The world is trying to erase womanhood, redefine motherhood, and replace God's order with confusion. But the Bible hasn't changed.
A mother is a woman, created by God. She is distinct. She is irreplaceable.
Rizpah stood guard over the corpses of her sons, protecting them from beasts and birds, and would not be moved.
In Solomon's courtroom, the real mother revealed herself not by argument, but by sacrifice. She would rather give her child away than see him torn in half.
A mother is a woman, created by God. She is distinct. She is irreplaceable.
Rizpah stood guard over the corpses of her sons, protecting them from beasts and birds, and would not be moved.
In Solomon's courtroom, the real mother revealed herself not by argument, but by sacrifice. She would rather give her child away than see him torn in half.
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LearningTranscript
00:00Amen. I like the way they complimented each other.
00:03Yes, that was good.
00:05Now, for you evolutionists, stuff like that don't just happen.
00:10It takes some effort.
00:14All right.
00:15If you have your Bible, turn to the book of Revelation, chapter 17 with me this morning, please.
00:20The last book of the Bible.
00:26Revelation.
00:27This was written by the Apostle John.
00:30One of the apostles, one of the twelve.
00:32Revelation, chapter 17, and verse number 5.
00:38The infallible text says, upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery Babylon, the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.
00:49Now move over to chapter 21, Revelation, and verse number 2.
00:57And I'll start with verse 1 for you.
00:59Yet I saw a new heaven and a new earth.
01:02For the first heaven, the first earth, were passed away.
01:06There was no more sea.
01:08Yet I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
01:17Father, bless your word.
01:19In thy name I pray.
01:21Amen.
01:22You can be seated.
01:23So what we have contrasted here is the mother of harlots with the bride, Christ.
01:29It's quite a contrast.
01:30I don't think you could have a greater contrast than that.
01:33On one side and to the other.
01:37What you have is two cities that are mentioned in the Bible.
01:40Cities are a very big deal in the word of God, as a matter of fact.
01:44To find the theme of certain cities as they run through scripture.
01:48For example, Jericho.
01:50It's quite a thing.
01:50They say, they tell us, some of the archaeologists, that Jericho is probably the oldest continually inhabited city on the earth.
01:59Who knows?
01:59I don't know.
02:00But it's an old one.
02:01It's been there a long time.
02:03I've been to Jericho.
02:05As a matter of fact, it's quite a place.
02:07You're down below sea level when you're there.
02:09It's hot and it's dry.
02:12And you are at the head of the Dead Sea.
02:15Where the Jordan River flows into the Dead Sea.
02:19So it's a place that is very characteristic of God's judgment.
02:24And God passed judgment and curse upon anyone that would rebuild Jericho.
02:29The Babylon in the Bible came from the book of Genesis.
02:33Babylon, a city of confusion.
02:35Confusion, confusion, the Bible says Satan is, God's not the author of confusion.
02:40Obviously, Satan is.
02:42And the scripture says where there's confusion, there's every evil work.
02:46So we find that.
02:48Revelation 21, verse 2, though, we have one of these Bible mysteries.
02:52For it tells us that this new Jerusalem is the bride of Christ.
02:57As, notice the contrast, adorned for her husband.
03:01So these two cities in the Bible represent something to be contrasted one with the other.
03:06That's a great way of learning, of studying, is to contrast one with the other.
03:11And for some reason, it helps to drive the point home.
03:15There's two people, two women connected to Babylon.
03:18Two women.
03:19One is Jezebel, and the other is her daughter, Athaliah.
03:23Now, these two women, most of the people have heard of Jezebel.
03:27I haven't yet met a daughter named Jezebel, just like I have yet to meet a son named Judas.
03:36So for whatever the reason might be, people do not name their children Jezebel and Judas.
03:42But Athaliah was just as wicked, just as vile, just as godless, just as murderous as her mother Jezebel.
03:51Well, they were both wicked women.
03:53They were both murderers.
03:56They were both connected to kings.
03:57One, for example, Athaliah reigned as a queen.
04:02Both were bold in their actions.
04:04Both would lead Israel in the wrong direction.
04:08Both corrupted all around them, and they do.
04:12And both came to a violent end.
04:15You read the story of Jezebel, you'll know that the dogs would not even eat part of her body.
04:20And the story of Athaliah, how she was killed at the temple of Almighty God.
