Admonition Podcast

Aaron Cozort (00:01)
This morning

I want us to consider the idea.

that is presented in Jeremiah chapter one and in verse four.

And that is the personhood of a baby yet unborn.

In Jeremiah chapter 1, we open the letter or the record of Jeremiah's time as a prophet, and we read the words of Jeremiah, verse 1, the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah, the son of Ammon, king of Judah. In the thirteenth year of

Of his reign. It also came in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.

Here in verses one through three, we are presented with the fact that Jeremiah is going to receive the word of the Lord.

Through the span of king after king after king after king.

From the time that Jeremiah is an early young man.

He will begin to be given the message of the Lord. He will begin to speak, and he will do and commence his life's work as a prophet.

And as he opens his prophecy.

He writes in chapter one and verse four, then the word of the Lord came to me saying Behold I formed you in the womb sorry, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.

Before you were born, I sanctified you. I ordained you a prophet to the nations.

Jeremiah will be told by the Lord.

Something that Jeremiah would have absolutely no way to know otherwise.

That before he was born, that while he was still in his mother's womb,

God had already decided what his life would entail.

God had already determined what Jeremiah would do with his life.

And as we open this section of Scripture, Jeremiah reveals to us some lessons about life as they're revealed to him by the Lord. Consider first that the child in the womb is formed by God.

Now, there's no indication anywhere in scripture, not in this passage or elsewhere, that Jeremiah was a unique human formed a different way than all other humanity.

As a matter of fact, in the text of Scripture, there are only a small number of people who are formed in a unique way in all of humanity, namely three.

One who was formed from the dust of the ground, his name was Adam. One who was taken from the rib of Adam, who was Eve, and Jesus Christ. Those are the three that were formed in any way unique from the remainder of humanity. Christ, because he was born of a virgin.

So three individuals who are unique in all human history in their method of being conceived and brought into the world, Jeremiah's not one of them.

And yet scripture tells us that Jeremiah was formed by God.

It is important for us to realize.

That when someone creates something, when they establish the order of something, when they put forward the method and the process of that thing of themselves,

Then when that process is followed, they did it. They are responsible for it.

The American president once said, not the current one, one many years ago, the buck stops here. Because as the person in the highest office, as far as he was concerned, if it happened, he was accountable.

God said, I form children in the womb. He created the process. It was his creation.

And therefore he is the authority on the matter.

But then consider as well that God also points out, as we read in the text, that God knew Jeremiah before he was born. The text tells us that while Jeremiah was yet in the womb, God knew him.

It's pretty hard to know something that doesn't exist.

And yet many in modern times and in modern culture will argue that the person is not a person until they're born. And even not even for a little while after that.

God says, No, I I I knew Jeremiah and I knew him when he was in the womb.

But then consider as well that God not only says, I made him, I formed him, God not only says, I knew him, but God reveals to Jeremiah, I set you apart for a purpose. That's what the word sanctified means.

God says, I established a purpose for your life before you were ever born.

Are we to imagine that somehow Jeremiah was the only person of all humanity that has ever been born that God established a person or a purpose for them before they came out of the womb? Well, certainly not. We know John the Baptist had one because Zechariah, his father, is going to be told that he has one. We know that Judah is going to be told that the scepter would come through him.

And that David would be part of that fulfillment generations before David's born. We know that God is going to tell David that God is going to give him a son, and his son is going to have a throne, and it is going to remain forever, and that is going to be ful culminated in both the birth and the life of Solomon, but also of Jesus the Messiah.

Over and over and over again.

We're painted a picture of the purpose of a human life.

And ultimately we should understand this that there is one purpose of a human life. It's found in Ecclesiastes chapter twelve and in verse thirteen.

What is the whole of man? Solomon will write.

Fear the Lord and keep his commandments.

Every child conceived.

Has a purpose.

And that is to fear God and keep his commandments. There is no such thing as a purposeless life. There is no such thing as a valueless child. There is no such thing as simply a baby that is unneeded.

undesired when it comes to the Lord.

But let us consider a few other passages on this very idea. In Genesis chapter nine.

Noah and his family have disembarked.

They have exited the ship, the boat that Noah had built. They exited into a world

Entirely unlike the one that they had gotten on the boat.

For they exited into an empty one.

And as Noah is beginning again.

I mean, not trigger that accidentally. As Noah is beginning again, God is going to reiterate some of the commands that he had already given to humanity. God is going to re-establish some things and give some new commands.

But we read, beginning in verse one, so God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. Now that was a command God had already given. God gave that one to Adam and Eve back in the garden. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on every and on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea, they are given into your hand.

