(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you Welcome to Verity Baptist Church Manila Let's start our first service and let's get our hymns and turn to hymn number 166 Let's sing a song I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you 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praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you I will praise you Couple tips Diapers Snacks Water First Aid Second Aid Third Aid if necessary You cannot be too prepared for this Trust me, I've learned via experience But it's going to be a great time here today Current upcoming series Alphabet of Bible Doctrines We're taking a break today because both sermons are Mother's Day themed Starting next week is going to be the book of Matthew Information on our group chat And then on the back there's a place for notes For both of the sermons here today So at this time we're going to have the ladies choir Perform for us We'll be right back We'll be right back We'll be right back We'll be right back We'll be right back We'll be right back We'll be right back We'll be right back We'll 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be right back We'll be right back We'll be right back We'll be right back We'll be right back We'll be right back We'll be right back We'll be right back We'll be right back We'll be right back Joshua Joshua chapter 2 right after the five books of the Bible the sixth book in the Bible the book of Joshua Joshua chapter 2 and we will only be reading verses 1 down to verse 11 Joshua chapter 2 verses 1 to verse 11 Please say amen if you're there Amen Amen Joshua chapter 2 verse 1 And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying Go, view the land, even Jericho And they went, and came into a heartless house named Rahab and lodged there And I was told the king of Jericho, saying The older came men and hid there tonight of the children of Israel, to search out in the country And the king of Jericho sent it to Rahab, saying Bring forth the men that have come to thee which were entered into thine house for they have become to search out all the country And the woman took the two men and hid them, and said to us There came man to me, but it was not once they were, and it came to pass about the time of the shutting of the gate when it was dark, that the men went out whether the men went I what not Pursue after them quickly for he shall overtake them But she had brought them up to the roof of the house and hid them with the stalks of flax which she had laid in order upon the roof And the men pursued out to them the way to draw them into the fords and as soon as they which pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate And before they were laid down she came up unto them upon the roof And she said unto the men I know that the Lord had given you the land and that your terrors fallen upon us and it all didn't happen to the land faint because of you For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt and what you did unto the two kings of the Amorites that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon, and Og and we utterly destroyed and as soon as we had heard these things our hearts did melt neither did there remain any more courage than any man because of you For the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth beneath Bless the ring of God for let us pray Lord God in heaven we thank you Lord for this day Thank you for giving to us Please bless Lord for this day Give us good weather for our sovereignty and our fellowship Lord later on Thank you Lord for this beautiful day that you've given to us and also Lord to celebrate for the mothers that you have for this day We love you in Jesus' name we pray, Amen Alright we're here in Joshua chapter 2 and as I said both sermons are Mother's Day themed here today and quite honestly you're probably not going to understand how this is Mother's Day themed until about 15-20 minutes into the sermon and I'm preaching about the character by the name of Rahab here in Joshua chapter 2 so notice what the Bible says in Joshua 2 verse 1 In Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shechem two men despised secretly saying Go view the land, even Jericho and they went and came into an harlot's house named Rahab and lodged there and Rahab is a very famous character in the Bible and whenever you hear the name Rahab you immediately in your head think Rahab the harlot that is how she's known that is what she's well known for the Bible mentions in the Old and New Testament you hear Rahab you think Rahab the harlot verse 2 And it was told the king of Jericho saying Behold there came men in here tonight of the children of Israel to search out the country and the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab saying Bring forth the men that are come to thee which are entered into thine house for they be come to search out all the country So there are a few men that come in from Israel to spy out the land and to prepare for battle and they come to Rahab's house and she brings them in and then the king says hey bring these men to us Now here's the thing Rahab is risking her life by protecting these men If the king says do something you do it Imagine if our country was at war with another country and someone from the other country came and then the president says hey bring those men out right now and you disobey The best you can hope for is going to prison Right? I mean you could easily be killed for disobeying what the leadership and authority of the country says Verse 4 She's saying I didn't know where they came from Verse 5 So she's saying I didn't know where they came from and they already left Where the men went I don't know I'm not sure where they went Pursue after them quickly for you shall overtake them And she's saying the men came I didn't know why they were here and then they left Just go quickly so you don't miss them Right? Rahab is lying There's really nothing she's saying here that is actually true and this shows you actually an exception where lying is not actually a sin in this instance To protect somebody else's life in a life or death situation There are a few exceptions in the Bible and here's an exception where she flat out lies and we're going to see later the New Testament says that she did well by lying about this to protect these men Then it says here in verse 6 Go to verse number 9 Why would she do this? I don't think these two men really