Good morning and welcome to the
services this morning. I just want to wish all the mothers
here Happy Mother's Day and those who are on zoom. Happy Mother's
Day and those who will listen to this on sermon audio I trust
you had a happy Mother's Day. I had a wonderful mother. There
was never a time that I got home from school that she wasn't there.
She didn't have a snack made for us. I never had to come in
on her when she was under the influence of drugs or drunk She
was there. She dedicated herself to her
family. She worked extremely hard to
raise her children, provide food for them and all that was necessary.
And yet my mother did not believe the gospel. She was raised in
a church. She made a profession at a young
age. She had no interest in the gospel. She had no interest in
the true Christ. uh... she did enough she'd made
a profession of faith and that's what she lived by and i'm afraid
to to uh... and it's just knowledge from
knowing the scriptures that i'll never see my mother again uh...
she's uh... not going to be in glory she's
going to be on the left hand side when the lord speaks to
those religious people depart from me ye cursed into everlasting
damnation well this morning i'd like to say a few words about
mother this is mother's day and there's much said in the scriptures
about mothers but i'd just like to look at the word mother as
it's found in the scriptures now it's interesting to me to
find that the first time that this particular word of endearment
is used in the bible it is speaking about a man who did not have
a mother as we know the term so if you turn with me over to
the book of genesis the book of beginnings and i can say this
that if you have some understanding of the book of genesis god had
to give it to you it's there's uh... There's so much physical
goes on that is spiritually represented here in this book of Genesis
and we're going to look here in the book of Genesis chapter
2 and Adam has been created and I have to be reminded that Adam
was created of the dust of the ground and he laid there in that
form, that human form, he had all of the intricacies of a human,
he had all the internal organs as a human, and yet he just laid
there, was unable to recognize any of the things that were going
on around him until God breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life Man became a living soul and it was then and we're gonna
find that that is throughout the scriptures That's a type
and a shadow and a picture of how God does his business in
the spiritual world It takes God to raise us from the spiritual
dead We'll just never ever get out of that that deathness that
deadness that we have in the fall without Christ without him
coming And here this man has been created. Now it's been noticed,
as we find in the scripture, God knew before the foundation
of the world all the intricacies and the things that were going
to happen here. He had purposed it. But he shares
with us that Adam didn't have a helpmate. All the animals were
great. They were friendly. They were
not hunting him down. They were grass eaters, it appears,
before the fall. And here we have, and the Lord
God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam. And he slept, and
he took one, God took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh
instead thereof. Now, we have two things that
have happened here, one with Adam and one with Eve, that would
never ever happen again. and that's going to make the
words of Adam so much more important because God never made another
man from the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life and he never made another woman as this taking
a rib from man and creating a woman now it's God's business how he
did that it's God's business what he chose to do that with
it's God's business to create in the beginning it's God's business
to make creation live and here he goes on to tell us He closed
up the flesh instead thereof, and the rib which the Lord God
had taken from man made he a woman, and he brought her unto the man.
