Hard Preaching

Independent * Baptist * Separated * Soul-winning * King James Bible Only

...use it in some great way to...such a fantastic passage in the Bible, dear God, and please help us to glean some great truths from it and use the rest of the sermon and all of our lives and in Jesus’ name I pray.  Amen.

 

Now, there’s so much greatness in this chapter, of course. We saw...you probably noticed how many times God talks about knowing the Word of God and doing the Word of God.  I mean on and on.  He says, “These words need to be in your heart.”  He says, “You need to know this.”  And he says that also about six or seven times he said, “You need to be doing this. You need to follow these laws for your good.”

 

But there is another theme that is carried throughout the chapter.  Look, if you would at verse number two of chapter six. The Bible says, “That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son.”[1]  Notice that.  “...and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life.”[2]  So he is talking about the days of your life. He says, “You make sure that your son and your son’s son are also keeping this.” He said, “That is your responsibility as the parent. 

 

And then he says...and first of all I want to say this.  And you probably already know this if you have been coming to church here awhile. But in the King James Bible the word thee, thou, thy, thine is singular always. It is a singular word.  But the King James Bible is so clear in its language.  When he uses the words that start with a “y” such as ye, you, your, yours it is plural. It is talking more than one of you. When it is using the word thou, thee, thy, thine, it starts with a “t” it is always singular saying, “thou.”  He is not talking to a group.  I mean he is talking to one person saying, “Thou shalt teach them.”[3] 

 

And so look through at verse number three.   “Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily.”[4]  See, being “ye” that is a group that he is talking to. 

 

...the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.  Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.[5]

 

And here is what I wanted to focus on.  Verse six. “And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children.”[6] Do you see that?  That’s a singular verb, a singular pronoun where God is saying, “You, dad, you, mom], thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children and shall , and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house.”[7]

 

He said, “When you are sitting around the house this is what you should be talking about, the words of the Bible.

 

... and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.  And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.  And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.[8]

 

He is saying, “Put up a sign, you know, that has the Word of God on it. Write it on the wall.” He says, “Hold it in your hand.”  He says, “Talk about it when you get up in the morning. Talk about it when you go to bed at night. Talk about it when you are walking by the way, when you are sitting around the house.”  Talk about it with who?  He said, “Talk about with thy son, with thy daughter, with thy child,” and on and on. I could show you the whole chapter.  But later on he talks about the son asking dad, “What is it that you are teaching? What are these statutes?  What does it mean, all this Bible that I have been learning? What is the meaning of it?”  And he explains it to him later on in the chapter.  That is what the chapter is about.

 

Now, you have to understand that in order for you to talk about the Bible with your child, I mean when you get up in the morning, that means you have got to be getting up in the morning with your child, ok.  Does this make sense?  When you are going to bed at night your child has got to be there in the house with you when you go to bed at night, ok.  When you are sitting in your house your son has got to be there for you to talk to him about the Bible. When you are walking by the way with him, well, you have got to be with your children in order to teach them the Bible and to speak to them about the Bible all day long and throughout the day.

 

Now I want to tell you something. On Friday of this week I...of course, you know that I sell fire alarms and I service fire alarm systems for my secular job.  Actually, I’m sorry, it was Thursday.  It seemed like Friday because I had already done so much, you know.  Did you ever get to like Wednesday and it seems like Friday because you have been doing so much?  Well, it was actually Thursday. I had worked in eight different day care facilities, ok, from6 AM to12 PM I had to go around and test the fire alarm in eight different daycare facilities. And as I walked into these daycares I realized what’s wrong with the world and I realized what is wrong with our country and I realized why things are the way they are.

 

Now before I get too far into the sermon my attention is never to offend anyone or make anyone mad. I am not preaching against anyone personally or anything like that.  And I don’t want people to come up to me afterward and tell me about their friend or their relative who is guilty of this, ok.  But do you know what? I am just preaching the Bible the way I see it. And if you don’t agree with it, you know, that’s fine.  But I am preaching the Bible the way that the Bible reads it and if you don’t believe, you know, that’s fine, but this is what the Bible says and I am going to preach the Bible straight down the line exactly what it says and I am going to tell you...let me start out by telling you some of the things that I saw in these eight daycares that I went to.

 

And these were...I felt like I picked out a pretty good cross section because these were all over Phoenix, all different parts of town.  Some of them were really nice buildings, some of them were a little bit poorer buildings.  But they were all, you know, daycare facilities.

 

Well, I went into the toddlers...this is just by way of introduction. I am going to get into a lot of Bible, but I went into the toddler area where...I don’t know if you call it toddlers, but younger than John, just basically babies around maybe six months old, one year old, a year and a half old like that. And they were in a room.  They were lined up in what is called an excersaucer.  Have you ever seen these?  It is where they sit in a little harness to kind of hold them up.  They are too young to stand, but they kind of stand there and they have got little toys around them and everything and the rest of them were in swings. And I saw a teenage girl sitting there reading a newspaper, ok.  And I just saw kids just lined up in excersaucers and swings, just sitting there, just ignored, ok.

 

Then I walked to the next room.  I saw kids crowded around two feet from a TV screen, kids that were about John’s age, maybe about two, just about two feet from a TV screen all just gathered around staring into a TV screen.

 

I went over to the next room. I saw a child being shaken and yelled at like this. One of these day care workers shaking, yelling at him. You know, they didn’t know I was there. They didn’t know I was watching. 

 

I went into another daycare facility. This was a different one that I went to later and this kid was just screaming, “I want to go home. I want to go home.  Take me home.” He was just screaming and crying.  And this is how the woman reacted, the woman who ran the daycare. She made up a little song to mock this kid. And I think she sings this every time a kid says he wants to go home. The whole rest of the class sits there singing, “I want to go home.  I want to go...”You know, this song just mocking this kid.

 

And then, you know, just screaming babies, just...they said, “Let’s just let them cry it out.”  They put a blanket over one. One of them was screaming and crying in the crib, just...thick green...I am not trying to be gross, but thick green snot just streaming from its nose and they put a blanket over and said, “Oh, she’ll fall asleep eventually, just let her cry it out.”

 

I went into another room where there are a little bit older kids, probably about Isaac’s age three and four and children ran up to me and just started embracing me. 

 

Picture this. I walk in, you know, I have got my work clothes on. I have got my tool belt on.  I have got screwdrivers and everything. Kids are just running up and just hugging me around the waist. “Hi,” hugging me, just hugging a stranger.  I thought that was a little weird to be honest. 

 

And, you know, I’m trying to... “Ok, now I have got to do my job,” with these kids are just embracing me.

 

And then here is something else I found. I am just giving you a list of things that I noted down while I was there, things that I noticed.  I walked into another room and there were kids about Solomon’s age, maybe towards Isaac’s age, about three, four, five—this is at a different day care—and they were all just sitting around tables, ok.  And all the different tables were lined up and they were all just sitting there just silently, just with their hands folded in front of them, just sitting at a table, nobody said a word.