knew what was going on They come immediately to kings after them and she hides them and they might be thinking we might die here in a second we might get arrested and she hides them, she lies about it and sends these people out of there to protect these men from Israel Why would she do this? Verse 9 I did on the two kings of the Amorites that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon, and Og whom he utterly destroyed and as soon as we heard these things our hearts did melt Neither did there remain any more courage in any man because of you for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above and an earth beneath Now look, everybody who gets saved whether the Old Testament or New Testament they get saved because somebody gives them the plan of salvation I believe she's already saved at this point I don't believe these two men get her saved She seems to be saying I already believe in the true God She's already saved at this point and yet in this chapter we see it's not Rahab who used to be a harlot It's Rahab the harlot She is a saved woman that is a harlot She's a saved woman who is a whore who is a prostitute for a living Now look, you can't pick much worse jobs than that to make money I mean, every single day you're prostituting your body for the sake of making money I mean, that's a pretty major sin but if somebody is saved living as a prostitute you know what that teaches us? You do not have to repent of your sins to be saved I mean, all of us are sinners but most of us don't have major sins like that in our lives and here's a woman that is a prostitute presently, not Rahab who used to be a harlot and yet she believes and guess what? She didn't repent of her sins She is living in major sin and yet she is saved Why? Salvation is based on faith You say the brother stuck you I mean, works are the evidence of salvation Well, where's the evidence of her salvation then? Because she seemed to be doing the exact same thing she did before But you know, this also teaches us something else Not only do you not have to repent of your sins to be saved it also shows that if you don't start being around God's people you're not going to change because Rahab does change and we're going to see that in this sermon but she doesn't change until she actually leaves Jericho You say, why? Because if people get saved and they hang out with the same ungodly friends they do the same things they've always done they don't start reading the Bible they don't hear good preaching they're not around God's people they don't change at all Look, if we get a drunk saved later today and he doesn't start going to church I would bet that he's probably still a drunk in five years Why? Because if he's not around God's people why would there be a change? You don't change by getting saved and not being around God's people You change when you get saved and then you're around God's people and others around you motivate you to serve God I mean, people in this room could say yeah, you know what, I read the Bible I used to read the Bible Why? Well, you always knew you needed to read the Bible but when you're around others that read the Bible what do you do? You do likewise Right? You probably go so many more than you used to Why? It's not like you just learned that we're supposed to go so many when you came to our church you already knew that but you do it more because that's what people do Right? You end up being like the people that you are around and Rahab gets saved living in prostitution and she doesn't really make any change until she's around God's people later on as she leaves Jericho Go to Joshua chapter 6 Joshua 6 Joshua chapter 6 Joshua 6 verse 17 Joshua 6 verse 17 The city shall be accursed even it and all that are therein to the Lord only Rahab the harlot shall live she and all that are with her in the house because she hid the messengers that we sent The Bible still refers to this woman as Rahab the harlot It's going back to this woman from Joshua 2 Short time later on she is Rahab the harlot and she has spared physical destruction because she hid the messengers Go to Hebrews chapter 11 Hebrews 11 You say, brother, just a second what kind of a Mother's Day sermon is this? Right? Well I told you the first 15 minutes you're going to kind of wonder like what is he talking about? Right? Hebrews 11 verse 31 The Bible says and this is here in the hall of faith as we call it it says here in Hebrews 11 verse 31 By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not when she had received the spies with peace and so it refers back to this woman in Hebrews 11 once again, Rahab the harlot or here it says the harlot Rahab Here's a woman that is a harlot and she has spared physical death perishing physically because of the fact she hid the messengers and once again she's Rahab the harlot mentioned in the New Testament Go to James 2, we're going to see the last reference in order of the books to this woman, Rahab Rahab 2 verse 24 Rahab 2 verse 24 And the Bible says here in James 2 verse 24 You see then how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only This is of course a famous scripture for people that are unsaved or people that try to say works are part of salvation and they'll say well see you're not just justified by your faith you're also justified by your works and they'll say well before God you're justified by faith and works and you know what actually the statement I just said I agree with that statement but here's the thing we're justified by faith in terms of heaven or hell we're justified by works in this life the physical blessing or destruction upon our lives she was justified by works in the eyes of God because she's a saved person that would have died and gone to heaven if she did not hide the messengers yet James 2 teaches we're justified by works in the eyes of God in this life you're right because it says here in verse 25 Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works she was justified by works when she had received the messengers and had sent them out another way and guess what you reap what you sow my friend in this life you're justified by your works you say well it sucks you but I believe in Jesus whatever I want you can do whatever you want and go to heaven because you're justified by faith in terms of heaven or hell but in terms of this life you are justified by your works and look you know man may say I have faith but if you have no works it