Proverbs chapter number 31, the part of the chapter that I'd like to focus on is at the very beginning there where the Bible reads, "The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him what, my son, and what the son of my womb, and what the son of my vows? Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyeth kings. It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink, lest they drink and forget the law and pervert the judgement of any of the afflicted. Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish and wine unto those be of heavy heart. Let him drink and forget his poverty and remember his misery no more.
This morning the title of my sermon is, staying right versus getting right, staying right versus getting right. You see, it's a lot easier to stay right and to keep things right than to try to get things right after they've gone wrong. Now, this is a great sermon to preach on mother's day simply because our mothers are the ones who hopefully teach us when we're young how to live right from the beginning so that we don't mess up our lives and have to try to fix things. We can just stay on the right path.
If you look at Proverbs 31 here, this is the prophecy that's being taught by a mother and if you actually look at the whole chapter she's trying to teach her son how not to mess up his life. She says, "These are some ways that you can mess up your life, through the strange women and fornicating and giving your strength to women." Also you can mess up your life through alcohol and drunkenness. She warns about that. Then she spends a lot of time explaining to him what the right type of a woman is to make his wife because one of the most important decisions that we ever make in our life is who we get married to. That really in many ways will make or break our life because that's the most important decision outside of getting saved, is who you're going to marry and who you're going to spend the rest of your life with.
Go if you would to Proverbs chapter number 6. Proverbs chapter number 6, and the Bible talks more about our mothers. I'll read for you from chapter 1, a very similar statement where the Bible reads, my son, hear the instruction of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother for they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head and chains about thy neck. Look at chapter 6 verse 20, my son, keep thy father's commandment and forsake not the law of thy mother. Bind them continually upon thine heart and tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee, when thou sleepest it shall keep thee, and when thou awakest it shall talk with thee. For the commandment is the lamp and the law is light and reproofs of instruction are the way of life to keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
You see, the teaching of a mother and father can keep us from a lot of the pitfalls that are out there in this world ready to destroy our lives. When we have made mistakes like fornication or drunkenness or adultery or murder, yeah, it is possible as the Bible shows us to get back on track and live for God but let me tell you something, it's a lot easier to just never go down that road in the first place. It's much easier to stay right and to keep things right than to try to get them right.
Now, let me give you some examples of things that are a lot easier to keep right than to get right. Go if you would to Leviticus chapter number 19. Leviticus chapter number 19. While you're turning there let me just mention something that the virtuous woman had brought up in chapter 31 of Proverbs. She talked about alcohol. Let me tell you something, it's a lot easier to just abstain from drugs and alcohol for your entire life than to try to quit these things after you've gotten mixed up in them. The Bible says in 1st Thessalonians 5 verse 7, "For they that sleep sleep in the night and they that be drunken are drunken in the night but let us who are of the day be sober putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for an helmet the hope of salvation.
You see, drunkenness is one of these works of darkness. The Bible says, "We are not of the night nor of darkness." We are of the day. We are to be sober and not be drunken. Alcohol and drugs pretty much do the same thing in many ways. You see, a lot of people will say, "Well, where does the Bible tell me not to smoke marijuana?" If the Bible tells us to be sober we know that God doesn't want us smoking marijuana because it is a mind altering substance that does not make you sober, it does not give you clarity and a sound mind but it impairs you just as alcohol would in a different way but still if God doesn't want us drinking alcohol then he obviously doesn't want us smoking pot either or doing any of these other recreational drugs.
The Bible here is telling us to be sober, walk in the light as he is in the light, don't walk in darkness. It's very difficult sometimes for people to quit taking drugs or to quit drinking but for someone who's never taken drugs in their life it's very easy not to take drugs. I mean, I guarantee you that the vast majority of the people in this auditorium that have never taken drugs in their life, they didn't have to exercise a lot of willpower this morning not to shoot up on heroin or not you know ... I'm not going to snort cocaine this morning, I'm just not going to do it. People who've done that they struggle with that for the whole rest of their life. Once you open that door it becomes an uphill battle to do that which is right.
Here's another example of something that's easier to stay right than to get it right. Look at Leviticus chapter 19 verse 28. The Bible reads, you shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead nor print any marks upon you, I am the Lord. The Bible makes it clear that we're not to print marks upon our body but yet today it's very popular in the United States of America to get tattoos. It's become a major part of our culture for both male and female to just turn 18, get a tattoo or get many tattoos and it's become very popular. It's become almost universal and even amongst Christians tattoos are prevalent. Pastors are afraid to preach about it because they don't want to offend people because they think, "Well, but I have people in my congregation who have tattoos." Here's the thing about that though. Tattoos are permanent, they don't come off.