04:26So we have two women, and these two women in the Bible are connected with Babylon.
04:31They represent the driving force of this world.
04:36The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
04:39This is what drives the world.
04:41The world takes what it wants.
04:43The world kills all that's in its way.
04:46And the world builds monuments and shrines to its heroes.
04:50And the world maintains peace for prosperity.
04:54Peace in the sense of peace, there's nothing wrong with it.
04:56But in order to prosper and have the world, which is your only home,
05:02and the things that you pile up around you, the acquisition of wealth, you need peace.
05:07Have you ever noticed that?
05:09And this is what's going on from army to army.
05:12The world takes what it wants.
05:14The Lord God Almighty came to this world and gave himself to purchase a kingdom.
05:19When the wicked rule, the people suffer, the Word of God says, and so they do.
05:24God has two direct connections with this earth.
05:29Connection number one is the church of the living God.
05:32It's still here right now.
05:34You're in the midst of many of God's people.
05:36You're looking at their bodies, but their bodies is not what the church is made of.
05:40The church is made of their born-again spirits.
05:44You say, well, how do I know that?
05:45If you're born again, you'll know that.
05:47You see, this is one of those mysteries that God keeps from Satan.
05:51For Satan has never, never will be born again,
05:53nor is he ever able to see that which is born of the Spirit of God.
05:59Then the second thing that has a direct connection to this earth is the kingdoms of God.
06:06These kingdoms come in different times and in different categories.
06:10Two main kingdoms is the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven.
06:13The Lord came 2,000 years ago preaching the kingdom of heaven.
06:17Israel rejected the king, therefore they rejected the kingdom.
06:21But the whole New Testament is built on the concept that the kingdom was offered first, then rejected,
06:26and now the kingdom of God is preached.
06:29The Lord told Nicodemus in John 3, except you be born again, you can't even see that kingdom.
06:34So if you're born of the Spirit of God, you are in the kingdom of God,
06:38and the kingdom of God is prevalent in this earth right now if you're born of the Spirit of God.
06:44The church of Christ is an invisible body of believers.
06:48Invisible.
06:48Now, you're in a body, but it's a temporary body.
06:52The Bible says plainly, we know the house of this tabernacle were dissolved.
06:55We have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
07:00So we have a temporal body, and I can understand that.
07:03Mine's wearing out pretty fast.
07:04How about you?
07:06So the church of Christ is made up of born-again believers, an invisible body,
07:13an invisible entity that only the Spirit of the living God can see and know and understand.
07:21The kingdoms are directly connected to time.
07:24They both are.
07:24Time is a very important element when it comes to the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God.
07:31The church is built upon the concept of Christ and his bride.
07:34In the Old Testament, it was Israel as the wife of the Lord.
07:38But now we have Christ and his bride.
07:41The bride of Christ is in typology in many places in the Old Testament.
07:45But of course, obviously, a bride is female in gender.
07:50The last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the last Adam,
07:53he will unite with his bride and he will bring forth into this world
07:58spirit beings that have been born again
08:01and they will come through the union of Christ spiritually with his bride.
08:05Here's what it says in Isaiah chapter 58, 53 rather, and verse 8.
08:10He was taken from prison and from judgment, and who shall declare his generation?
08:16In plain words, he's cut off out of the land of the living.
08:19How could someone like that have a generation?
08:21For the transgressions of my people was he stricken.
08:25He made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death,
08:28because he hath done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
08:32Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him.
08:35He shall put him to grief.
08:37When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, note carefully,
08:41he shall see his seed.
08:44Every one of you today, if you are born of the Spirit of God,
08:48you're the seed that he's talking about.
08:50You are the spiritual offspring of the last Adam.
08:54And when he died upon the cross, if I take that correctly and read it for what it says,
08:58he saw you.
09:00He saw you.
09:01He saw every last one of us.
09:04He wasn't dying for a concept.
09:06He wasn't dying for a ministry.
09:07He wasn't dying in some abstract thing.
09:10He was dying for people.
09:11Dying for persons.
09:13Every last one of us.
09:15He had our name on his lips when he went to the Father and said,
09:20Father, to thy hands I commend my spirit.
09:24And so he shall see his seed.
09:27And he did indeed.
09:28Isaiah chapter number 53.
09:32You see, the world's full of children, the harlot of revelation.