is not going to spare you from the judgment of God he shall have judgment without mercy if you show no mercy if you don't have works in this life and we ought to tremble with the judgment of God just like the devils tremble knowing who the true God is and God will judge you in this life this is not about going to heaven or hell in James 2 it's about having God's blessing upon your life because what's the book of James about Christian living it's not the book of John it's not the book of Galatians or Romans that is all about salvation it's about Christian living and guess what you are justified by works in this life before God because if she did not have the works in Joshua 2 what would have taken place? She would have died with everybody else even though she was saved and they were unsaved and look as a saved person if you live the same life as unsaved people why would you think that God is going to spare you from His judgment in this life? I mean look if you're serving God and doing right unless it is God's will I don't think that you're going to die in a car crash suddenly as a soul winner unless it was God's will for whatever reason that we won't fully understand but if you go out drinking and then you drive don't be surprised if you crash and die then because you're doing what everybody else does and just because you're saved doesn't mean that God is going to spare you from judgment no you are justified by works in this life before God and the reason she was not killed is because she had works here's the thing regardless of what she did she could have lived as a prostitute until the day she died she would have gone to heaven because we are justified by faith before God in terms of heaven or hell but realize we're justified by works in this life and that is why she was not destroyed not because she was saved being saved did not stop her from physical destruction in Jericho her works are what saved her from physical judgment verse 26 for as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also people say well you know you can't have faith without works you can't have a dead faith and go to heaven here's the comparison you have an alive faith and you have a dead faith this phone is alive you say what's your proof see you can see that it's working right if I poured water on this phone what would you say about this phone it's a dead phone why it's not producing anything it doesn't turn on but here's the thing whether it's a dead phone or an alive phone it exists right it's not like if I poured water on this it's like some sort of magic trick like where is it I mean it still exists whether you put water on it or not and so it doesn't really matter in terms of heaven or hell if you have an alive faith or a dead faith because if you have faith that's what saves you he that believeth on the son half everlasting life faith alone will save you but if you don't have an alive faith in this life god will judge you and Rahab was spared because she not only believed but because she had works right let us make a clear distinction between what justifies us in terms of heaven and hell and what justifies us in terms of god blessing our lives look my children and my children no matter what they do but if they disobey me and they act malikut I'm not buying them Dutch Mill I'm punishing them right it's the same thing with god we reap what we sow be not deceived just because you believe you're also going to reap what you sow in this life if you live a bad life and Rahab was justified by works in terms of god sparing her physically from perishing but being spared spiritually from perishing whosoever believeth in him should not perish but of everlasting life now turn your Bible to Matthew 1 Matthew 1 now I said that James 2 is the last reference to Rahab in the Bible but that's not quite true because here's the thing Hebrews 11 is referencing back to Rahab the harlot it's talking about what she did when she was a harlot James 2 is doing what? it's referencing back to when she was a harlot it's not saying that in the book of Hebrews she's still a harlot obviously she's passed away at this point it's referencing back to what she was in Joshua chapter 2 so honestly the last reference we have to Rahab in the Bible is really Matthew chapter 1 because Hebrews and James are referencing backwards and Matthew is really the last thing we see about this woman this is what it says here in Matthew 1 verse 1 the book of the generation of Jesus Christ the son of David the son of Abraham Abraham begat Isaac and Isaac begat Jacob and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren and Judas begat Pharaoh and Zerah of Thamar and Pharaoh begat Esrom and Esrom begat Aram by the way some of these names are spelled a little bit differently from what they were in the Old Testament here's the genealogy of Jesus Christ here verse 4 and Aaron begat Amenadab and Amenadab begat Nahasen and Nahasen begat Salmon and Salmon begat Boaz of Rahab Rahab was the mother of the character Boaz I should say from the book of Ruth and Salmon begat Boaz of Rahab and Boaz begat Obed of Ruth and Obed begat Jesse now turning back to Ruth too let us look at this character Boaz Boaz is a pretty common famous character he's a great man in the Bible and his mom was Rahab but here's what I'm saying it's saying Rahab the harder because it's referencing back really what she becomes is Rahab the mother that's really how we should remember her now the Bible calls her Rahab the harlot I'm not saying we shouldn't do that it's a great illustration of salvation is completely free and we see that but what we see is she didn't actually stay a harlot because when she joined God's people she changed and she became Rahab the mother and she actually became a very good mother you say what's the proof the proof of that is Boaz you don't accidentally raise a Boaz now obviously it's not just the mom obviously her husband did a good job as well they did a great job in a team effort of raising Boaz what I'm saying is the Bible specifically mentions her name because it could have just said and salmon begat Boaz and you would never know who he begat Boaz of but the Bible actually tells us and it wants you to know that Rahab is the mom of Boaz Ruth chapter 2 verse 1 and Naomi had a kinsman of her husband a mighty man of wealth of the family of Lamelech and his name was Boaz and Ruth of Moabites said unto Naomi let me now go to the field and glean ears