 

So I walked by.  I walk out.  And I come back, you know, 10 minutes later, same thing.  They are just not doing anything. I mean nobody was reading to them. I mean they weren’t playing.  They weren’t drawing.  They were just catatonic, ok, sitting there. 

 

And there’s this lady, this older lady was sitting there with them, you know, watching them, making sure that they didn’t do anything. And every once in a while one of them would make a peep and it’s, “Stop it.” And they have to just be silent.

 

So I walk in about 10 minutes later and I said, “Well, I am going to be setting off the fire alarm, ok, in a minute here,” because I have to, you know, check the bells. I have already checked all the smoke detectors. Now I have got to give the bells a little ring. I said, “I’m going to set it off. It’s going to be really loud.”

 

And she is just like, “That’s ok. They’ll just sit here, just silent. They won’t move.”

 

So I went and I set it off and, sure enough, they all....like...they are just.  So I hit the reset button and on and on.

 

I walked up to a TV player that I saw off to the side, right?  And there is a little boom box with a CD player. And right next to it it had a CD and it said, “Kid’s mix.”  It said, “Sing along songs for kids.”  And it was some songs that they could sing along to. I don’t know if it had part of it was just a music, part of it was just the songs.  So I pick up.  Ok, you know, let’s see what they are singing along to.”  Britney Spears, Oops, I Did it Again.  Now that is not exactly Old MacDonald Had a Farm, is it?  That’s not exactly the songs that you would expect to be a little kid’s singing in a day care or in a nursery, you know. Not Old MacDonald Had a Farm, not London Bridge is Falling Down, no, Brittney Spears Oops, I did it Again is what they sing along to in the kid’s mix. And then also there was a song by Rickie Martin.  I didn’t know the song. Rickie Martin is a flaming queer if you didn’t know that.  And do you mind me saying that? Is that all right if I say that he is a filthy animal homosexual? 

 

And then Elton John...Good. I’m glad. I’m glad that you don’t mind.  And then Elton John also was on there who is also a homo. And this is what the kids are listening to. 

 

And I thought about it and this is just by way of introduction to this sermon. I thought about it and you can imagine I was disgusted by what I saw. Folks, I feel bad for these kids. I mean, it made me really sad. And I was just thinking to myself, “Good night.  These are human beings.”  And I am looking at these kids who are just ignored. They are just put in a swing. They are put in an exercaucer.  They are just put in front of a TV. They are yelled at. They are an annoyance. They are a burden.  And I sat down and I thought about what’s wrong with this picture. And I thought about...I looked into the eyes of these little kids and I saw adults that I’ve known who just have no direction in their life who live a sinful life. And I understood. I said, “You know what? I could see where this kid is going and I can see how that adult got there and I can see what the problem is.”

 

Let me give you some things that I found wrong with the day care.  Look, if you would at Matthew 6:25. And I am going to give you, I am going to tell you, yes, the sin of daycare is what I am preaching on this morning. And I want to show you this from the Bible.  And you can apply this to your life, as well, even if you are not going to put your kid in daycare, which I hope you never will. But you can just apply the principles that I am going to teach you anyway to a lot of different things in life.  But look, if you would, at Matthew 6:25 and I am going to show you the first thing that is wrong with daycare. 

 

Matthew6:25 the Bible says, “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.”[9]  And look at these last phrases. “Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”[10]

 

And, you know, I realize the first thing that popped into my mind at this daycare center. I said, “Do you know what’s wrong with this daycare center? It only takes care of one thing. And that is the physical need. They take a kid in here, you know, eight hours a day and what do they do?  They make sure that it eats. They make sure that it uses the rest room.  They change a diaper. They take care of maybe a basic physical need like maybe they will wipe the nose or maybe they will take it to the restroom and that is it, that’s all. It just cares for the basic physical needs.

 

And God says, “You know what?  There is more to life than just the food you eat in your body. There is more to life than just the clothes that you wear.”  He said, “Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”[11]

 

And I thought about another verse, Romans 14:17.  You don’t have to turn there.  But the Bible says, “For thekingdom ofGod is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”[12]  He says, “Thekingdom ofGod is not food and beverage.” And I thought about it. You know that the sinful world that we live in...and maybe you go to a really poor neighborhood, for example, where people are living on welfare. They are living in the ghetto.

 

And you know how they live?  They live from one physical appetite to another.  Isn’t that the truth?  I mean, they live from one Burger King to the next Burger King. That is their life. Their whole life is just, “Can I go to Burger King?  Can I commit fornication?” You know, it is just, “Can I take some drugs?  Can I drink alcohol? Can I watch something on TV that will tickle my excitement or can I watch a movie that will thrill me?”  They just go from one physical appetite being fulfilled to another. Whether it is just from this fast food restaurant to the next, or whether it is just from one filthy move to the next or one adulterous relationship to the next, they don’t understand that there is more to life than just fulfilling your physical appetites, that there is thekingdom ofGod.  There is joy in the Holy Ghost. There is living a life that matters, that means something.  That you put a child in his most formative years of zero, one, two, three, four, the most important years of that childhood development, you put him in an environment where he learns that the only thing that anybody cares about him, the only time that he needs any attention, the only thing that his life is about is just going from meal to snack time to TV time to snack time to nap time to bathroom time. He doesn’t understand that there is more to life. There’s relationships of a loving mom and dad. There is a relationship with loving God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Hey, there is a meaning and a purpose to his life. He is not just an animal.

 

I will read this for you. You don’t have to turn there, Isaiah 22:12.  The Bible says, “And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth: And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine.”[13]  Listen to this phrase and this is a famous quote from the Bible in Isaiah 22:13, “Let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.”[14]  Have you ever heard that phrase before?

Well, listen. The apostle Paul quotes that again in 1 Corinthians 15:32.  He says, “If the dead rise not...”[15]  You know, if there is no resurrection of the dead, if the Bible is not true, he said, “[Then] let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.”[16]  He takes that quote from the Old Testament and says, “Hey, if there is no God, if there is no Jesus Christ, if there is no Bible that is true,” he says, “Hey let’s just eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.”

 

That is the mentality that we see today in 2007 among adults.  That is the mentality that we see when we go to the ghettos ofAmerica.

 

You say, “Do you hate the people in the ghetto?”

 

I love the people in the ghetto. That’s why I knock their doors every single week of my life. Hey, I love the people in the ghetto. I don’t drive by the ghetto and see these gang bangers walking down the street and have any kind of disgust for them at all. When I see some gang banger walking down the street with his pants hanging halfway down his body and he’s got a brown paper bag in his hand with booze in it and I see these girls dressed like a [?] momma and a hooker, hey I don’t have hatred for them. I don’t have disgust for them. I have nothing but love for them and I feel sorry for them because they didn’t have a mom and a dad that thought that they were more important than to stick them in some place where they are going to get fed, yes.  They will get diapered, yes.  They will get a nap, yes. But nobody is going to teach them right and wrong.  Nobody is going to teach them the words of this book. Nobody is going to teach them that there is more to live than just physical appetites being fulfilled.