09:36They're the enemies of the gospel.
09:38They're the enemies of Christ.
09:39They're the enemies of the home.
09:42The gospel, Christ, and the home.
09:44You're living in a generation that completely redefines what a home is all about.
09:49You're living in a generation that tries to redefine what gender is all about.
09:53You're living in a generation that's confused everything as it's set forth in Scripture.
09:58And as human experience is known for thousands of you, who are we?
10:03Who are you?
10:04For generation after generation after generation, thousands of years, men and women produce children.
10:12No need whatsoever in defining what a man is or a woman.
10:16They're biological.
10:17They come forth from the womb as a man or as a woman.
10:20No question about that.
10:22Millions of people that lived before us, lived out their lives, propagated on this earth,
10:28and gave us families as we know them now.
10:30Who is this generation?
10:31What arrogance.
10:34What a crowd.
10:36To come along and in the face of generation after generation to tell them that they didn't know what a man or a woman was.
10:44No, you idiot.
10:45You're the one that does not know what a man.
10:48And I'm not being nice about it.
10:51Because you've pushed the envelope.
10:53You've crossed the line.
10:54You've said too much.
10:55You've done too much to destroy the home.
10:57There's no place to give you any.
11:00No way.
11:01I'm not dealing with a rational human being anymore.
11:04We're not talking to somebody that can reason with you.
11:07There's no reasoning in this.
11:08You're insane.
11:09And if you're following that line of thinking today, you're going down the same path as that crowd.
11:16We have mothers in our house this morning.
11:19No men stand up.
11:21Only women are allowed.
11:25Only women.
11:26Female from birth.
11:27Yes, sir, buddy.
11:29And if you're not a female from birth, you are no mother.
11:34Amen.
11:34You say, that's shocking, preacher.
11:36No, what you're listening to is shocking.
11:39You just happened to hear the truth this morning.
11:42The way it really is.
11:43Amen.
11:44I mean, that blood, that stirs my blood, man.
11:47It moves my soul.
11:49Because it detracts from what a true woman is.
11:52And from a true mother.
11:54We love our mothers.
11:56We respect our mothers.
11:57We have great, great love for our mothers.
12:01And you have all kinds of mothers.
12:03Some of you had a praying mother.
12:05You could hear her in the home praying.
12:07The door was shut in the closet.
12:08Or you'd come in at night.
12:10Maybe some of you boys were in rebellion and you'd come home that night.
12:14And when you walked through the door, you could hear your mother.
12:16Back in some room, some closet with the door shut.
12:19Calling upon God.
12:21Calling your name out.
12:22How'd that do?
12:23How'd that work?
12:24I bet that bothered you, didn't it?
12:26Oh, yeah.
12:27That's tough stuff.
12:29You heard your mother pray.
12:30I don't want you to raise hands this morning.
12:32But how many of you ever heard your mother pray?
12:36Your mother was instructing you from a child, Paul said,
12:39thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, Timothy.
12:42Able to make thee wise in the salvation.
12:45Your mother led you in the Bible.
12:47She showed you Scripture.
12:48She read the Bible to you.
12:50Maybe while you were just a little baby, when you were just a little thing and you didn't
12:54know anything, just a little infant, she would sit by your bedside and she would rock you
12:58to sleep.
12:59And as she rocked you to sleep, she was reading the Scripture.
13:02My, how a way to grow.
13:06I mean, is anybody in this house can remember the 23rd Psalm when you were a little thing?
13:11And she was reading the Word of God to you.
13:14Why'd she read it?
13:15Because she believed it.
13:16That's why.
13:17She read it because she believed it and she wanted her children to hear it.
13:20She wanted her children to be raised in the fear and the admonition.
13:23She knew what was in this world.
13:25Once you grow mature, once you grow spiritually a little bit, you begin to understand the enemy
13:33that's arrayed against you.
13:34You understand how wicked and vile this world is.
13:37You really begin to understand it.
13:38And you know that the only light in this world is the Word of God.
13:42And you know you need the Holy Ghost shedding light on that Word.
13:45And you know that you need this Word of God to take root in your soul and to build your
13:49foundation on God's Scripture.
13:51And you know that if you try to build on anything else, it's shifting sand.
13:55It won't stand.
13:57And Satan knows that too.
13:58That's why he's trying to destroy the home.