of corn after him in whose sight I shall found grace and she said unto her go my daughter and she went and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers and her half was the light on the part of the field belonging unto Boaz who is of the kindred of Lamelech this is the start of learning about Boaz in the Bible what do we see from these first couple verses here's a man that is very successful financially he is a mighty man of wealth he's prosperous he's respected people like Boaz it's clear from the book of Ruth he is very successful financially in this life now of course we're going to learn he's also very spiritually godly as well he is successfully financial he's a very successful person but notice what he says in verse 4 and behold Boaz came from Bethlehem and said unto the reapers the Lord be with you and they answered him the Lord bless thee Boaz would be a man that would be considered respected and thought of very highly in society a reaper would not be thought of so highly in society they'd be looked at in kind of a lowly setting like it's not a a successful job it's not successful what they're doing that they're kind of failing in life Boaz would be very well respected the reapers would not necessarily but Boaz shows up and what does he say he says the Lord be with you it's kind of like saying the Lord bless you God bless you can you imagine if you showed up to work and your boss is incredibly rich and at the first thing of the day he says hey you know what God bless you I hope God's blessing your life I hope things are going well that's not exactly what you would expect you know like a Donald Trump or a rich whomever in this world a Bill Gates to do you don't expect Bill Gates first thing in the morning saying hey you know what I've been praying for you I hope God is blessing your life that's probably not how they introduce themselves in the morning in fact a lot of people that are leaders in this world financially and successful in companies a lot of them are pretty wicked people right? but the first thing Boaz does is you know he just says hey the Lord be with you and they answered him the Lord bless thee you can see that this is a man that has integrity he's not just successful and respected he's a man of integrity he's a man of character he said where did he learn that from? probably from his mom and dad seems like his parents did a pretty good job actually raising him go to verse number 11 and Boaz answered and said unto her it hath fully been showed me all that thou hast done under thy mother in law since the death of thine husband and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother and the land of thy nativity and art come unto a people which thou knewest not heretofore the Lord recompense thy work and a fair Lord be given thee of the Lord God of Israel under whose wings thou art come to trust now you know the story of Boaz and Ruth of course they end up getting married at the end but Boaz is not necessarily the first in line to preserve the genealogy to preserve the family name but he ends up marrying her and I believe he already has an interest in this woman and a large reason why is because she's a godly woman here's a godly man wants to get married and he finds a godly woman and another way to think of this is in many ways Ruth probably reminded him a lot of his mom you say why? grew up in a wicked country rightly Ruth is from Moab which if you just said you were from Moab during that time period people would look down on you regardless of how godly you are right? I mean she would be looked down on because her husband passed away even though that's not her fault she'd still be kind of looked down on for that and her name would just not be looked at I mean Boaz thinks very highly of her because she left a wicked land to serve God not everyone would necessarily think the same thing about her and you have Rahab, his mom very similar now the difference is there's no indication Ruth was living a wicked life in Moab certainly Rahab was living a wicked life before she moved but here's what I'm saying in many ways Ruth probably reminded Boaz a lot of his mom Rahab and she lived in a wicked land and she left it to serve God but here's the thing if you don't raise your kids correctly they're probably not going to be looking for a godly person to marry if you do raise your kids correctly that's probably the number one thing they're looking for the number one thing I want for my kids and the person they marry is they marry someone who loves the Lord you say well what if they love the Lord but they don't have a lot of money that is what the Lord would tell you now obviously we need to work hard and try to be successful in life but what I'm saying is the number one most important thing is do they love God that is the number one thing and Boaz is looking for a godly wife to marry and Ruth probably reminds him a lot of his mother turn your Bible to 1 Timothy 1 1 Timothy chapter 1 so here's what I'm trying to say brother Shucky here's what I'm trying to tell you your past life does not have to hold you back from serving God today I mean we're in a room full of plenty of people here I don't know everybody's story and of course we don't believe in bragging about sins from the past so we're not going to know that and you know praise the Lord for that because God wipes the slate clean we ought to do the same thing right I don't know the past of people in this room but I guarantee there's people in this room that used to be drunks used to fornicate used to do all manner of sins I'm sure in this room right and that's not something we need to know the past is the past but here's what I'm saying your past sins don't have to hold you back now whatever you did five years ago whatever you did ten years ago whatever you did a couple months ago I mean if you change it's done right notice what it says here with Paul the Apostle in 1 Timothy 1 verse 12 and I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me for that he count me faithful putting me into ministry who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and unbelief why did Paul obtain mercy because he did it ignorantly and unbelief but also he was before a blasphemer it was something from his past but he changed Rahab was a prostitute Rahab was a harlot Rahab was a whore those are words that when you even say them it sort of makes you a bit uncomfortable because it's such a strong word that's