And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my
flesh. She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of
man. Therefore, now notice these words that Adam uses. From a physical standpoint, he
had no knowledge of what these words mean. I think he knew from
a greater than physical standpoint, from a spiritual standpoint even,
that their creation was one of a kind. Never again would God
do what he did for Adam to make another person, and never again
would he do what he did with Eve to make another person, create
her from the rib of Adam. This is the beginning. They are
the only ones like that. And it says here that Adam said,
this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall
be called woman because she was taken out a man. Therefore, Shall
a man leave his father and his mother? Now, you and I know in
studying the Word of God that Adam didn't have a physical mother
and a physical father. He is making a reference point
here about something that he never had, but the Holy Spirit
has given him the words to say here. He is declaring that no
one would ever come into the world like they did. This was going to be dependent
upon the natural generation between a man and a woman, a husband
and a wife. This is going to have to take
place before anybody else comes into the world. Shall a man leave
his father and his mother and cleave unto his wife and they
shall be one flesh? So they're going to be one flesh,
and this is the way God's going to bring the rest of the generations
into the world. They're one of a kind. No one
is going to be replicated like them. They're going to look like
them, but they're not going to have the same beginnings that
they did. And this is going to be important as we go through
the Word of God. Adam realized something about
this that he had no experience, no beforehand experience, and
that is, shall a man leave his father and his mother? And the
Lord picks up on this in his ministry, and we find this in
the book of Ephesians, as the Apostle Paul is writing to the
church at Ephesus, that this principle is brought up. that
the man shall leave his father and his mother, and they too
shall be one, they shall cleave to one another, they shall be
one before the Lord in marriage. Now Adam realized something about
his wife that has confounded millions, and it tells us here
in the book of Genesis chapter three, would you turn there with
me to Genesis chapter three, as we follow a word about mother,
a word about mother. Genesis chapter three in verse
20, the scriptures share this, And Adam called his wife's name
Eve. Genesis chapter three and verse
20. Adam called his wife Eve because she was the mother of
all living. Now, the mother of all living
is not a pond. The mother of all living is not
an amoeba. The mother of all living human
beings is nothing more or less than Eve Adam and Eve, she shall
be the mother of all living. Now again, Adam is sharing with
us that any generations after them, they are special in their
creation. They are special in how God created
Adam and how God created Eve. No one else would ever be created
that way, but they are special in the sense that this is the
beginning. And from this point forward,
she shall be the mother of all living. Now we can trace, if
we could, we could trace our line right back to Adam and to
Eve. Now a preacher shared with me
one time about a cowboy following the footprints of a great herd
of cattle. And these cattle, or these footprints at least,
came down to a great river, and they went into the river, and
he said, I wonder. So he got on his horse, the horse
swam with him across that river, and on the other side of that
great river, here are cattle prints. Now, we can logically
conclude that if these cattle prints came up to the river,
and these cattle prints came out of the river, that we can
assume that the cattle made it through the river. Now, so you
and I, we may not be able to trace our line back more than
a generation, or two generations, or ten generations, or twenty
generations. People have a fanaticism about
doing that, tracing their line back. Well, if it were possible,
if the records were there, we could go right back to Adam and
to Eve. Now, we're going to do it by faith, or we're not. That's
just the way it is. And so, Adam is sharing something
here that has confounded millions. They cannot get back there. They
go back to a pond. They go back to an amoeba. They
go back to something else. They go back to some other critter.
They go back. But here, believers will go back
to Adam and Eve and believe that they did not enter into this
world on their own. They entered into this world
as the product of a relationship between a husband and a wife,
a man and a woman. All right, as we carry this thought
through, we find that Adam realized this when he said, she's the
mother of all living. Now, mothers are mentioned next.
