other men—sometimes with justification, often,…not!”1
So, we see that they are people who are being unjustly executed and slaughtered. The text doesn’t specifically say they are being killed “unjustly,” but the whole context of Proverbs (living justly, pursuing what’s right) and the rest of Scripture indicate this is the case.
These are people who are being taken away, against their will, for death. They are being led to execution and a particularly violent execution. They are being slaughtered. Their executioners are forcing them along the path with such harshness and disregard that they are being made to stagger and stumble. They are in a helpless, hopeless situation in which they have no ability in themselves to avoid.
In April 1942, 10,000 American and 66,000 Filipino Prisoners of War were brutally marched 65 miles across the Bataan Peninsula of the Philippines by their Japanese captors. According to one survivor (Lester Tenney), 80% of the POWs were sick with malaria, and over one-half had dysentery. That 10-day march is now known as “the Bataan Death March” because of the brutality of their captors. As Lester Tenney told it, that was an appropriate name because if any prisoner stopped walking on the road, they were killed; if anyone stumbled and fell, he was killed; if anyone had a malaria attack, he was killed. Some were shot. Most were bayoneted. Some were beheaded.
These men were being “taken away to death;… [and were] stumbling to the slaughter.” These are the kinds of innocent, helpless, hopeless victims that our text has in mind.
What is to be done for people who find themselves being victimized like this? They are to be “rescued” and “held back. When we see such injustice happening, God calls us to intervene. Look again at verse 11; it commands us to “rescue” them—to help them, to save them! Do what must be done to keep them from being slaughtered!
Verse 11 also tells us to “hold them back.” There is a particle (ם־ ִא im) in the Hebrew original at the beginning of the second phrase in v. 11. Normally, it would be translated as “if” or “even though.” But here, it expresses a deep longing or perhaps even a type of oath that emotionally intensifies the obligation: “O, hold back those who are stumbling…”2
This is part and parcel of the sixth commandment, which, by forbidding the unjust taking of life, implicitly requires that we promote its just preservation. As Q. 73 of the Baptist Catechism says, “What is required in the sixth commandment?” And the answer is given: “The sixth commandment requires all lawful endeavors to preserve our own life (Eph. 5:28-29) and the life of others (1 Kings 18:4).”
So quite clearly, we see that verse 11 teaches us that there will be people who are unjustly put to death in this fallen world. This has been happening from the very beginning when Cain murdered his brother, Abel, as recorded in Genesis 4. Why is this?
Fundamentally, because of sin and Satan. After Cain killed his brother, the Lord came to him and warned him, saying, “Sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you” (Genesis 4:7). In John 8:44, Jesus reminds his listeners that “The devil is a murderer from the beginning.”
Brothers and sisters, that is how we should view abortion. It is the fruit of sin and the work of the devil and his demons. What takes place inside of abortuaries or in the privacy of homes through the use of pharmaceuticals is demonic.
We must see this for what it is. Do not be lulled to sleep by the euphemisms, half-truths, and outright lies that are told by those who are blinded by sin and under the sway of the devil. The taking of a life in a mother’s womb is not health care. It is not a reproductive right. It is a religious sacrament inspired by the prince of darkness and carried out by those who have been taken captive to do his will.
This is why the proponents of abortion are willing to spend millions of dollars to see it enshrined into law and advocate for it with such religious fervor. It is a sacrament prescribed by the devil.
And our responsibility is to “rescue” them. To “hold them back.” We are not given any one set prescription for how to do this, but we are called to do it. One obvious, simple, and easy way that we have to help make a dent in the ongoing holocaust of abortion is by making sure you vote no on Amendment 4 and encouraging everyone you can to do the same.
We have members who also regularly go to the Planned Parenthood center in Ft. Myers, where babies are murdered every week, and try to persuade mothers from going through with it. We have a brother in our church who leads that effort, and if you would like to be equipped and get involved in that effort, talk to an elder or deacon or call the church office, and we will connect you.
Sin and Satan not only destroy physical lives. They also destroy spiritual lives eternally. Sin came into the world and brought condemnation to the whole human race. That is why God exiled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. They rebelled against Him by not keeping His commandments, and the consequence is death—not just physical death, but spiritual death.
That is why you are spiritually unsettled and disjointed. Sin separates you from your Creator, and until your sin is forgiven, until His Spirit gives you new life until you come to trust the Lord Jesus and bow to Him as Lord, you will remain spiritually dead. And if you physically die while you are spiritually dead, you will enter into eternal death.
If that is your situation, then you need to be rescued. You need to be held back from the slaughter that awaits you.
The good news is that this is precisely why Jesus Christ came into the world. He came to seek and save people like you and me who, because of sin, come into this world lost. Jesus saves—He rescues—everyone who turns away from sin and trusts Him. Trust Him today.
Brothers and sisters, do you see what this means for us? Do you think about your unconverted family and friends as those being led away to eternal death, as stumbling toward an eternal slaughter? We should. And we should hear the Lord calling us to rescue and hold them back.
How? By helping them see their need for a Savior and persuading them to believe in Jesus as a willing and able Savior to meet that need.
Not only does God tell us to rescue innocent people who are being led away to death, but He also makes it clear that we are responsible for intervening.
Second, God will not accept our excuses for ignoring such atrocities.
