Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

The Wounds of a Friend Pt.2

Let's turn back to Ephesians. This morning as we talked primarily about Proverbs 27:5-6, that open rebuke is better than secret love and how faithful the wounds of a friend are to us. In the natural, we have trouble with that, but we know the biblical principle and the standard that God has set before us. The question is, are we going to do it? Are we going to love the Lord and love our brothers and sisters better than ourselves? Because the only thing that keeps us from walking in this obedience is exalting ourselves. We don't want people to be upset. We don't want to be misunderstood. We, frankly, just don't want the hassle! How many of you know that when you bring reproof to people, there's usually a hassle involved? It has to go on, and then you have to meet with them again, and then you have to talk some more, and then you have to instruct them, and then you have to help them. Then they fall down, and you have to pick them up. Your life, as Ephesians says, is getting intertwined with theirs, and the next thing you know, you've adopted them and they've become part of your burden! That's what it's all about. That's what family is all about. That's what the body of Christ is all about. So, as Father is leading us into other people's lives as we're being intertwined, as we're being knit together (as Ephesians says), as we're being built up, it does cost you your life.

It's the same as raising children-it costs you your life. You're now pouring your life into these other little people. We've got a generation today, many of them don't want kids. They want new plasma TVs, so they'll trade a kid for a plasma TV. A plasma TV is far less expensive than a kid! A new car is a lot less expensive than a kid. They want the new cars, and the plasma TVs, and the time to themselves to run and play. Kids just absorb your life. So, as we pour ourselves into them, it's got to be seen for what God intended it to be, and that's to raise up a holy seed. It's not just your being able to fulfill your maternal instincts, or your paternal desire to propagate your seed, or for your life to be carried on, as psychologists talk about. It's not about that. It's about the Kingdom of God. Now, the Catholics figured that out, so they made up a false doctrine so everybody would have a bunch of kids and build their kingdom. They weren't stupid! But so much of the Christian church today is so selfish that we don't want to have kids. We want stuff, and we're dying out. Now, don't any of you old people fear, we're not trying to get you to have more kids. You say, "Praise God, I'm free now, and dear Lord..." That's not the point I'm making. I'm talking to the young people. Leave us old people alone, right? (I'm not talking about myself; I'm an exception as usual!)

These are things that God's calling us to do-to begin to pour our lives into other lives. It's about seeing the kingdom multiplied, because two are better than one. As we become intertwined with the lives of these others, we just become strong, and the kingdom becomes strong. But in these relationships, sparks fly as iron sharpens iron. We're not always going to be quick to receive it, so don't let the sparks scare you off. Just stand there and say, "Bless God, I'm not going to let you die! I'm not sparing for your crying." We just begin to love and minister the grace of God. How patient the Lord is with us! Aren't you glad that the Lord doesn't spare for all your whining, complaining, and questioning? He just continually loves us, doesn't He? He chastens us without respect of persons as we're being conformed into His very image.

So, as we are looking at this Ephesians passage, we see the admonition that if we are children of light, our responsibility is to prove what is acceptable unto the Lord and begin to settle for nothing in our midst but the fruit of the spirit. We will not allow the unfruitful works of darkness to once be named among us. "[We will] have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but [will] rather reprove them" (Ephesians 5:11).

Let's go over it again, and again, and again, so that when Pastor Jeff asks the question tomorrow, everybody gets it right, and not 30 percent. "Well, where were you?" "I was there." "What did he say?" "Well, uh..." And it's not that it wasn't heard. I've shared before that we hear through filters. We hear what we want to hear. So, until we as a people begin to hear what God is saying to us, we're just going to continue to deal with it.

We are "Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord" (verse 10). The only thing acceptable unto God is our being conformed into the image of Jesus and the manifestation of the fruit of the spirit in our lives. That's the hallmark, and no other behavior is acceptable until we begin to produce spiritual fruit that, the Scripture says, remains. And we will have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. Now, what that means is that we'll have nothing in common. It's not acceptable to us; it's an offense.

Fellowship doesn't just mean that you guys hang out together. It's not about not hanging out with them. We are to hang out; we are to be together. But it's my job to bring reproof to you. Parents say, "Don't go hanging around with that kid anymore." Go get that kid! "Well, you know, I don't want them to have a bad influence on my child." Well, how about your child having a good influence on them? How about strengthening your child? How about giving them advice about what to do when that person invites him to do something contrary? How about memorizing a few Scriptures? We all know what's wrong with the other people's kids, so we should be able to have Scriptures for them. It's our kids we don't ever see. But the other kids-we know what all those other kids' problems are, don't we? So, sit down and give your kid some Scriptures. And when that child, that friend, or that young adult begins to do something contrary, you speak the Word. You say, "It is written." And the fact of the matter is, almost nobody in this room will respond to the Word of God with, "Oh I don't accept that; I don't believe that." They don't need our opinions; they need the Word of God. So, we bring the Word of God, because it's the power of God unto salvation. It's the washing of the water of the Word that cleanses us. When you go out with your friends, when you're around these people, have some Scripture to provide for them to understand.