 

And that is the first thing I see wrong with daycare is just the physical appetite is the only thing that is ministered to in daycare.  And you wonder why we have a generation of children who just live from one physical appetite to the next whether it be a food appetite, whether it be an adulterous type appetite of fornication or what have you or whether it is an appetite of the lust of the eyes watching something on television, the lust of the flesh living out sinful fantasies. 

 

Hey, I am going to tell you something.  That is what is wrong, that is what is wrong. I don’t feel bad for them. I want them to win them to Christ.  I want to win them to the Lord. I want them to get born again so that they can be saved and they can start over and they can learn the truth about the Bible and learn that there is a meaning to their life.

 

 Don’t ever drive people that are sinful and people that are in the ghetto and people that are maybe the type of person that you wouldn’t want to be around and be disgusted with them. Hey, love those people. Get them the gospel.  Do you know they can change if they get born again. You know we can teach them the Bible and maybe they just grew up in a daycare.  That’s all.

 

And so, number one is what I see. But number two, the second thing—and this kind of stems from the first thing—but number two, daycare not only does it care for only the physical needs of maybe food, diaper, basic hygiene, but it lacks this spiritual and emotional attention that children need. But, number two, not only that it treats children like animals.  And then you wonder why they grow up like an animal.

 

Now you drop a kid off and they are fed.  It is kind of the same point as point one.  But they are fed. They are taken care of. But they are basically ignored.  Like they are literally put in cages.

 

You say...

 

They put them in...Well, they don’t call it a cage. You know, they put them in like a crib that looks like a cage and they put them in like a playpen that looks like a cage and just lock it in there so they can’t mess with anything, so that it can’t be an annoyance. They just lock it in a little play pen or lock it in a little cage.  It has got up against the bars yelling and watch out, trying to climb out. And it is locked in like an animal, like a dog.  You would lock it up so they don’t go to the bathroom on the carpet. 

 

Hey, human beings are not animals.  So quit treating them like an animal. Quit treating kids like animals.  Treat children with dignity and respect like the human beings that they are.  God puts a great premium on children.  He says, “Get...you know, don’t just be on the phone all day with your buddy. Don’t be watching the game all day on some sport.  Hey, sit down and talk to your kids,” is what he said. Did you see that in Deuteronomy six?

 

He says, “When you are walking down the street, hey, why don’t you take Solomon with you? Why don’t you take Isaac with you?  Why don’t you take John with you and why don’t you talk to your son while you are walking down the street?  When you get up in the morning, why don’t talk to your son and why don’t you talk to him about the Bible, why don’t you talk to him about something important?”  He says, “When you go to bed at night, hey, sit down and talk to your son. Hey, sit down and talk to your daughter and talk to her about something that matters.”

 

But we spend so much time driving down the road with our kids and I’ll be doing errands and I will get in the car and I am going to go somewhere, I grab one of the kids and bring him with me, put him in the [?].  And I talk to them about something that matters.

 

And, you know, obviously we can all work on this, but I try to talk to them about the Bible.  I try to talk to them about the things of God, not just, “Oh, what’s the weather like.”  Hey, talk about the Bible is what God said. He said, “Man, then you will see your son grow up and live for God.  And then you will even see your son’s son in your life time grow up and live for God.” He says, “I will bless your children to the third and fourth generation and you will see it in your lifetime.” “Thou shalt see thy children‘s children,”[17] God says, “and peace upon Israel.”[18]

 

And so on and on  you will see this throughout the Bible, God telling you how important children are and how much time he spent.

I thought about this.  You can imagine that every single one of these eight daycares I went into, it smelled terrible, terrible smell.  And I could just smell this...just putting that many kids on one room is not good.  You know, it doesn’t smell good. And not only that, but you get to smell all the...I don’t know, what is the stuff they use for cleaning. It is not the bleach, but it is the ammonia.  Is that what it is?  Ammonia?   I think that is what it is. I smelled this ammonia smell. 

 

Does anybody know I am...?  Put up your hands if you know what I am talking about, ok.  Ok. This ammonia smell and then mixed with just all the kids and it was bad. And I was thinking, I remembered when I lived inChicago I remembered how we would go soul winning in a really bad neighborhood and we would knock on the door. And I think, Lisa, were you with me?  Didn’t you come me and you used the bathroom one time at one of the people whose doors we knocked, the people who came to our church at that time from this area. And so Lisa went with me knocking on doors when we were inChicago and, boy, the smell.  Do you remember?  It smelled terrible. And you just wonder, like, “How could people live like this?”

 

But, see, you have to understand, the first three or four years in their life they smelled that every day for the first eight hours of the day no matter how clean their house was.  I mean when they are sitting in that daycare that is what it smells like. And they grow up. Hey, they are already used to the stench of sin.

 

And, by the way, that is what the smell is.  Do you want to know what the smell is?  It is sin. Sin smells bad. Alcohol smells bad. When you spill it it smells bad. It gets rotten.  The cigarettes smell bad.  Do you know what else smells bad? Dirty laundry that people don’t clean because they don’t live in a hygienic environment. You know, dirty dishes start to smell after a while. That is what all that smell is. It is laziness. It is sin. It is booze. It is somebody who is drunk so they don’t get the work done around the house and they don’t get things cleaned up. You know, you put them in a cage and let them scream and cry.  Ignore them. 

 

I saw two other girls.  I went into another room. I saw two girls sitting around talking. They were the attendants that were working in this part of the nursery. They were just sitting and talking about their baby debts. Both of these girls are just single girls who have kids out of wedlock and they are talking about, “Oh, did you sign up for WIC yet?” Or they are talking about the welfare programs and, “My baby’s daddy called me the other day and he told me this and I was telling him this.” And they are talking about fighting with their baby’s daddy.  They are talking about getting welfare and WIC. 

 

Hey, is that what you want your kid to hear? Is that the kind conversation that you want filling the mind of a two year old and a one year old?  And then you wonder why the grow up and don’t life for God.

But look, if you would, at the book of Jude. This is the second to last book in the Bible.  And I am not trying to...I wish you knew my heart this morning. I am not trying to anger anybody or make somebody mad.  I am trying to warn you about something that you may not understand.  And I am going to get into the Bible now here and show you some things from the Bible.

But I am trying to warn you about something where people don’t understand that the young child’s mind is so vital to be training and teaching that mind and it is so important raising your own children as the Bible teaches. But look with me at the book of Jude and look at verse number seven of Jude.  And I am not trying to condemn anybody with this. But people need to hear this because I hear people all the time say, “Well, you know, money got a little tight and so mom is going to work and the kids are going into daycare.”

 

Well, this sermon is just so that you can think about that before you do it. You can think about what is really going on or if anybody ever asks you your opinion about that you can tell them what the Bible teaches. 