what the Bible says Rahab was in the past you say well Brother Stuckey how could she raise a Boaz because that was her past not a present I mean of course if you are pleasantly living in sin you're not going to do a good job raising your kids but the past is the past your past will not prevent you from serving God today Paul the Apostle why was he so great for God because the past was the past right turn your Bible to Philippians 3 Philippians chapter 3 you know I'm not trying to sit here and sound like a watered down non-denominational preacher but you know this is true the past does not have to hold you back and here's the truth some people need to just forgive themselves for things they did five years ago and forget about it and realize it's done notice what it says here in Philippians chapter 3 verse 11 if by any means I might attain under the resurrection of the dead not as though I had already attained either already perfect but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus brethren I count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth onto those things which are before that's why Paul the Apostle was able to press for it in his life was because he was able to forget about the past I mean there's literally people that will get saved and then say I could never be a soul winner because I used to be a drunk what does it have to do with being a soul winner today now if you're currently a drunk you're right you can't get somebody saved if they're not sober much less if you're drunk yourself while you're preaching the gospel right that's your past that's the past it's not going to stop you from serving God today right whatever you did in the past forget about it Paul said I forget the things which are behind and reach forth onto those things which are before you cannot reach forth if you're holding onto your past and inside of your mind you literally cannot press forward if you're feeling guilty about things from ten years ago feeling guilty about things from twenty years ago and I get it if you have sins in your life especially if they're major sins it might be hard to forgive yourself and you know you think of the story of Joseph in the bible his brethren after their father dies they still feel guilty they still don't know if they've been forgiven and decades have passed and you're like obviously what they did was extreme but there's people in this life where they don't forgive themselves and they think about things they did like man I can't believe I did that you know in 2010 it's like that was thirteen years ago it's like forget about the past your past is the past and leave it in the past and then Paul says I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus go to Isaiah 43 Isaiah 43 in your bible Isaiah chapter 43 by no means am I trying to make light of sin what I'm saying is if you've gotten it right it's done with it's over it's in the past leave it in the past I'm sure and you know here's what probably a lot of people think like man people don't realize everybody at a church is so godly but me I used to do all these things in the past actually that's because nobody at a church brags about their sins there's probably a lot of people that are not proud of things that they've done and look we should not be proud of sins we've committed in the past we should feel shame and embarrassment about it but we should let the guilt go and realize hey you know what I've already gotten right with God I'm not doing it today it's in the past and just leave it in the past Isaiah 43 verse 18 remembering not the former things neither consider the things of old I will do a new thing now it shall spring forth shall ye not know it I will even make a way in the wilderness in rivers in the desert go to verse 25 Isaiah 43 verse 25 I even I am he that broadeth out thy transgressions for mine own sake and will not remember thy sins see God forgets about your sins they're gone they're done you know a lot of Baptist churches and other churches will teach well you know what when you get to heaven there's gonna be like this big you know broadcast of all the sins that you've ever committed you better make sure that you're serving God because they're gonna show everything everything you did I mean when you're six years old and you know you threw a pencil at another kid it's like that's gonna be on there right everything you did in your whole life well that's not what the Bible teaches God says he's not gonna remember now if I'm trying to motivate you to serve God what I'll say is you reap what you sow in this life you're justified by your works in this life so don't commit sins now but God's not gonna broadcast everything you did think about this what parent wants to broadcast the sins of their children is that how you feel about your kids well let me tell you about what Zeph did well let me tell you about what Christabel did why would I want to do that as a parent no parent wants to broadcast the sins of their children God's not gonna broadcast or embarrass you because if you're saved you're his child he's not gonna broadcast them to the world to see he will not remember he's going to forget well here's the thing if God is completely forgiving you and forgetting about it maybe you ought to forgive yourself also maybe you also ought to forget about things that you've done wrong in the past and realize it doesn't matter what you did five years and ten years ago what are you doing now look I'm sure that the moms and dads because it's really a sermon that can be applied both ways the moms and dads I'm sure all of us did things that we're not proud of things that we do not want our kids to repeat here's the thing if you're not doing them now you can teach your kids and help them not make the same mistakes you did right I mean your sins in the past they are in the past and God will not remember them turn your Bible to Proverbs 31 Proverbs 31 God's not going to remember our sins we should forgive ourselves and forget about it and not carry guilt if we've gotten right with God especially if it's from a long time ago I mean literally in this life people talk about things like they did like 30 years ago and it's like they can't let things go and it's like man 30 years ago was a long time right you know yesterday you know when the men were you know staying at the building as the wives went out bowling we were talking about things you know from our past that we used to enjoy we