Now, I've seen a lot of advertising out there that said, "Tattoo removal." Who's seen the advertising like that? Whether it's a billboard or ... I was walking down the street in downtown Tempe and there was a video screen outside of a tattoo place, because this place gave you the tattoos and removed the tattoos in one stop. They had a video that was showing the wonders of tatts and they made it look so easy. I mean, the tattoo was just coming right off like it was just some piece of cake. Try talking to somebody who has actually tried to get tattoos removed and you'll find out that it doesn't come off, it's permanent.
Now I was just talking to a guy recently who told me, he said, "When I got this tattoo put on", he showed me a tattoo, he said, "It cost $50 to get this tattoo put on." He said, "I'm in the process of trying to get it removed and the cost to get it removed is $5,000." Now, think about what a great illustration of sin this is. It's really easy to get into sin but trying to fix the damage is virtually impossible sometimes. He said, "I have to go in and I forget how many treatments. It was either 50 treatments for $100 each or I don't know if it was 25 treatments for $200 each", but he had to go back and he had great faith that it's going to be removed. I hope it works out for him, but honestly I've seen a lot of people where they just give up on it because it's just not coming off. They go in and again and again and again. When they go in by the way it's extremely painful to try to get the tattoo removed.
You see, people talk about the pain of getting a tattoo put on but talk to somebody who's trying to get it removed and they'll tell you, "Oh, the pain of getting it removed is way worse than the pain of getting a tattoo installed." The pain is excruciating and it's already so expensive to try to get the tattoo removed. You don't want to have to pay extra for the anesthetic, then you're doubling the price or tripling the price. Basically they end up just going there and just getting it out and just suffering literal torture sessions. I mean, just week after week being tortured. Then they show you where they're trying to get the tattoo removed and it's all burned because they have to burn it with a laser and there's blistering and pain and suffering and agony.
Look, they don't come off. If you teenagers and you young adults that see these ads and think, "Oh, of course, I'll just get it removed." No you can't. If you get a tattoo it is permanent and you ought to think about that. That God does not want you to get a tattoo. Again pastors won't preach this because they're afraid, oh, I'm going to offend the people. The people who have tattoos right now, whose heart is right with the Lord, we have many people in our church who have tattoos because it's so popular today. The people in this auditorium whose heart is right with the Lord when they hear this preaching they're saying in their heart, "Amen. I don't want them to make the mistake that I made." That's the right attitude. Not to say, "Well, how dare he talk about how that, I have a tattoo." Well, so what?
We've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. It doesn't make you a horrible person but you know what, when you're a young person who grows up with this kind of preaching and you see it right there point blank in the Bible, God is going to be very angry and displeased if you just defy him and just say, "What, I'm 18 now, I'm all grown, I'll get a tattoo." You're going to regret that some day. You're going to regret, you're going to wish you hadn't and you might even throw a bunch of money away trying to get it off and being tortured and being injured and striving to fix it. Somethings are just a lot easier to just keep them right than to try to fix them and get them right. It's $50 to get into sin, $5,000 to try to remove the damage. That's life.
If you would go to proverbs 23, Proverbs chapter number 23. Here's another example of something that's easier to keep right than to get it right. Listen, my goal is not to offend anyone this morning. I love you and I'm not trying to offend anybody. Look, some people sins are open beforehand, going before the judgment and some men they follow after. Likewise, also the good works of some are manifest beforehand and they that are otherwise cannot be hid. That's what 1st Timothy chapter 5 tells us.
Here's the thing about it though. Just because some people sins are more open than others, we've all sinned, we've all made you know, so I'm not trying to make people feel bad because they have a more visual sin but it's my job as a pastor to preach against sin. The reason why I want to preach against sin this morning is because an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It's not to make people feel bad or hurt people's feelings.
The goal is to get that person who has not yet made these mistakes and explain to them, "Look, it's easier to keep it right than to try to get it right later." The reason I preach this sermon on mother's day is because it's the job of every mother to take their child and teach them how to live right so that they can grow up with the advantage of having grown up in a Godly christian home and being taught the things of God from a young age. That's going to give them an advantage in the christian life.
Also I'm preaching this sermon because I want every child who's here today to understand that when your mother teaches you these rules and commandments, she's doing it for your own good because she wants you to live a Godly life and she wants you to live a life that would be pleasing to the Lord and she wants you to have prosperity and good success. It's not that she's trying to just be an old fuddy-duddy that keeps you from having any fun.
Look at Proverbs chapter 23 and I'll show you another sin that it's a lot easier to keep it right than to get it right. The Bible says in chapter 23 verse 19, "Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way. Be not among wine-bibbers, among the riotous eaters of flesh for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags. Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she's old." What is she saying there in verse 22? Listen to mom and dad. Don't be a drunk and don't be a glutton.
