Proverbs chapter number 31, the part of the chapter that I'd like to focus on is at the
very beginning there, where the Bible reads, the words of King Lemuel, the prophecy that
his mother taught him, what my son, and what the son of my womb, and what the son of my
vows, give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings.
It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong
drink, lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.
Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy
hearts.
Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
And this morning, the title of my sermon is Staying Right versus Getting Right.
Staying Right versus Getting Right.
You see, it's a lot easier to stay right and to keep things right than to try to get
things right after they've gone wrong.
Now this is a great sermon to preach on Mother's Day simply because our mothers are the ones
who hopefully teach us when we're young how to live right from the beginning so that we
don't mess up our lives and have to try to fix things.
We can just stay on the right path.
And if you look at Proverbs 31 here, this is the prophecy that's being taught by a mother.
And if you actually look at the whole chapter, she's trying to teach her son how not to mess
up his life.
And she said, these are some ways that you could mess up your life through the strange
women and fornicating and giving your strength to women.
Also you can mess up your life through alcohol and drunkenness.
She warns about that.
And then she spends a lot of time explaining to him what the right type of a woman is to
make his wife because one of the most important decisions that we ever make in our life is
who we get married to.
I mean that really in many ways will make or break our life because that's the most
important decision outside of getting saved is who you're going to marry and who you're
going to spend the rest of your life with.
Go if you would to Proverbs chapter number 6.
Proverbs chapter number 6.
And the Bible talks more about our mothers.
I'll read for you from chapter 1 a very similar statement where the Bible reads, my son, hear
the instruction of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother for they shall be
an ornament of grace unto thy head and chains about thy neck.
Look at chapter 6 verse 20.
My son, keep thy father's commandment and forsake not the law of thy mother.
Bind them continually upon thine heart and tie them about thy neck.
When thou goest, it shall lead thee.
When thou sleepest, it shall keep thee.
And when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.
For the commandment is a lamp and the law is light and reproofs of instruction are the
way of life to keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange
woman.
You see, the teaching of a mother and father can keep us from a lot of the pitfalls that
are out there in this world ready to destroy our lives.
And when we have made mistakes like fornication or drunkenness or adultery or murder, yeah,
it is possible as the Bible shows us to get back on track and live for God.
But let me tell you something, it's a lot easier to just never go down that road in
the first place.
It's much easier to stay right and to keep things right than to try to get them right.
Now let me give you some examples of things that are a lot easier to keep right than to
get right.
Go if you would to Leviticus chapter number 19.
Leviticus chapter number 19.
And while you're turning there, let me just mention something that the virtuous woman
had brought up in chapter 31 of Proverbs.
She talked about alcohol.
And let me tell you something, it's a lot easier to just abstain from drugs and alcohol
for your entire life than to try to quit these things after you've gotten mixed up in them.
The Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 7, for they that sleep, sleep in the night,
and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for
and helmet the hope of salvation.
See, drunkenness is one of these works of darkness.
And the Bible says we are not of the night nor of darkness.
We are of the day.
We ought to be sober and not be drunken.
And alcohol and drugs pretty much do the same thing in many ways.
You see, a lot of people will say, well, where does the Bible tell me not to smoke marijuana?
But if the Bible tells us to be sober, we know that God doesn't want us smoking marijuana
because it is a mind-altering substance that does not make you sober.
It does not give you clarity and a sound mind, but it impairs you just as alcohol would in
a different way.
But still, if God doesn't want us drinking alcohol, then he obviously doesn't want us
smoking pot either or doing any of these other recreational drugs.
And so the Bible here is telling us to be sober.
Walk in the light as he is in the light.
Don't walk in darkness.
But it's very difficult sometimes for people to quit taking drugs or to quit drinking.
But for someone who has never taken drugs in their life, it's very easy not to take
drugs.
I mean, I guarantee you that the vast majority of the people in this auditorium that have
never taken drugs in their life, they didn't have to exercise a lot of willpower this morning
not to shoot up on heroin or not, you know, I'm not going to snort cocaine this morning.
You know, I'm just not going to do it.
But people who've done that, they struggle with that for the whole rest of their life.
Once you open that door, it becomes an uphill battle to do that which is right.
Here's another example of something that's easier to stay right than to get it right.
Look at Leviticus chapter 19 verse 28.
The Bible reads, You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any
marks upon you.
I am the Lord.
So the Bible makes it clear that we're not to print marks upon our body.
But yet today, it's very popular in the United States of America to get tattoos.
It's become a major part of our culture for both male and female to just turn 18, get
a tattoo or get many tattoos.
And it's become very popular.
It's become almost universal.
And even amongst Christians, tattoos are prevalent and pastors are afraid to preach about it
because they don't want to offend people because they think, well, but I have people
in my congregation who have tattoos.
But here's the thing about that though.
Tattoos are permanent.
They don't come off.
Now I've seen a lot of advertising out there that said tattoo removal.
Who's seen the advertising like that?
Whether it's a billboard or I was walking down the street in downtown Tempe and there
was a video screen outside of a tattoo place because this place gave you the tattoos and
removed the tattoos in one stop.