I would like to go to this text over here in the book of Exodus
chapter 20, not to say that there's not many times between Genesis
and Exodus that a mother is not mentioned, but let's look over
here in the book of Exodus chapter 12. Exodus, excuse me, Exodus
chapter 20, verse 12, Exodus chapter 20 and verse 12 we have
this declaration that is made in the Ten Commandments now I
Am NOT guided by the Ten Commandments. I am guided by Christ He's the
end of the law for righteousness sake but I will say this that
no man No woman, no believer is ever led contrary to the Ten
Commandments by the Holy Spirit We never, it is never right to
have another God before us. It is never right to commit adultery. It is never right to lie. Now
we say, well, God took lies and God did that. He can do with
great sin, make it come out for good. But please do not plan
on doing evil so that you think it will come out for good. God
can do that, but we don't want to even try it. We just want
to leave it alone. So it's never right. God never
leads his children, never leads the church to go contrary to
these things. It's never right to bear false
witness. It's never right to covet our neighbor or anything
about our neighbor. And here in the book of Exodus
chapter 12, Excuse me again, chapter 20, verse 12, it says,
honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon
the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Now some of you
may have the explanation about how that happens, but I know
that there have been people that have honored their father and
their mother and they've died in youth. Some of the preachers
that I've read about in England, great preachers of the gospel,
some of them died at 40 years of age. And I can't help but
think that they didn't honor their father and their mother,
particularly after the Lord revealed himself to them. It takes on
a new light. It's an honor God gave us to
have a father and a mother. Now, as I mentioned to begin
with, my father and my mother, neither one of them knew anything
about the gospel. My grandparents, none of them
knew anything about the gospel. And if it comes to it, that we
have a responsibility to God over the responsibility of our
parents. If they, after we're saved, the
Lord takes us to a place where the gospel is preached and our
mother or our father say, you know, you need to stay in the
religion that you're in. We have to make a decision there. We
cannot stay in the religion we're in. God will not allow us to
stay in the religion that we're in. We must go to hear the gospel. We're not being disrespectful
of our parents. We're simply saying we cannot
go. I must honor God in this matter Honor thy father and thy
mother that is what the scriptures have to say So this is brought
up in the days of the conquest of Jericho one person by the
name of Rahab who was a harlot was greatly concerned about the
life of her mother and her father and As the spies came into the
land, Joshua sent two spies, they went into the land, and
there was Rahab there, and she's mentioned in the 11th chapter
of the book of Hebrews as one of faith. When they came to her
and she hid them, she asked them, when you come to this land, there
in the book of Joshua chapter two, Turn there with me, if you
would, to Joshua chapter 2. This lady, this Rahab the harlot,
is greatly concerned about the welfare of her family, her mother
and her father. She knows what's going to happen
to Jericho. She knows. The people have known
for 40 years when they crossed the Red Sea. She recounts that we did fear
and quake. We were greatly disturbed by
what took place there. This has gone on for 40 years
now. They've wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, but
they knew. And so she tells us here in the
book of Joshua chapter 2 in verse 13, that she has a great concern
for her mother and her father. A word about mother. Here she
says, that ye will save alive my father and my mother. And
she's talking to those two spies. Now, they told her, you drop
that scarlet cord out the window and we'll keep our word. Here
she says, save my father, and my mother, and my brother, and
my sister, and all that they have, and deliver out our lives
from death. She's greatly concerned about
her father and her mother. She's greatly concerned because
the Lord has shown her that God's in charge of this business, that
God's in charge of the destruction of Jericho, that God is going
to give this land to his people there, and that there's going
to be a death that's going to take place there in Jericho,
and she has been given faith to cry out for mercy, and she
cries out for mercy for her father and her mother and her brothers
and her sisters, those folks And so their comment about this,
and the men answered her, our life for yours, if ye utter not
this our business, and it shall be that when the Lord hath given
us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee. Isn't that wonderful? When God's
people deal kindly and truly, there's no other way that we
can do it. We don't want to be offensive, but the message of
the cross is an offense, and so they're very honest with her.
They're kindly and truly will deal that with thee. Then she
let them know by a cord through the window, for her house was
upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall. And she said unto
them, Go ye to the mountains, get ye to the mountains, lest
the pursuers meet you, and hide yourselves there three days,
until the pursuers be returned, and afterward may ye go to your
way. And so that happened. And when
the walls of Jericho were destroyed, they went and found Rahab She
was greatly concerned about her father and her mother. How valuable
that is. She understood. She understood,
friends, that she was there because of a father and a mother. She
did not generate herself. She was not created as Adam was.
She was not created as Eve was. She was brought into this world
through natural generation. And that's exactly how God saves
his people. We are not born again by anything
that we do. We don't add to it. We don't
bring anything to the table. as a preacher just shared with
me, don't bring anything to the table but it's God that gives
us mercy. He is the one that bears us into
this world. He's the one that brings us the
new birth. Well, this subject moves on through the scriptures
and how glorious it is that Solomon was able to show great wisdom
that God had given him when two women were in a conflict about
who was the mother of a child. Join me if you would over here
in the book of 1 Kings. In 1 Kings 3, verse 22, 1 Kings
3, verse 22. Now Solomon had been given wisdom
like no other man had ever walked the face of the earth. And yet
the Lord said about himself, a greater than Solomon is here.
