Title my sermon this morning is things I learned from mom things I learned from mom
The Bible reads in 2nd Timothy chapter 1 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
We see in the scripture that Timothy learned a lot from his mom and his grandmother. He learned how to live a life of
Unfeigned faith real faith that people could look at from the outside and know that it was real the Apostle Paul
talked about his unfeigned faith
The Bible also tells us in Proverbs 31 the famous
Virtuous woman's passage that King Lemuel was taught that prophecy
By his mother and so mothers have the ability to impart a lot of great spiritual truth
Under their children and it's important as a mother that you pass on
Your faith your beliefs the doctrines that you hold dear unto your children and pass them on
To the next generation being a parent is a big responsibility and especially as the mother
You're the primary caregiver and so you want to make sure that you are giving a spiritual legacy to your children
So I'm going to go through some things that I specifically
Remember my mom teaching me spiritually as I was growing up now
The first thing I remember her teaching me which is of course the most critical thing is the gospel. My mom actually
Led me to the Lord if you would go to John chapter 5 verse 24
my mom
obviously, I had grown up in church and I had heard the Bible preach and I grew up around the things of God, but
Specifically I remember the day that I got saved kneeling down by my mom's bedside and
Having her with the Bible open going through the plan of salvation with me as a little boy at six years old and
The verse that she showed me that always stuck in my mind when she presented the gospel to me
There was one verse she went through many verses with me
But this is the one that I always remembered that always stuck with me. It says in John chapter 5 verse 24
Verily verily I say unto you he that heareth my word and
believeth on him that sent me hath
Everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation
But is passed from death unto life
And so of course
This is one of my favorite verses with regard to salvation because it's so clear about the fact that you cannot lose your salvation
once you believe on Jesus Christ you have
Everlasting life. It doesn't say that you'll get it later. You have it right now and you will not come into condemnation
But you've been passed from death unto life right death has no sting for you anymore
You are not in danger of the second death
You are saved and you have eternal life and you can never lose your salvation
And so I clearly remember my mom teaching me that most important truth
But another important thing that my mom taught me if you would flip over to Hebrews chapter 8
Growing up. My mom taught me that
If you're saved when you get to heaven, none of your sins will ever be mentioned unto you
Your sins are forgiven and forgotten by God
And the reason this is important is because sometimes in church growing up
I would hear preachers get up and and say that when you get to heaven
You're gonna have to give an account for all the bad things that you did and all the sins that you did you're gonna be
Held responsible for those things and you know
They talk about how there's gonna be this big projector and you you know
Your life's gonna be played on a big screen and everybody's gonna see what you did
Now that would be a pretty scary thought and I remember as a kid actually hearing that preaching at church
And I remember this thing that bothered me the most was one time
I was on the playground at school and there was this little girl just on a swing minding her own business
I just walked up and just shoved her off of that swing for absolutely no reason
I just pushed her off the swing and pushed her onto the ground and
I remember hearing that preaching and thinking like what am I gonna say when that comes up?
You know what I mean, I mean when God brings that out how I just shoved that girl yes, why did you do that?
What am I gonna say? I have no excuse for such reprehensible behavior. Now. It sounds stupid because
Obviously at age 41, I wouldn't really be that embarrassed about something that I did
When I was a little kid like I can get up and just publicly tell you about how yeah
I shoved the girl on the swing ha ha
And you say well, yeah, that's because you're much older now
You're much more mature now and also decades have gone by so it's kind of water under the bridge at this point the statute of
limitations
Has expired on that particular crime
But think about how silly it is if I were actually what if I were actually tossing and turning at age 41
About facing God about pushing the girl on the swing who thinks that would be really silly
Since that was something I did as a little kid. Okay, but think about how when we are in heaven someday
The things that we do now are gonna be kind of the same way where they're water under the bridge at that point
They're not really relevant anymore. Just like what I did as a little kid isn't really relevant to my life now
You know, I'm sure God punished me back then but it's not really relevant now
Well, it's not gonna be relevant when we're in heaven wrong things that we did on this earth
okay, now why do I say that because the Bible says whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and
Scourgeth every son whom he receive it now. Why is it that God?
Disciplines us for our sins on this earth as Christians. Why is it that he scourges every son whom he receive it?
Well, the Bible says furthermore we had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we did them reverence, right?
We gave them reverence. So when our earthly physical parents punished us, we respected them. The Bible says they chastened us
Verily for a few days after their own pleasure
Because they didn't want to put up with us. So they disciplined us to keep us in line
But he does it for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness
So what is the purpose of God disciplining us the purpose of God disciplining us is so that we will straighten up and fly, right?
So that he can get us back on the right path
well, here's the thing once we're in heaven and we're totally without sin and
We have no longer our sinful flesh leading us into sin. What would be the point in God disciplining us or chastising us?
