Every year on July 4th our nation celebrates the anniversary of its independence in 1776.  This year marks the 238th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence by delegates to the Continental Congress.  Although we mark our independence as a nation from this date, American colonists had been at war with the British since 1775, and would not win final victory until 1782.  A formal peace treaty, signed in 1783, ended the war and established the United States of America as a sovereign nation.

While most of us know the general history of our nation’s founding, we have in recent years been led to believe that our founding fathers were only marginally religious, and that they intended the government of this new nation to be free of any religious influence.  Even a cursory reading of the Declaration of Independence, the speeches and letters of the founders, and the written opinions of early members of the Supreme Court shows that this is not true.  The founders were devoutly religious, and more importantly, they were decidedly Christian in their religious views.  Many a founder made public statements of the need for the nation to be led by “Divine Providence,” an 18th and 19th century term that referred to the God of the Bible.  However, flawed their particular denominational beliefs may have been, one thing is certain.  The founders understood and believed that a nation can only prosper if it submits itself to the God of the Bible.  (A five-part video series entitled, “The Silencing of God,” presented by Dr. Dave Miller, traces the Christian roots of our nation through the founding documents of our nation, and the speeches and letters of the founders.  It is available for viewing on YouTube at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2DH_zlM1Z0)

This, of course, is a fundamental biblical truth.  In Prov. 14:34 Solomon said, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.”  The history of the nations that populated the promised land, and of Israel after the conquest, bears out this truth.  Before Moses died he reminded the people of Israel that God was removing the pagan nations from the promised land because of their wickedness.  In Deut. 9:5 Moses said, “It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

Moses went on to warn Israel that if they lived in obedience to God’s commands, He would bless them more abundantly than they could imagine (Deut. 28:1-14).  But, if they failed to live in obedience to His commands, God would strike them with multiple curses and drive them from the land (Deut. 28:15-68).  When we read Israel’s history we discover this it went exactly as Moses had warned them.  When they obeyed God, they prospered, reaching the height of their glory under David and Solomon.  However, when they turned away from God’s law He brought curses upon them. The ten northern tribes went into captivity about 721 B.C. and never returned.  The southern tribes went into captivity for seventy years in Babylon, beginning about 605 B.C., and returned only when they turned their hearts back to God.

The lesson for us today should be obvious.  If we want our nation to be blessed by God and to prosper, we must return to Him in obedience to His will.  The founders of our nation understood this and actively worked to incorporate basic Christian principles into the fiber of American life.  Unfortunately, many of our current leaders not only do not want us to be bound by Christian principles, they are determined to promote the open practice of the kind of behaviors that caused God to drive the pagan nations from the promised land.  May we as a nation turn back to God before it is too late, for “righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.”

The most extensive collection of the Lord’s teachings is found in the section of Matthew’s gospel that we call the Sermon on the Mount.  It is recorded in chapters 5-7, and lays the foundation for how disciples of Christ are to live their lives in service to their Lord.  Much of what the Lord said on that occasion showed that those who followed Him were expected to live up to a higher standard than that of the world and of the religions of that day.  This is a principle that remains true today.

One of the ways in which the Lord illustrated the higher standard to which His disciples are called is found in Mt. 7:13, 14.  Here the Lord said, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.  For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

The importance of this statement is seen in the context in which the Lord made it.  In Mt. 5:21-48 the Lord spoke of six teachings common at that time, and in each case commanded His disciples to live to a higher, more spiritual standard of conduct.  In Mt. 6 He commanded His disciples to give, pray, and fast in a way that brought honor to God rather than to themselves, contrary to what the hypocrites did.  He also commanded them to seek God’s kingdom and righteousness first, so that all their physical needs would be supplied by Him.

In Mt. 7 the Lord’s command to enter through the narrow gate appears in the context of proper judgment, treating others as one would like to be treated, and also distinguishing good spiritual food from bad spiritual food.  His disciples are commanded to enter through the narrow gate, because there are false prophets out there who lead people to destruction by their false teaching.  This command and warning is all the more important because only those who do the Father’s will are going to enter heaven (Mt. 7:21).

The significance of this statement has never been more evident than it is today.  The pressure in society and in much of the religious world is to become inclusive.  We are being bullied into silence on biblical truth by progressives whose goal is that every kind of conduct, except righteousness, must be allowed and condoned in society.  This pressure has led some churches to surrender biblical teaching on subjects like abortion and homosexuality so they will remain in favor with the world.