Now, in Deuteronomy there is the example of the child who didn't listen to mom and dad and they said he's a drunkard and he's a glutton. Those are the 2 things that were brought out about not listening to mom and dad. You see, it's often mom and dad who are telling their children no to too many sweets. No to too much junk food and putting restriction or say, "Hey, eat your vegetables. Hey clean your plate or you can't have the dessert" and so on and so forth. Because a child who is left to himself will gorge himself on all kinds of junk and all kinds of bad food. It's a mother's job to step in. Like my mom had a rule for cookies. That was the maximum. You got to have those kind of rules in place and teach your children how to eat right.
Now, this is something that's a lot easier to keep it right than to try to get it right. People who have gained a lot of extra weight through gluttony, it's very hard to lose weight when you're way overweight. It's very difficult. Now, it's not that hard to maintain a healthy weight. If you're already at a healthy weight, it's not really that hard. You just, you know kind of halfway, pay attention to what you eat and just eat basic normal foods and it's pretty easy to maintain.
Listen, losing weight is difficult. Here's why losing weight is difficult. Now, I'm not trying to hurt anybody's feelings, I'm not trying to be controversial this morning or anything but here's why it's difficult. Because of the fact that in order to lose weight you have to eat less calories than what you're burning. You have to be at a deficit, a caloric deficit. When you gain weight it's because you're at a caloric surplus.
People who exercise they're burning more calories right? They can eat more and still keep that balance. In order to lose weight you have to burn more than what's coming in. People have all kinds of ideas about the low carb and the low fat, but here's the thing, at the end of the day when you boil down all of these programs it all comes down to one thing, you must be at a caloric deficit in order to lose weight. It's just a simple science equation of just energy out, energy in. It's that simple. There could be ways of eating that could ramp up your metabolism or a little tricks of the trade but at the end of the day that's what it comes down to.
Here's the thing about being at a caloric deficit. When you're at a caloric deficit, it doesn't feel good. You're not happy at a caloric deficit because you're bringing in less than what you're using and your body is saying, "No, this isn't enough. Don't you know what I've done today? I have done 500 more calories today than what you gave me. You're not giving me the fuel that I need here." Your body is screaming at you, "Give me more." It's discomfort, right? Is anybody here understanding what I'm saying? You go through discomfort. You might have a little less energy or just feel lot of hunger and your body is screaming at you, "Feed me", because you're at a caloric deficit. That's not a fun condition to be in.
Now, in order to lose 1 pound of weight you must have a caloric deficit of 3,500 calories. One pound of fat is 3,500 calories. Therefore, if you want to lose 1 pound every week you would have to be at a caloric deficit of 500 calories every single day 7 days a week. That's not a fun place to be where you're 500 calories under what your body is telling you to ingest, what your body wants. You're 500 below that and you do that for 7 straight days then you've lost 1 pound, right? Let's say you have to lose 50 pounds. You'd have to go every day for a year, 365 days at a caloric deficit of 500 calories a day. That's not fun. What I'm saying is it's a lot easier to keep it right than to get it right. That's why those who are at a normal weight or in a normal range, obviously everybody's different, I'm not ...
Here's the thing, don't get me wrong, don't say, "Oh, skinny preacher up there railing on us." Here's the thing, I'm not one of these people that thinks everybody needs to be skinny. I don't have that Hollywood attitude that everybody is got to be skinny. Look, God made us in different shapes and sizes and what the world considers a normal weight I consider a little bit underweight. I think it's normal to have some meat on the bone, Amen?
Congregation:
Amen.
Pastor:
The point is, I'm not up here trying to say, "Hey everybody needs to be skinny, everybody needs to look a certain way." We all know that you cross the line where you're unhealthy, where you're overweight, where you're unhealthy. Listen, it's a lot easier just when you don't have that issue to pay attention to what you're eating and make sure you eat good food.
When you start to say, "Honey, you've been shrinking my laundry. Honey, What did you do differently?" She says, "Well, I didn't do anything different with the laundry? No, no, you've shrunken my clothes because this used to fit." At that point it's time to realize, "Wait a minute, maybe I should actually take a little better care, maybe a few less trips to the fast food and the sodas and the sweets and the many donuts and all the junk." They're just the devoid of nutrition type of just junk calories. You got to think about that before you go off that cliff.
Listen, I don't look down on people that are overweight or think about, "Oh man you know", because here's the thing, I know how hard it is. I know what they're going, it's a struggle. Once you get to a point where you've gone over the edge, it's very difficult. It is as difficult as somebody trying to quit smoking or trying to quit drinking or trying to get off drugs or are trying to get a tattoo removed. These things are difficult and I sympathize with you if you're struggling with any of these things because it's hard.