were talking about Super Mario Kart and we looked on Google that was from 1992 it was like literally 31 years ago I'm like man I'm pretty old now right I remember playing that as a kid but it's like things from 30 years ago it's in the past right now here's the thing I don't think you should necessarily run from your past either though what I mean by that is you know what I tell my kids you know what listening to rock music is ungodly it's wicked it's you know music that praise the devil it's nothing that a Christian should listen to even though I was guilty of that in my past and I want to help teach my kids don't do the same thing that I did right but you can forgive yourself because it's done what are some things what are some sins people carry around well one thing might be alcohol alcohol right drugs smoking you know anything that we would be labeling as you know a vice a right I mean those sorts of things where people could carry around guilt and say man I can't believe you know I used to drink or I can't believe I used to do drugs I can't believe I lived that life that the world is living that's what the Bible says in Proverbs verse 31 verse 4 this is what the Bible says about alcohol it is not for kings O Limuel it is not for kings to drink wine nor for princes strong drink now my opinion is that I mean I believe Solomon wrote this book I believe Limuel is in an endearing term that Bathsheba the mom of Solomon is actually giving to her son like maybe she calls him something different but regardless of whether you think that or not here is a mom telling her son who's a king you know it's not for kings to drink wine nor for princes strong drink it's not for you that are successful to drink alcohol it's not for you that's a king you say why would it be wrong for a king to do this lest they drink and forget the law and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted what law would they be forgetting well I mean the land of Israel was living under God's law they'd be forgetting the words of God the law of the Lord right as the Bible says so by the second why should a Christian not drink because they'll forget God's law because alcohol gives you boldness to do stupid things you would never do if you were sober it's compared to the Holy Ghost what does the Holy Ghost do it gives you boldness to do things that you would never do if you were not filled with the Holy Ghost in a good way what does alcohol do it gives you boldness to do stupid things that you would not do if you were not drunk it's going to cause you to forget the law I mean go drink and don't be surprised if you're destroying your life don't be surprised if all of a sudden you find a funny hey let's just burn down a building hey let's just commit adultery let's just steal something from 7 Robin those are the stupid things people do when they're drunk right I mean I know so many stories in my life of people that did stupid things when they were drunk I mean several stories I know from college of people I knew I know multiple stories of guys that got drunk in college and then all of a sudden they woke up the next day and it's like who's this person beside me they had no idea one of my friends from high school he woke up there was a guy next to him and he was too drunk even to realize that is that what you want to do get drunk to the point that you you know okay with another guy without even realizing it oh boy we're really missing out because we're not drinking red horse right we're really missing out on what the world has to offer is that what you want to do with your life or you end up with someone you don't even know and all of a sudden they're pregnant it's like man I didn't even know what happened is that what you want to do as a guy is that what you want to do as a woman just go and just fornicate your body away while you're drunk things that you would not do when you're sober but that is what alcohol causes people to do but I know a story someone who was in my Spanish class in college I've said this story a few times and this person got stabbed to death while drunk him and this other drunk guy got into a snowball fight and then somebody pulls out a knife and it was like a big murder trial for a year and a half like who's knife was it was it self defense or was it murder and they ended up ruling after a year and a half it was self defense but it's like regardless what caused that was it a snowball no it was called alcohol because nobody would pull out a knife unless they're an idiot unless they drunk alcohol over a snowball fight somebody throws a snowball at you and then you pull out a knife but that's what you do when you're drunk right alcohol will cause you to act like an idiot let me tell you something it's not worth the risk just because of peer pressure because this is why a lot of people drink merely because of peer pressure they don't want to do it but everybody else is doing it and say okay I'll do it too well you don't know what you might do with your life and here's reality in today's world people might think it's funny to just kind of spike a drink so you end up doing a drug and then you're just passed out this happens in real life baba says here in verse 6 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 people try to use this passage to justify drinking saying actually you know what you should give strong drink and alcohol to those that are ready to perish his mom is mocking alcohol she's saying it's not for a king or a prince or someone who's successful he's like give strong drink unto the person ready to die because his liver is destroyed from alcohol give strong drink unto the unbelievers let them drink give strong drink unto them let them run unto those that be of heavy hearts do you really think the Bible is saying hey if you're sad just get drunk is that what the Bible is saying? or is the Bible mocking drinking alcohol hey those that have heavy hearts those that are sad it's because they're drinking look the last advice I would give to someone who's depressed oh just get drunk is that really what you think the Bible is teaching? does that make any sense? I mean it only makes sense if you want to justify your drinking what she's doing is mocking it it says here in verse 7 let him drink and forget his poverty why does she say poor? because people that drink are poor I'm amazed we go sowing in some areas that are pretty low income areas sometimes people that have nothing