When it's all fixed, it's all done. It's all over at that point
It would be a silly thing to do now. Look at Hebrews chapter 8 verse 12 and look what the Bible says
it says for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and
Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more
Flip over to chapter 10 verse 17 and you'll see the same thing and their sins and iniquities
Will I remember no more there are a few other famous verses on this as far as the East is from the West
So far have had he removed our transgressions from us as far as the East is from the West
Right, our sins are forgiven. They're forgotten. They're gone. The Bible says in
Isaiah 38 17 you don't have to turn there behold for peace
I had great bitterness, but thou hast in love to my soul
Delivered it from the pit of corruption for thou has cast all my sins behind thy back
So God has cast all our sins behind his back
He separated us from our sins as far as the East is from the West
Our sins and iniquities will be remembered no more
now where a lot of people get confused on this is because there is going to be the
Judgment seat of Christ and the judgment seat of Christ is about rewarding us according to our works
But here's how that thing works though. That is either just a zero or a positive
You don't get punished at the judgment seat of Christ you either earn rewards or you miss out on rewards
That's how that works
You know all of your works are judged for their quality and the Bible has a great passage on this in 1st Corinthians chapter
3 you don't have to turn there for sake of time
But in 1st Corinthians chapter 3 the Bible talks about how our works are going to be tried by fire on that
Judgment Day and they're gonna be made manifest. Are they gold silver and precious stones?
Or are they wood hay and stubble?
Now if you stop and think about it, it's not that wood hay and stubble are necessarily bad things
I mean wood is a great material that you build things with and use for all kinds of tools and so forth
Hay and stubble have their purpose
They're not bad things
But here's the difference between wood hay and stubble and gold silver and precious stones gold silver precious stones
Last a lot longer
Whereas wood hay and stubble decay quickly
Okay, and what the Bible is teaching is that some of the things that we do on this earth some of our works are of
lasting eternal value
Other works that we do are just temporary they're temporal and they might not even necessarily be sinful or wicked
But they just don't matter in the long run. They're just wood hay and stubble
We all have wood hay and stubble in our lives
Even if they're not sinful things just this stuff that we do just the life that we live
Whatever's not of eternal spiritual value is not gonna earn us heavenly rewards
It's going to be burned up and all that remains is the gold silver and precious stones and the Bible says that if our works
Are burned up on that day, then we shall suffer loss. It says if our work abide the fire will receive a reward
But if our works are burned up we shall suffer loss
But it says but we ourselves shall still be saved so we're still saved but we lose out on
Rewards, that's what's going on at the judgment seat of Christ
It's not just this thing of why did you commit that sin when you were 25 years old, you know
Why did you it's like well, you know, I mean I died when I was 85 Lord. Yeah, but when you were 25
What about that? I mean it'd be kind of silly wouldn't it?
But guess what? I?
Do believe that the unsaved will have their works brought out at the great white throne of judgment
They'll be judged according to their works to determine their level of damnation
Not because God's trying to ask them why because I remember the pastors getting up and saying, you know
You're gonna have to give an account of why you did those you're gonna have to explain why as if there's any good reason to
sin ever anyway
What we have to say why?
Why does it matter we sinned because we're stupid because we're sinful because we're foolish because we're human
It's no explanation that could be given and God's not looking for an explanation from unsaved people at the white throne
He knows why they did it
They're being damned for their sins. They're being punished
We're not going to heaven to get punished my friend. We're going to heaven to be rewarded
Now if you're a spiritual loser and don't do anything for God
Then you're gonna get to heaven by the skin of your teeth
You're gonna get there and be saved still yet. So is by fire, but you're gonna miss out on rewards
That's the way it actually works
I'm thankful that my mom actually
Taught that to me as a kid my mom explained that to me because I was hearing the other thing in church sometimes
But then she explained to me and said look as far as the East is from the West
So far as he separated us from our sins. We're forgiven. It's forgotten. Yeah, there's discipline on this earth
There's chastisement on this earth
But what's the purpose of that to make us better to help us grow to help us learn? Why do I discipline my kids?
I discipline my kids because I want them to do the right thing
Not just because I want to get revenge or something like it's payback time son
It doesn't give us any joy to whip our children, right? That doesn't bring us joy
It's something that we do because we need to because we have to because we want them to do right and
That's why God disciplines us because he loves us and wants us to do right
And so I'm thankful that my mom taught me that when I was growing up
Here's another great doctrinal thing that I learned from my mom go to Revelation chapter 7
Revelation chapter 7 these are things that I learned from my mom and you know years later
I still believe these things I still live by these things
I still remember these things and so she had a big impact on me spiritually and
Both of my parents taught me so much good doctrine growing up
And I feel like I got more doctrine and better doctrine from my parents sometimes than I even necessarily got from church
And hey, it's great to have your kids in church and hearing the preaching from the pastor, but it's also good that you
Teach them something from the Bible that you impart some of your own personal viewpoints and your own
Personal takes on the Word of God and that you quote the scriptures to your kids that are meaningful to you
And that you teach your children the way that my mom taught me
Revelation chapter 7 was a verse that my mom would bring up to me sometimes when I was a kid
She'd bring up this passage. It says in Revelation 7 9 after this I beheld and lo a great multitude
Which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and peoples and tongues stood before the throne and before the Lamb
Clothed with white robes and palms in their hands and cried with a loud voice saying salvation to our God
which sitteth upon the throne and
Unto the Lamb and my mom would bring up to me this great multitude of all the saved people of all
Ages in heaven and she would talk about how some day that's gonna be us
You know we're gonna be up in heaven. We're gonna be rejoicing. We're gonna be clothed in white raiment
We're gonna have those palm branches in our hands, and we're gonna be in that multitude
I remember my mom saying to me specifically when I was a little kid
She said to me you know what's funny is that the Apostle John has seen us before, but we've never seen him
And I was like huh, how does that work?