Solomon had that wisdom given to him. He didn't acquire it
through study. He didn't acquire it through great understanding.
God gave him that wisdom. Just as he gives us all gifts,
every good gift, and every perfect gift cometh down from above,
from the Father of lights. He gives us everything. We have
nothing of our own, and he gives us everything. Everything we
need is found in Christ Jesus. Well, here Solomon is brought
to a situation, and it's interesting here that the king would be the
judge here. Well, how glorious is that? Our
king is the judge. Our king is the lamb our king
is the offering our king is the altar our king all right let's
look at this in first kings chapter three verse 22 two harlots lived
together both of them had a baby both of them had a baby boy during
the process of time one of them laid on her baby boy and smothered
it and now she traded places with them and she took the live
baby and gave the dead baby to the other lady Well, there's
a conflict because the real mother understood that this was not
her baby, the dead one. And it says, verse 22 of 1 Kings
chapter 3, And the other woman said, Nay, but the living is
my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No, but the dead
is thy son, and the living my son. And they spake before the
king. and then said the king, one saith,
this is my son that liveth, and thy son is dead. And the other
saith, no, nay, but thy son is dead, and my son is living. And
the king said, bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before
the king. And the king said, divide the
living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to
the other. Now we might say that that's
a bit extreme. Solomon, in his wisdom, knew
the outcome. He knew what was going to be
said here. He didn't have to lift his sword. The mother, a
word about mother, the mother knew. All right, let's go on
here. And she realized that this child
is hers by a gift. This child did not create itself,
did not come from a pond. This child came from her womb,
came through natural generation. And it tells us here, Then spake
the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels
yearned upon her son. Her innermost being could not
even think about the king doing that to her son. And she said,
O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, let it be
Neither mine nor thine, but divide it. Then the king answered and
said, Give her the living child and in no wise slay it. She is the mother thereof. She's the one that brought this
child into the world. A word about mother. Let's travel
just a little bit further. We find that it seems that in
all of first and second kings and first and second chronicles
that when a king of Israel or Judah are mentioned, particularly
when they are brought to the throne. Their father has passed
away and they're now going to be the next in line. It shares
with us, in every case that I could find, now you may find a case
that it doesn't work that way, I appreciate that, but in almost
every case, every case that I could find, that the mother is mentioned
there. The mother of this new king. The mother of all living is Eve.
the mother of the king. He is king. He is a child born
from the womb because of her. He did not bring himself into
the world. He did not produce himself. He is the child of a
mother. He is the child of a mother and
a father. The kings are brought out this
way. Solomon's son who took the throne of the two tribes after
his father's death is found in first kings chapter fourteen
this is just an example in first kings chapter fourteen we find
this principle that this king is not there because he was someone
important he's there because he's been brought into the world
been brought into the world by natural generation. He wasn't
created like Adam. He wasn't created like Eve. He
is created in the womb of the mother by the seed of the man
and the woman. Here in the book of 1 Kings chapter
14 and verse 21, Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was 40 and One years
old when he began to reign and he reigned 17 years in Jerusalem,
the city which the Lord did choose out of all tribes of Israel to
put his name, put his name there and his mother's name was Nehemiah
and Ammonitess. Now we find that Solomon had
many wives. Don't think that you can have
many wives and have God work it out for good. He did it for
here. So we have here that this name of the mother is brought
up. It tells us again that as Eve was the mother of all living,
this man is on the throne because of his mother. She brought him
into the world. He did not create himself. He
was not there by himself. It is mentioned in the Psalms
that the Messiah would be God come in the flesh. Psalm 22. Let's go over there. Psalm 22. Now there's only one
part of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm 22. We're
going to be reading there in Psalm 22 and verse 9. Psalm 22 and verse 9. Now that
there's a part of our Messiah, the Lord Jesus, the flesh. He
was born of the flesh. He had no sin. He was not a sinner. He was born in the flesh. by
a woman. He came into this world by a
woman. She gave him that life. His father
was God. His mother was the Virgin Mary.