The Lord, however, could not be clearer than He was in the Sermon on the Mount.  He said that there are many in the way that leads to destruction.  He said that the narrow way is one that few find. The narrow way is found by few not because it is so difficult to discover, but rather because it requires those who walk in it to live by a higher standard than the world’s.  The narrow way requires us to recognize the difference between bad fruit and good fruit, and to choose the good fruit.  It requires us to obey God’s will, instead of requiring Him to sanctify our ungodly lifestyles.

The narrow way also requires us to reject any teaching that has originated with men.  In Mt. 15:8, 9 the Lord condemned the Pharisees and scribes because they set aside God’s law by their human traditions.  In Mt. 7:22, 23 the Lord said that many religious people will be rejected by Him at judgment for this very reason.  He said, “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'”

There is no doubt that these are sincere and devoutly religious people, but in the end all their good works will stand for nothing because they did not obey God’s will and did not walk in the narrow way.  For this reason we must be careful to always remain in the narrow way that leads to eternal life.

We sometimes hear preachers speak of “dying to sin.”  Usually this statement is made in the context of conversion to Christ.  The penitent believer is told that he must “die to sin” and then be baptized in order to have his sins washed away.  This formula has been repeated so often and for so long, that we hardly think about it when we hear it or say it.  While this principle is certainly biblical, the scriptures do not describe it in the same way as many do today.

In Rom. 6:1, 2 Paul said, “What shall we say then?  Are we to continue in sin so that grace may abound?  May it never be!  How shall we who died to sin still live in it?”  In the previous chapter of Romans Paul discussed how the multiplying of man’s awareness of sin because of the Law of Moses led to the increased grace that came from God to forgive sin.  Anticipating the conclusion that some might draw from his argument Paul asked the questions in Rom. 6:1, 2.  His point was that Christians have died to sin, and therefore are not to continue in it.  Then, in vs. 3-7 he told them at what point they died to sin.  He said, “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?  Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.  For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.”

Rom. 6:3-7 is the beautiful imagery of baptism as uniting us in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, so that our old body of sin might be done away with (v. 6), and we are freed from sin (v. 7).  This is the point at which one dies to sin, and not before, because it is in baptism that our sins are removed (Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16, et al).  When we are baptized, we are released from our sins by the blood of Christ (Rev. 1:5).  In baptism we are separated from our sins.

This is what death is.  It is separation.  When a person physically dies, his soul is separated from his body.  When one is spiritually dead, his soul is separated from God.  Isa. 59:2 tells us that our sins separate us from God.  Thus, we are spiritually dead in reference to Him.  If we stand before Him at judgment in this condition, we will be separated from Him forever and ever in the lake of fire, which is the second death (Rev. 20:14, 15).

In a similar manner, to be dead to sin means that one is separated from sin.  This separation only occurs when our sins have been washed away by our obedience to the gospel.  The preacher Ananias told Saul of Tarsus, “Now why do you delay?  Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name” (Acts 22:16).  Since it is the blood of Christ that separates us from sin, we cannot die to sin until we have been washed in His blood.

This does not mean that we make no change in our disposition toward sin before baptism.  On the contrary, we must have a change of heart regarding sin before we are immersed into Christ.  This change of heart is called repentance.  In Lk. 13:3 Jesus said that unless we repent, we will perish.  In Acts 17:30 Paul said that God has commanded all men everywhere to repent.

To repent means to change one’s mind toward something.  In this case it means to change our mind about sin.  We make the choice to turn away from sin and to turn to Christ.  We decide that we will no longer serve sin, but will serve our Lord.  When we repent of our sins, we are ready to submit to baptism for the forgiveness of our sins, so we will from that day forward be dead to sin.  One who is dead to sin no longer continues in sin, but walks in the Light so the blood of Jesus continually cleanses him (1 Jn. 1:7-10).

Some time ago my youngest son made an observation about how preachers typically react to the Mother’s Day and Father’s Day celebrations.  He noted that on Mother’s Day we tend to praise mothers to the highest heavens.  Then, on Father’s Day, we lower the boom on Dads.  Upon reflection, his intentional hyperbole isn’t far wrong.  We tend to preach flowery sermons about our Moms and then challenge Dads to get their acts together.

Lost somewhere in our collective consciousness is a subtle truth that most of us have overlooked or minimized.  That is the great sacrifice that fathers make in order to fulfill their primary role as bread-winners for their families.  Admittedly, some men so immerse themselves in their work that they neglect their responsibility to be the spiritual heads of their households.  But, the truth is that most men do make a conscientious effort to help raise their children properly.  The problem is that we have never asked fathers how they feel about having to leave their wife and their children day after day to go to work.