But she said well John if you think about it was actually looking at us
Because we're in that crowd and John looked at that crowd that great multitude
And so you know hopefully we were near the front or hopefully you know something stood out about us
We made a signal or something like hey, you know
something like that, but
He saw us
He looked at us. It's up. We're in that group
Now you say oh isn't that sweet well first of all it's nice. It's a nice thought, but also
it's important because
Most people most of our independent fundamental Baptist brethren
They don't understand this passage
And they don't think that John ever saw them because they don't even think that they were there because they try to say oh no no
no
Revelation 7 that's just only the tribulation Saints who's ever heard this one before about Revelation 7 because they have they're under this delusion
that Jesus Christ can come back at any moment that he could come back today and
That the rapture is gonna come before the tribulation even though the Bible teaches everywhere that it's after the tribulation
100% and by the way that was something that my parents also believed when I was a kid
You know something that we that we all learned as a family around the time
I was 11 12 years old we we came to that conclusion when I was a little kid
You know we were raised pre-trib because that's what the churches were teaching us, but it's a lie. It's false
There's nowhere in the Bible says that the rapture comes before the tribulation
It says we've been appointed unto tribulation
We will suffer tribulation and Christ clearly comes in the clouds at the rapture
When the Sun and moon are darkened after the tribulation according to Matthew 24 29 through 31
And of course the pre-tribbers have all kinds of foolish arguments and twisting of Scripture that they use
But it just isn't in the Bible. It's it's one of the most unbiblical doctrines that exist among Baptists I
Mean at least other false doctrines have a verse to twist
Ask one of these pre-tribbers show me one verse. Just give me one powerful verse on the pre-trib rapture
They can't but isn't it funny how every other important doctrine you can always give one clear powerful verse on it
Have you ever noticed that I mean everything we believe but the Trinity you got a powerful verse on the Trinity
You know for there are three that bear record in heaven the father of the word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one
Ding got it, you know
One powerful verse on the deity of Christ. God was manifest in the flesh
Right under the Sun he saith Hebrews 1 8 thy throne. Oh God is forever and ever right powerful verse on
Salvation by faith for by grace are he saved through faith and that not of yourselves
It's the gift of God not of works thus any man should boast
Give me a powerful verse on the second coming of Christ
Right this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come and like manner as you've seen him go into heaven
powerful verse on the bodily resurrection of Christ
Right destroyed this temple and in three days, I'll raise it up. He spake of the temple of his body. I
Mean every important doctrine everything that we Santa
Powerful verse on the inspiration of Scripture right all scriptures given by inspiration of God
Every isn't it funny how every important doctrine every big doctrine that we stand on has a clear verse that just states the fact
But yet the pre-tribbers they make this out to be
One of their key important doctrines that we must stand on the pre-trib rapture and yet it has no verse
If you ask them they're at a loss
Typically what they'll come up with is for God has not appointed us to wrath
But to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, of course
This just shows their ignorance of the fact that the tribulation is not the wrath of God
The wrath of God begins after the tribulation according to Matthew 24 and Revelation 6
But here's a powerful verse on the post tribulation rapture immediately after the tribulation of those days
Jesus will come in the clouds the trumpet will sound right. It's all right there in Matthew 24 mark 13 Luke 21, etc
and so
Anyway, I digress but the point is that revelation chapter 7
Says in verse 9 after this I beheld in law a great multitude, which no man could number
Of all nations and kindreds of people and tongues now the Bible numbers some pretty huge numbers in the Bible
I mean that the Bible numbers millions of people
And yet this is a multitude that no one could number
It's just not humanly possible to count this multitude in any way
It's just way too many people they want us to believe. Oh, these are just people who got saved during the tribulation
No, my friend. This is every believer who's ever lived throughout all time and
The reason that this throws them off is because these people appear in heaven in chapter 7 of Revelation
Because he John asks who these people are. He's like, okay. I see Steve Anderson. I see his mom
But you know, who are these? What are these which are arrayed in white robes verse 13 and
Whence came they whence means from where?
so who are these people and where did they come from and
I said unto him sir. No, it's like don't ask me man. You you're you're the tour guide here
And he said yeah, actually I do know and he said to me these are they which came out of great tribulation
And have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb
Therefore they before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple and
He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them now look
Yes, they came out of great tribulation because we all go through tribulation
Yay, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer tribulation number one, but number two
Believers are still going to be here during the tribulation. So these people really did come out of great tribulation
Yeah, they're tribulation Saints
But the the fraud
That the pre-tribbers are trying to perpetrate is that they're claiming that these people didn't get saved until during the tribulation
So here's what they claim. They claim that we're all just going to be going about our happy comfortable kush
American lives without any persecution
Just living the dream and then all of a sudden we're just going to disappear and a pile of clothes is going to be left
behind this is what they believe that this would happen at any moment and
Then here's what they believe that after we're gone
Which they claim that the Holy Spirit is also gone
Which makes no sense because God is omnipresent and God's Spirit is everywhere
But they claim that the Holy Spirit and all Christians are removed from this world
But that somehow without the Holy Spirit and without any Christians on this world
that in
just a few years time a
Multitude that no man can number is somehow gonna get saved
Without any Christians here to win over the Lord from every nation under heaven without any Christians and without the Holy Spirit
How's that gonna work?