But he came into the world. Now, that God side never needed
this. He's the creator of heaven and
earth. He's the creator of all mankind. He is the creator of
Adam and Eve. He's the creator of the stars
that hung above. Oh my goodness, we cannot read
enough and understand enough about his ability as God Almighty,
the Sovereign King, the Sovereign Ruler. That's the Lord Jesus. That part that we know as Jesus
is mentioned here in the book of Psalm 22. Psalm 22 in verse
9 says, But thou art He that took me out of the womb. Thou
didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breast. How
long, how long did it take for the Lord Jesus to understand
that He was come to lay down His life, a ransom for many.
He knew that in His mother's womb. He knew that upon His mother's
breast. In fact, He, capital H, capital
E, knew it before the foundation of the world. And we have this
thought about Him coming in the flesh. He knew instantly As he
is put in the womb of that woman, that he is the redeemer. That'll
make me hope. He knew where his family was
going to come from. He knew where his family from
the Old Testament came from. He knew who his family from the
New Testament was going to come from. It was going to come by
the new birth. And he would be in charge of
that. He was made known, made known for our benefit. He knew that all his life. He
didn't come 12 years of age and discover that. He didn't come
at 33 years of age or 30 years of age and discover that. He
knew that for eternity. And that Jesus, we find He knew
it from His mother's womb. As we follow this, the term mother,
this term mother was used as a term of derision for our Lord
in Matthew chapter 13. In Matthew chapter 13, we have
these words recorded, Matthew chapter 13 and verse 55. There were many of the people
that looked upon the Lord Jesus and didn't know him as the Lord
Jesus. They knew him as Jesus of Nazareth, and they had this
to say about him. Is not this the carpenter's son? Matthew chapter 13, verse 55. Is not his mother called Mary? He's just like we are. He's come
from a mother. He's been brought into this world
by a mother, and that's all they could see. You know, it takes
the grace of God for anybody to see him as the Lord Jesus
Christ. Who do men say that I am? Well, one of the prophets. Who
do you say that I am? Thou art the Christ, the son
of the living God. And Jesus said, flesh and blood
hath not revealed this unto you, but my father, which is in heaven.
We would not know that from a spiritual standpoint, from a life-giving
standpoint. We may read the scriptures, I
believe that, I believe that. Well, the devils believe that,
and fear and tremble. But to know that from a spiritual
standpoint, from a raised from the death standpoint, only comes
as it's revealed unto us by God. This is not this mother called
Mary. What a word of derision. And
we also find out that by the word mother that we often find
how uh... the measurement of time several
times in the scripture we find someone that has been crippled
or has been blind or has uh... an affliction that the lord is
going to deal with is found like over here in the book of acts
chapter three in verse two that uh... the time element how long
has this been well here in the book of acts chapter three in
verse two the scripture share with us plainly Plainly and this
is the the problem that we face from when it comes to spiritual
things. How long have we been blind? spiritually How long have
we been halt spiritually how long have we been deaf spiritually
Well, just look here in Acts chapter 3 and there in verse
2 This man a certain man lame from his mother's womb From conception
He was lame from birth. He was lame. How long were you? How long was I lame spiritually
from our mother's womb? I mean, from the very beginning
in sin, you have conceived me. We have this problem from our
mother's womb when we're born of our mother and we have the
seed of our father. We have been already cursed. We didn't have to commit one
sin. We've already, we have this,
this nature given to us. It's, we have the dead nature. We may bring a physical life
into the world. We may come into the world as
a physical life, but we have no spiritual life. This man has
been from his mother's womb. He has been crippled. It was
carried whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which
is called beautiful. and ask alms of them that entered