That had not been stated in the garden.

Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is its blood. Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning. From the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man, from the hand of every man's brother, I will require the life of man. Whoever

sheds man's blood by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God he made man.

And as for you, be fruitful and multiply, bring forth abundantly in the earth and multiply in it.

God as he addresses Noah.

A man of six hundred years.

A man whose oldest son is ninety-eight years old is going to tell Noah and his sons, Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth.

You thought it was hard keeping up with kids when you were in your twenties or thirties or forties. Noah's sons started out in their nineties.

But God makes it clear to Noah.

Something that had been true and remained true from the days of Cain and Abel.

That humanity is made in the image of God, and If you kill someone made in the image of God, God will not hold you guiltless.

God is going to make it clear that humans are not animals.

I do love our dog.

But If I ever have to choose between the dog's life and the child's life, I'll miss our dog.

Humans are not animals. Animals are not humans.

There is one species on the face of the planet made in the image of God.

And born or yet unborn, they're made in the image of God.

And God establishes the qualification for life.

When is a person alive? Did you notice it in the text? Because it's right here in Genesis chapter 9. God doesn't give us a answer that is up to our decision-making process.

He says, Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for he is in the image of God. He made man. But he goes back, or if you go back to verse 3, every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs, but you shall not eat flesh with its life. That is its life.

Blood.

God says they have blood running through its veins, then it's alive. It's a life. It's a person.

When you consider that as Jesus was hanging on the cross

And that centurion took that spear and rammed it into his side. The text tells us that out came water and blood.

The fact of the matter is, it it was evidence that Jesus had died because the water in the blood had begun to separate from the blood. They knew he was dead. Then they knew he had already perished because of the separation of the water from the blood. God establishes how you can know something's alive.

blood in it. And that blood's flowing. But then consider as well Exodus chapter twenty one. In Exodus chapter twenty one

God is going to give ordinances to Israel, laws to Israel. And in Exodus chapter 21, beginning in verse 22, God will state through Moses if men fight and hurt a woman with child, so that she gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows. In other words, the child is born premature, but the child is fine.

He says, He shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman's husband imposes on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. Two men are at odds with one another, and they come to blows, or they begin a fight, or something begins to occur, and it causes the woman who's with child to prematurely have that child. But the child is okay.

The child survives, there's still a judgment against the other man. And it's up to the husband to determine how that judgment is meted out, and up to the judges to determine how much he has to pay. Because he caused harm to the woman who was carrying the child. But notice the next verse. But if any harm follows.

Then you shall give life for life.

Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. God says if two men are arguing and fighting with one another, and they cause a woman who is carrying a child to give birth prematurely, and the child dies.

God says a life for a life.

You're guilty of having committed murder because the child who was not yet born was alive.

And now you have forfeit your life.

In Isaac, chapter forty nine.

Isaiah

As he is giving his prophesies to Israel.

Will speak concerning the Messiah.

In Isaiah 49, beginning in verse 1, we read, Listen, O coastlands, to me, and take heed, you peoples from afar. The Lord has called me from the womb.

Anyone who argues that the child not yet born is not a person

argues with the Lord about his very son.

He says, The Lord called me from the womb, from the matrix of my mother, he has made mention of my name. And he has made my mouth like a sharp sword in the shadow of his hand, he has hidden me, and made me a polished shaft. In his quiver, he has hidden me. And he said to me, You are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.

Isaiah here is making a comparison.

Between Israel, the nation that God had formed, that God had given birth to, that God had caused to exist, for Israel would not have existed had the natural order of things not had the natural order of things continued, for Abraham and Sarah would never have had a son.

Israel would never have existed if God hadn't stepped in. And God says, You're my son, Israel, but he's also, Isaiah is also writing about a second son, the type that Israel represents, the anti-type of which is Christ.

He says, He said to me, You are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. Then I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing, and in vain, yet surely my just reward is with the Lord, and my work with my God. And now the Lord says, Who formed me from the womb to be his servant?

Again, it's not just Jeremiah that says that the Lord does the forming.

But Isaiah says it as well as well.

He says, to bring Jacob back to him, so that Israel is gathered to him, for I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. Indeed, he says, it is too small a thing that you should be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel. I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles that you

Should be my salvation to the ends of the earth. Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, their Holy One, to whom, to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to the servant of rulers, kings shall see and arise. Princes also shall worship because of the Lord who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel.

And he has chosen you.

Isaiah writes concerning the Messiah.

And says before you were born.

While you were yet in the womb.

You were established to bring salvation to Jew and Gentile alike.

You were called. In Izaea chapter seven.