It's absurd doesn't make you say mate
but here's the thing if you actually look at
Matthew 24 where it says Christ comes in the cloud the trumpet sounds and he gathers the elect after the tribulation
When the Sun and moon are darkened then you go to Revelation
Find where the Sun and moon are darkened in Revelation guess when it is right before this moment
Sun and moon are darkened trumpet sounds Christ in the clouds now all of a sudden a multitude in heaven that no man can number
Where did they come from? Well, they came out of great tribulation. That's called the post tribulation rapture
We have a crowd in heaven
Which no man can number who just appeared in heaven who just came out of tribulation and here they are
Right when Jesus said they would be here now
Here's what a lot of the pre-tribbles will do to get around this is they'll just say well, that's a different rapture
See we all we all have to believe in the post tribulation rapture because the post tribulation rapture is spelled out in Scripture in
Matthew 24 and in Revelation 6 and 7, but they're just like well, but there's another one. That's pretty true
You know, there's the there there there's three raptures or seven raptures or whatever they believe sometimes
They'll come at you with all kinds of numbers of raptures, okay
Or you could just stop fighting against what the Bible actually says and just realize that
Sorry, there is no coming 1.5 of Jesus. There's only a second coming
Okay, there's not coming one and a half
And so I don't want to get off on just a huge Bible prophecy sermon, although I kind of do but I'm not going to
The point is though that my mom
Taught me
some sound doctrine about this passage and about the implications of this passage and
It helped me then when I was studying Bible prophecy to be on the right track
because when I got to Revelation 7
I immediately knew what I was looking at and I didn't have someone deluding me into thinking it was someone else because my mom had
actually accurately
Preached this particular passage to me. And so I understood this is us
this is all believers of all time that appear in heaven with the Lord in Revelation 7 and
she talked about how he was looking at us and
The thing that's so powerful about that too is to realize that God knows the end from the beginning and that for God
Everything is over. God's already seen it all and it's all
finished from his perspective because he lives outside of time and
One of the things that's interesting about that like in Ephesians
It says that God has seated us in heavenly that were seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus as believers
You know, it's like it's like I'm as good as there
when it comes to going to heaven because from God's perspective, I'm already there and
So what a comforting thought to think that my salvation is as good as done
You know and and the Bible says that
God has sealed us with the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption and we have the earnest of the Spirit
What's the earnest the earnest is that down payment showing?
That you're serious about buying something right you go to buy a house to put down some earnest money
To show that you're serious. Hey, God is serious about us going to heaven
And so he gave us the earnest of the Spirit and so we know he's not gonna renege
He's not gonna back out on the deal God who cannot lie
Promised us eternal life before the world began and in Revelation chapter 7. We're already there and John
Literally looked at us already. He's already seen us in heaven
That's how certain our future in heaven is and so what a powerful truth that my mom
explained to me as a kid
You say well this stuff seems like it's all salvation related, you know the gospel our sins not being mentioned to us
Revelation 7 how we're all going to heaven someday and how we've already been plus, you know
The Jehovah's Witnesses claim we're never gonna set foot in heaven
But here we see the believers in heaven from all nations and it's not a hundred and forty four thousand
It's a number that no man can number
So they're their mom prevented me from becoming a Jehovah's Witness right there
But
Here's here's something that she taught me
that
Doesn't have anything to do with salvation another truth that she taught me if you would flip over to
Genesis chapter 4 Genesis chapter 4 my mom taught me this she said, you know
When people talk about tolerance and she told us when I was a young child
She said whenever people talk about tolerance
It only goes one way
She said tolerance only goes to the left
This is what the way she explained it. She said tolerance only goes to the left people are tolerant
They never tolerate people are more conservative than them who are stricter than them
They only will tolerate people
Who are looser more liberal or more left-wing than they are and this is something that she taught me as a kid and you know
Here's some Bible verses that come to mind when I think about that Amos 5 10
They hate him that rebuketh in the gate and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly, right?