into the temple, who, seeing Peter and John about to go into
the temple, asked an alms. And Peter fastened his eyes upon
him, with John said, Look on us, and he gave heed Unto them
expecting to receive something of them that Peter said silver
and gold have I none But such as I have I give thee in the
name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk You know in
in every sense of the word that is the gospel in the name of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk We can't do it on
our own. We're born that way. We're halt
from our mother's womb. We're blind from our mother's
womb. We never had a day that we were not a sinner. We never
had a moment after our conception that we're not a sinner. We're
just a sinner by nature. That's all it is. And we're in
extreme need of God's help. He needs to raise us from the
spiritual debt or we will never be raised. We need God. We need the resurrection and
the life. And how plain it tells us and
a number of places in the ministry of the Lord Jesus it shares with
us that this man was blind from his mother's womb. You know we're
spiritually blind from the very moment of conception. Well in
the records in heaven before the foundation of the world We're
born sinners. Our names are written down in
the book of life, but we're born sinners. We've been redeemed
from eternity. We've been sanctified from eternity. We've been justified from eternity,
but we're born sinners. And God in Christ Jesus came
to die for sinners. In the book of Galatians chapter
one, Galatians chapter 1 verse 15 the Apostle Paul uses this
as a reference point to a word about mother his mother in Galatians
chapter 1 verse 15 We have these wonderful words shared with us
as the Apostle Paul was writing to our brothers and sisters in
the area of Galatia, a number of assemblies there. And there
had been such a mixture brought in after he left. They were teaching
law and grace, which is an impossibility. There's just no such thing as
law and grace. There's no salvation by law and grace. There's salvation
by grace. There's death by the commandment
of the law. So here he is. He was a law keeper. He attempted to keep the law.
He said he kept it intact. He offered the sacrifices that
were required, but he knew nothing about the Christ, about the Messiah,
about the Lord Jesus. And here it says in Galatians
chapter one, verse 15, but when it pleased God, who separated
me from my mother's womb, God had his mark on him from eternity. He separated him from his mother's
womb. This man grew up to be a spiteful,
hateful, religious person. And when he heard the grace of
the gospel, he was so mad he had Stephen stoned as a result
of it. And he went out hunting people
that he'd bring them back and have them condemned to death.
He put in his black stone, as it were. He was the one that
marked them out. Well, we're thankful that we
read about here as he, as he speaks about his own salvation. It pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace. Now, Paul is also letting us
know that he did not come into this world on his own. He came
into this world by a mother and a father. He is sharing with
us too that he did not ever get saved on his own He didn't believe
and then God reacted to it. He didn't repent and God reacted
to it God came down and He stopped him arrested him gave him the
new birth and then he called him Lord in the book of of uh... hebrews chapter seven hebrews
chapter seven now this is an interesting passage of scripture
that brings a great deal of light upon what happened over there
in the book of genesis with a king and a priest by the name of melchizedek
and also with abraham here in the book of hebrews chapter seven
hebrews chapter seven There in verse 3 as he speaks about our
Savior Hebrews chapter 7 verse 3 this Melchizedek It said well,
let's look at verse 1 for this Melchizedek King of Salem priests
of the Most High God who met Abraham Returning from the slaughter
of the Kings. Isn't that interesting? He met
Abraham Abraham didn't seek him out, but he met Abraham from
returning from the slaughter of the Kings He went and retrieved
his nephew lot Blessed him this King blessed him blessed Abraham
Abraham is a very powerful person But this King blessed him to
whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all first being by Interpretation
king of righteousness. This one is the king of righteousness.