Do we care that many fathers miss out on some of the most cherished experiences as their children grow up?  When baby first says, “Mama,” how many times is it when Dad is at work?  When those first tottering steps are taken, it happens when it happens, but Dad may be on the job when it does.  As the children grow older, we hear all about “soccer moms,” but in many cases it’s because Dad can’t take off work for weekday afternoon games or practice.  Collectively we haven’t given this much thought, but Dads deserve some credit for willingly sacrificing these kinds of memories in order to provide for their loved ones.

Being a godly father is a heavy burden.  However, it is a burden made bearable when a father devotes himself to the Lord and relies on his Father in heaven to help him bear it.  When we look into the scriptures, we do not read many stories about great fathers, except in the parables of Jesus.  In fact, some of our greatest heroes in the scriptures were less than ideal fathers.  We may wonder why there aren’t many examples of great men who were also great fathers.  Perhaps it is because the best example of a great father is our Father in heaven.

He is the one who promised through His servant Moses that He would never fail or forsake His people (Deut. 31:6, 8).  So important was this promise that the writer of Hebrews quoted it for the benefit of Christians in Heb. 13:5.  The promise of His abundant care and provision for His people is attested to by no less a person than Jesus Christ, who counseled the people to seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness, and all their physical needs would be added to them (Mt. 6:33).

Our Father in heaven is also the epitome of love for His people.  We all know that he loved us so much He gave His only begotten Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins (Jn. 3:16).  He demonstrated His love for us while we were yet sinners (Rom. 5:8), making provision for our salvation before we even recognized the need for it.  As much as our earthly fathers love us, there isn’t any comparison to the love of our Father in heaven.

His great example does not minimize or discount the efforts of our earthly fathers, though.  As they go to work each day and do all they can to care for us physically and spiritually, they are emulating their Father in heaven.  God bless godly fathers who sacrifice so much that we cherish in life in order to provide for us, and to show their sons how to be godly men.  We don’t say it often enough, but, “Thanks, Dad!  Thanks for all you do!”

We sometimes say that the only certainties in life are death and taxes.  We say this because we tend to see these things as unavoidable.  Try as one may to escape it, eventually the tax man catches up with everybody.  And, despite our best efforts to prolong life, eventually everyone will die.

No one relishes the idea of these two certainties.  We do whatever we must in order to deal with them as best we can.  Thus, we try to take the kinds of actions during the year that will help minimize our tax bill at the end of the year.  Likewise, we try to make the most of our lives, because we know at some point they will end.

If these were the only certainties in life, it would make for a dreary existence.  It would be impossible to have any true joy or hope.  The scriptures, however, teach us that there are indeed other certainties for which we should prepare.  Unlike death and taxes, though, not all of these certainties are bad.

One certainty is that the Lord Jesus Christ will come again.  When He was taken up into heaven in the clouds, two angels assured the apostles that He would return again in the same manner (Acts 1:9-11).  Paul told the Christians in Thessalonica to comfort one another with the assurance that the Lord would come again and they would meet Him in the air (1 Th. 4:13-18).

Another certainty is that when the Lord comes again, the physical realm will be utterly destroyed.  Peter spoke of this in 2 Pet. 3:10-13, telling his readers that the heavens would be destroyed by burning and the elements will melt with intense heat.  This is because God has preserved the present world for fire, and for the day of judgment and the destruction of ungodly men (2 Pet. 3:7).

This, of course, leads us to the next certainty.  At the end of time all of mankind will stand before God to be judged according to His word.  John the apostle described this scene in Rev. 20:11-15.  All the dead, both great and small, will stand before God’s throne.  The books will be opened, and everyone will be judged by what is written in the books.  Those whose names are not written in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death (Rev. 20:14, 15).  There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever (Rev. 20:10).

This certainty establishes another certainty.  There is a place of punishment and a place of reward.  The place of punishment, called the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10, 15), is what we commonly call hell.  It is a real place that is characterized as “outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Mt. 25:30).

As certain as hell is, so also is the place of reward for the righteous.  In Jn. 14:1-4 Jesus promised the apostles that He was going away to prepare a place for them to be with Him for eternity.  That place is heaven, the new Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2), where the righteous will be in the presence of Almighty God forever and ever.

These certainties should receive greater attention from us than even death and taxes, for they relate to our eternal destiny.  When the time is right, our Lord will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God (1 Th. 4:16).  He will deal out retribution to those who do not know God, and to those who do not obey the gospel (2 Th. 1:7, 8).  This will happen because God said He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished (Ex. 34:6, 7).