So preachers even back in Amos day preachers who preach right people who call out sin people who speak rightly
They are hated of this world
Proverbs 29 27 an unjust man is an
Abomination to the just and he that is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked
Right the upright the righteous will always be an abomination to the wicked
You know, the the the wicked are an abomination to the upright the upright or an abomination of the wicked
This goes both ways, but then someone comes along and says hey we need tolerance
Okay, but then that should go both ways right if I'm gonna tolerate the wicked then the wicked need to tolerate me
But tolerance for all views and all views are welcome except a biblical view
Except a fundamentalist Baptist view except the evangelical Christian view. It's like oh, you're Muslim. Oh, that's so wonderful
Oh, you're Native American traditional. Oh
Hindu oh, you know
Namaste, but then all of a sudden you're a fundamentalist Baptist. It's like oh man
You know, it's okay to make fun of Christians. Okay to mock Christianity, but you're not supposed to mock Islam
You're not supposed to mock. I mean look I was literally banned from the United Kingdom
I'm not allowed to go to the land of my ancestors over in England
I can't even not that I even care about going there and eating all their bland food. But anyway, you know, I'm
They conquer the whole world looking for spices and don't use any of them on their food, you know figure that one out
But anyway, you know I can get mushy peas here in town. I
Like mushy peas though. Just you just have to season them because they won't but the point is, you know
I'm not even allowed to go to the UK and literally when they sent me a letter telling me I'm banned
One of the reasons they gave was that I criticized the Prophet Muhammad
and
I didn't even say that he was a pedophile
Which I could have and it would have been true
They said this is the quote you said about Muhammad and it said Muhammad is an illiterate false prophet
Now first of all, the Muslims brag about the fact that he's illiterate
Every Muslim you talk to brags about how he's illiterate they think it's cool that he's illiterate
Somebody needs to tell them that that ain't isn't cool
It means you're an idiot or lazy or both
But
They brag about him being illiterate. But so I guess the part that offended them was because I say he's a false prophet
So apparently me saying
Muhammad's a false prophet is
Illegal I
Can't enter the UK. I can't go to England now because I said Muhammad's an illiterate false prophet
I mean at least put the quote where I say piss be upon him or something, you know
Like at least at least put something offensive
Like if you're gonna kick me out give me a better reason
But you know what I guarantee you that if I were some atheist
Attacking Christianity, I'm sure Richard Dawkins can go to
The UK no problem. And don't you think that Richard Dawkins has probably said a lot more negative things about Jesus and the God of the Bible
Than what I said in that quote about Muhammad or probably anything I've said about Muhammad in my whole life
But yet he because he you know, he's criticizing Christianity. Come on in
But if you're criticizing Islam, oh not allowed right. Oh don't get on the Hindus
You know, don't get on the Buddhists that makes you racist or something, but oh, it's fine to attack the Christians
You see how this works because tolerance only goes to the to the left
You're only allowed to tolerate people that are more liberal more left-wing
More licentious more loose or more ungodly than you
No one wants to tolerate anything to the right of them or more conservative than them or more godly than them
That's just the way tolerance works. I remember my pastor preached a sermon in
1998 called tolerance the devil's doctrine
You know, I mean those were the days
And it's I still have a cassette of that sucker
I don't know if I have the cassette player to play it on but I got the it's there man
And we can send it into space or something
preserve that thing
But tolerance only goes to the left look at Genesis 4
this is of course the famous story about
Cain and Abel it says in verse 1 Adam knew Eve his wife and she conceived and bear Cain and
Said I've gotten a man from the Lord and she again bare his brother Abel and Abel was a keeper of sheep
But Cain was a tiller of the ground and in process of time
It came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground and offering unto the Lord and Abel
He also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof and the Lord had respect unto Abel into his offering
But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect
Now when you're first reading this you might wonder is this just God arbitrarily
Liking one offering better than the other he just doesn't want to eat his vegetables or something
He just kind of you know, he likes the animal sacrifice, but he doesn't like the fruits and vegetables
Well, here's the thing about this the Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter 11 that Abel offered a more excellent
Sacrifice unto God by faith
He did it by faith. Now. What does faith mean?
Believing so apparently there was an instruction given for able to believe
They were given an instruction because how else could Abel believe something unless he had something to believe
I mean faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God and not only that even in the passage itself this comes out
Because you got to be careful when you're reading the Old Testament. The Old Testament is written with a very
Economical style meaning that a lot of things are left out and you're supposed to read between the lines because
the stories are kept very short and and a lot is
Not stated explicitly. And so that's why it says in verse number
Five Cain was very wroth and his countenance fell verse six and the Lord said unto Cain
Why art thou wroth and why is thy countenance fallen if thou doest well?
Shout thou not be accepted and if thou doest not well
Sin lieth at the door and unto thee shall be his desire and thou shalt rule over him
So he's saying look Cain what you've done is wrong
You did not do well and this only makes sense obviously in the context of they understood what was needed
If you remember even when Adam and Eve first sinned in the garden God
Covered there's their nakedness with coats of skins from an animal
Whereas they tried to cover their own nakedness with plants
Right. They made those fig leaf aprons and using a plant-based textile was not going to work
God wanted them to wear an animal based
Textile and he gave them coats of skins an animal had to die to give them that covering for their nakedness
picturing the covering for their sin through the substitutionary death of Christ and every animal sacrifice
Pictures the substitutionary death of Christ and so here
Cain by bringing up the fruits and vegetables of the ground is bringing of his own deeds his own works his own produce
Whereas Abel is bringing the blood of the Lamb
Which pictures salvation through Christ and it was what God had told them to do as a sacrifice
He wanted them going forward and they're gonna be doing this for thousands of years to be doing
Sacrifices of animals to picture Christ not just a bringing of fruits and vegetables to substitute not a bloodless
sacrifice a bloodless religion a John MacArthur style sacrifice
And so, you know Cain gets angry about this
He gets Roth Roth means very angry right wrath comes from the same word
Why aren't that Roth and why is that counts off? He's down in the mouth. He's angry. He's bitter
and God tells him if you do well
you'll be accepted and if thou doest not well sin lieth at the door and
Under thee shall be his desire and thou shalt rule over him and Cain talked with Abel his brother
And it came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him
So Cain ends up killing Abel
because Abel
Does right and is right with God and he is not right with God and this caused him to hate his brother
Now in 1st John chapter 3 if you would turn there this story is actually explained and expounded upon while you're turning there
I'm going to begin reading in verse 11 for this is the message that you heard from the beginning
That we should love one another look at 1st
John 3 12 not as Cain who was of that wicked one and slew his brother. He killed his brother and
Wherefore slew him? Why did he kill him?