There's only one king of righteousness That's the Lord and then it says
and after that also king of Salem which is king of peace. He is
the only author of peace. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now notice verse three, without
father and without mother. Now isn't it interesting that
over there in the book of Genesis, that God created our first parents,
Adam from the dust of the ground, Eve from his rib, and made a
man and a woman, brought them together, they were married,
Adam says she is now mother of all living and from that point
on nobody is brought into this world in any other way except
this we have such a blessing here because it tells us that
this one the Lord as represented by Melchizedek pre-incarnate
Christ meeting Abraham without father and without mother without
descent having neither beginning of days nor end of life but made
like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually." And it
goes on to tell us that our Savior is a priest after the order of
Melchizedek. Well, so we just look at that
and say, well, of course He is. He was not of the tribe of Levi.
Judah was not spoken of being a tribe where the priesthood
came through. But God ordained it that way, that there's going
to be a priest after the order of Melchizedek, without father
and without mother. What did Adam, he was without
father and without mother. What's that telling us? We have
the first Adam, we have the second Adam. The first Adam represented
all his people and all died when he fell. The second Adam that
we read about, in him all live. We have life in him. He is the
other one without father and without mother. He is the one
that never had a creation. He was never created. He has
always been. He's the God. He is without father,
without mother. The church in all ages has rejoiced
in the purpose of God concerning their salvation. Not the birth
from Eve can give us salvation. Though she is called the mother
of all living, physical life, but not spiritual life. So many
have the idea that through Eve, through Eve, they can be saved. By their own works of righteousness,
they can be saved. But she only was able to produce
physical birth, physical birth. We have physical life through
her in every generation. Our mother gave us physical life. The seed was brought together,
and we were born as a result of it, but only with physical
life. And in Adam, all died. So when he died, we all died. He represents us that way. He
is the representative. Well, thank God Almighty that
there is someone, the second Adam, who neither had father
nor mother, beginning of days or end of life. He's always been,
always has been. He's the eternal God, the eternal
God, And it shares with us that when Eve's husband sinned, it
meant spiritual death to all her children. An illustration
given in the life of Abraham is our hope. Turn with me, if
you would, to the book of Galatians again. The book of Galatians.
Galatians chapter four. Galatians chapter four. And let's
stop there at Galatians chapter four, verse 22. Galatians chapter
4 and verse 22. Now we're going to be introduced
to an allegory. You know what an allegory is.
Some things are used from a language that we understand, but greater
meaning is implied by that. Here's an allegory. For it is
written, Galatians chapter 4 and verse 22, for it is written that
Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a
free woman. But he who was of the bond woman
was born after the flesh. But he that is of the free woman
was by promise. This is not after the flesh.
Sarah was way past giving birth to children, 90 years old. She
knew it. Abraham knew it. In fact, in
the Old Testament, it tells us when she heard that, she laughed.
Well, we don't get that at all in the book of Hebrews, chapter
11, by faith. by faith. Aren't you glad that
the blood of Jesus Christ takes care of all our sin? Here it
goes. But he was of the bondwoman,
was born after the flesh, verse 23. But of he the free woman
was by promise. Which things are an allegory? Which things are a picture? Which
things are a type? There's an allegory here. There's
a figure here that we need to consider. This all happened that
people could see what it is for a person to be born after the
flesh. Eve shall be the mother of all
living. After the flesh. After the flesh. And yet, we're going to have
some other mother mentioned here. All right, let's look at this.