That's why we need to understand the biblical principle that it's easier to keep it right than to get it right later. That's why we need to take heed lest we fall and keep ourselves out of these things and especially children and young people I'm talking to you because the temptations there is, "Oh, I'll smoke and be cool. My friends are smoking cigarettes, I'm going to show how mature I am. I'm going to show what an adult I am. I'm 18 now, I'm going to start to smoke." Quitting smoking is one of the hardest things that anybody has ever done.
I mean, from talk, and I've never been a smoker or anything but just talking to people who have they'll tell you, it's harder than quitting drinking. People have told me, quitting drinking was nothing compared to quitting smoking. He said quitting smoking was one of the hardest things they ever did in their life and that the craving never went away. The rest of their life they have that crave. Don't listen to these preachers who say, "You know, I got saved and I've never craved a cigarette again." He's a liar. I talk to all kinds of pastors who said, "Hey, a cigarette sounds pretty good right now", they said.
Why? Because that craving is always there. Much easier to just never take that first smoke. Much easier to never take that first drink, to never take those drugs, to never destroy your body in this way or that way. It's a lot easier to keep it right than to get it right children. Pay attention to what your mom and dad teach you children. Obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. Let me tell you something, it will also be well with you and your days will be long on the earth.
Don't you think that you know more than your parents when you're a little kid, you're foolish. Your parents will get smarter and smarter the older you get and they're not changing. It's you that is realizing how smart they are. You need to listen to your parents. You need to listen to your mother and don't despise your mother when she's old and think, "Well, she's old, she doesn't know." She knows more than you think.
Go to Proverbs chapter 6. Here's another area. I know I'm stepping on some sensitive areas this morning but I'm trying to help you, I'm trying to help those who have an ear to hear that they would keep things right instead of trying to fix it late. Here's the thing, maybe you're in a situation where you're trying to fix things. You know what, God bless you for that and we all try to fix things. If you are a smoker, the tattoo thing I would say it's a loss cause to try to fix that. This is my personal opinion. If you can fix it, great, but in my opinion I think it's a loss cause at that point. You know what, when it comes to smoking you ought to fix that, you ought to quit smoking. There's so much garbage. You say, "What's wrong with smoking?" Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you. You're not your own. You're bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's.
Listen, a rental car doesn't let you smoke in it. A rental hotel room doesn't let you smoke in it. Why do you think this rental body that belongs to the Lord, that he's letting you use and be a steward of, what makes you think it's okay to smoking that thing? He's going to charge you a $300 cleaning fee for smoking in his body that he owns. Not only is smoking tobacco bad for you, the tobacco is the least of the problems in that cigarette. Those cigarettes that they sell there at the store are filled with so many chemicals and so much garbage. The risk is, they have flame retardant in them. It's a thing that you light on fire but it has chemical flame retardant which is one of the most carcinogenic terrible substances for your body.
Not only that, but smokers have harmed all of our health. I'm not talking about second hand smoke. Because now mattresses and bedding materials all have to be sprayed with flame retardant because too many people are smoking in bed and burning the whole place down, so now all mattresses have flame retardant. Pajamas, you buy pajamas for your 3 year old and they have chemical harmful flame retardant in them because of smokers. To what everything that has to do with sleeping now has to have flame retardant. Sheets, bedding, blankets, beds.
Look, I even told someone that I loved, I was pleading with someone that I loved to quit smoking. I said to this person I loved, I said, "Listen, if you're not going to quit smoking, for the love at least get some kind of, get some organic tobacco, roll it yourself in a piece of paper or somewhere you know that that's all that's in it is just what you've put into it." I said, "What you're buying this Marlboro and whatever else is total poison, total garbage killing you." It's horrible, horrible for your health.
All kinds of chemicals and junk in the cigarettes. Even the one with the Indian on the package. Even it has stuff in it. You know what I'm talking about, the natural or whatever. Spirit or, is that what it's called? American spirit, even the American spirit isn't clean enough my friend. Then the person that I tell that to they say, "Why don't you go to the Indian?" I'm like, "Well, okay, at least we're making progress here." Good night. Don't go down that road.
I remember my, well I don't want to say who it was. A friend of mine, somebody I know, she went to a job where everybody would take smoke breaks and they'd be out on the smokers patio, the smokers lounge. One day she went out there and lit up a cigarette and everybody looked at her like, "What do you think you are, what are you doing?" She's like, "I'm." They're like, "You don't smoke." She's like, "Well, you know." They said, "Look, don't be an idiot."