and they're gambling away all their money and they're smoking and they're drinking and I'm just thinking wouldn't you want to save up some money to fix your house? save up for some food or something like that but no let's just drink away my souls so I can forget about my misery here's the thing I'm not miserable so I don't want to forget about my life why would I want to forget about my life? but alcohol causes you to remember your misery no more I don't live a miserable life by the stock I mean how can you live without drinking because I enjoy life I don't need booze to feel better I feel perfectly fine right? and this passage is mocking alcohol here's the reality there's people in this room that used to be drunkers there's people in this room that used to just socially drink alcohol there's people in this room that used to just socially drink all the time because everybody else was doing it there's people in this room that probably used to do drugs used to smoke regularly and look I don't know your personal life if you've got these sins in your life get right with God today but if this is something from the past it's the past right? but here's the thing what happens to a father that says son, don't drink alcohol while he's drinking because you know that's what a lot of drunkards say they tell their kids don't drink, it's going to destroy your life don't smoke, it's going to destroy your life don't smoke, it's going to destroy your life what's that kid probably going to do? exactly what mom and dad do why? because every daughter wants to be like their mom every son wants to be like their dad right? I mean I overheard a conversation last night between my wife and my son Zeph, and Zeph was saying I want to be exactly like dad you say why? because that's what kids want to do when they're young every boy wants to be like their father every girl wants to be like their mom what example are you setting to your kids? now here's the thing when I tell my kids hey, don't do this, I used to do that that's what losers do and I used to be guilty of it, don't do that I'm not presently in that sin it's not going to prevent me from raising my kids in the right way if you are doing those things you're not going to be a Rahab but if it's your past you can still be a Rahab as a mom turn your Bible to 1 Corinthians 16 1 Corinthians 16 1 Corinthians 6, not 16 1 Corinthians chapter 6 now the other thing that she warns her son about in this passage is give not thy strength unto women we didn't look at that for the sake of time but basically don't just go and just marry a bunch of women just find the right person stick with them and unfortunately, assuming I'm correct this is Bathsheba and her son Solomon her son didn't really follow that advice he said, why didn't he follow that advice? well, I mean, his father David was not exactly innocent at any point of his life until he got a lot older from being guilty of that he married several different women so it's going to be kind of hard to raise your kids if you're guilty of it so he doesn't take heed to the advice despite the fact we have the Song of Solomon which is like the great love story in the Bible and yet later on in the life of Solomon obviously he went the other route and that's another thing that people could hang onto is sexual sin from their past fornication adultery pornography anything associated, these are things that people could be guilty of and they could hold onto that sin statistically over half of children in the Philippines are born out of wedlock over half of children so realistically that means a lot of people in this room were born out of wedlock and realistically there's people that were guilty of this sin before they got right with God either before they got saved before they got right with God or they got guilty of from the past and here's the thing if you're guilty of that from the past I'm not trying to criticize you or beat up on you today I'm trying to help you raise your kids not to make the same mistakes that you made realize this Rahab probably heard a lot of sermons against sexual sin and you know what sometimes that might strike a chord on the inside of you because it's something you used to be guilty of and I realize that and I preach on it even if you're not guilty of it now it might cause kind of a reaction on the inside and I would just say you have to learn to live with that because you're always going to remember that it's like a scar that might never go away but you can still forgive yourself and realize it's in the past I'm not trying to bring up your past sin and make you feel horrible I'm trying to say, hey, you raised your kids in the right way not to make those mistakes and in this room there's plenty of people plenty of people will probably get you fornication, pornography all kinds of sexual sins obviously if you're getting that today get right with God and make sure your kids don't go down the same road but here's the thing if it's in the past it's in the past God already forgave you He's not remembering it and nor should any of us bring up other people's sins from their past people's past are their past and it's done, you don't have to make them feel horrible like they're a terrible person the past is the past but you individually forget about those things which are behind it says in 1 Corinthians 6 verse 15 know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of it Harlot God forbid know ye not that he which is joined to it in Harlot is one body, for to saith he shall be one flesh but he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit flu fornication every sin that a man doeth is without the body but he that comitteth fornication sinneth against his own body the Bible says that when you fornicate it's kind of like a special sin sexual sin something that sticks to you because when you get married two become one and so if you're fornicating with someone you're not married to and then you end up marrying somebody else it's just something that has a different effect on you the Bible says the Bible says you sin against your own body and by the way you say what are abusers of themselves with mankind cross reference in the same chapter people that choose to commit sexual sin somebody abuses you sexually, that's the word you'd use you can abuse yourself by just fornicating out your own body it's not talking about a homosexual in 1 Corinthians 6 abusers of themselves well those that are