 

But look at the book of Jude chapter...I’m sorry, verse number seven. The Bible reads, “Even asSodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.  Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh.”[19]  He is saying they defile the flesh in the same way as they did inSodom and Gomorrha which is men with men, homosexuality.  He says, “Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion.”[20]  That means they hate authority.  “And speak evil of dignities.”[21]

 

Come down to verse number 10. The Bible says, “But these,” same people, “But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts...”[22] He says they are like animals. Do you see that?  He says, “But what they know naturally as brute beasts...”[23]  The word brute means stupid is what it means. He says

 

As brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.  Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.  These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.[24]

 

Flip over, if you would, back a few pages in your Bible to 2 Peter chapter two, just back two books...or, I’m sorry, four short little books in the Bible. But look at 2 Peter chapter two and look at verse number one. “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you.”[25]  Any church anywhere he says, you know, whether a Baptist or whatever he says, “There will be false teaches among you, false prophets among you.” He says, “who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.”[26]

 

Go down if you would to verse number 10. You will see that this is an exact parallel passage of the book of Jude. He is talking about the exact same thing.  Look at verse number 10.  “But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness.”[27]  See the lust of uncleanness?  Talking about sin there.  Do you know what I am talking about?  “And despise government.”[28]  Remember they hate authority.  “...despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.”[29]  And then in verse 11 the same thing we saw in the book of Jude, “Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord.  But these, as natural brute beasts...”[30]  Same thing. He says they are like animals. He says:

 

But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption; And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin.[31]

 

They are addicted to sin is what he is saying, “...beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices.”[32]  What is the last two words?  Cursed children.”[33]

 

Now when did these people that we see that God described as being like stupid animals...he said they are like an animal, they are as brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed. He says they are presumptuous, they are self willed, they despise dominion, they hate authority, they just go after the lust of uncleanness. He says they are into fornication. They are into homosexuality.  Were does it all begin?  God says they were “cursed children.”[34] That is what he said.  He said, “You took your children, you took a child and you treated it like an animal and you put it in a cage and you give it food and water and that is all it needs, change its diaper. That’s all it needs. And then it grows up and it acts like an animal.” Why?  Because it is a cursed child, because you put it in an environment where you treat it like an animal and then it grow up and acted like an anima. Now isn’t that what the Bible says? That is what the Bible teaches.

 

Now, you say, “Wait a minute, pastorAnderson.  I am putting my child in a Baptist daycare.  You don’t understand. This is a Baptist daycare. This is a fundamental Baptist, King James Bible Baptist daycare.”

 

Hey, look...you must have missed when you read in chapter two verse one.  That is why we read that verse. These people will be among you God says. Ok, there’s dangerous people among you. 

 

Down here he says they are among you. They feast with you.  And both in Jude and 2 Peter chapter two he says, “You have sat down and eat with people like this and you didn’t even know it because they are among you.” 

 

You know what? I am sorry, but maybe you haven’t the luxury as I have to grow up in church. And, you know, I praise the Lord I grew up in church and I have been saved now for 19 years and I grew up in church from the time I was a little kid all the way up. And you know what?  Meet me after the service and I’ll give you a list of every pedophile that is in jail from the churches that I grew up in, independent fundamental Baptist churches.  I will give you a list of all the ones that are homosexuals now.  I will give you the names of the ones...my sister is here. She grew up in the same church as I did, the one that is a bouncer at a gay bar inSacramento. I can tell you his name. He was the song leader’s son.  I can tell you about his friends who are homosexuals.  I can tell you about the one’s that went to jail for child molesting. Hey, I can tell you about it, my friend. And I am sorry. But if you think after I saw the condition of these daycares do you think I’m going to drop off my suitcase with a million dollars and say, “Here. Would you watch this for me?”

 

Hey, my child here, my son Solomon is more valuable to me than a million dollars cash. And if wouldn’t drop off a million dollars, if I wouldn’t drop off my car, if I wouldn’t give the keys to the car to these people...and I don’t care if they are a Baptist. I don’t care if they are from church.  I don’t care if it is just some daycare out of the phone book. Hey, I wouldn’t give the keys to my new car.  I am not going to give them my son.

 

I mean think about it.  God defines the greatest commodity that he has. He says, “I gave my only begotten Son.”

 

Do you think I am going to give you my son? Oh, just watch him for a while.  Feed him. Hey, would you feed the dog while I’m out of town?  Would you sit the house while I am out of town?  Would you feed my dog?  Would you feed my son? That is the mentality. It is treating a child like an animal, like you just got to feed him.  Feed him diaper him and when I pick him up he will still be alive.  Wow.

But not only that...that’s my second point that daycare treats them like an animal they are going to grow up and act like an animal. I’m sorry.

 

And then, you know, even when you are raising your own kids, hey, don’t treat your kids like animals. Don’t put them in a cage.  Play and talk with your kids throughout the day. 

 

But number three...and turn to 1 Kings chapter three.  I have got to hurry. I have so much material in this sermon.  I am trying to get through it. And, boy, I tell you what. The Bible says, “Children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.”[35]  Boy, it is such a blessing to have children.  I am so excited about my brand new daughter here that was just born a week and a half ago. I mean I am thrilled to death. I love my daughter and I want to spend as much time with her as I can and hold my daughter.  Boy, she is so important to me. I love her so much.  Well, I love my boys sitting here in the front so much. I mean, each and every one of them is just so important, just individually. I love them so much.  Hey, that is what the sermon is about.

 

Don’t say that I preach a negative sermon on Sunday mornings.  It is a positive sermon about loving and taking care of your own children. 

 

But it will be positive if somebody gets it and learns from it and maybe one child doesn’t grow up like an animal. Hey, this could be a very positive sermon. 

 

But look, if you would, at 1 Kings chapter number three and I am going to show you an interesting story.  I’m sorry, you know what?  I turned to the wrong...I wrote down the wrong... Oh, yeah, it is chapter three.  I am sorry. Look at verse number 16 and I am going to show my third point.

 

But the Bible reads, “Then came there two women, that were harlots.”[36]  That means they were prostitutes. 

 

...unto the king, and stood before him.  And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house.  And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house.  And this woman’s child died in the night; because she overlaid it.  And she arose atmidnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.  And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear.  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 is my son. Thus they spake before the king.[37]

 

This was King Solomon, ok.  And then this was Solomon. Is everybody following the story?  Two prostitutes living together in one house. They each give birth to a child three days apart. One of their children dies. The other one gets up in the middle of the night and switches the dead baby with the living baby. Now they are arguing about whose is the dead and whose is the living. 

 

Listen to King Solomon. The Bible says that God gave him this wisdom to do this.

 

Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the 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.[38]

 

Boy, isn’t that horrible?  I mean, listen to what he says. 

 

Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon 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.  And allIsrael heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king:[39]

 

And watch this, “For they saw that the wisdom of God.”[40]  This is what the Bible says. “The wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.”[41]

 

There is so much you an learn from that story. Don’t just read over the story and think, “Oh, isn’t that cute?  Isn’t that neat?”  No. Learn that is the Word of God.