14:00How does he do it?
14:01He redefines the home.
14:03He redefines it.
14:05He redefines terms.
14:06Oh yeah, oh yeah.
14:08He's good at that.
14:10Redefining everything.
14:12This is the way Satan operates.
14:14Maybe you had a mother that worked.
14:15Maybe your mother got up every day and went to work.
14:18She rode the bus or drove a car or whatever.
14:21She had to go to work.
14:22She had to help feed the family.
14:24Maybe she was the only breadwinner in the family.
14:27She was the only one.
14:28She worried about her health because she was the one who was going to feed her babies.
14:31She's going to feed her children.
14:33She's going to take care of her kids.
14:34She's working mothers.
14:36I met a mother in Morristown, Tennessee a long time ago.
14:41Some of you older folks, you'll know who I'm talking about.
14:44Her name was Pearl Blizzard.
14:45She supported this ministry for years.
14:47Pearl Blizzard.
14:48I went to see her one day.
14:51I went up to her little apartment.
14:52Wasn't much.
14:53Sat and talked with her for a while.
14:55She raised her children alone.
14:58Had no help from anyone.
15:00How'd she do it, preacher?
15:01She took chairs and she would weave whatever that is in the bottom that you sit on.
15:08Some of you know more about it than I do.
15:11She would weave them one after another after another.
15:14And she made money from that and that's how she fed her family.
15:19I'm going to tell you something about her.
15:21Her children rise up and call her blessed.
15:24They love her.
15:26I mean, this woman sacrificed because she loved her children.
15:30You see, when a mother sacrifices for her children, her children don't forget it.
15:34They don't forget it.
15:36That's why some of you in this house this morning are talking about what a wonderful mother you had.
15:40Because you don't forget that.
15:41You don't forget that.
15:43She makes an indelible impression in your soul that sticks with you for the rest of your life.
15:48She may endure grief.
15:50She may be married to a drunken sot, not worth the powdered lead.
15:54She may be married to a piece of garbage out running all over the place, cheating on her, fornicating here and there.
16:00She may be married.
16:01And there's all kinds of garbage.
16:02How many of you know that?
16:03How many agree with me this morning?
16:04There's a bunch of junk out there.
16:06Amen.
16:06See, I used to be part of the junk, and God came to me and saved my soul.
16:11Thanks be unto God, He pulled me out of that hell hole I was in.
16:14He wrote my name in the Lamb's Book of Life.
16:17Saved me by the grace of God.
16:19That old man's still around, but thank God there's a new man in Christ Jesus.
16:24Amen.
16:25But a lot of mothers put up with that.
16:27They endure it.
16:28They stay married to that one for the sake of the children.
16:31You used to see a lot of that.
16:36Things have changed.
16:37I understand the culture is changing.
16:39I know that.
16:40How many of you in this house today, I'm going to do a little quick survey with you.
16:45How many of you in this house today believe the culture has changed for the better or for the worse?
16:53How many would say better?
16:55Raise your hand.
16:56How many would say worse?
17:00Universal agreement.
17:01Not for the better.
17:03And do you know who pays for it?
17:05Do you know who pays the supreme price for this?
17:09These little ones that were up here singing just a few minutes ago.
17:13They're the ones that pay for it.
17:14The innocent ones.
17:16See, that's one of the hard things to swallow about this world.
17:20And I see it all the time.
17:22Is that the innocent wind up paying for the sins of those that are accountable.
17:29And this is not saying to you, you may be the sorriest piece of garbage on this earth.
17:37Let me tell you something.
17:38Christ died for you.
17:41He shed his blood for you.
17:43He died to save you.
17:46And if you'll give him your life this morning, if you'll trust him, he'll write your name down in the Lamb's Book of Life.
17:51And I heard the old time preachers talk about this all the time.
17:55They'd say, my daddy got saved and when he came home, said before he got saved, the dog would run.
18:01There wasn't any peace in our home.
18:03But one day daddy came home and he was saved.
18:05And there was peace in our house from that day on.
18:09Isn't that a wonderful thing?
18:10That's how things change.
18:11Even the animals know.
18:12Isn't that remarkable?
18:14Sometimes a dog's got more sense than a lot of people I know.
18:17They just sense it.
18:19They sense that spirit.
18:20Amen.
18:21So, maybe you are.