They had a video that was showing the wonders of tattoos and they made it look so easy.
I mean the tattoo was just coming right off and it was just a piece of cake.
But try talking to somebody who's actually tried to get tattoos removed and you'll find
out that it doesn't come off.
It's permanent.
Now I was just talking to a guy recently who told me, he said, when I got this tattoo put
on, he showed me a tattoo, he said, it cost $50 to get this tattoo put on.
And he said, I'm in the process of trying to get it removed and the cost to get it removed
is $5,000.
Now think about what a great illustration of sin this is.
It's real easy to get into sin but trying to fix the damage is virtually impossible
sometimes.
He said, I have to go in, and I forget how many treatments, it was either 50 treatments
for $100 each or I don't know if it was 25 treatments for $200 each, but he had to go
back and he had great faith that it's going to be removed.
I hope it works out for him but honestly, I've seen a lot of people where they just
give up on it because it's just not coming off.
And they go in and again and again and again.
And when they go in, by the way, it's extremely painful to try to get the tattoo removed.
You see, people talk about the pain of getting a tattoo put on.
But talk to somebody who's tried to get it removed and they'll tell you, oh, the pain
of getting it removed is way worse than the pain of getting a tattoo installed.
And the pain is excruciating and it's already so expensive to try to get the tattoo removed.
You don't want to have to pay extra for the anesthetic.
Then you're doubling the price or tripling the price.
So basically, they end up just going there and just gutting it out and just suffering
literal torture sessions.
I mean, just week after week being tortured.
And then they show you where they're trying to get the tattoo removed and it's all burned
because they have to burn it with a laser and there's blistering and pain and suffering
and agony.
Look, they don't come off.
And if you teenagers and you young adults that see these ads and think, oh, I can always
get it removed, no, you can't.
If you get a tattoo, it is permanent.
And you ought to think about that, that God does not want you to get a tattoo.
And again, pastors won't preach this because they're afraid, oh, I'm going to offend the
people.
But the people who have tattoos right now whose heart is right with the Lord, we have
many people in our church who have tattoos because it's so popular today.
The people in this auditorium whose heart is right with the Lord, when they hear this
preaching, they're saying in their heart, amen, I don't want them to make the mistake
that I made.
That's the right attitude.
Not to say, well, how dare he talk about that, I have a tattoo.
Well, so what?
You know, we've all seen it come short of the glory of God.
You know, it doesn't make you a horrible person.
But you know what?
When you're a young person who grows up with this kind of preaching and you see it right
there point blank in the Bible, you know, God is going to be very angry and displeased
if you just defy him and just say, well, you know, I'm 18 now, I'm going to go out and
get a tattoo.
You're going to regret that someday.
You're going to regret, you're going to wish you hadn't.
And you might even throw a bunch of money away trying to get it off and be tortured
and being injured and striving to fix it.
But some things are just a lot easier to just keep them right than to try to fix them and
get them right.
It's $50 to get into sin, $5,000 to try to remove the damage.
That's life.
If you would, go to Proverbs 23, Proverbs chapter number 23.
Here's another example of something that's easier to keep right than to get it right.
And listen, my goal is not to offend anyone this morning.
I love you and I'm not trying to offend anybody.
And look, some people's sins are open beforehand, going before the judgment, and some men they
follow after.
Likewise also, the good works of some are manifest beforehand and they that are otherwise
cannot be hid.
That's what 1 Timothy chapter 5 tells us.
But here's the thing about it though.
Just because some people's sins are more open than others, we've all sinned.
So I'm not trying to make people feel bad because they have a more visual sin.
But it's my job as a pastor to preach against sin.
And the reason why I want to preach against sin this morning is because an ounce of prevention
is worth a pound of cure.
It's not to make people feel bad or hurt people's feelings.
The goal is to get that person who has not yet made these mistakes and explain to them,
look, it's easier to keep it right than to try to get it right later.
And the reason I preach this sermon on Mother's Day is because it's the job of every mother
to take their child and teach them how to live right so that they can grow up with the
advantage of having grown up in a godly Christian home and being taught the things of God from
a young age.
That's going to give them an advantage in the Christian life.
Also I'm preaching this sermon because I want every child who's here today to understand
that when your mother teaches you these rules and commandments, she's doing it for your
own good because she wants you to live a godly life.
And she wants you to live a life that would be pleasing to the Lord.
And she wants you to have prosperity and good success.
It's not that she's trying to just be an old fuddy-duddy that keeps you from having fun.
Look at Proverbs chapter 23 and I'll show you another sin that it's a lot easier to
keep it right than to get it right.
The Bible says in chapter 23 verse 19, hear thou my son and be wise and guide thine heart
in the way.
Be not among wine bibbers, among riotous eaters of flesh, for the drunkard and the glutton
shall come to poverty and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
Harken unto thy father that begat thee and despise not thy mother when she's old.
What's he saying there in verse 22?
Listen to mom and dad.
Don't be a drunk and don't be a glutton.
Now in Deuteronomy there's the example of the child who didn't listen to mom and dad
and they said he's a drunkard and he's a glutton.