 

The king, God’s man, the preacher as he calls himself in Ecclesiastes chapter one, “The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king inJerusalem.”[42] The preacher, the man of God with the wisdom of God said, “This woman is the child’s mother because I can tell by the way that she has love toward the child, affection towards this child.”

Now, was this woman an exemplary citizen, an exemplary role model?  She’s a prostitute. But she still had more love for her own flesh and blood. And so, number three...

 

Quick review.  Number one was, hey, daycare is only taking care of the physical needs and you produce children that are hedonistic. Everything is about the physical needs.  That, number two, they are treated like animals. They grow up an act like an animal. But number three, daycare lacks the love and affection that only a child’s mother and father can give it. I mean...And by the way, what else can we learn from this story? Is it right for the government to take people’s kids away? I mean if this was in 2007 King Solomon, you know, if was like King, you know, whatever,US government, they would say, “Well, wait a minute. Both of these are unfit parents. Right? We are going to take it away and put it in a foster home.”

 

Is that what he said? No. He said, “Hey, give her the child because she is the mother thereof.”  Read every word of the Bible and put it in your memory banks and say, “Thus saith the Lord. Give her the child because she is the mother thereof.”

I don’t believe that it is ever right for the government to take people’s kids away. 

 

You say, “What if they abuse them.”

 

Hey, look, if somebody commits a felony, put him in jail like the law says.  But if somebody does something that is not a felony whether I agree with it or not, don’t take people’s kids away. The government has no right to take people’s kids away, period, ever.

 

You say, “Well, she is on dope.”

 

Hey, don’t take her kid away.

 

“Hey, she’s a hooker.”

 

Hey, don’t take her kid away.  The Bible says no.  Show me after the service where the Bible says to take people’s kids away and give it to some daycare somewhere. And so the Bible says here that even a prostitute was a more fit parent for her child. She had more love for her child because she is the mother thereof. Her bowels yearned upon her child, the flesh and blood that she gave birth to.

 

Hey, day care can’t offer that kind of love and affection.  Only the physical parents can offer that kind of love and affection according to the Bible.

 

But number four, not only does daycare lack the love and affection of a physical parent or, you know, obviously children that are adopted there is that same bond there that develops. I am not saying anything about that at all. The Bible is all in favor of that.  But number four, daycare lacks biblical discipline?  What’s God’s method of disciplining children?  Well, it is spankings.  Doesn’t the Bible say, “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes”?[43]

 

Now a lot of people misunderstand the word “betimes.”  I used to think “betimes” meant, well, from time to time. That is kind of what it sounds like.  Study the Bible. Every time the Bible uses the word “betimes” or look it up in a dictionary. It has one definition.  Early. That is what it means. Abraham rose up betimes. When Joshua was fighting the [?] he rose up betimes. And so early. That is all it means.  Get a dictionary, early.

 

He says, “He that loveth him chasteneth him [early] betimes,”[44] when he is young. You see, he starts the discipline. 

There is a law that is going through in California right now that—I don’t think it is going to go through, praise the Lord, at least not from that I have heard—but the legislature has got a bill that they are working on that it is going to be illegal to spank your kids under the age of four or five or something like that.  And I am thinking to myself, you know, by the time the kid is four or five he has done been programmed wrong. It’s done, too late.  You know, I mean there’s still...you can, you know, by the grace of God you can try to salvage that, but I am going to tell you something.  The most vital time is the early formative years.  That blank piece of paper, this blank piece of paper that is sitting right here, this mind that has not been filled with all the garbage, all the worldly philosophies, all the junk. It has been filled with preaching and the Word of God and the songs of the faith. 

 

She doesn’t know, Brittney Spears, Oops, I did it again. She doesn’t know who these filthy rock and roll singers are.  She doesn’t know any of it and I am going to keep it that way.

 

You say, “Ah, you shelter her.”

 

I keep not shelter. I take them out soul winning with me and they see the ghetto and they see sin and they smell sin and they say, “No.”  Do you know what I mean?

 

You say, “Well, when they grow up they are going to go off the deep end.”

 

They are, no.  My kids are going to grow up. They have been soul winning with me.  They are going to say, “No, I don’t want to go live in that filthy apartment complex. I don’t want to go where it stinks bad. I don’t want to go where the booze is,” because I have taught them the reality of sin.

 

 You teach...you don’t want to shelter your kids, right, so you turn on a TV and you show them alcohol where everybody is in a bikini and it’s all fun. Everybody is clean cut, everybody is athletic, everybody is sitting in an immaculate kitchen pouring themselves a brewskie sitting in a nice clean kitchen where all the laundry is done, all the dishes are done.  Hey, I take my kids. They have seen alcohol. My kids have seen alcohol. My kids have seen drugs.  My kids have seen the sin, but they smelled it, too.

 

You see, the problem is with your television is that it doesn’t have a smell. You have got visual and audio. They need to make a television where you turn up the smell. “Hey, turn that one up. Turn off that show, would you?”  You know, because you turn up the volume, right?  You can change the brightness of the picture.  “Hey, turn up the smell.  Hey, wait. We’re watching people drinking.  Turn that smell up.”

 

Smell what it is truly like and then it will be a little more accurate.

 

You say, “Are you against television?”

 

Hey, if they put a smell on it that smells like what sin really smells like, hey, I’m not against anymore. 

 

Yes, I am against television, but, hey, at least they could put a smell on it so you could smell what sin really smells like.

 

But anyway, I lost my track of my sermon here.

 

The discipline, the biblical discipline. Ok. You have got to discipline your children early in the formative years.  Ok. Now does the day care spank your child?  Boy, they ought not. 

 

Yeah, sometimes... [?] shaking it, you know, which is counter productive. It doesn’t help train a child at all to shake it or yell at it.  Yelling at it.  The Bible says that a serpent will not be rebuked with words, for though he hear thee, he will not answer thee again.

 

He says, “You can’t rebuke someone with words.”  He said, “You have to use discipline. You have to use the rod.

 

“The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself...”[45] a child left in the exercsaucer, a child left in the swing and in the crib, “bringeth his mother to shame.”[46]  That is what it says. It says, “The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.”[47] 

 

And so they are not doing the biblical discipline of spanking. They are using time outs, right? They are using yelling. They are using shaking.  All methods that are counterproductive.  You will not find a time out in the Bible. You will not find a place where God says, “Just get him and shake him up a little bit.” You will never find a place in the Bible where God says, “Scream at your child. Call him names. Mock him and make fun of him.”

 

Hey, look. You don’t have to...if you spank your children you don’t have to tell at them. You just spank them.  And then you say, “I love you, son.  Here is a spanking.”

 

And then everything is fine. And you don’t have to say mean things. You know, you see these parents, “I’m mad at you,” you know, to their toddler.  Have you see that?  I’m so mad at you, Johnny. I am so mad at you...”

 

I don’t do mad at my kids. I spank them. It’s over.  Done.

 

You know and sometimes we will be going about it and I will want to say something about what my kids did after I have spanked them like give them another rebuke. But I just tell myself, you know, I am not going to do it because they have already gotten the spanking. Let’s just move on.