They said, "Why would you start smoking? It's too late for us, save yourself." I was just, okay, you know. I've talked to people who said that they started smoking because they wanted to take additional breaks, because smokers take a lot of additional breaks. They step outside, have a smoke. That's laziness. The Bible talks about being slothful and being a sluggard. You're not giving it your best to your job if you're just looking for an excuse to get out on that patio.
Here's another example is, financially when it comes to going into debt. It's a lot easier to stay out of debt than to try to get out of debt when you ... Look, trying to get out of debt when you're in debt it's like being 100 pounds overweight and trying to lose 100 pounds. It's real difficult to do that. Lot easier to maintain basic money in, money out than be not a caloric deficit, a financial deficit. That hurts too, right? Where you have to make more than what you're spending. That's hard.
Most people can't even live within their means let alone be at a financial deficit of $500 a month or something where they could pay off debt and lose, not losing weight but losing debt, it's almost the same thing. Once you get messed up with your credit and messed up with debt you're going to suffer for that a lot and it's going to end up costing you way more than just exercising a little restraint when you're 18 and those credit card ads start coming in.
This is where mom and dad should step in and teach. That it's easier to keep it right than to get it right. My sister, my younger sister one time when she was really young and inexperienced, she bought a pack a band-aids at Target. She had a Target credit card. You know how you get it, you know, "Hey, if you sign up for this credit card we'll give you ..." Oh, sure sign me up. Sometimes you don't really think too much about it because it's just a Target card or a Kohl's card or a JCPenney card. You don't get the bill every month, so you're not really in the habit because it's something you only use from time to time.
Well, she got this Target card she bought a pack of band-aids for 3 bucks. Then she ended up forgetting about it, moving, switching addresses, never got the bill, that pack of band-aids ended up costing her $103 eventually, 103 bucks for a pack of band-aids. When you're young you make these mistakes. I've made mistakes financially and I've done stupid things and spent money, so I'm not down on her this morning, I'm just using that as a great illustration of 3 bucks can turn into a 103 bucks.
Look what the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 6 verse 1. This has to do with messing up your credit, going into debt in a sense. It says in verse 1 of Proverbs 6, "My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend. Go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend. Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter and as a bird from the hand of fowler."
Now, that's pretty strong language in those 5 verses there. Don't even go to sleep until you fixed it. You are ensnared, you've been trapped. This is talking about cosigning for somebody, being surety for your friend. Cosigning and putting your name on the line for somebody else's borrowing. Why? Because he's warning of the danger of having them come after you for that debt. Because being in debt is a really bad situation to be in. Obviously we live in a debt-based society unfortunately. Even right if you pull a dollar bill out of your wallet, right there on the dollar bill it says, "This is for paying debts." We live in a debt-based system. Fractional reserve lending has messed up our money supply to where pretty much everyone has to borrow money virtually to even function in our society.
I'm not saying that ... Hey, you know some people are able to go through life without borrowing any money, great, but the way that our society is set up, it makes it pretty hard to get a house or car or anything like that without borrowing money. It's just the way the system works with the fractional reserve lending system that has created all this debt and everything. We live in a debt-based society that enslaves us to the bankers that make all the money.
That's in a whole another subject and in a whole another sermon. That being said, there's some debt that just makes zero sense. It's one thing to to get a mortgage on a house. At least then you've got the house to show for. You borrow the money, you got the house. Okay, it's not ideal but hey, great. There's a balance there of collateral, of what you have there versus what you've borrowed. Or a vehicle loan can often make sense because you've got the vehicle to back up the debt.
See, the thing about credit card debt is that you've got nothing to show for it. You spent that money and it's gone. You spend it on food that you ate and it's gone. You spend it on just partying and having fun and then you someday have to pay the piper and it just multiplies all that interest and all that debt and it just, you go deeper into the hole through credit card debt.
Now, student loan debt is something that has even exceeded a credit card debt in this country. People just think, "Oh, if I get a college degree, I mean. Yeah, people are just going to be beating down my door ready to pay me 6 figures because I've got a 4 year degree in business. Wall Street, here I come." That's not really the way life works. Now people are saddled with a bunch of that. Why? Because they didn't want to work and go to school at the same time, it's too hard. It makes a lot more sense if you're going to do that. You know how to pay your way as you go but we have credit card debt.
Look, it's much easier to just never go down that road and to just pay that sucker off every month than to just start saying, "Well, let's get a new sofa. Let's get a new dining room set. Why not? Let's go on and get a new stereo man." I've got to build my credit, right? It's business. I'm not a fool building your credit but build your credit on stuff that you actually need, that you actually use and that you actually have some to show for it.