In the second part of the proverb (v. 12), God warns us: “If you say, ‘Behold, we did not know this,’ does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?
Here, we learn that willful ignorance is no excuse because God knows that 1) You can say you didn’t know, and 2) God knows the truth. He weighs the heart. He watches over the soul—our inward lives. God is sovereign and omnipotent, and He knows full well what we know and what we should know.
We tend to be quicker to make excuses than we are to fulfill our responsibilities. Though we might quiet our consciences for a time or convince ourselves that we have a legitimate reason to do nothing, God sees through all that. He knows. There is no fooling Him.
Furthermore, God will hold those who do nothing accountable: “And will he not repay man according to his work?” This rhetorical question makes a point: God will actively hold accountable those who passively do nothing to save those who are sinfully being led to the slaughter.
This is a sobering warning, isn’t it? God says He will hold us accountable—He will deal with us—in accordance to how we do His will. God will not allow us to use willful ignorance as an excuse for not intervening to stop the murder of innocents.
During WWII, willful ignorance was illegitimate when many Germans pled that they did not know what was taking place in the Nazi death camps, where an estimated 6 million Jews were systematically murdered. However, a 2001 groundbreaking study from Oxford University Press demonstrates that most Germans who claimed not to know were either self-deceived or willfully ignorant. Through newspaper reports and testimonies of those who worked in the death camps, there was ample opportunity to learn about the final solution taking place within them. If they did not know, it was largely due to the fact that they did not want to know.
The same thing is true today in the ongoing American holocaust that has so far murdered more than 63 million unborn children since abortion was legalized in 1973. A simple internet search or simply spending a few minutes on the Guttmacher Institute website can provide a great deal of detail about the state of abortion in our land.
Anyone who doesn’t know what abortion entails or how widespread it is in our nation is simply choosing to be ignorant about what is going on.
What this means is that the person who says, “I didn’t know what was going on inside Planned Parenthood,” or “I didn’t know that abortion actually results in the death of a human life,” will not be judged innocent by the Lord who knows our thoughts.
That is particularly applicable today when advances in technology and medical science have removed all doubt that what is conceived inside of a mother’s womb is a human being. For example, we know that:
- A human that can feel pain and actually try to evade the abortionists’ tools at 8 weeks old.
- A human being that at 14 weeks can recognize and interact with other humans.
- A human whose organs and limbs are so fully formed in the first trimester that Planned Parenthood regularly enhances its profit margin by selling the arms, legs, brains, hearts, and livers of the babies that they murder in the womb.
Anyone who denies this or who resorts to the excuse of “Behold, we did not know this” will not be held guiltless by God and must admit to being willfully ignorant because they refuse to face the facts that have been blatantly and repeatedly made known to us in recent years.
So God has a clear word to speak to the moral blight on our land, which is abortion. To the doctors, nurses, technicians, secretaries, janitors, and volunteers who provide abortions and to the mothers who seek them and anyone who pays for them, He says, “YOU SHALL NOT MURDER.”
To those who live in the land where such atrocities are being carried out, He says, “Rescue those who are being led away to death, hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.” And do not say that you did not know what was going on.
Conclusion
But fortunately, that is not God’s only or final word that He speaks to this issue of abortion. God’s first word is a word of warning and judgment, and He promised condemnation for all who break His commandment, which forbids murder.
But God’s final word is a word of mercy and grace and hope for all those who have broken His commandments—both for those who have been involved in abortion and those who have passively sat back and done nothing about it.
Abortion is not an unpardonable sin. Failing to intervene to stop the murder of innocents is not an unpardonable sin.
On the contrary, there is hope for those of us who have broken God’s law because He sent His Son into the world to rescue law-breakers. The very reason that Jesus Christ came into the world was to save those who, because of sin and rebellion against God, are lost.
Every Christian here this morning knows that all we are is because of God’s grace. We know that the Apostle Paul, who himself was a murderer before the Lord saved him, describes us in 1 Corinthians 6:9–11 when he writes:
“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
Jesus said, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The Prophet Isaiah says, “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool” (1:18).
This is a word of incredible hope and grace! And it is exactly why Jesus died on the cross—to pay for the sins of everyone who confesses and turns away from breaking God’s commandments. He died for the sin of murder. He died for the sin of not intervening when innocents are being murdered.
He died to provide grace and forgiveness to all who trust Him as Lord.
So, while it is right to call attention to the murderous practice of abortion, those of us who have experienced God’s grace in the forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus Christ must also speak God’s Word of hope and healing and forgiveness—grace for everyone who turns away from sin and trusts Jesus as Lord.
That is the Word that God would have us proclaim to the abortionists, to the mothers who have sacrificed their children, to those who have paid to have it done, and to those who have passively sat by and done nothing about it: Friends, there is grace for you! God is full of mercy and grace and willing to forgive! Confess your sin. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. Your sins will be washed away.
The bloody stain of abortion can be cleansed by the blood of Jesus.
God’s grace can heal you, restore you, and give you the strength to live according to His Commandments so that you will know the life and joy that He gives to all those who trust Him.
His love and grace are powerful. They can change your life.
- Stigers, Harold G. “514 ג ַר ָה,“ ed. R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer Jr., and Bruce K. Waltke, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), 222. ↩︎
- Brown, Francis, S. R. Driver, Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Oxford: Clarendon Press, n.d.), 50. ↩︎