 

You know, sometimes I will be tempted to say, “You know, let me tell you something else that was wrong...”

 

I try to just let it go. I try to just spank and it is over. The finality of it is great because then the relationship is still together there and it is built up together.  Daycare does not discipline kids properly.

 

You say, “Well, I got my kids in this Christian daycare and this Christian school and I sighed the form and the principal can spank them.”

 

Ok, look. I grew up in Christian schools where they spank. And do you know what?  I never got spanked.  And I broke every rule that there was, ok?  My sister can testify.  Ok.  I broke every rule in the school. I never got a spanking. You know, one kid would do something really bad like once a year and they would pat him on the rear end a couple of times.  And it wasn’t a spanking like mom and dad give a spanking because they would go to jail, you know, if they actually gave a spanking. They would be afraid to do that.

 

And they just do...it is more of a show. It is more of a humiliation than anything. And it happens once a year. God is talking about here early, starting them young, getting them appropriate discipline, not shaking, not yelling, not slapping, but just spankings on the behind where God designed a padded place for their spanking to be received.

 

Hey, that is what he is talking about, loving correction from a loving mom and dad, a loving parent who loves their child and says, “Son, I am going to spank you because I love you and because I want you to grow up and obey Jesus Christ with your life. 

 

Not a daycare, no, it is not there. 

 

But, number five, the other thing that is wrong with daycare is that God commands parents to care for their own children. I am hurrying because I am running out of time, but, you know, we saw in Deuteronomy chapter six he says, “I want you to be with your children a lot throughout the day and I want you to take the time that you are with them to teach them and train them.”

 

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”[48]

 

He doesn’t say, “Raise kids in your house and make sure that they have a binky shoved in their mouth and a food and a diaper change.”  He says, “No. Train up your child in the way he should go.  Bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,”[49] he says. And then in 1 Timothy5:14 I’ll read this for you. This is what the apostle Paul said:

 

I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.  For some are already turned aside after Satan.[50]

 

He says, “My plan for a young woman is that she be married, bear children and guide the house.”  What does guide the house mean?  Run the household, you know, keep things running.  Take care of the children.  Take care of things around the house.

 

Of course, let’s see Titus chapter two where God says, “The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers,”[51] “sober, faithful in all things,”[52]  “that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children.”[53] To be good, obedient to their own husbands, “discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good.”[54]   He says, “Stay home with your kid and raise your kid. Don’t go off to work somewhere and put your kid in daycare.  Stay home and raise your kid,” is what God says.

 

You say, “I don’t like that.”  You say, “I don’t agree with that.”

 

Well, what does the Bible say in 1 Timothy chapter two?  What does the Bible say in Titus chapter two?

 

Well, you say, “Well, I am single.  I am a single mother, maybe.”  Or you say, “Well, I am single and my husband or my baby’s daddy is not paying the bills and taking care of me.”

 

Well, look.  If you are forced to go to work to pay for yourself, you know, do anything in the world to try not to put your kid in daycare. But do you know what? If you are forced to do that I am not preaching against you.  Obviously it is the guy’s fault, the one that forsook you.  You know, that’s his fault that you are having to go to work.  But, yes, I am against women going out to work. I think they should stay home with their kids. I think they should be in the house with their children. I think that women should be keepers at home.  And I am not saying they stay home. My wife goes out and shops and everything, but she keeps this house. She runs this house every day.  She doesn’t run somebody else’s house. 

 

And I am going to tell you something. The one that is the sinner there if you have a woman who has been abandoned is obviously the man who is not paying the bills or some deadbeat who sits in front of a TV who doesn’t go to work and he is lazy. And I have seen situations where women work because her husband is on the couch and he won’t work. Hey, look. That’s his fault.  That is that sorry rascal’s fault and the Bible says that if a man know not how to...I’m sorry, if a man will not care for those of his own, especially those of his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel.[55]

 

He says if you don’t take care of your own house, if you don’t pay the bills of your own house, if you don’t make some money in your own house, he said, “If any [man] provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.”[56]  He says, “Pay the bills, dad.  Pay the bills, sir.” 

 

You say, “Pastor Anderson, does your wife go to work?”

 

No, she doesn’t.  And you know what? I work the work of two people.  I worked 70 hours this week at my job in the fire alarm business. Hey, I work the work of two people because I want my wife to be a mother to these kids because I want her to love them, I want her to discipline them. I want her to treat them like they are human beings.  I want her to spend time with them.  I want her to teach them the Word of God.  And when I am here I am going to teach them the Word of God and am going to love them and spend time with them and discipline them because that is the number one most important thing that there is is your family, number one. 

 

You say, “What about God?”

 

Hey, God is number one and he says take care of your family. He says pay the bills. He says get this down.

 

Well, I’m going to tell you. I’m running out of time, but Lamentations...turn to Job 39, Job 39:13 and I’ll read Lamentations chapter four.  Look at Job 39 and verse number 13.  The Bible reads in Lamentations 4:3, “Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.”[57]  I’ll read that one more time. Listen carefully.  He says, “Even the sea monsters.”[58]  This is referring to whales, just so you know. But he says, “Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel,”[59] In contrast to even a whale, even a sea monster.  He says she has become, “like the ostriches in the wilderness.”[60]

 

Now, understand something about science.  You know that whales are mammals.  You learn that in school, right?  Whales...and even the Bible talks about this.  God knows what he is talking about in the Bible. It is always scientifically correct. He said that these sea monsters, these whales, he says, “They draw out the breast and they give suck to their young ones.”[61] Did you know that a whale actually gives breast milk to her child?  Did you know that? Isn’t that interesting? 

 

And...but he says, “No, my people have become cruel like an ostrich in the wilderness.”[62]  Look at Job 39 and we will see what God says about the ostrich and why God is comparing the woman here who does not care for her child like even a whale does, he compares her to like an ostrich.  Look at verse number 13. 

 

Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks? or wings and feathers unto the ostrich? Which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in dust, And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them.  She is hardened.[63]

 

Look at that wording. 

 

She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers: her labour is in vain without fear; Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.[64]

 

Is she that...he says, she is hardened against her own children.  She is cruel. She just leads them somewhere.  She doesn’t even realize. She doesn’t even stop to think, you know, somebody might step on them.  Some beast might devour them.  And this is what it says. It says, “She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers.”

 

But look at the next sentence.  “Her labour is in vain without fear.”[65]  She goes off to work.  She leaves her kids in day care. Her labor is in vain. She is wasting her time.  That is...you know, so that she can have the extra...and, you know, and mainly what I am preaching about is, you know, men and women who...they both go to work, put their kid in daycare to improve their finances.

 

I have seen it all the time. “Well, we just can’t pay the bills.” 

 

Hey, then why don’t you turn off the cable TV?  Why don’t you eat rice and beans?  Why don’t you get a second job, dad, and have your kids have a parent and a mom at home taking care of the kids?