18:23Maybe you're there now.
18:24Maybe you're staying in a marriage right now just for the kids' sake.
18:28Well, don't watch the soaps.
18:29And don't watch NBC, CBS, and ABC.
18:31And don't take the wisdom of this world.
18:34Because they'll tell you to hit the door.
18:37Because, you know why?
18:38They'll tell you it's all about you.
18:41It's not about your children.
18:42But I want you to know something.
18:45When you invest in your kids, when you give them what you give their kids.
18:48You sacrifice for your children.
18:49They'll never forget it.
18:51You'll have an effect on your children that nobody else has.
18:54What do your kids think about you?
18:56What do your sons and your daughters think about you?
19:00I'm not asking what the drunks that you sit with at the bar think about you.
19:04I'm asking you what your kids think about you.
19:07What do your children think about you?
19:10Because nobody can rate you any better than them.
19:16I know it's quiet.
19:19You're mean, preacher.
19:20No, I'm telling you the truth.
19:21I'm telling you the truth.
19:23What do your kids think about you?
19:26They're mothers who want to be loved.
19:27You ever heard of Leah?
19:32All she wanted was for her husband to love her.
19:35Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, the first four born of Israel, that built Israel, wanted her husband to love her.
19:45Maybe my husband will love me now.
19:46Now, the Jew says today that Israel, I mean that Leah was the one who built the house of Israel.
19:53Leah is the one who built it.
19:55He loved Rachel.
19:56Why did he love Rachel?
19:57She was beautiful.
19:59No question about that.
20:00She liked Sarah.
20:01Sarah was beautiful like Rebecca.
20:02Rebecca was beautiful.
20:04Probably, I'm sure, that Eve was beautiful.
20:07Understand all that.
20:08But you know what the Bible says about beauty is that it can be vain.
20:12Listen, boys.
20:13If you married a body, that body is going to get old.
20:16If you married a person, that person is going to be there for the next 50, 60 years.
20:21How many got what I said?
20:22Did you get a hold of what I said?
20:24All right.
20:25Yeah, some of you guys married a body, but you didn't marry the person in that body.
20:29When the body changes, you're ready to go get you a trophy wife, right?
20:33Yeah, out the door with that garbage.
20:36I take one, and I take her from here on out.
20:39You do that.
20:40You take her from here.
20:40You love her.
20:41Love her for who she is.
20:42You'd be surprised at what a marriage can be once that love begins to mature in that family.
20:47Amen.
20:48Love reciprocal, reciprocating love.
20:51You love her, she loves you back and forth.
20:53That's a wonderful thing.
20:55Boy, I haven't heard talk like that in a church in my life.
20:57Where did this preacher come from?
21:00They let me out every once in a while.
21:02They let me get up here and talk to people.
21:05They haven't run me off yet, so we'll just try to stay the course, do the best we can.
21:12There are mothers who show what a mother's love is.
21:14You've heard of Solomon, haven't you?
21:16Do you remember the story of the prostitutes?
21:19That's what they were.
21:20But being a prostitute didn't stop that woman from loving her baby.
21:24Now, how many of you know the story where they both claimed the baby was theirs,
21:28and Solomon said, take a sword and cut it in half, give one side and the other side?
21:32What did the true mother say?
21:34No, you let her have him.
21:35I'd rather have my boy grow up somewhere else.
21:38And Solomon said, that's the mother right there.
21:41Settled it.
21:42That was wisdom.
21:42God gave Solomon wisdom.
21:44Yes.
21:45Then there are the mothers who stay with their children to the end.
21:49And this is the one I want to preach to you about this morning.
21:53Her name is Rizpah.
21:54How many have you ever heard of her?
21:57Rizpah.
21:57Most folks have never heard of Rizpah.
22:00But let me tell you a little bit about Rizpah.
22:02Let me give you a little historical background.
22:05Saul, the great king of Israel, who had a problem keeping his word,
22:10David had had an agreement, had brought a covenant with the Gibeonites.
22:14The Gibeonites, when Israel was overthrowing the land,
22:17they were taking one after another, after another, after another.
22:19The Gibeonites says, we're going to have to do something
22:21because they're going to wipe us out.
22:22So they came in on a lie and said, we're in a foreign country.
22:26They brought moldy bread and all this.
22:28And so Joshua, or yes, was it Joshua?