Here's another example. How about permanent birth control? This is a lot easier to just keep your body right than to try to fix it later. Listen, virtually everyone who gets these permanent birth control procedures done on their body ends up regretting it at some point. Most people end up regretting it at some point. Especially now, women are getting their tubes tied, so called when they're in their 20's. They have 1 kid, 2 kids, oh that's it, I'm done, that's it, tie it up.
Then they get a little older and wiser and realize, lo children are an heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them, they shall not be ashamed but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. They say, "Well I want to have more children." Then it's too late. Oh, you can always get it undone. Okay, go talk to the people who've gotten it reversed and realize that it's not just as simple as, "Oh, yeah, you just get it reversed, you know. No big deal. Oh yeah, get the reversal."
No, no, the men who get the vasectomy, and by the way you get the vasectomy, it's bad for you. All kinds of bad side effects and hormonal imbalance and health issues as a result of that. Then these women they get these permanent devices installed in their body as a permanent birth control. Then sometimes they just start traveling through their body. Like they put, what was that thing that they put up there? It's like a met, do you see remember, it's like a, what's it called? It was like a cop, not the IUD, this is like a permanent. It was like a copper spiral that they put up in their Fallopian tube or whatever.
Then what happened is, sometimes it just starts traveling through their body and then they found the copper spiral like up in their organs or something because it had just kind of like over time moving around, just kind of you know, spins around, goes back. What do they call, again what's the technical term for that? You don't remember? Wow, we talked about this honey. Where were you? I'm drowning up here, I need help. Now, I'm just, but we were talking about.
I forgot what it's called but migrating, is that what they call it? Is that the word? Yeah like, it starts to migrate. Talk about immigration problems, sorry. You got a piece ... You got a sharp piece of metal migrating through your body just tearing up. The whole ... Boy just go online and just look up permanent birth control horror story. There's those stuff that will make the hair on your neck stand up, crazy stuff. People, they think that they're smarter than God, they know better than God. I just want 1 kid, I just want 2 kids.
Now look, if God only gives you 1 kid, praise the Lord. God only gives 2 kids, praise the Lord, but this attitude of, "What, you know I only want 1, I only want 2." Then later you want to fix that, well, sorry, it's tough to fix. People make these decisions young in life that have permanent consequences. Go to Titus chapter 3, Titus chapter number 3. We got to teach our children wisdom and teach them to not make these mistakes because once you make these mistakes it's a lot harder to get it right than it would have been to just keep it right in the first place, just to leave it alone and keep it right.
You see why you're turning to Titus 3, let me explain to you one of the laws of science, the law of inertia. Things that are at rest have a tendency to stay at rest and things that are in motion have a tendency to stay in motion. Which means that it's a lot easier to keep the car rolling than to get the car rolling. You get out there and there's a car that's stalled, "Hey let's get this car and let's push it." To get it from a dead stop you have to push really hard to get that thing moving, but once it's moving you barely exert any pressure at all. It's easier to keep it moving than to get it moving. It's easier to keep things right than to get them right.
Look if you would at Titus chapter 3, because we've been focusing on negative things, we've been focusing on, hey these are bad things, it's better to stay away from these things but how about good things. Look at Titus 3 verse 8, this is a faithful saying and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. Jump down to verse 14, and let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses that they be not unfruitful. See, it's a lot easier to maintain good works than to start doing good works out of nowhere.
That's why as a child you should start developing habits of doing good works when you're a young child and then just maintain that. Much easier to maintain your weight. Much easier to maintain your bank account. Much easier to maintain a Godly life or maintain good works than to try to fix things that are way out of way. Thank God for children who go out soul winning at a young age. Thank God for teenagers who are already witnessing, already preaching the gospel, already going on the soul winning events and going door to door.
Why? Because it's going to be a lot easier to maintain that than to try to get some guy who's 30 or 40 or 50 and say, "Hey let's get you out soul winning." Well, oh, I've never that before. Now, look the 50 year old needs to get out soul winning but you know what, it's a lot easier to just maintain. It's a lot easier to maintain Bible reading. Start young praying, start young reading the Bible, start young going to church. Three to thrive, Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night and then just maintain that. Much easier to maintain good works than to develop good works.
Then the last place is 2nd Timothy, you're right there in Titus anyway. Go back to 2nd Timothy chapter 1 and I'm going to show you some scriptures just about the blessings of growing up in a Godly home, the blessing of being raised in a christian home. Now, probably most people that are here this morning as far as adults were not raised in a christian home. The majority were not. I thank God that I was raised a christian home because if you were not raised in a christian home, the christian life is an uphill battle for you more so than the person who was raised in a christian home. Now, this is not to offend anyone. The bottom line is, that it's a fact that it's more blessed to grow up in a christian home than in an heathen home. I mean that should be common sense.
