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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