Those are the two things that were brought out about not listening to mom and dad.
You see it's often mom and dad who are telling their children no to too many sweets.
No to too much junk food, right?
And putting, or say hey eat your vegetables.
Hey clean your plate or you can't have the dessert and so on and so forth.
Because a child who is left to himself will gorge himself on all kinds of junk and all
kinds of bad food.
And it's a mother's job to step in and like my mom had a rule, four cookies.
You know that was the maximum.
So you got to have those kind of rules in place and teach your children how to eat right.
Now this is something that's a lot easier to keep it right than to try to get it right.
You know people who have gained a lot of extra weight through gluttony, it's very hard to
lose weight when you're way overweight.
It's very difficult.
Now it's not that hard to maintain a healthy weight.
If you're already at a healthy weight, it's not really that hard.
You just kind of half way pay attention to what you eat and just eat basic normal foods
and it's pretty easy to maintain.
But listen, losing weight is difficult.
And here's why losing weight is difficult.
I'm not trying to hurt anybody's feeling.
I'm not trying to be controversial this morning or anything.
But here's why it's difficult.
Because of the fact that in order to lose weight, you have to eat less calories than
what you're burning.
You have to be at a deficit, a caloric deficit.
And when you gain weight, it's because you're at a caloric surplus.
So people who exercise, they're burning more calories, right?
They can eat more and still keep that balance.
But in order to lose weight, you have to burn more than what's coming in.
And people have all kinds of ideas about the low carb and the low fat.
But here's the thing.
At the end of the day, when you boil down all of these programs, it all comes down to
one thing.
You must be at a caloric deficit in order to lose weight.
It's just a simple science equation of just energy out, energy in.
It's that simple.
And, you know, there could be ways of eating that could ramp up your metabolism or little
tricks of the trait.
But at the end of the day, that's what it comes down to.
And here's the thing about being at a caloric deficit.
When you're at a caloric deficit, it doesn't feel good.
Right?
I mean, you're not happy at a caloric deficit because you're bringing in less than what
you're using.
And your body's saying, no, this isn't enough.
Don't you know what I've done today?
I have done 500 more calories today than what you gave me.
You're not giving me the fuel that I need here.
And so your body's screaming at you, give me more.
So it's discomfort.
Right?
Does everybody understand what I'm saying?
You go through discomfort.
You might have a little less energy or just feel a lot of hunger, and your body's screaming
at you, feed me, because you're at a caloric deficit.
That's not a fun condition to be in.
Now, in order to lose one pound of weight, you must have a caloric deficit of 3,500 calories.
One pound of fat is 3,500 calories.
So therefore, if you wanted to lose one pound every week, you would have to be at a caloric
deficit of 500 calories every single day, seven days a week.
And that's not a fun place to be, where you're 500 calories under what your body is telling
you to ingest, what your body wants.
You're 500 below that, and you do that for seven straight days, and you've lost one pound.
Right?
So let's say you have to lose 50 pounds.
I mean, you'd have to go every day for a year, 365 days at a caloric deficit of 500 calories
a day.
That's not fun.
But what I'm saying is it's a lot easier to keep it right than to get it right.
So that's why those who are at a normal weight or in a normal range, obviously everybody's
different.
Here's the thing.
Don't get me wrong.
Don't say, oh, skinny preacher up there railing on us.
Here's the thing.
I'm not one of these people that thinks everybody needs to be skinny.
I don't have that Hollywood attitude that everybody's got to be skinny.
Look, God made us in different shapes and sizes.
And what the world considers a normal weight, I consider a little bit underweight.
You know, I think it's normal to have some meat on the bone, amen?
So the point is I'm not up here trying to, you know, say, hey, everybody needs to be
skinny.
Everybody needs to look a certain way.
But, you know, we all know that you cross a line where you're unhealthy.
Where you're overweight.
Where you're unhealthy.
Listen, it's a lot easier just to, when you don't have that issue, to pay attention to
what you're eating and make sure you eat good food.
And when you start to say, honey, you've been shrinking my laundry, honey.
What did you do differently?
She says, well, I didn't do anything different with the laundry.
No, no.
I've been shrunken my clothes because this used to fit.
At that point, it's time to realize, wait a minute, you know, maybe I should actually
take a little better, maybe a few less trips to, you know, the fast food and the sodas
and the sweets and the mini donuts and all the junk that just the devoid of nutrition
type of just junk calories.
You've got to think about that before you go off that cliff.
And listen, I don't look down on people that are overweight or think about, oh, man, you
know, because here's the thing.
I know how hard it is.
I know what they're going.
It's a struggle.
Once you get to a point where you've gone over the edge, it's very difficult.
It's as difficult as somebody trying to quit smoking or trying to quit drinking or trying
to get off drugs or trying to get a tattoo removed.
I mean, these things are difficult.
And I sympathize with you if you're struggling with any of these things because it's hard.
And that's why we need to understand the biblical principle that it's easier to keep it right
than to get it right later.
And that's why we need to take heed less we fall and keep ourselves out of these things.