Which things are an allegory, for these are the two covenants,
the one from the Mount Sinai, the bondage of the law. The law identifies bondage, I think would
be a better way of saying it. identifies the bondage we're
in by nature. We can't get above the rim of
the glass. We can't rise above our own nature. We can't do above our own nature. We can't live above our nature,
and our nature is dead. Our spirit is dead. Now, we may
do a lot of good things for our neighbors, and we may do a lot
of good things for our city, and a lot of good things for
our county and for our state, And even for a nation, we may
be in charge of a great food drive, whatever that is. But
nothing like that is going to attract God. He is not moved
by our works. In fact, our works, we really
learn to trust them and not trust God. We're trusting them. And
God's not going to honor that. The plowing of the wicked is
sin. So let's move on here. For this Agar is Mount Sinai
in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem, which now is, and is in bondage
with her children. Every child of physical Jerusalem,
every child of Eve is in bondage with her children. As bondage
she was, so are we. And here we have the next verse,
but Jerusalem, which is above, is free. Now this is way out
of our realm. We don't get into this city by
us doing some good work. We get into this city by the
new birth. It goes on to tell us, which is free, which is the
mother of us all. Now isn't that interesting that
all of our physical characteristics are from Eve? She's the mother
of all living, physical living. She's the mother. We can go right
back there. There's where it started. Adam
then sinned. She ate the fruit. But did you
ever notice that nothing happened when she ate that fruit? Adam
was responsible. When he ate that fruit, then
they were in darkness. Then they knew. Then they knew
they were naked. Then they hid themselves from
God. Adam was responsible. But Eve would continue to be
the mother of all living, every one of us. have been are here
because she gave birth to some children and they gave birth
to some children and they gave birth to some children and here
we are But when it comes to spiritual things, there is a place that
we can't reach out to, we can't get up to, we can't move to,
because we're dead in trespasses and sin. And here it tells us
that this Jerusalem, which is above, is free, which is the
mother of us all. You know what that mother's telling
us? You will not get here without the new birth. You must be born
again. She's above. We must be born
from above. We must have the new birth. We
cannot have the old birth and ever come into the presence of
God on a favorable stand. We must have the new birth. We
must be born from above. The mother here means metaphorically
and figuratively the source of something. Everlasting eternal
life must come from above. And the church, the church declares
this. The church declares that we must
have something besides our own faith and our own trust and our
own repentance and our own belief we must have Christ. Christ must
be. We must have the new birth, ye
must be born again. The message of the church, ye
must be born up from above. Salvation is of the Lord. The church in all ages has held
to one message, the message of the Messiah ransoming his lost
sheep by his own blood. This word of mother in this verse
also declares that we did not produce our own spiritual existence,
as in so prevalently taught by the natural mind. Our spiritual
life depends on someone else giving us that spiritual life
which we could not produce on our own. Turn with me, if you
would, to the book of Ephesians, chapter 2. Ephesians, chapter
2. The scriptures always agree with
the scriptures. Our natural mind wants to look
at one phrase or one thought or one verse and prove our theology
by that one verse without ever thinking, what does the rest
of the scripture say? What does the rest of that chapter
say? What does the rest of the sentence say? And we know that
all things work together for good. I'll never forget Preacher telling me that a preacher
told him isn't there more to that verse of scripture In the
rest of that verse is the purpose of God So important all right
here in the book of Ephesians chapter 2 verse 4 Ephesians chapter
2 verse 4 but God Who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith
he loved us? even when we were dead in sins
and even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together
with Christ by grace ye are saved, and hath raised us up together,
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that
in the ages to come ye might show the exceeding riches of
his grace and in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. When we were dead in sins hath
quickened us, hath given us the new birth. We're unable to do
it. We have our, we have a mother. She is Eve and she's the mother
of all living. But when it comes to spiritual
things, there is a mother from above. There is the new birth. There is life from above and
nowhere else. And we will never have a presence
with God without it. Oh, that God would give us the
grace to trust him, that God would bring us to the point that
we would bow. You know, when God does that,
we will bow. When God does that, we will have
a new heart. When God does that, we will love
him. And then we'll see what separated us. We won't have an
argument about how sinful we were, how sinful we are. We will
take God's word for it. You're right, God. Am in every
capacity a sinner before you and I'm thankful that the Lord
Jesus in his great mercy wherewith he loved us while we were yet
sinners he died for us and in that We find that he has already
given us the new birth and we have been born from above and
we recognize him as the one Who loved us beyond measure? One
that died for us in every capacity so that he could set us free
and those names written in the Lamb's Book of Life Everyone
will be with him throughout eternity welcome welcome to the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world a word about mother
May God bless you and may the Word of God be a blessing to
you We thank you in Jesus name. Amen