Isaiah will further prophesy concerning the Messiah in speaking of his unique conception. In Isaiah chapter seven, beginning in verse ten, we read, moreover, the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, A sign for yourself from the Lord your God, ask it either in the depth or in the height above.

But Ahaz said, I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord. Then he said, Hear now, O house of David, is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel. God would declare through Isaiah.

The same thing that God declared all the way back in Genesis chapter three.

That the one who would defeat Satan, the one who would defeat sin, the one who would defeat death.

Would be of the seed of woman and not man.

That God would form him in a virgin. And when you turn to Luke chapter one.

As Luke records the events surrounding the life of Christ.

In Luke chapter one, beginning in verse twenty-six, we read, Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women.

But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God, And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest.

And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.

There are those within our society who

There are those around the world with agendas.

To say that it is the woman's body and she can do with it whatever she pleases.

That's interesting. Because I've never yet seen a woman who was a male at the same time, also in spite of what many in the world to now today now believe.

And yet when that baby was in Mary's womb there was a male child inside of a female body.

And the angel said I can tell the difference between the two.

Because the one who you will give birth to

is the fulfilment of prophecy.

We read verse 32. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.

Then Mary said to the angel, How can this be, since I do not know a man? And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the highest will overshadow you. Therefore, also the Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now, indeed, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is now the sixth month of her who was called barren. For with God nothing

Will be impossible. Then Mary said, Behold, the maidservant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word, and the angel departed from her. Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And it happened when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leapt in her womb.

And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Have you noticed?

That the scriptures attribute independent action to the babe.

It's not Elizabeth that reacts to the voice of Mary. It is John who is in the womb of Elizabeth that reacts to the voice of Mary. And notice what Scripture tells us. Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. But why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord

should come to me. For indeed as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.

Did you notice that the text is very clear that the Holy Spirit who was speaking through Elizabeth is very clear that the babe could have joy independently from the mother?

Joy is a feeling, an emotion, an expression from a person.

And John was a person yet unborn.

But also there was recognition.

John in the womb, through the power of God, recognized the voice of the mother of his Lord.

And so did Elizabeth.

What do we learn about the personhood of the babe yet unborn?

That they are a person.

And what does the Lord say about those who shed innocent blood? In Proverbs chapter 6, beginning in verses 16 and 17, God will through Solomon declare that There are six things the Lord hates. Yea, seven are an abomination to the Lord.

among which is the shedding of innocent blood.

Because the life of the flesh is in the blood.

And if that child has blood to shed.

That child has a life. That child is a person. And the killing of the child is murder.

We live in a society.

That would love to convince us.

That humanity is valueless and a convenience for those who already have the ability to choose.

They ask for choice.

And scripture reminds them yes, they had a choice. They had the choice before the child was conceived.

After that, what they had was a life.

And they were commanded by God to protect it, to provide for it, to do everything they could to bring it up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord, to teach it, to fear God and keep his commandments, because it is a person made in the image of God.

Someone may say, Aaron, getting pretty political, aren't you?

No.

Getting very scriptural.

'Cause this thing we should understand.

There is not one party guilty of shedding innocent blood and another party innocent.

But on Tuesday, when we walk in and vote

We better be able to walk out with a clear conscience.

I'll tell you this, I couldn't vote for a person who doesn't respect the life of a child.

And I hope you can't either.

There's not an issue in all of our country.

That matters as much as the sanctity of life.

Because it determines whether or not we believe what God said as to whether or not Christ was a person in the womb, whether or not Jeremiah was formed by God and sanctified for a purpose long before he was born.

What it really matters is do we believe what God said or not? And do we believe we as a society and as a nation will be held guiltless?

if we stand by and do nothing while others teach people to kill their children.

You go back in the Old Testament and one of the things that you find over and over again that God judged the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Hivites, the Canaanites for

They killed their children in sacrifice to their own selfish desires to worship a god that didn't exist.

And God tells Israel, You do what they did and I'll judge you too.

We stand this day with the Lord.

Realizing that life is what God says it is.

But also realizing that this life is not all there is.

You're here this morning and you're outside the body of Christ. You can live this life from beginning to end.

But if you're not prepared for the next one, if you're not prepared for eternity, you've missed what is truly important. If you're here this morning and you're outside the body of Christ, God calls upon you to hear his commandments and to keep them, to fear him and keep his commandments, to hear that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, to repent of your sins, to confess eternal.

His name and to be immersed in water for the remission of your sins, to die to sin, to have life in Christ. And if you have need of that opportunity this morning, we encourage you to come as we stand and as we sing.