And especially children and young people, I'm talking to you because the temptations
there is all smoke and be cool.
My friends are smoking cigarettes, I'm going to show how mature I am.
I'm going to show what an adult I am.
You know, I'm 18 now, I'm going to start to smoke.
But quitting smoking is one of the hardest things that anybody has ever done.
I mean, I've never been a smoker or anything, but just talking to people who have, they'll
tell you it's harder than quitting drinking.
I mean, people have told me quitting drinking was nothing compared to quitting smoking.
He said quitting smoking was one of the hardest things they ever did in their life.
And that the craving never went away.
The rest of their life they have that craving.
You know, don't listen to these preachers who say, you know, I got saved and I never
craved a cigarette again.
He's a liar.
I talked to all kinds of pastors who said, hey, a cigarette sounds pretty good right
now, they said.
Why?
Because that craving is always there.
Much easier to just never take that first smoke.
Much easier to never take that first drink.
To never take those drugs.
To never destroy your body in this way or that way.
It's a lot easier to keep it right than to get it right, children.
Pay attention to what your mom and dad teach you, children.
Obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
But let me tell you something, it'll also be well with you.
And your days will be long on the earth.
Don't you think that you know more than your parents when you're a little kid?
You're foolish.
Your parents will get smarter and smarter the older you get.
And it's not, and they're not changing.
It's you that is realizing how smart they are.
And so you need to listen to your parents.
And you need to listen to your mother.
And don't despise your mother when she's old and think, well, she's old, she doesn't know.
She knows more than you think.
Go to Proverbs chapter 6, here's another area, and I know, I know I'm stepping on some sensitive
areas this morning.
But I'm trying to help you.
I'm trying to help those who have an ear to hear that they would keep things right instead
of trying to fix it.
And here's the thing, maybe you're in a situation where you're trying to fix things.
You know what?
God bless you for that.
And we ought to try to fix things.
You know, if you are a smoker, the tattoo thing, I would say it's a lost cause to try
to fix that.
I mean, that's just my personal opinion.
If you can fix it, great, but in my opinion, I think it's a lost cause at that point.
You know, when it comes to smoking, you know, you ought to fix that.
You ought to quit smoking.
You know, I mean, there's so much garbage, and you say, well, what's wrong with smoking?
Your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you.
You're not your own.
You're bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which
are God's.
And listen, a rental car doesn't let you smoke in it.
A rental hotel room doesn't let you smoke in it.
So why do you think this rental body that belongs to the Lord that he's letting you
use and be a steward of, what makes you think it's okay to smoke in that thing?
He's going to charge you a $300 cleaning fee for smoking in his body that he owns.
But not only is smoking tobacco bad for you, the tobacco is the least of the problems in
that cigarette.
Those cigarettes that they sell down at the store are filled with so many chemicals and
so much garbage.
Listen to this.
They have flame retardant in them.
It's a thing that you light on fire.
But it has chemical flame retardant, which is one of the most carcinogenic, terrible
substances for your body.
Not only that, but smokers have harmed all of our health.
And I'm not talking about secondhand smoke.
Because now mattresses and bedding materials all have to be sprayed with flame retardant
because too many people are smoking in bed and burning the whole place down.
So now all mattresses have flame retardant.
You buy pajamas for your three-year-old and they have chemical harmful flame retardant
in them because of smokers, to where everything that has to do with sleeping now has to have
flame retardant.
Sheets, bedding, blankets, beds.
Look, I even told someone that I loved, I was pleading with someone that I loved to
quit smoking.
And I said to this person I loved, I said, listen, if you're not going to quit smoking,
for the love, at least get some kind of a, get some organic tobacco, roll it yourself
in a piece of paper or something where you know that that's all that's in it is just
the, you know, what you put into it.
But I said, what you're buying, this Marlboro and whatever else, is total poison, total
garbage killing you.
It's horrible.
Horrible for your health.
All kinds of chemicals and junk in the cigarettes.
Even the one with the Indian on the package.
Even it has stuff in it.
You know what I'm talking about, the natural or whatever?
Spirit or, is that what it's called?
American spirit.
Even the American spirit isn't clean enough, my friend.
But then the person that I told that to, they said, well, I'm going to go to the Indian.
You know, I'm like, well, okay, at least we're making progress here, you know.
Good night.
Don't go down that road.
I remember my, well, I don't want to say who it was, but a friend of mine, somebody
I know, she went to a job where everybody would take smoke breaks and they'd be out
on the smoker's patio, the smoker's lounge.
So one day she went out there and lit up a cigarette and everybody looked at her like,
what do you think you're, what are you doing?
And she's like, well, they're like, you don't smoke.
She's like, oh, well, you know.
They said, look, don't be an idiot.
They said, why would you start smoking?
It's too late for us.
Save yourself.
You know, and she's going, okay, you know.
But I've talked to people who said that they started smoking because they wanted to take
additional breaks because smokers take a lot of additional breaks, you know, they step
outside, have a smoke, but, you know, that's laziness.
The Bible talks about being slothful and being a sluggard.