Because his own works were evil and his brother's righteous
Marvel not my brethren if the world hates you and so there's a tendency in human nature in
The flesh we all could have this tendency in our sinful flesh
Human nature sinful nature that we despise those who are more righteous than we are
Right Cain hated Abel because his own works were evil and his brothers were righteous and this is human nature
And
So this is why the Bible says in verse 13 Marvel not my brother and if the world hates you
Right if they hated me, they'll hate you is what Jesus told his disciples
And so we see that there's a tendency to hate those that are better or more
Righteous or or more godly or living a cleaner life than we are and so therefore the unsaved
Typically
Can be very negative toward Christians why because the Christians are right with God and they're not
The world in general and obviously this doesn't go for every single individual, but the world in general hates Christians
True Christians are hated in general by this world
That's what the Bible says and we see that that's true now. They don't necessarily hate phony Christians and apostate
Religions like the Roman Catholics or something, but when it comes to actual Bible believing evangelical Christians, they are hated of this world
Okay, why is that because their own works are evil ours are righteous in general
Now it's pretty easy to see how that works with true Christians being hated of this world
But you know what? Here's the thing even as saved believers. We still have a sinful nature. Don't we in our flesh?
Now we have the new man, but we also have the old man
We have the spirit, but we also have the flesh and if we walk in the flesh
We're susceptible to this same pitfall of human nature, which is that we could be
Intolerant of people who are stricter than we are or despise those who are stricter than us now
Look, here's the thing, you know many things in the Bible are clear-cut thou shalt not steal thou shalt not kill
That's not committed adultery
Easy
But other things in the Bible are less clear-cut and we have to ask ourselves. Where do we draw the line?
You know and there are issues when it comes to
Clothing or just our lifestyles in general or food and drink or what, you know, they're all different
Areas in our life where the Bible doesn't just give us a really clear directive. This is right. This is wrong
Okay, and we all have to make rules for our own families
Right and we have rules for our children about what they're allowed to do and where they're allowed to go and what they're allowed
To wear and who they can hang out with and here's the thing about that. Is that a lot of those things are not based on
Explicit scripture because God has given us biblical principles upon which to make those decisions, but at the end of the day the parents
Have the liberty to make the rules for their children as theirs as they see fit and as adults
we have the liberty to live our lives as
We believe that God wants us to live them from the Word of God
Right because we all have to look at Scripture and interpret Scripture and figure out God's will for our lives
And we're not always going to agree on where to draw that line of what's allowed and what's not allowed
Right because when it comes to the finer points of you know, well, how long is long hair?
How short is short hair how you know exactly how long does that skirt have to be?
You know, we know that God tells us it needs to cover the loins and the thighs
But where exactly is that cutoff? Is it at the bottom of the knee the middle of the knee or the top of the knee?
You know, where is that cut off? Well, here's the thing. Those are rules that are made by us
You know God gives us
Liberty to make rules, but he doesn't want us to just say well
We're only gonna follow the letter of the law. So if my daughter walks out of the house as long as she's not naked
I'm just gonna allow anything short of
Her nakedness being exposed, right? I
Mean, is that really?
legitimate
No, I mean because obviously we need to use a little bit of common sense and wisdom and interpretation
But we can't expect
Everybody to come to the exact same conclusions that we come to and so we have to have a little bit of tolerance
For people who differ from us in the non essentials, right? I mean obviously in our church
We better all believe that
salvation is by faith in Jesus and that and that you can't lose your salvation and
That the King James Bible is the Word of God, but you know what we we ought to tolerate
Other things that are not like for example
Maybe there's somebody here this morning that that's a little offended right now because they do believe in the pre-trib rapture
And I was talking about how dumb it is
Well, don't feel bad because you know what I grew up my whole life in pre-trib churches where the pastors would say like you're not
Even saved if you don't believe in the pre-trib rapture because they just they want to show how radical they are
They're like trying to one-up each other on how radical they are
I've heard that many times who's heard a preacher say you're not saved if you don't believe in the pre-trib rapture
Yeah, I mean I I've heard it from several preachers it's absurd
But you know what? Here's the thing. If someone at our church is pre-trib. I'm totally fine with that
If you walk up to me after the service and say I'm pre-trib. I'm just gonna say, okay
Have a good day. I don't want to talk about it
I already I already made a 22 part revelation series go watch it take two of these and call me in the morning, you know, I
I
Don't even care and you know what if you go to the grave pre-trib, that's okay
You know why cuz I'm not really threatened by that not really worried about it
You're not gonna turn our church pre-trib. That's it. You're gonna have a better chance
Convincing our church that the tooth fairy exists, okay
You're gonna have a better chance convincing me that the tooth fairy exists then that the rapture is pre-trib
Okay, but the point is that you know, hey that's not really an essential article of the faith, right?
If somebody is wrong on that so what you know, or if somebody differs from me on
My view on Israel or something. Okay
No problem, right? That's not an essential doctrine of the faith, you know
There are people in our church that believe that sodomites aren't reprobates and that they could be saved and I always just tell them
When people have come to me and told me I don't sit there and argue with them because I just tell I just ask them
Did you hear my sermon on the subject?