On the other hand, those who have obeyed the gospel, and have lived faithfully for the Lord will be ushered into eternal bliss, where every tear will be wiped away (Rev. 7:17).  Of this we may be certain.

We hear much today about the need for acceptance.  We are told that we must accept people as they are without any reflection on their attitudes or their conduct.  We are told that it is intolerant to be critical of another person’s beliefs or practices.  We are told that we must not judge another’s lifestyle because no single way of life is superior to any others.  All the while, of course, anyone who dares speak of the objective standard of God’s word is berated and persecuted for being hateful and unloving.

The hidden agenda in this effort is to win approval for all kinds of deviant lifestyles and attitudes.  The way to do this is to get people first to tolerate a practice.  Once the practice is tolerated, then it becomes accepted.  Once accepted, it is then approved.  We see this playing out in the ongoing efforts of the homosexual lobby to bring homosexuality into the mainstream of society, and even of Christianity.

As a propaganda tactic, it is a stroke of genius, and it is working in our nation.  More and more of our young people have been conditioned to the point that they think nothing of the practice of homosexuality.  They bristle at the suggestion that such activity is wrong, because they have been taught that it is never wrong to love.  Political opportunists, the entertainment industry, and social media have all jumped on the bandwagon and have joined forces to demonize anyone and everyone who disagrees with their views.

Those who are believers are pressured from all sides to give in to this tide of opinion.  However, we must not surrender to it because the scriptures teach us that there is a difference between acceptance and approval.  Acceptance is an accommodation that we grant to one another when we have differences on matters of opinion.  In Rom. 14:1-23 Paul spoke of the need to accommodate a weaker brother whose conscience would not allow him to eat meat, or whose conscience led him to observe certain days in a religious manner while others did not.  The point in the discussion is that neither of these things is of eternal consequence.  Paul told the Christians in Rome that they should accept one another as brothers in Christ, in spite of these differences.  This acceptance, however, did not mean that they approved of those practices.  They simply allowed each other to hold his own personal opinions on these matters.

The true measure of approval, from a biblical standpoint, is all about doing what God requires of us.  In 2 Tim. 2:15 Paul said we are to be diligent to show ourselves approved to God by accurately handling the word of truth.  In Phil. 1:9-11 Paul’s prayer for the church in Philippi was that they would abound in “real knowledge and discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”

The point of scripture is that we cannot be approved unless we are obedient to God’s word.  God loves the world, but He only approves of those who obey the gospel and live faithfully in His service.  Those who belong to Him cannot approve of any attitude, action, or lifestyle that violates God’s will.  We must accept those who practice such things as the masters of their own destinies, and as citizens of our land, but our acceptance of them as individuals does not mean that we approve of their actions.  God’s word will judge us at the last day (Jn. 12:48).  Therefore, we must live so as to be approved by its standards when judgment comes.

The Memorial Day holiday was begun as a time to honor fallen Union soldiers in the aftermath of the Civil War.  Over time it came to be a day to honor all the war dead from all the wars of our nation.  From the first observance of this occasion in 1868, and continuing for about 100 years, this day was a solemn remembrance of those who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our country.  In the last 40 years or so the original intent of this date has been lost on most people.  We routinely hear media people speaking of Memorial Day as the official beginning of the summer vacation season, with hardly a mention of the true reason for this day.  Families meet for food, and for fun and games, or they leave town for a quick get-away to any nearby recreational site.

Those who remember the real meaning of Memorial Day are saddened by the lack of respect for our war dead.  We wonder how our nation could have strayed so far from the noble intent of this day of remembrance.  The simple answer is also the most condemning to our society.  It is that we have failed to tell the story of why we have such a day on our calendar.  We have raised generations of Americans who know little of, and care even less for, the sacrifices made in past conflicts so they could live in freedom.  It is a sad indictment on our nation.

This same neglect took place long ago in the nation of Israel with regard to the Passover.  When God was about to bring Israel out of Egypt, He gave them instructions for a memorial to be held each year at a specified time so they would always remember what He had done for them.  God warned Israel not to forget what He had done (Dt. 6:12), but many centuries later Israel had long forsaken this memorial.  A young king named Josiah discovered the book of the Law, and when he read it, he tore his clothes in shame over this neglected memorial.  He re-instituted the Passover and held a feast such as had not been seen since the time of the prophet Samuel (2 Chr. 35:18).