I remember one time I was in a Sunday school class at a liberal church when I was a teenager and they were arguing that it was better to grow up, it was better ... They were glad that they'd grown up worldly and sinful because then they have this great testimony of a dramatically changed life and then that was going to be far more useful in getting people saved. What I find is that I've been able to get a lot of people saved through the power of the gospel.
See, I was taught the power of God into salvation was the gospel of Jesus Christ. I didn't know it had anything to do with my life. The power of the gospel of Jesus Christ is the story of our Lord Jesus Christ coming to this earth, dying on the cross for our sins, being buried and rising again. That's the great story. That is the great power of God. That's the great truth of the gospel. You see, it's the power of Romans 3:23, the power of John 3:16. It's the power of God's word and of Jesus our savior that gets people saved. It's not the power of I quit drinking. A 12 step program could do that.
You know, plenty of people who quit drinking without ever naming the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, plenty of people. Look, alcoholics synonymous will tell you that all you have to do is believe in a higher power. They literally said, "You could believe in this chair as your higher power." "If you worship this chair", they said, "that's fine." You just have to believe in some higher power. That's what they said. "It could be any god any idol, it could be Buddha, it could be Jesus, it could be Mohammed, it could be Hinduism, it could be this chair," they said. Just a high, no, no, it's not a higher power, it's Jesus that we worship, that we believe in.
People quit drinking by believing in a chair. It's true. People got off drugs by believing in a chair. That's not the power of God unto salvation. The power of God unto salvation is faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Does the Lord Jesus have the power to change lives? Of course, but that's not what we emphasize when we preach the gospel. We ought to put the emphasis on Jesus not on us. Jesus is the one that gets the glory.
There's a lot of self-glorifying that goes on sometimes, "Oh, I gave up this, I gave up." You gave up dung because that's what Paul said he gave up. He said well everything I gave up is this dung, anyway. What did you give up? Worthless things. You gave up your life of partying and drinking and drugs, that's all worthless junk that you didn't give up anything, you gained everything when you got saved and turned over a new leaf or whatever you did.
The bottom line is that these people were arguing and saying, "Well." I was like the only person in class that said, "Well no, I would prefer to be raised in a christian home. You know I want to ..." They said, "Well, why? What advantage does that give you.?" I said, "Well, because I would know the Bible well. Because I would learn the Bible my whole life, so I know the Bible." They are like, "Oh, that doesn't mean anything." They don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. These liberal churches they downplay knowing the Bible. They downplay knowledge of the scripture. It's just about the relationship and the feeling and the emotion and the testimony and the changed lives.
No, no, no, it's about learning the Bible as a child and growing up and serving God your whole life and maintaining good works. That's a great testimony. Well, I want to have a testimony that will show the world the power God. Yeah, but why don't you show the world the power of God by showing them a Godly life? Why do you have to first show them a wicked life? They've already seen that. They've seen that movie before. You don't have to sit there and say, "Well let me show you my wicked life. Now let me show you how I'm doing it right." Why don't you just show them, "Here's how I'm doing it right" and they might see that and say, "Wow, that makes sense, that's great."
There are sometimes people who will come to you and say, "Hey, I respect your life, so I want to know more about Jesus because you seem to have something together there." That happens but the vast majority of people that I've been able to win to the Lord was just by preaching to them the gospel and I really had nothing to do with them looking at my life.
It's a very rare situation where somebody falls on their knees and comes to you and says, "I want what you have." It's great when, it's cool when it happens. It doesn't happen on a weekly basis. Maybe my life is not as awesome as yours, I don't know. I don't have people coming and falling before me, I want to be like you. I want to have. My neighbors aren't coming to me saying, "You know, I saw that messy yard with all those kids running around screaming." No, I was kidding. I want what you have.
I saw that giant van full of kids and I want it. No, but if you tell them, "Hey you want to go to heaven or you want to go to hell?" That's what they want, that's what they want. Salvation. That's what it's about. Look what Timothy said or Paul, I'm sorry, what Paul said to Timothy. 2nd Timothy chapter 1 verse 5, "When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice and I'm persuaded that in thee also." Another great mother's day scripture that says look, Timothy was a great man of God because of the influence of his mother Eunice and his grandmother Lois. That's how it was passed down. It was passed down from Lois to Eunice to Timothy. What a powerful testimony of what a mother can accomplish in a young child's life.
Look at 2nd Timothy chapter 3, just over the page there. It says in verse 15, "And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." I've sinned and made mistakes in my life, nobody is perfect, we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God, there is none righteous, no not one and I still commit sin. I still do things that are wrong, we all do. I'm not getting up here claiming to be perfect and sinless but I will say this, I had the privilege of being raised in a christian home and my mother won me to the Lord when I was 6 years old.