22:33Uh-huh.
22:33Said, all right, I'll make a covenant with you in the name of the Lord.
22:39All right, now we've got a bunch of liars and deceivers and usurpers,
22:42and that's what they were, the Gibeonites.
22:44But he made a covenant in the name of the Lord.
22:47So the Lord's name was involved in it, all right?
22:49Now this is what's important about it.
22:52Saul became the king, and for whatever his reason might have been,
22:55he wiped out a bunch of Gibeonites, killed a bunch of them.
22:59And when he did, God was angered.
23:03He knew they were liars.
23:04He knew they were deceivers.
23:05They'd been relegated to drawing water and cutting wood and servants around the camp.
23:10But they still had the protection of the name of God.
23:14Because when God binds himself to something, it stays bound.
23:19And he bound his name and his word to it.
23:22So he brought a famine on the land.
23:25When the famine came upon the land because they'd killed the Gibeonites,
23:28they found out the reason for that is because they had slain the Gibeonites.
23:33And so David said, we'll have to, and asked the Gibeonites, what shall we do?
23:36How do we do this?
23:37What are we going to do?
23:38What's right?
23:39And they said, we want you to take and offer sacrifices unto God for what's happened.
23:44And so they hung up seven men.
23:48Hung them up.
23:49Give it to them.
23:50Some say they crucified them.
23:52I don't push that, but they hung them up.
23:55They hung them up.
23:57Two of those boys belonged to Rizpah.
24:00She was innocent, hadn't done anything, hadn't harmed anyone.
24:04But she was Saul's, one of his concubines.
24:09And so now her two sons had been hung up.
24:13They had been killed.
24:14And here they hung.
24:17And here's what she did.
24:17She said, I cannot let the animals and the birds, I cannot let them come and tear the flesh off of my sons.
24:29This was one of the most ignominious things that could happen to someone, to be hung up like that and not be buried.
24:36She spread sackcloth out, which is black goat hair, which is an indication of mourning and humility and submission.
24:44She didn't take the bodies down because God Almighty was in them being there.
24:51But she grieved over her boys.
24:54So what did she do?
24:55For six months, six months, Rizpah drove away.
25:01At night, the beast, in the daytime, the fowl, like the vulture that would come down upon the bodies of her two sons.
25:10Rizpah showed, in what she did, one of the greatest acts of motherly love that you'll ever see in the Word of God.
25:21There's only one Rizpah in that whole Bible.
25:24There's not another one just like her.
25:26But you read her story and you'll never forget it.
25:29When you go home this afternoon, you might want to read a little bit more about it.
25:32And you'll see what I'm talking about.
25:35Rizpah had no money.
25:37She was never a queen.
25:38Had it not been for this case, you would never have known of her.
25:43But she showed you what a mother's love was.
25:47Six months, she fought the elements.
25:50Six months, day and night.
25:52When did she sleep?
25:54She must have been exhausted.
25:56How did she feel when these bodies started decaying, hung up there?
26:01The stench must have been terrible.
26:04The appearance was awful.
26:05But that didn't turn her away.
26:08It didn't stop her.
26:10Do you know why?
26:11Because she was a mother and she loved her sons.
26:16Tennyson, who was a poet laureate under Queen Victoria.
26:22Poet.
26:22He wrote a poem about Rizpah, and I took a verse of it, and I want to read it for you this morning.
26:30This is Tennyson, back in the 1800s in England.
26:34Flesh of my flesh was gone, but bone of my bone was left.
26:38I stole them all from the lawyers, and you, will you call it a theft?
26:45My baby, the bones that had sucked me, the bones that had laughed and had cried, theirs?
26:52Oh no, they're mine, not theirs.
26:57They had moved in my sight.
27:01Plain of words, they came from inside me.
27:04Their life came from inside me.
27:08I carried them for nine months.
27:10I felt them kick.
27:12My life changed.
27:14I'm their mother.
27:15I'll never cease being their mother.
27:18And the Bible says in the Song of Solomon something about this.
27:21Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm, for love is strong as death.
27:33Jealousy is cruel as the grave.
27:36The colds thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.
27:43Oh yes.
27:44I want to meet Rizpah one day.
27:46Saul's concubine, part of his harem.
27:49I want to meet her.
27:52Look into her face.