You're not giving it your best at your job if you're just looking for an excuse to get
out on that patio.
But here's another example is, you know, financially when it comes to going into debt, it's a lot
easier to stay out of debt than to try to get out of debt when you're, look, trying
to get out of debt when you're in debt, it's like being 100 pounds overweight and trying
to lose 100 pounds.
It's real difficult to do that, a lot easier to maintain, you know, a basic money in, money
out than to be at a, not a caloric deficit, a financial deficit.
That hurts too, right, where you have to make more than what you're spending.
That's hard.
Most people can't even live within their means, let alone be at a financial deficit of $500
a month or something where they could pay off debt and lose, not losing weight but losing
debt.
It's almost the same thing.
Once you get messed up with your credit and messed up with debt, you're going to suffer
for that a lot and it's going to end up costing you way more than just exercising a little
restraint when you're 18 and those credit card ads start coming in.
And this is where mom and dad should step in and teach, that it's easier to keep it
right than to get it right.
My sister, okay, my younger sister one time when she was real young and inexperienced,
she bought a pack of Band-Aids at Target, all right.
She had a Target credit card, but you know how you get it, you know, hey, if you sign
up for this credit card, we'll give you, oh, sure, sign me up, you know, and you know,
sometimes you don't really think too much about it because it's just a Target card or
a Kohl's card or a JCPenny card and, you know, you don't get the bill every month so you're
not really in the habit because it's something you only use from time to time.
Well, she got this Target card.
She bought a pack of Band-Aids for three bucks, but then she ended up forgetting about it,
moving, switching addresses, never got the bill.
That pack of Band-Aids ended up costing her $103 eventually, 103 bucks for a pack of Band-Aids.
You know, when you're young, you make these mistakes and I've made mistakes financially
and I've done stupid things and spent money so I'm not down on her this morning, I'm just
using that as a great illustration of, you know, three bucks can turn into 103 bucks.
Look what the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 6 verse 1.
This has to do with messing up your credit, going into debt in a sense.
It says in verse 1 of Proverbs 6,
My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger,
thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.
Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself when thou art come into the hand of thy friend.
Go humble thyself and make sure thy friend.
Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.
Gather thyself as a roe from the hand of a hunter and as a bird from the hand of the
fowl.
Now that's pretty strong language in those five verses.
Don't even go to sleep until you've fixed it.
I mean, you are ensnared, you've been trapped.
This is talking about co-signing for somebody, being surety for your friend, co-signing and
putting your name on the line for somebody else's borrowing.
Why?
Because he's warning of the danger of having them come after you for that debt.
Because being in debt is a really bad situation to be in.
And you know, obviously we live in a debt based society, unfortunately.
Even right, if you pull a dollar bill out of your wallet, right there on the dollar
bill it says this is for paying debts.
We live in a debt based system, fractional reserve lending has messed up our money supply
to where, you know, pretty much everyone has to borrow money virtually to even function
in our society.
So, and I'm not saying that, you know, some people are able to go through life without
borrowing any money, great.
But the way that our society is set up, it makes it pretty hard to get a house or a car
or anything like that, you know, without borrowing money.
It's just the way the system works with the fractional reserve lending system that has
created all this debt and everything.
We live in a debt based society that enslaves us to the bankers that make all the money.
But that's a whole other subject and a whole other sermon.
But that being said, you know, there's some debt that just makes zero sense.
You know, it's one thing to get a mortgage on a house.
I mean, at least then you got the house to show for it.
You know, you borrow the money, you got the house, okay, it's not ideal, but hey, great.
There's a balance there of collateral, you know, of what you have there versus what you've
borrowed.
Or a vehicle loan can often make sense because, you know, you got the vehicle to back up the
debt.
The thing about credit card debt is that you've got nothing to show for it.
I mean, you spent that money and it's gone.
You spent it on food that you ate and it's gone.
You know, you spend it on just partying and having fun.
And then you someday have to pay the piper.
And it just multiplies all that interest and all that debt and it just, you go deeper into
the hole through credit card debt.
And now student loan debt is something that has even exceeded credit card debt in this
country.
And people just think, oh, if I get a college degree, I mean, you know, yeah, I mean, people
are just going to be beating down my door ready to pay me six figures, you know, because
I got a four-year degree in business.
Wall Street, here I come, you know.
But that's not really the way life works.
And now people are saddled with, you know, a bunch of debt.
Why?
Because they didn't want to work and go to school at the same time.
It's too hard.
But it makes a lot more sense if you're going to do that, you know, to pay your way as you
go.
But we have credit card debt.
And look, it's much easier to just never go down that road and to just pay that sucker
off every month than to just start saying, oh, you know, let's get a new sofa, let's
get a new dining room set, you know, hey, why not, you know, hey, let's go out and get
a new stereo, man.
I mean, I got to build my credit, right, you know.
And look, I'm all for building your credit.
But build your credit on stuff that you actually need, you know, that you actually use and
that you actually have something to show for it.
Here's another example.
How about permanent birth control?
This is a lot easier to just keep your body right than to try to fix it later.