In the church we also have a solemn memorial, given to us by the Lord Himself.  On the night of His betrayal, while He and the twelve were observing the Passover, the Lord took the unleavened bread of the Passover meal and one of the cups from the meal, and gave them to the twelve as a memorial meal to be eaten in remembrance of the sacrifice He was about to make for the sins of the world (Mt. 26:26-30).  Writing about this some years later, Paul told the church in Corinth that whenever they ate this meal they proclaimed the Lord’s death until He comes (1 Cor. 11:26).  In the early church the Lord’s Supper was the primary purpose for their gathering each Lord’s Day, even taking precedence over a visit from Paul the apostle (Acts 20:7).

Paul’s instructions to the church in Corinth (1 Cor. 11:23-26), and the practice of the church in Troas (Acts 20:7), show us that the apostolic church observed the Lord’s Supper every first day of the week.  It did so because this is the day the Lord came forth from the tomb (Mt. 28:1-7), and it is the day on which the church was established (Acts 2:38-47).  Therefore, those who revere the sacrifice of Christ on the cross remember Him every Lord’s Day by doing as the first Christians did, eating the unleavened bread and drinking the cup of the new covenant in His blood, declaring His death until He comes again.

May we never be guilty of neglecting the memorial of this, the greatest of sacrifices.  Let us tell and retell the story of the Lord’s sacrifice to every generation, and faithfully observe His memorial every Lord’s Day, lest we forget the great thing God has done for us.

One of the recruiting slogans for the United States Air Force is a very simple, but powerful statement.  It is, “Aim High.”  This slogan usually appears on a poster with a stylized jet aircraft streaking upward in a vertical climb.  The Air Force is obviously playing off the fact that their job is in large measure done high in the skies.  At the same time, this slogan also reflects the higher educational standards that must be met by Air Force recruits.

The idea of aiming high is a principle that applies to every aspect of life.  In one form or another most of us have been urged to be the best we can be in everything we do.  Most of us have, in turn, urged our children, or others with whom we have influence, to be the best they can be.  Every time someone exhorts us in this way, and every time we exhort another in this way, we are telling them to aim high.

Part of the reason for aiming high is so that if we for some reason fail to reach our goal, we will at least have reached higher than if we had not set so high a goal.  For example, a student whose goal is simply to pass a course in school will not put out the same effort as a student whose goal is to get on the “A” honor roll.  With such a low aim point, any lack of success is likely to end up with a failing grade.  On the other hand, the student trying for the highest academic achievement may not successfully reach it, but he will still achieve far above many of his counterparts.

The same principle applies to our spiritual walk.  Those who are Christians are exhorted by scripture to aim high.  We have been called to a higher calling, and we can only reach that higher calling by purposely aiming for it.  Paul the apostle particularly emphasized this principle in several of his letters.  In Phil. 3:14-16 he said, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.”  The “upward call of God” of which Paul spoke is our higher calling.  It is a standard that surpasses that of the world in every respect, and the apostle expected us to aim for it, just as he himself did.

In Col. 3:1 Paul again urged Christians to aim high.  He said, “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.”  His point is obvious.  Christians should have their focus above, where the Lord is, rather than on the earth and the things of the earth.  We cannot attain to the upward call of God in Christ if we are not aiming high; that is, if we are not focused on our Lord and on His word.

In 1 Tim. 3:13 Paul gave a practical example of what aiming high achieves.  Speaking of deacons who serve faithfully he said, “For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.”  Those who aim high in spiritual things will, with God’s help, reach their goal, and they will be rewarded for it, both here in life and in eternity.

No one denies that aiming high requires extra effort in order to reach such a lofty goal.  That effort, however, is more than repaid when one aims high and reaches his goal.  God’s desire is that we aim high spiritually so He can bring us into heaven at the end of time.  Now that is a goal worth aiming for!

“The hand that rocks the cradle, rules the world.”  So goes the well-known proverb.  It is a truth that is so powerful that it has become self-evident.  The influence of mothers cannot be overstated, it is so important.  Conversely, the neglect of that influence is so powerful that it cannot go unchallenged.

We live in a world where certain basic values have been eroded by the influence of skeptics whose godless ways have made a mockery of motherhood and all it was intended by God to be.  Very often today the “hand that rocks the cradle” is a stranger, the paid hireling at the day care center.  Many children spend more time with these care givers than they do with their parents.  This ought not to be so.