 

You know, but they want to have the three story house, the SUV. They want to have the 401K. They want to have all the nice stuff.  They want to wear the fancy clothes. They want to go on the fancy vacation. So they rack up the credit cards and then mom has got to go to work because dad is not getting the job done. 

 

Dads, get the job done. Sir, get the job done. Man, go out and work your fingers to the bone and bleed and sweat and toil and pay for your family. 

 

And so he says, “The woman, she goes out and works. She leaves her kids at home.” Or, not at home, I’m sorry. She lives them at the daycare or with a...and she doesn’t even know that something bad is going to happen to them because she is so hardened against her young ones as though they were not hers. And her labor is in vain.  You are wasting your life. 

 

The women...my wife, her...you know, she comes from a worldly family, you know, her family is not saved and everything like that. We have gotten a couple of her relatives saved, a couple of her brothers saved in the meantime and her grandmother and her aunt saved, but predominantly her family is not saved.  And they said, “You’re just going to be a stay at home mom?”  You know, this is what they said to my wife.  “Don’t you want to go out and just [?]?”

What does that mean?  You wanted us...this is a German word, [?], right? And it’s like don’t you just want to what does it mean?  I forget. I am trying to express it. It’s a real good word in German. It’s more like fulfill yourself.  You know, like have a fulfilling life where you like fulfilled everything. It is hard to explain in English. It is a real descriptive word in German.  But he...don’t you just want to go out and just like be somebody on your own and accomplish something with your life?

 

My wife could not be accomplishing any more than she has accomplishing right now by having these kids.  If she were to go out and get a job her labor would be in vain.  This is what matters. This is what is important. This is her job. This is what God created her to do. 

 

But look quickly at Matthew chapter two.  Look at Matthew chapter two and I am going to show you just two examples from the Bible and one is the example of Jesus Christ and then I am going to show you an example about Moses. But look, if you would, at Matthew chapter two verse 11. 

 

Actually, let’s start in verse number seven. Ok...I’m sorry, Matthew 2:7.  The Bible says, “Then Herod when he had privily called the wise men...”[66]  These are the three wise men coming to see Jesus Christ who has been born in chapter one.  “...enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.”[67]

 

He said, “Ok, I want you to tell me,” because remember the wise men had come from the East following the star. He said, “I want you to tell me exactly when you started seeing that star.  When did that star appear that followed to get here?”

 

And they told him exactly what time the star appeared.

 

Look down at verse number 11.  Actually, look at verse 16.  I am going to skip around. We saw 11.  We saw seven. Look at 16.  Verse 16, “Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth.”[68] That means angry, like wrath, “and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.”[69]

 

So here is the thing.  He had talked to the wise men. They said, “Well, we saw the star appear about two years ago, probably.  Or, you know, maybe they said one year ago.”

 

So he said, “Ok, well, let’s kill all the children under two.”

 

Or maybe they said it was a year and a half ago. Ok.

 

So we understand that the wise men were not seeing a new born baby when they came to see Jesus.  He was born in chapter one. The wise men traveled from a far country. They got there. Herod asked them, “When did you see the star?”  And because of the answer that he got, the Bible says that according to the time that they told him, he said, “I am going to have to kill them all from two years old and under,” based on the time that he heard from them.  So that we are looking at a two year old child is what the wise men came to see.

 

Well, look at verse 11. The Bible says, “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child.”[70]  Notice this is not called a babe anymore, not called a baby. It is a young child.  It is like John here in the front row. “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother.”[71] He was with Mary his mother.  “...and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.”[72]  “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child.”[73]  Actually they saw Mary but the young child wasn’t there because he was in daycare. And so Mary got on the phone and called the daycare center and said, “You know, I am going to be picking up my son a little bit earlier today. I am going to be in in just about 20 minutes because we have these visitors from out of town.” And she got in the car. She drove to the daycare. She picked up baby Jesus.  She got his little jacket out of the cubbyhole. She got his little...she wiped the green snot out of his nose. She grabbed his lunch sack and she drove him home and then they presented him.

 

No. They got to the house. They showed up unannounced and, sure enough, there was the young child with Mary his mother.  Isn’t that amazing?  I’m so glad Jesus wasn’t brought up in a daycare.

 

Look, if you would, at...I am going to show you the last example.  Turn to Exodus chapter two.  While you are turning to Exodus chapter two I am going to read to you from Acts seven. In Acts seven—you are turning to Exodus two—the Bible reads, “In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father’s house three months.”[74]  Ok, so he was raised in his Father’s house for three months.

 

And when he was cast out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.[75]

 

Now let’s look at Exodus chapter two verse one.  So we saw in Acts seven that he was raised in his parents’ house for three months. Then Pharaoh’s daughter took him in and trained him to be an Egyptian from there on out. 

 

But look, if you would, at Exodus 2:1.

 

And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.  And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.[76]

 

Just like we saw in Acts seven. 

 

“And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.”[77] So she puts him in a basket and puts him in theNile River.

 

And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him. 

 

And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river’s side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.  And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept.[78]

 

So here is baby Moses.  He is three months old. He is crying.  “And she had compassion on him.”[79]  Pharaoh’s daughter had compassion on this young baby. And she said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children. Then said his sister...”[80]  Remember, his sister is following afar off watching the basket.

 

Then said his sister to Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child’s mother.  And Pharaoh’s daughter said unto her...[81]

 

Watch these next four words. “Take this child away.”[82]  Do you see this?  “Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman,”[83] who was actually Moses’ mother, Jochebed, “And the woman took the child, and nursed it.  And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter...”[84] After he is grown.  Do you see that? He has grown up a little bit, just nursed it. So maybe we are talking two years or something, you know, about two years old.  “she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.”[85]

 

Turn to one last place, Hebrews 11. This is the last place we will turn, end of the Bible. It is shortly before the book of Revelation.  Hebrews chapter 11 and look at verse number 23.

 

So what do we see?  Baby Moses, he is hid by his parents. They don’t want Pharaoh to kill him. They hide him for three months.  They can’t hide him anymore. He is crying. He is making noise and everybody is going to find out.  So they take an ark of bulrushes. They daub it with pitch and slime. They put baby Moses inside the ark, set him afloat into theNile River right along the edge by the bulrushes. Miriam follows afar off from the bushes watching to see what is going to become of Moses. Pharaoh’s daughter happens to show up to go for a swim in theNile River with her maidens. They come down to the river. They see this basket. They open the basket and say...well, you know, the baby is crying and everything. They open it and Pharaoh’s daughter just fell in love with this newborn baby and said, “I have compassion on it. I am going to take care of this child and raise him to be my own son.”

 

And Miriam, you know, she is thinking fast.  She is just, “Well, wait a minute. Do you want me to call one of the Hebrew women to nurse this child for you?”