Listen, virtually everyone who gets these permanent birth control procedures done on
their body ends up regretting it at some point.
Most people end up regretting it at some point.
And especially now, women are getting their tubes tied, so-called, when they're in their
20s.
They have one kid, two kids, oh, that's, I'm done, that's it, tie it up.
Then they get a little older and wiser and realize, whoa, children are in heritage of
the Lord.
And the fruit of the womb is his reward.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth.
Happy is the man that hath this quiver full of them.
They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies of the gate, and they
say, well, I want to have more children.
And then it's too late.
Oh, you can always get it undone.
Okay, go talk to the people who've gotten it reversed and realize that it's not just
as simple as, oh, yeah, you just get it reversed, you know, no big deal, you know, oh, yeah,
get the reversal.
No, no, no.
The men who get the vasectomy, and by the way, you get the vasectomy, it's bad for you.
All kinds of bad side effects and hormonal imbalance and health issues as a result of
that, you know.
And then these women, they get these permanent devices installed in their body as a permanent
birth control, and then sometimes they just start traveling through their body.
Like they put, what was that thing that they put up there?
It's like a, Juja, you remember, it was like a, what's it called?
It was like a, not the IUD, this is like a permanent, it was like a copper spiral that
they put up in their fallopian tube or whatever, okay.
But then what happened is, sometimes it just starts traveling through their body, and then
they found the copper spiral like up in their organs or something, because it had just kind
of like, you know, over time moving around, just kind of, you know, spins around, goes,
I mean, what do they call it again?
What's the technical term for that?
You don't remember?
Whoa, we talked about this, honey.
Where are you?
I'm drowning up here, I need help.
No, but we were talking about it, I forget what it's called, migrating, is that what
they call it?
Is that the word?
Yeah, like it starts to migrate.
You know, talk about immigration problems, you know, it's like, you know, you got a sharp
piece of metal migrating through your body, just tearing up, you know.
And I mean, boy, just go online and just look up like permanent birth control horror story.
I mean, there's stuff that will make the hair on your neck stand up, crazy stuff.
But people, they think that they're smarter than God, they know better than God, I just
want one kid, I just want two kids.
Now look, if God only gives you one kid, praise the Lord.
God only gives you two kids, praise the Lord.
But this attitude that, well, you know, I only want one, I only want two, and then later
you want to fix that, well, sorry, it's tough to fix.
And people make these decisions, young in life, that have permanent consequences.
Go to Titus chapter 3, Titus chapter number 3.
Got to teach our children wisdom and teach them to not make these mistakes because once
you make these mistakes, it's a lot harder to get it right than it would have been to
just keep it right in the first place, just to leave it alone and keep it right.
You see, while you're turning to Titus 3, let me explain to you one of the laws of science.
The law of inertia.
Things that are at rest have a tendency to stay at rest, and things that are in motion
have a tendency to stay in motion, which means that it's a lot easier to keep the car rolling
than to get the car rolling.
You know, you get out there and there's a car that's stalled, hey, let's get this car
and let's push it.
You know, to get it from a dead stop, you have to push really hard to get that thing
moving.
But once it's moving, you barely exert any pressure at all.
It's easier to keep it moving than to get it moving.
It's easier to keep things right than to get them right.
Look if you would at Titus chapter 3, because we've been focusing on negative things.
We've been focusing on, hey, these are bad things, it's better to stay away from these
things.
But how about good things?
Look at Titus 3 verse 8.
This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they
which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works.
These things are good and profitable on demand.
Jump down to verse 14.
And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses that they be not unfruitful.
See it's a lot easier to maintain good works than to start doing good works out of nowhere.
And that's why as a child, you should start developing habits of doing good works when
you're a young child and then just maintain that.
Much easier to maintain your weight.
Much easier to maintain your bank account.
Much easier to maintain a godly life or maintain good works than to try to fix things that
are way out of whack.
Thank God for children who go out soul winning at a young age.
Thank God for teenagers who are already witnessing, already preaching the gospel, already going
on the soul winning events and going door to door.
Why?
It's a lot easier to maintain that than to try to get some guy who's 30 or 40 or 50 and
say, hey, let's get you out soul winning.
Whoa, I don't, you know, I've never done that before.
Now look, the 50 year old needs to get out soul winning.
But you know what?
It's a lot easier to just maintain.
It's a lot easier to maintain Bible reading.
Start young praying.
Start young reading the Bible.
Start young going to church, three to thrive, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night
and then just maintain that.
Much easier to maintain good works than to develop good works.
And then the last place is 2 Timothy.
You're right there in Titus anyway.
Go back to 2 Timothy chapter 1 and I'm going to show you some scriptures just about the
blessings of growing up in a godly home, the blessing of being raised in a Christian home.
Now probably most people that are here this morning as far as adults were not raised in
a Christian home.
The majority were not.
But I thank God that I was raised in a Christian home because if you were not raised in a Christian
home, the Christian life is an uphill battle for you more so than the person who was raised
in a Christian home.
Now this is not to offend anyone.
The bottom line is that it's a fact that it's more blessed to grow up in a Christian home
than in a heathen home.