Children are a gift from the Lord.  They are a sacred trust.  They are precious souls who are entrusted to parents for spiritual as well as physical nurturing.  When we bring a child into the world we begin a life that will exist throughout eternity.  The eternal destiny of that soul is largely the responsibility of the parents.  The wise man said, “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Prov. 22:6).  It is our God-given duty to bring up our children in the “discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4).

No one is better at this than mothers.  Of course this does not excuse fathers from their required participation in this responsibility, but it is the mother who has special power to accomplish God’s purpose in this regard.  The scriptures are full of the examples of godly mothers who molded their offspring for God’s use.  From Jochebed, the mother of Moses, to Hannah, the mother of Samuel, to Eunice, the mother of Timothy, we see the influence of the hand that rocks the cradle.  We see this influence even in those cases in which the father was not as involved in the process as he should have been.

There are many in the family of God who are there in large measure because of the influence of their mothers.  I am one.  My mother made certain that I learned to love the Lord.  She did so even though my father was not a Christian until I was in my teens.  She taught me the importance of being in the assembly on the Lord’s Day.  She taught me that obedience to the Lord was the most important choice I would ever make.  She formed in me the basic attitudes toward God and His word that have sustained me to this point in my life.  She did this in spite of her own struggles as a Christian.  She was not perfect, but she was, and still is today, a child of God.

It is not enough to give life to a child.  Our society is overrun with children who have been abandoned by their mothers.  It is not enough to nurture a child physically.  All around us are well-fed children who are morally bankrupt, or well on the way to it.  We need mothers who will do whatever it takes to nurture the soul as well as the body.  We need mothers who have more concern for their children’s souls than for material possessions.  Those who act on this concern in obedience to God’s word will receive a great reward.

It is a challenge to be a godly mother.  No one would dispute this truth.  To all those mothers who have met this challenge, or are now meeting this challenge, we honor you today.  God bless you.  We love you, and we say to you, in the most heartfelt and sincere way, “Thanks Mom!”

Everything we need to know in order to be saved and to live faithfully on the earth is plainly stated in the scriptures.  Of these things there should be no doubt in anyone’s mind because God has clearly revealed them for us.  On the other hand, there are some subjects in the scriptures that are difficult to grasp, even for the most knowledgeable and experienced among us.  One of these subjects is eternity.

Our difficulty in understanding eternity begins with the fact that we have no frame of reference with which to compare it.  Our existence is marked by, and limited by, the passing of time.  Even our best attempts to try to illustrate eternity must be expressed in terms of time.  One example of this is to imagine that the earth is a solid steel ball.  A bee flies along the earth’s equator, where the greatest circumference is found, with its wing tip just brushing the surface of the ball.  Imagine how long it would take for this bee to wear down the surface of the ball by 1/4″.  As long as that might take, eternity would have only just begun.  As impressive as this illustration may be, it doesn’t begin to explain eternity, because eternity, by its very nature, is existence outside the bounds of time.

This boggles our minds, since we have trouble trying to deal with the passing of time in our own lifetimes.  How many of us who were born in the mid-20th century remember hearing people talking about the year 2000?  That was a time that was so far distant that we just could not imagine living that long, even though it was well within our life-expectancy.  Now, nearly a decade and a half beyond the year 2000, most of us marvel at just how quickly the time went by.

One of the ways in which the scriptures express eternity is with the phrase, “forever and ever.”  The Greek word in this phrase is the root from which the English word “eternal” comes, and although it can be used with reference to a period of time, whether specific or indefinite, in this construction it refers to an endless period of time.  This phrase occurs some twenty times in the New Testament and is in an emphatic form which could literally be translated, “the forever of the forever.”

This phrase is most often used with reference to our Lord Jesus Christ, and to our God and Father in heaven.  Their reign is forever and ever.  Glory, honor, praise, and devotion are to be rendered to them forever and ever.  At the same time, this phrase also describes life after death, whether in heaven or in hell.

In Rev. 20:10 John said, “And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”  The lake of fire is called the second death in Rev. 20:14, and all those whose names are not in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:15).  This is a permanent, forever and ever condition.  Those who enter the lake of fire will never return from it, and their torment will never end.  In a similar manner, those whose names are in the book of life will enter heaven after judgment, and this condition is also forever and ever.

Although this is a difficult concept to grasp, the sad irony is that everyone will live forever and ever.  The only difference will be in the quality of that life.  The righteous will live in heaven, in the presence of Almighty God, but the unrighteous will live in the lake of fire, with the devil and his angels.  Even though we can’t quite grasp it, we must prepare for it, so we may live in heaven forever and ever.  Amen.