The One Abortion That Every Christian Should Support

James 1:15

Anyone who supports abortion cannot be called a “Christian” with any merit whatsoever. It is the act of murdering those whom God created and who therefore possess intrinsic worth. It is the act of playing God by taking life which we have no right to take. While the whole tenor of Scripture is about the embracing of and the imparting of life, there is a type of life which we are commanded to take; there is a type of abortion which all Christians must not only support but endeavor to practice on a daily basis. I am speaking, of course, about the abortion of sin and/or the desire which gives birth to it.

I was recently reading a 17th Century message from John Gibbon, which was built upon Galatians 5:16, and came across this trenchant observation,

The flesh will be lusting, that accursed womb will be conceiving, in the regenerate themselves. But here is the Christian’s privilege, that while he walks in the Spirit, those conceptions shall prove abortive.”

“The accursed womb“, what a thought! The life of sin, as any other type of life, is one that progresses. Even after a healthy birth, babies are not automatically adults. Neither is sin is full-grown immediately. Our text above clearly indicates that sin becomes full-grown after some time has passed. When babies are born premature, preserving their lives becomes a complicated matter. If they do survive, it is often with life-long issues. It is vital that the full gestation is completed. Similarly, if the peach is plucked prematurely it cannot receive the nurturing necessary for it to come to full growth. It is vital for any good fruit that it is only plucked when ripe lest it die and forfeit all its potential good. The same principle holds true for the bad fruit of desire and sin. Both the peach and the thorn have their nascent stages and it is here that their futures will be determined. Sin too needs life to grow and the sooner we remove its life-source the better off we will be and the more honored God will be.

Parasites are as much a life-form as the lives they attach themselves to and destroy. But they cannot co-exist. Either the parasite will destroy the good life, or the parasite must be destroyed. Sin is something of a parasite which will consume and destroy your life unless it is eradicated. There is desire which leads to temptation and progresses to sin, and sin which progresses to death. Beware the inertia that exists in sin which becomes exponentially more difficult to contend with as it progresses. The newborn sin is easier to expel than the full-gown sin in the same way a newborn lion is easier to handle than one that is full-grown. And aborting the sin before its birth is the best option. If we would have victory over sin, our best chances are to have it before sin has the chance to grow. Abort that sin which may be slowly growing but not yet born! But to do this effectively means that we must take diligent stock in our lives. What sins are secretly growing that I may yet be unaware of? Perhaps that “root of bitterness” that the writer of Hebrews tells us of. Therefore give no foothold to the devil, for that’s all he needs (Ephesians 4:27). Some things are more obvious than others and it is most often the subtlety of sin that ensnares us. It is the so-called “small” sin (at least by comparison to other “bigger” sins) which will grow in strength and stature unnoticed until it becomes a “big” sin and eventually brings forth the very same death. Is it not a “little fire” that kindles a great forest (James 3:5)? We must endeavor to notice them and deprive them of life as soon as possible. Jesus told us to “cut off” the very hand that causes us to sin. (NOTE: This is a charge to radical and immediate action against the sin, not self-mutilation. Please do not cut off your limbs.)

In keeping with Galatians 5:16 Gibbons says that to walk in the Spirit is to obey the commands of God. By continually walking in (obeying) the counsel of God (oracles of the Spirit), we naturally prevent those fleshly desires from being entertained as God’s word leads us always down the sure path, both in action and in thought. The constant meditating in God’s word will make us as healthy, fruit-bearing trees planted by a river (Psalm 1:3). He continues,

Bring out of the register of conscience the laws of Him that made thee; oppose some clear text of holy writ, that comes into thy mind, against that very lust that is now rising. For instance: If it be carnal fear, Isai. 51:12; if love of the world, 1 John 2:15; if revenge, Rom. 12:19; if impatience under affliction, James 1:12; if diffidence in God’s promises, Num. 23:19; if immoderate anger, Eph. 4:26; if pride and arrogance, and self-assuming, Matt. 5:3; 11:29, &c. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of such artillery, whose conscience is rich in these memoirs!”

It is when we take leave of God’s counsel, even for a moment, that the flesh wars against us in all subtlety and deception; that “exceeding sinfulness of sin” (Romans 7:13). If the flesh wars against us even while we are walking in the Spirit, how much more does it (not to mention Satan) have an advantage when we are sleeping as it were? Jesus told us to watch and pray lest we fall into temptation. It is better to stand up immediately upon falling, but it is better still to prevent the falling altogether. So we must walk circumspectly by His word, which is both the light to our path and the sword by which we slay the enemy.

When you feel enticed by a certain ungodly desire, KILL IT before it conceives. When you discover that a desire has conceived, ABORT it before it is born. This type of “abortion” is not only acceptable, but urged. When you discover that a sin has been birthed KILL IT upon discovering it; waste no time. As John Owen once said, “be killing sin or it will be killing you.”  But in order to recognize these things for what they are, be constant in the meditation of God’s word and in prayer. Be endeavoring to obey the Lord in all things. The more we feed on His word, the less appetite we will have for those desires that would otherwise draw us away, and the more aware of them we will be when they arise. When sin is deprived of life, our fellowship with the Lord becomes deeper and our joy the fuller as a result.