They said yeah, and I said well if you heard the sermon and you still don't get it
Then I there's nothing I can really do for you
But I said hey if that's how you believe fine and I always tell them this I always say the same thing
You go out and get as many sodomites saved as you want
Just don't bring them here
But you go out and get all the queers saved and all you want they're not going to because it's impossible but go ahead I
Don't care if that's what you believe go for it
Can't expect everybody to be just like us
Well, you know what? Here's the thing. I have certain rules for my kids
moms and dads have rules for their kids and guess what my rules for my kids are not the same as
Everybody else in this churches rules for their kids
I'm not gonna sit there and
Hate on somebody who has a stricter rule than me, but that's our tendency
That's that's our human nature is to get all offended and mad because we take it like it's an attack on us for you know
For not doing it the same way or something
You know, I have rules about the way that my daughter's dress about the way my wife dresses about
Yeah, you know the way they look, you know
For example, what one rule that I have in my house is that my kids aren't allowed to start dating
Until they're 16 years old, you know, that's the rule in our house. They can't date until they're 16 years old
Now some people might think that that's too strict. But other people would say no they need to be 17 and
I know there are some people here and at some of our sister churches where they don't let their kids date until they're 18 years
old
Now here's the thing. I'm not gonna get up and criticize them or attack them or tell them they're wrong
I'm not gonna despise them. Oh you think you're so holy you think you're so righteous, you know
Like being all strict and everything or you know
If I let my daughters have a skirt that goes right to the knee and then they say well
It needs to go a little past the knee or something. Like I'm not gonna hate
I'm not gonna argue with them
I'm not gonna you know, I'm tolerant of people with other views because we're all just trying to
Interpret scripture and apply it to the best of our ability
But there's a tendency when people are more strict than we are for us to want to
You know get mad at them or rub their nose in it that we do something that they're not allowed to do
You know, like for example the Bible
Talks about how you know the Apostle Paul said, you know
If meat make my brother to offend that I'll eat no flesh while the world standeth, you know
So we don't want to just offend people even if they have a dumb rule
We don't want to necessarily just offend our brothers and sisters in Christ who are maybe more strict than us
Even if they're misguided even if they're wrong, you know, for example, I am strongly against
vegetarianism and veganism and
When I get up on the pulpit and I'm teaching the Word of God and preaching the Word of God, you know
I expound scriptures on vegetarianism and veganism because it's my job as a preacher to preach the Word of God
But I am tolerant of people that are vegetarian and vegan
And what do I mean by that is that you know
For example, if I go to a restaurant with them, I will I will help them order something off the menu
That fits their needs or you know
We've worked with people in the past that that had those kind of diets and I would say like oh well
You know, oh, I'm gonna go pick up lunch
You know, what can I get for you that fits your vegan diet or whatever and I'd get instruction
I wasn't just like hey, hey, let's slip a little meat in there
And then they can have the best burrito of their life and they won't know why but then I'll know, you know
I'm not gonna try to I'm not just gonna like make their vegan burrito open it up and then kind of squeeze some of my
Meat juice from my burrito into it seal it all back up and just kind of smugly watch them eat it or something
You know look
Even if people's rules are over the top, even if they're too strict, even if they're misguided
You should respect that and seek not to offend people
You know and and be tolerant of other people with other rules
You know, for example, a lot of fundamentalist Baptists have this rule and not all I shouldn't say a lot
But I've been exposed to this rule a lot growing up where they said they will not eat at any restaurant that serves alcohol
Now now here's the thing about that. That's like almost every restaurant. So that that really limits you
But okay, you know, alright, but I'm not gonna sit there and and and criticize them
Make fun of them attack them if I'm gonna go out to eat with that person, you know
I'm just gonna find that restaurant that doesn't serve alcohol and we'll go there but a lot of people have that rule and you know
You it doesn't really make sense because obviously the grocery store sells alcohol the gas station sells alcohol, but hey, whatever
But look if that's maybe there's even someone here that has that view then you know what great because I'd rather have somebody
Be too strict and say like I won't even go to a restaurant that serves alcohol
Than to be a drunkard
But see some of you are thinking right now
Well, yeah, but that person sounds like a big-time holier-than-thou
But here's the thing people are saying the same thing about you about some of your rules, too
Because your rules are I guarantee you have some rule somewhere in your life that's too strict for somebody
Right, I
Mean we all do like like a lot of people might think I'm too permissive on certain things
But then other people would think I'm way too strict on certain things and you're like
Well, I don't think people think you're too strict on anything pastor. Well, wow
Because obviously there are a lot of things that we hold to that people think are way too strict
I mean my my wife and my daughters are not allowed to wear pants
That's to this world. That's like
Taliban levels of craziness
Even though 100 years ago was literally illegal in the United States for women to wear pants
Anywhere in the United States a hundred years ago and you know
Even in the Los Angeles public school system in the 1960s and 70s. They had to wear skirts and dresses
but hey
The point is people think that my rules are strict
But then other people might look at some of my rules and think that I'm permissive, you know
people think that I'm too permissive with my mouth and
They claim that I'm the cussing preacher and that I'm constantly cussing from the pulpit and whatever, you know, obviously
You know, there are always going to be people who have stricter rules or more lenient rules
in
Any area and it's probably gonna be a mix and we don't want to fall into this trap of being like the liberals where we?