sinning against their own body by being joined unto others are not married to any sexual sin would be what that is referring to as we cross reference in this chapter verse 19 know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which ye have of God and ye are not your own for ye are bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's look obviously someone like Rahab she did that for a profession a lot of people I'm sure that's a scar that never really goes away it's like a wound that probably keeps coming up where she probably felt guilty a lot over things that she had done from her past but here's the thing obviously she was able to let it go to some degree because she didn't she didn't allow it to stop her from raising her kids and what I'm saying is there's probably moms in this room who worry like I don't know if I can do a good job raising my kids I've only been saved for a year I didn't grow up as an independent Baptist I mean I just got saved recently I used to drink I used to party I used to commit all these sins that's not going to stop you from raising your kids because if you put your past behind you and you teach your kids to read the Bible go to church obey God's commandments go soul winning guess what happens if you're doing the same they're going to read the Bible they're going to go to church they're going to go soul winning why because that's what mom and dad are doing return your Bible to Deuteronomy 6 we'll close up Deuteronomy 6 Deuteronomy chapter 6 Deuteronomy chapter 6 if anything when you teach your kids you can tell them you know what this is the result of not reading the Bible and hearing good preaching that you end up committing these sins just like everybody else and it's a good warning to your kids hey you know what you need to read the Bible everyday because I don't want you to make the same mistakes I did when I wasn't serving God but your past does not have to affect your future unless you let it affect your future there's literally people that feel guilty about you know going to church because of sins they committed in the past that they're not doing now people that feel guilty about going soul winning because of sins they committed years ago people that feel guilty are like man I could never preach a sermon because you know ten years ago I did this well I can't raise my kids because I used to commit all these sins it's like I'm not going to do a good job as a mom or as a dad what I would say is your past is your past and if it didn't stop Rahab from raising a Boaz and I would imagine that probably Rahab was more guilty than anybody in this room of major sins in her life that could hold her back I would say that Paul the Apostle in terms of men was probably more guilty because of the fact he was persecuting Christians than anybody else it didn't stop Paul the Apostle from being the greatest missionary greatest evangelist greatest church starter soul winner and everything like that it didn't stop Rahab either from raising a Boaz and she did such a good job that her son realized you know what I want to marry a godly person that reminds me of my mom someone who serves God and loves God and has that as their focus and then he ends up marrying Ruth which I would presume in this new competition on YouTube your favorite female Bible character I think Ruth is probably going to beat Mary it's going to be down to those two for sure I mean if a lot of Catholics vote in the poll then Mary will win but otherwise I think Ruth is going to take that I could be wrong but Ruth is the only character in the Bible ever called a virtuous woman she's the only one we think of the Proverbs 31 virtuous woman and who's the only woman ever called a virtuous woman I think she's the only virtuous woman don't misunderstand me but she's the only woman called a virtuous woman and it's like her mother-in-law was Rahab right? I mean that's kind of astonishing I remember when I first realized that I was like wow you know it's just cause you know with sections like Matthew 1 you could easily just kind of read over cause you're like alright let's get to the exciting stuff I'm trying to motivate you to memorize Matthew 1 1 through 17 you know next week that's why I'm talking about it but this one says in Deuteronomy 6 verse 6 and these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children and shalt talk of them when thou sitest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way and when thou liest down and when thou risest up you know the Bible says we need to diligently teach our children the word of God and what's correct and what's wrong and you want any mom or any dad that raises their kids in this way you're gonna have an impact on your kids right cause the Deuteronomy 6th person is not someone who's presently living in sin you're not always gonna talk about the Bible if you have major sins but if you have major sins in your past and you got rid of them and now you're starting over and fresh I mean God's forgiven you you let go of that guilt yourself and you raise your kids it is not gonna stop you from raising a Boaz it's not gonna stop you from raising someone who loves God your past sins do not have to affect you say what's the proof of that brother Stuckey Rahab the mother cause the last reference we have of Rahab Matthew 1 cause Hebrews 11 and James 2 are looking back to the Old Testament Rahab before she got right with God the last reference we have is Rahab the mother and if Rahab who was a harlot and became a great mom could end up being a great mom any mom in this room is capable of it if you put in the time you put in the love and you put the effort into your kids let's close in word of prayer your heavenly father thank you for allowing us to be here today and just getting to see this great character in the Bible Rahab God I ask you to help all the moms and also the fathers in this room help us to raise our kids to serve you and to love you help us to raise and teach our kids not to make some of the same mistakes that we made in our past God I ask you to help the kids in this room grow up and be the next generation of soul winners and people memorizing the Bible and preachers and eventually even pastors and people doing great and mighty works for you God I ask you to help all the moms and dads in this room in Jesus name we pray Amen We hope you on the part of Jesus name Everybody sing Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh