Dr. Cecil A. Fayard - 2001 Sermons
Mother's Day
Sunday, May 13, 2001   

INTRODUCTION: It is not easy to be a good mother. Motherhood is wonderful, it is important, it is to be desired, but it is not easy to be a mom.

Many mothers face terrible storms of disappointment, grief, sorrow and heartache in this life.

Rizpah had two sons who had committed no crime, yet they were hung upon crosses because of the sin of another. Clarence Sexton calls the story of Rizpah, "The story of a lonely hill and a mother's love."

1. The Background of This Story
   1. At the time of our story David is king of Israel. He is seated where Saul had once sat.

   2. Famine
      1. At the time of our story there had been a three-year famine and David went to the Lord to find out why the rain had been withheld. God let David know that the famine was on the land because of Saul's mistreatment of the Gibeonites.
         
         1. Back in Joshua 9 we read of how the Gibeonites had tricked Joshua into thinking they had been traveling for a long time when he met them in the wilderness. Joshua promised them that he would not hurt or destroy them. Later he found out that they lived in that area and had put on old clothing to trick Joshua. Joshua was a man of his word and he had promised not to hurt them, and had done so in the name of the Lord, so he took no action.
            
         2. Years later, Saul in his zeal, as II Samuel 21:2 says, "sought to slay them (the Gibeonites)."
            
         3. Saul is now dead, yet the Lord's anger had been stirred because of what Saul had done and a famine now gripped the land to punish Israel for Saul's sin. We see in this, that the sin of a nation's leader does affect the nation.

   3. Verses 3-9, The Dead
      
      1. Verse. 3, David wanted to know what he could do to settle the matter and he was blessed.
         
      2. Verse 4, notice that they did not want silver or gold. David then says, "what ye shall say, that will I do for you." This was a bad mistake!
         
      3. Verses 5-7, These verses tell a sad story of death and heartache.
         
      4. Verse. 8, two of the men to be killed were Rizpah's sons.
         
      5. Verse 9, Rizpah's sons were hanged on a hill. How sad and oh how tragic.

   4. Verses 10-11, a Mother's Love
      
      1. In verse 9 we read that these men were hanged on a hill. According to the law of the law they where to hang there until their bodies rotted and the wild beasts tore their flesh from the bones and the vultures plucked their eyes out.
         
      2. On that hill those men were hanged was a mother, she camped out there and would not allow the bodies of her boys to be mutilated. This is a tragic story, but it is the true story of a mother's love and of the pain that mothers often face. Let's take a few moments to look at a mother's love.

2. Her Love Causes Her Much Agony
   1. Oh, the agony that Rizpah felt when her sons were executed. I believe that every mother has experienced some agony because of her children. Surely not all have suffered as Rizpah, but they have suffered all the same.

   2. As long as we live in this old world love will bring with it agony.
      1. Rizpah was in agony because of how others treated her sons.
         
      2. A mother hurts when her children do not even realize.

3. Her love is often put to the test
   1. Mothers are tried by the way their children live, the places they go, the friends they have, the attitude the display. Mom is tried by those things because she cares, because she loves.

   2. Mom is tried by the heartaches and troubles that her children face.
      
      1. She cares enough to pray for their troubles.
         
      2. She cares enough to enquire about them.

   3. A mother is sorely tried by the death of a child. Just recently a mother said to me at the death of her son, "Preacher, it is not supposed to be like this, the children are supposed to bury their parents, not the parents their children." Oh, how Rizpah was sorely tried by the death of her sons.

4. Her Love is self-sacrificing.
   1. Mother's are different from anyone else in the world; they love because it is their nature to do so.

   2. A mother goes on loving when the wayward child has broken her heart over and over again.

      Oh, a mother's love,
      Who can tell it's worth?
      There is no love like it.
      No, not in all the earth;
      Often you have hurt her,
      By your words and deeds;
      Yet, you will find her;
      Ever near your needs."CAF

   3. It is mother who most often cares for the sick child. It is mother who will most likely wipe the tears from Johnny's eyes. She puts the methyolate on, and after that the Band-Aid. She wipes the fevered brow and fixes chicken noodle soup.

   4. Mother's are known for doing without so that a child could have what they needed.
      1. Mother cares that you eat right, dress right, and are clean.
      2. Every good and Godly mother wants the best for her children.

5. Her love is persevering.
   1. Mothers just go on loving no matter what. They go on doing all they can persistently.

   2. Think again of Rizpah. For six months she persevered day and night. For six months she kept the vultures away from the bodies of her sons.

   3. Mom - keep on keeping on. Don't let the hearts of this world get to your sons and daughters. Do all in your power to keep the vultures of this world away from your children.
      1. There are some places they ought not to go. Stop them.
         
      2. There is a place they need to be, church. Go with them.

6. Two mother's and their love.
   1. Rizpah stood by the Tree on which her sons were hung (Some say crucified.). Mary stood by the cross on which her son was hanged, "in the hill of the Lord."

   2. Here "we have a shadow of Golgotha." (Rodkyer, 144)
      
      1. In II Samuel 21, seven innocent men were hanged to atone for the sin of Saul.
         
         1. They bore the curse of the broken promise, "cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree."
            
         2. The trees on the hill of Gibea pointed to the cross of Calvary.
            
         3. On the cross of Calvary Christ bore our curse.
            
      2. The seven men who hung on Gibea's hill did so to satisfy the demands of justice. Christ died to satisfy His Father's justice and righteousness. Christ opened the way for our salvation. He is our altar; he is our hope.