I mean that should be common sense.
But I remember one time I was in a Sunday school class at a liberal church when I was
a teenager and they were arguing that it was better to grow up.
They were glad that they'd grown up worldly and sinful because then they had this great
testimony of a dramatically changed life and that that was going to be far more useful
in getting people saved.
But you know what I find is that I've been able to get a lot of people saved through
the power of the Gospel.
See I always thought the power of God unto salvation was the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I didn't know it had anything to do with my life.
I mean the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the story of our Lord Jesus Christ coming
to this earth, dying on the cross for our sins, being buried and rising again.
That's the great story.
That is the great power of God.
That's the great truth of the Gospel.
You see it's the power of Romans 3.23, the power of John 3.16.
It's the power of God's Word and of Jesus our Savior that gets people saved.
It's not the power of I quit drinking.
A 12-step program could do that.
There are plenty of people who quit drinking without ever naming the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Plenty of people, look Alcoholics Anonymous will tell you that all you have to do is believe
in a higher power.
And they literally said you could believe in this chair as your higher power.
If you worship this chair, they said, that's fine.
You just have to believe in some higher power.
That's what they said.
You can be any god, any idol.
It could be Buddha.
It could be Jesus.
It could be Mohammed.
It could be Hinduism.
It could be this chair, they said.
Just a higher...
No, no, no.
It's not a higher power.
It's Jesus that we worship, that we believe in.
But people quit drinking by believing in a chair.
It's true.
People got off drugs by believing in a chair.
That's not the power of God unto salvation.
The power of God unto salvation is faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
And does the Lord Jesus have the power to change lives?
Of course.
But that's not what we emphasize when we preach the gospel.
We ought to put the emphasis on Jesus, not on us.
Jesus is the one that gets the glory.
And there's a lot of self-glorifying that goes on sometimes.
Oh, I gave up this.
I gave up...
You gave up dung.
Because that's what Paul said he gave up.
He said, well, everything I gave up is just dung anyway.
You know?
I mean, what did you give up?
Worthless things.
Ooh, you gave up your life of partying and drinking and drugs.
That's all worthless junk that you didn't give up anything.
You gained everything when you got saved and turned over a new leaf or whatever you did.
So the bottom line is that these people were arguing and saying...
So I was like the only person in the class that said, well, no.
I would prefer to be raised in a Christian home.
You know?
I want to...
And they said, well, why?
What advantage does that give you?
And I said, well, because I would know the Bible well.
Because I'd learned the Bible my whole life.
So I'd know the Bible.
And they're like, oh, that doesn't mean anything.
They don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.
You know?
You know, these liberal churches, these liberal churches, they downplay knowing the Bible.
They downplay knowledge of the Scripture.
It's just about the relationship and the feeling and the emotion and the testimony and the
changed life.
No, no, no.
It's about learning the Bible as a child and growing up and serving God your whole life
and maintaining good works.
That's a great testimony.
And you know, well, I want to have a testimony that will show the world the power of God.
Yeah, but why don't you show the world the power of God by showing them a godly life?
Why do you have to first show them a wicked life?
They've already seen that.
They've seen that movie before.
You don't have to sit there and say, well, let me show you my wicked life.
Now let me show you how I'm doing it right.
Why don't you just show them, here's how I'm doing it right?
And they might see that and say, well, that makes sense.
That's great.
And there are sometimes people who will come to you and say, hey, I respect your lifestyle.
I want to know more about Jesus because you seem to have something together there.
That happens.
But the vast majority of people that I've been able to win to the Lord was just by preaching
them the Gospel and it really had nothing to do with them looking at my life.
It's a very rare situation where somebody falls on their knees and comes to you and
says, I want what you have.
Now it's great when it's cool when it happens, but it doesn't happen on a weekly basis.
I mean, maybe my life's not as awesome as yours.
I don't know.
You know, I don't have people coming and falling before me.
I want to be like you.
I want to have, you know, my neighbors aren't coming to me saying, you know, I saw that
messy yard with all those kids running around screaming.
Now I'm just kidding.
I want what you have.
I saw that giant van full of kids and I want it.
You know, no, but you know, if you tell them, hey, you want to go to heaven or do you want
to go to hell?
I mean, that's what they want.
That's what they want.
Salvation.
That's what it's about.
But look what Timothy said, or Paul, I'm sorry, what Paul said to Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter
1 verse 5, when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee which dwelt
first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice and I am persuaded that in thee also.
Another great Mother's Day scripture that says, look, Timothy was a great man of God
because of the influence of his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois.
That's how it was passed down.
It was passed down from Lois to Eunice to Timothy.
What a powerful testimony of what a mother can accomplish in a young child's life.
Look at 2 Timothy chapter 3.
Just over the page there, it says in verse 15, and that from a child thou hast known
the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which
is in Christ Jesus.
You know, I've sinned and made mistakes in my life.
Nobody's perfect.
We've all sinned and come short of the glory of God.
There's none righteous, no, not one.
And I still commit sin.
I still do things that are wrong.
We all do.