 

And think about Pharaoh’s daughter’s mind for a second. She says, “Well, wait a second.  A baby three months old.  Obviously I can’t nurse it because I didn’t give birth to the child.”  And so she says, “Do you know what I am going to do?  I am just going to have her raise it, you know, for like until it is two, just nurse it.  Take it away, you know.  Even take it with you. She doesn’t have to come to my house or anything.  I am just going to send the child home with you and I want you to nurse it for me and get it past...you know, get it out of diapers.  Get it past the nursing. I don’t want to mess with all that stuff,” because this isn’t even the child’s mother. I mean, sure she has compassion on it. She wants to take care of it.  But not enough to where she wants the thing screaming in the middle of the night and not to where she wants to watch it 24 hours a day and change the diapers and feed it. 

 

And so she just says, “Take it away and you raise it for the first couple of years because the first couple of years don’t matter anyway, ok.  And then after those couple of years you bring him back to me and I am going to raise him to be my son.”

 

And what did she do?  We saw in Acts seven she taught him all the learning of the Egyptians.  She taught him all the wisdom of the Egyptians. She taught him the language of the Egyptians. She trained him and taught him. He was in the Egyptian public schools just learning everything. She diligently trained him in these things. What happened?

 

Well, when he was 40 years old let’s see what happened. Look at Hebrews 11:23.  “By faith Moses,”[86] Hebrews 11:23. “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.  By faith Moses, when he was come to years...”[87]  We know that he was 40 years old from Acts seven. 

 

By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.  By faith he forsookEgypt, not fearing the wrath of the king:[88]

 

Now, do you notice the similarity? They didn’t fear the king’s commandments. Forty years later Moses didn’t’ fear the wrath of the king.  “Not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.”[89]

 

Isn’t that amazing?  You take a child who is put in daycare, well, not in daycare actually because he is given to the legitimate mother. She thinks she is putting him in daycare, basically, but it turned out it was the child’s mom. That is why it worked out so well, because it was his legitimate mother.  She gives Moses back to his mother Jochebed and then in the house with Amram and Jochebed, his parents.  He lived in that house for the first three years. Then he was there until he was probably about two years old, until he was through nursing and he was weaned.

 

So two years...just for zero, one, two, you know just a couple of years in there he is raised in his parents house.  And what does he do?  He grows up to be just like the people who raised him for the first three years, nothing like the people who raised him for the next 37 years.  Isn’t that amazing?  I mean here is Moses. He is brainwashed for 37 years. He has taught all the world’s garbage, all ofEgypt’s junk. But do you know what?  Somewhere in spite of them he went back to how he was programmed when he was a tiny little baby for the first three years of his life when mom carried him around and sang to him, probably. You can imagine this mother nursing her child, sees him, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.  Oh, what a foretaste of glory of divine. This is my story, this is my...”

 

And that child grew up and he said, “Do you know what? There is more, the foretaste of glory divine. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.  There is more to life than what I see here inEgypt.”

 

It says, “He endured, as seeing him who is invisible.”[90]  He didn’t fear the wrath of the king, just like dad.  Remember, dad didn’t fear the wrath of the king either. Remember?  Mom and dad loved God.  He grew up and he loved God. He grew up and he said, “I don’t to be the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.”

 

He went back.  He came full circle in his mind to the way he was trained as just a new born baby.

 

Do you know what?  Go ahead and raise your kids from age three to 20 or three to 18 or three to 16 or three to 40, however you want to look at it. Go ahead and do that.  But I will tell you something. When they come to 40 years old or maybe even when they come to 18 years old or 16 years old or 21 years old. Do you know what? They are going to be refused to be called your son. They are going to say, “Do you know what?  I still have Oops, I did it Again in my head from when I was in the daycare. I am still singing to the tune of Ricky Martin. I am still singing to the tune of Elton John. I still remember all the movies that I saw in daycare.  Hey, I still remember what it was like when it was just all about my physical appetites. That was all that mattered to you. I was put in a cage like an animal. I was treated like trash and shaken and yelled at.” He says, “That’s the life I am going to live.” 

 

And you wonder why these people who ship off their kids to some daycare, they ship them off to some preschool somewhere. They ship them off to some Christian school somewhere.  Let somebody else raise them. Let somebody else do it. Hey, let somebody else do it. And they will grow up and call me blessed.

 

No. They will grow up and say, “Do you know what?  We don’t have a lot in common. There’s a generation gap, mom and dad.  I just don’t feel like I have that much in common with you, because, you know, my taste buds were programmed at a very young age, a lot different than your taste buds are. I’m sorry, mom and dad, I don’t like the hymns of the faith. I don’t like To God be the Glory. I don’t like Blessed Assurance.  I like the [?].”  That was the other song that was on that stupid CD.  “I like [?].  Ok, I don’t like To God be the Glory. Listen to me. Hey, I like Brittney Spears  Baby, One More Time.  Ok.  I don’t like Higher Ground and Blessed Assurance.  There is a generation gap and so I am going to move out.  I am going to get an earring and I am going to go out to rock concerts and stuff,” because, hey, that’s who they were raised by, somebody who is on WIC and welfare who has two kids from two different guys and is talking about it with her friends in front of little ears. 

 

“Oh, kids don’t understand anything.”

 

My kids understand every word that is coming out of my mouth right now. My two year old son, my four year old son, my five and a half year old son understand every word that is coming out of my mouth right now. They come to me after the service and tell me what I preached. They come to me weeks later and say, “Hey, remember this sermon.” They know what is going on.  And those little ears know what is going on in that daycare.  They know what is going on whether it is the Baptist daycare, whether it is the Christian daycare, whether it is the world’s daycare. 

 

Hey, listen, my friend. Take the child and give it to its mother is what the Bible says.  And so lets bow our heads and have a word of prayer. 

 

God, I love you and I thank you so much for the four children that you have given me. I pray that you will give me many more as you see fit. And, Father, I just pray that you would bless everyone that is in this room, people that are here in church. They love you. That is why they came to church on Sunday morning in 2007 in the world that we live in, dear God.  They still think church is important and they can go to some church where it is a rock concert and a bunch of girls in mini skirts are up singing and swaying and the words are on the screen like a karaoke bar.  They could be at that church if they wanted to this morning.  But, dear God, they came to a church where they could learn the Bible, where they could learn the truth, where they could hear preaching from somebody who loves them enough to tell them the truth even when it hurts a little bit. And so, Father, I pray that everyone would receive the message this morning in the spirit in which it is given, a spirit of love for my own children and also—as Pharaoh’s daughter—I have compassion for other people’s children, enough to warn their parents and say, “Please, mom and dad.  Don’t just drop your kids off with every uncle and every second cousin twice removed.  Please don’t drop your kids off at some daycare. Please don’t let people watch your kids like they watch a dog.  Please don’t drop them off and put them in a cage and put them in a box and change their diaper and let snot stream down their nose and scream and yell,” dear God.  Please, God, help every person in this room to understand that they might have a little baby Moses in their house and they had better make sure that that baby Moses grows up and decides which side he is going to be on and that he doesn’t pick the Egypt side.  But, God, please help every child that is affected by anyone in this room to choose to be on the Lord’s side as Moses did.

 

And, Father, we love you so much and thank you for...