Will never tolerate something more conservative than us
Right if I know that there's something that I say that offends someone I'm not gonna say it
I'm not just gonna just you know
get around somebody who's stricter than me and just try to take them to restaurants and serve alcohol and
Just try to use every four-letter word that I know is gonna offend them and whatever, you know
I'm saying because I'm saying they're even offended by stuff that's in the Bible. They're offended by words like
Bastard hell piss like words that are actually in the Bible
Look, I'm not just setting out to offend people for fun
And if you're setting out to offend people for fun, you have a lot in common with like a two to three year old
Because a three-year-old will do that. They'll just like blurt out something. Yeah, just to kind of get a reaction
You know if you're an adult
You shouldn't just joy in offending people and just being this shock jock
Just trying to come out with the wildest, you know, most radical things to offend people
And look obviously when it comes to taking a stand against sin
I'm willing to offend you know if it's for the Word of God
But I'm not willing to offend people
Because they have different standards than I do if someone if I go to someone's home and they have a certain standard
then I'm gonna make sure that my family follows that standard while we're at that home and
Not that we just go there and break all their rules because their rules are stupid anyway
And so we're gonna do it our way
No, I mean I look if I went to a church that did things differently than our church
I would do it their way while I'm there and I wouldn't seek to offend them
And and so don't be a hypocrite when it comes to this thing of tolerance because the world are big-time hypocrites
The world of big-time hypocrites. I mean they'll claim like oh all viewpoints are valid. We respect all religions. We respect all views
except biblical Christianity
They act all tolerant, but they're not tolerant of your view of being straight and and that homosexuality is an abomination
They don't tolerate that view
But we don't want to be hypocrites either where we tolerate people who are looser than us
But then we have no tolerance for somebody who has a stricter rule
Now look obviously if someone has a stricter rule than us. We probably think they're wrong. Otherwise, we'd have that same rule
Obviously if someone has a looser rule than us, we think they're wrong too or we'd have that rule. Oh
You think you're right about everything?
Well, here's the thing about that
If I thought I were wrong about something I would stop believing it and then I wouldn't be wrong anymore
Then I'd think I was right like how can you go through life not thinking that you're right about things
Now obviously theoretically I know that there's stuff that I'm wrong about
But when it comes to the specifics, obviously, I think I'm right about each item
Otherwise, I would immediately change it and then I would think I was right about everything again. Do you see how this would work?
Like why would I just be like well, here's some doctors that I know I'm wrong on
Of course I'm not right about everything. I'm wrong about this. I'm wrong about this. What's like then? Why do you still believe it stupid?
So we all think that our rules are right
We all think that where we draw the line when it comes to food drink clothing
lifestyle
Entertainment places you go people your we all think that we're drawing the line in the right place
But because these things are not clearly spelled out in Scripture
We should have tolerance for other people's views, but that tolerance needs to go both ways
Both ways not just only tolerating people more liberal than us, but then if someone's more strict than us
They're just automatically a holier-than-thou. They're automatically
Self-righteous and whatever because guess what people are saying the same thing about you
Holier-than-thou self-righteous. No, my friend. We're all just trying to follow
God's commandments to the best of our ability and so my mom taught me that as a kid
this concept that
Tolerance only goes to the left and it's an unfortunate fact about the world that we live in so that that's it
I mean the time would fail me to tell of everything. My mom taught me
like for example when she taught me that
You know if I touch toadstools in the backyard and then eat without washing my hands, I'll die
Or that if I use the same utensil for the tuna and then put it back in the mayonnaise
without
Washing it then the whole family will die
Or that if I eat and then don't wait 30 minutes before swimming
I'll get cramp and die
Or the right way the only right way to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich
Which is you put peanut butter on both sides and jelly on only one side
You
Know you use I mean you see these these people who jelly with no they put jelly directly on the bread
It isn't right
It's soaks in
The peanut butter provides a buffer you you peanut
But plus you you need about twice as much peanut butter as you need jelly, you know, you need two layers of peanut butter
Jelly in between now look I
These are four things that my mom taught me that I still live by to this day
Like I you'll never catch me touching a toadstool and then touching my mouth
Never gonna happen and the tuna and the even though in our house
Things like mayonnaise would would be gone in a couple days anyway, and the tuna would be fine in there. Hey, let's not take the chance
And I still wait a half hour before swimming religiously
But
The I'm joking obviously those are just silly things
But I still live by those things that she taught me and you know
The important thing she taught me are the spiritual things and we need to make sure and I'll close on this go to Deuteronomy 6
Is the last place we'll turn just quickly read this in closing
Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there and I
Want to admonish you moms today to take your job seriously the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world
And so I want you to take your opportunity as a mother to teach your children the Word of God
Above all else my mom taught me these four great doctrinal truths
About how those who are righteous will be hated of this world about how all believers are going to heaven
In fact, they're already in heaven from God's perspective
That our sins will never be mentioned us that we can never lose our salvation these wonderful things that my mom taught me
the Bible says in
Verse 6 of chapter 6
These words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart and thou shalt teach them
diligently unto thy children and shall talk of them when thou sittest in thy house and when thou walkest by the way and when
Thou liest down and when thou risest up, you know, it's not just church
But it's just sitting at the dinner table sitting at the breakfast table walking down the street driving down the road
You live with your kids
all day long
Impart spiritual truth unto them inspired enough. What a prayer father
We thank you so much for our mothers Lord and and for the things that we've learned from them Lord
And and I'm sure even those that have unsaved mothers have still been able to learn some just wisdom life wisdom
From them because the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light and Lord God
I just pray that those of us who have
Saved godly mothers would be very thankful for them and express our love and gratitude to them and Lord help children to listen to their
Mom and and learn from what mom has to say and please help mothers to open their mouths and speak
Your word unto the children in Jesus name we pray. Amen