I'm not getting up here claiming to be perfect and sinless, but I will say this, I had the
privilege of being raised in a Christian home and my mother won me to the Lord when I was
six years old.
When I was a six-year-old boy, my mother opened the Bible, showed me how to be saved, prayed
with me by the bedside, won me to Christ at that young age.
And I know that I was saved when I was six years old.
And right away, there was a change in my heart.
I didn't have a dramatic change, you know, I quit drinking, I quit, you know, carousing.
I mean, I was six.
But I'll tell you what, there was a fire that was lit inside me of a desire, of a desire
to win people to Christ, a desire to preach the gospel to every creature.
You know, even just as a little kid, as God worked in my heart and I read the Bible and
went to church and I learned from my parents and I learned from church.
And let me tell you something, not only did my mom win me to the Lord when I was six years
old, but also my parents both taught me sound doctrine and they taught me many, many biblical
truths that kept me out of a lot of trouble, that kept me away from a lot of bad things
and kept me away from a lot of bad doctrine in a lot of bad churches.
And I can honestly say that if I think about everything I learned in church growing up
and everything I learned from mom and dad growing up, I would say that most of the most
important things that I would point to as just kind of live or die truths I learned
from my parents.
Even more than church did for me and church does a lot for you.
But my parents did the most for me as far as doctrinally.
I mean, to be one to Christ as a young boy and to grow up and to never know what it is
to be drunk.
I don't want to know what it is to be drunk.
I don't want to know what it is to fornicate.
I don't want to know what it is to live that life.
And look, I'm not bragging because you know what, I'm here to tell you, if I would have
been raised in a worldly home, I would have gone out and done all that stuff.
I would have been out, I know that in my flesh dwells no good thing.
And I would have been out, I'll tell you right now, I would have been out there fornicating
and partying and doing whatever, just like everybody else.
But thank God for a Christian mother and father that taught me not to do those things, that
took me to church, that taught me sound doctrine, and that has made my life easier.
And here's the thing, unto whom much is given of him so much be required.
You know, I believe that God would probably hold someone like me to a higher standard
because I grew up in a Christian home.
God understands that you didn't have that advantage, but God expects you to fight that
uphill battle and to fix things.
But it's harder.
And so you need to be that parent that's going to take your little Steven Anderson child.
And I was kind of a bad kid.
You know, my parents, this is what they always tell the story, they say, you know, we used
to, because I'm the third born, so before me they had Ronnie and Clint, my brother and
sister.
And they said, boy, when we had Ronnie and Clint, we would look at other people's kids
when they would misbehave and we would think, wow, those parents are just total idiots.
Because they said, you know, parenting is so easy, I mean, why don't they just, why
don't they just spank their children?
I mean, why don't they just do it right?
I mean, these people are just completely, and then they say, and then we had Steven.
And then we realized that, you know, even if you do things right, the kid could still
be a bad kid, you know.
So the point is, though, that you mothers need to realize how important your job is.
You take that little child, even if he is a little bit of a rascal, and you gotta teach
him how to keep these things right.
That's your job.
And don't get so caught up with all the things of this world that you forget your primary
responsibility, which is of the mother.
You know, and not be out there, oh, I gotta go make money, and I gotta go out and, and,
you know, and go partying with my friends, and I gotta be on Facebook, and I gotta keep
up with the soap opera and everything.
No, no, no, you need to take your children and teach them and train them to keep these
things right.
And don't say, oh, church will do that, Pastor Anderson will do that, no, no, no.
Look, I can tell you about all the people who grew up in the same church as I did that
went astray, but I can tell you that me and all my brothers and sisters are all independent
Baptists, we all love the Lord, we all go to church, we're all saved, we all serve God,
all of us.
Why?
Because we're all parents.
You know, that, the church wasn't the common denominator, the parents, the common, now
church is important, I'm not trying to downplay church, but I'll tell you what, there have
been a lot of kids who've grown up in a good church that went to the devil, because mom
and dad think, oh, church will win them to Christ, no, you win your children to Christ.
You need to take your children aside and make sure that they know the gospel, and the younger
the better.
Keep talking to them.
If you're not sure if they're old enough, just give them the gospel and then just talk
to them about it again, a few months later, talk to them about it again, you know.
Keep talking to them, keep preaching to them, keep teaching them.
A mother's job is to keep her child from going down that wrong path and to teach them to
live a godly life from the beginning, because it's easier to keep it right than to get it
right.
Let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for our mothers today, and Lord, there are many mothers
here today in the service, Lord, that love their children and have brought their children
to church, and they want their children to grow up and love you.
They want their children to grow up and live a Christian life.
And we thank you for them and their dedication, all the hard work that they do, all the diapers
that they change, and the nutritious meals that they prepare in order to teach their
children, Lord, to be healthy and to eat right, and Lord, that they're bringing their kids
to church to teach them the importance of your house.
And Lord, we pray that every child in this room would listen to their mother and obey
their mother, and we pray that every mother in this room would be the best possible mother
that she could be, by your grace, to help avoid some of these pitfalls that our world
has for us.
And in Jesus' name we pray these things, amen.