27:54And of all the people that lived in that Bible from Genesis through Revelation,
27:58there's not a mother anywhere, folks.
28:00And there's some fine mothers in that Bible.
28:03But not a one of them rises higher than Rizpah.
28:06For that one thing she did, did you know what?
28:09The very man who had them hung, David,
28:12they came to him one day and said,
28:15Oh, by the way, you remember those seven, five sons of Saul?
28:22Seven that are hung on there?
28:26No doubt decayed?
28:28Well, Rizpah has been there ever since they put them up.
28:34She hasn't left their side.
28:36She stayed right there.
28:40She went nowhere until the rains came.
28:45David said,
28:46Take them down and bury them in the sepulchre of their fathers.
28:51He showed them respect to the ones that he had hung up on the tree.
28:56Why?
28:57Because the love of their mother got a hold of him.
29:01It'll get a hold of you.
29:03Once you ever get a hold of real love, it'll change you.
29:08It'll change you in a way that you can't imagine.
29:11You don't deserve it, but God still loves you.
29:14Love is strong as death.
29:16Love will stick with you to the end.
29:19There's nothing greater on this earth than love.
29:23This would be a good day for you to reignite your love,
29:28to ask God to build within your soul and in your spirit
29:31the love that he gave me when he died on the cross for my sins.
29:35This would be a good day to remember God's precious gift of a mother
29:40and of a father and of a home, of a Savior and a Lord.
29:48Isn't that a wonderful thing?
29:50Folks, I read a lot,
29:53and there's an awful lot of cultures out here in this world
29:56that don't have families like you've got in this country right here, right now.
30:02They've got nothing like that.
30:04A lot of cultures are just like the animal kingdom.
30:10Do you know who raises most of the babies in the animal kingdom?
30:14Not always, but most of the time?
30:16The mother.
30:18That's right.
30:19The male is gone.
30:21It has nothing to do with it.
30:23It's the mother that raises those children.
30:29Father Jesus' name, bless your word.
30:33Write it in the hearts of the people.
30:36Our Father, before we walk out of this house today,
30:38may we recognize Riz Pa.
30:40She's a heroine.
30:42She's someone that a mother would want to be like.
30:45She's someone that a mother could learn a lot of truth
30:48and a lot of great things from.
30:50And Father, compare Riz Pa with Jezebel and Athaliah
30:56and others of their ilk
30:58and see what a great difference there is between the two.
31:02In thy name.
31:04If you're a mother in this house today,
31:06that's a precious gift.
31:08No man, no man can understand what you've been through,
31:11and I don't even try to.
31:13That's the greatest height of presumption on my part.
31:16There's no way.
31:17We all have our place.
31:18We need fathers and we need mothers.
31:21Well, my dear friend, mothers,
31:23you've got living human beings that came out of your womb.
31:27You carried a live person.
31:30Yes, you did.
31:31They're alive.
31:33You carried them for nine months in your womb,
31:37and then the day came when you brought them forth into this world.
31:40I can't imagine what you felt
31:42when you first looked into the face of that baby
31:44that you'd had for so long.
31:46You carried it, and now the little thing's lying on your breast.
31:51It's a wonderful thing.
31:52That's a precious thing.
31:54That's a gift from God.
31:55That's what God made.
31:56That's how He made you.
31:57That's what you're here for.
31:58That's who you are.
32:00Don't ever let a godless, perverted culture
32:03try to take that away from you.
32:06Amen.
32:06That's your gift from God.
32:08That's who you are.
32:09Amen.
32:10Don't let them redefine these great things that we're talking about.
32:15This may be a day that God wants you to come
32:17and rededicate your life as a mother
32:19and say, Lord, I've got little children.
32:22They're growing up in my home.
32:23I want to be what you want me to be before these little children.
32:27I want you to teach me if I'm wrong,
32:29if I'm headed in the wrong direction,
32:31if I'm allowing the wrong influence into the life of my children.
32:35Where does that come from?
32:36A lot of it comes from the school system.
32:39They want to influence your children.
32:41They want to lay down in your children's hearts
32:43something completely opposed to what you believe.
32:46Don't let them do it.
32:47They have no right to do that.
32:50Your children do not belong to Caesar.
32:53They belong to you.
32:55Would you do that?
32:57In Jesus' name.
32:59Brother, lead us in the psalm this morning.