When I was a 6 year old boy my mother opened the Bible, showed me how to be saved, prayed with me by the bedside, won me to Christ at that young age. I know that I was saved when I was 6 years old and right away there was a change in my heart. I didn't have a dramatic change, "I quit drinking, I quit carousing." I mean, I was 6. I'll tell you what, there was a fire that was lit inside me of a desire to win people to Christ. A desire to preach the gospel to every creature. Even just as a little kid as God worked in my heart and I read the Bible and went to church and I learned from my parents, I learned from church.
Let me tell you something, not only did my mom win me to the Lord when I was 6 years old but also my parents both taught me sound doctrine. They taught me many, many biblical truths that kept me out of a lot of trouble, that kept me away from a lot of bad things and kept me away from a lot of bad doctrine and a lot of bad churches. I can honestly say that if I think about everything I learned in church growing up and everything I learned from mom and dad growing up, I would say that most of the most important things that I would point to as just kind of live or die truths I learned from my parents. Even more than church did for me, and church does a lot for you but my parents did the most for me as far as doctrinally.
I mean, to be won to Christ as a young boy and to grow up and to never know what it is to be drunk, I don't want to know what it is to be drunk. I don't want to know what it is to fornicate. I don't want to know what it is to to live that life. Look, I'm not bragging because you know what, I'm here to tell you if I would have been raised in a worldly home, I would have gone out and done all that stuff. I would have been out but I know that in my flesh there was no good thing and I would have been out. I will tell you what, I would have been out there fornicating and partying and doing whatever just like everybody else. Thank God for a christian mother and father that taught me not to do those things, that took me to church, that taught me sound doctrine and that has made my life easier.
Here's the thing, unto whom much is given, of him shall be much required. I believe that God would probably hold someone like me to a higher standard because I grew up in a christian home. God understands that you didn't have that advantage but God expects you to fight that uphill battle and to fix things but it's harder. You need to be that parent that it's going to take your little Steven Anderson child, and I was kind of a bad kid. My parents, they always, this is how they always tell a story, they say, you know, we used to, because I'm the 3d born, so before me they had Ronnie and Clint, my brother and sister.
They said, "Boy, when we had Ronnie and Clint, we would look at other people's kids when they would misbehave and we would think well those parents are just total idiots." Because they said parenting is so easy, why don't they just spank their children? Why don't they just do it right? These people are just completely, and then they say, "And then we had Steven". Then we realized that even if you do things right the kid could still be a bad kid. The point is though, that you mothers need to realize how important your job is.
You take that little child even if he is a little bit of a rascal and you've got to teach him how to keep these things right. That's your job. Don't get so caught up with all the things of this world that you forget your primary responsibility which is the mother and not be out there, "Oh, I got to make money and I got to go out and go partying with my friends and I got to be on Facebook and I got to keep up with the soap opera and everything." No, no, you need to take your children and teach them and train them to keep these things right. Don't say, "Oh, church will do that, pastors will do that." No, no.
Look, I can tell you about all the people who grew up in the same church as I did that went astray but I can tell you that me and all my brothers and sisters are all independent baptists. We all love the Lord, we all go to church, we're all saved, we all serve God, all of us. Why? Because of my parents. The church wasn't the common denominator it's the parents, the common. Now, church is important. I'm not trying to downplay church but I'll tell you what, there have been a lot of kids who have grown up in a good church that went to the devil because mom and dad said, "Oh church will win them to Christ." No, you win your children to Christ.
You need to take your children aside and make sure that they know the gospel and the younger the better. Keep talking to them. If you're not sure if they're old enough, just given the gospel and then just talk to them about it again a few months later talk about it again. Just keep talking to them, keep preaching to them, keep teaching them. A mother's job is to keep her child from going down that wrong path and to teach them to live a Godly life from the beginning because it's easier to keep it right than to get it right.
Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer. Father we thank you so much Lord for our mothers today and Lord there are many mothers here today in the service Lord that love their children and have brought their children to church and they want their children to grow up and love you. They want their children to grow up and live a christian life. We thank you for them and their dedication and all the hard work that they do, all the diapers that they change and the nutritious meals that they prepare in order to teach their children Lord to be healthy and to eat right and Lord that they're bringing their kids to church to teach them the importance of your house. Lord we pray that every child in this room would listen to their mother and obey their mother and we pray that every mother in this room would be the best possible mother that she could be by your grace to help avoid some of these pitfalls that our world has for us, and in Jesus' name we pray these things, Amen.