Of course, the best Scripture that you can learn is in Galatians 5 (turn over there for just a moment), because everybody's going to want to find a loophole. Here it is; it's called, "...and such like" (verse 21). That answers it all. "It's not on the list. I don't see this on the list." "...and such like." We're talking about anything that's not light. We're talking about anything that doesn't bring glory to God. We're talking about these things that are becoming distracting and habitual in the lives of adolescent people who don't have the abundance of the next list: the fruit. I want to tell you something. If you have fruit in abundance, some of the marginal "such like" things are not an issue. But for those of you who have friends wanting to justify their positions that are not on the list, and you know that their trees are not so full of fruit-I mean, you can't even see the trunk, you can't see a branch, you can't see any leaves, it's just fruit-then don't worry about those folks. People won't even begin to question if you're full of fruit, except those who are trying to justify a position of their own carnality. They'll want to pick and try and compare themselves.

Are you getting the point? It's not acceptable. It's not once to be named, and it's your job to challenge them. We're the body. We are those units that are being knit together. You're the ones that are rubbing up against those people. They don't run into some of the rest of us. It's you! Are you being a proper representative of the light of God? Are you an individual who is being used to sharpen the lives of your friends? Or have you listened to the song of the fools, who sing about how great you are, and how great they are, and how great their perspective is, and how great this position is? We need to come to that place to receive the wounds of a friend.

Go back to Proverbs again real quickly, and let me just show you a couple of passages that will help us. It's so important, because it's so unnatural to the natural man but it's so natural to the spiritual man. "Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful" (Proverbs 27:6). You're no friend if you don't bring reproof, rebuke, illumination, and exposure to the sin and the darkness in your professed friends' lives. That's what a friend does. "Open rebuke is better than secret love" (verse 5). That secret love, the love that tries to cover up for a friend, is death. That's hating your professed friend when you cover with a covering that's not of God, a natural cover-up.

So, in that twenty-seventh chapter of Proverbs, in those fifth and sixth verses, we see those admonitions. Then it makes reference over to the twenty-ninth Proverb and, again, the wise man is speaking there. A fool will never agree with you. You're going to find out whether this person is truly a believer when you begin to expose areas in his life. It says, "If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest" (verse 9). In other words, there's never an agreement. They always want to stand and defend their position.

We're into a whole other principle here, and I won't get into it right now. But there comes a time (when those who profess to be a part of us, but they refuse the instruction of the Lord) that we are no longer to cast our pearls before swine, because they'll turn and rend us with them.

But he goes on and says in the fifteenth verse of this twenty-ninth chapter, "The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child [we could actually just talk about any of us and say, ‘a person'] left to himself bringeth... shame." "Correct thy son and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul" (verse 17). These are some of the aspects of relationship that are so vital for us, to see that it brings about a reciprocal action. It brings about a Jonathan and David friendship that will speak into lives and care for one another until death in our pursuit of righteousness. But those who won't receive reproof, the Scriptures says, are fools.

That's where we left off this morning. If you remember, we were talking about this value of bringing reproof and instruction into individuals' lives and how vital it is. But the Scripture makes it clear that the foolish man will not readily receive the value of reproof. He diminishes the value of the Word of God. We heard the nineteenth Psalm read tonight, and we see the psalmist speaking there of the value of the Word of God. He speaks about its ability to refresh, cleanse, and illuminate us. The way people respond to the Word is very, very indicative of whether they are children of light or children of darkness. That's why Paul said to Timothy, "Preach the word [preach the Word, preach the Word]; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke [instruct with righteousness]..." (2 Timothy 4:2). "That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Timothy 3:17).

How much value are we putting on the Word of God in our relationships with one another? The Scripture says in Proverbs 12-turn back there. We're going to spend a few minutes in the Proverbs here, and then I want to get into the Galatians passage. Don't partake of darkness, but reprove it, expose it. How important it is to bring about that instruction in righteousness! Proverbs 12:1 says, "Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge [the wounds of a friend we're talking about]: but he that hateth reproof is brutish." Don't raise your hands, but how many of you hate to be reproved? You hate for somebody to get in your face. You hate for somebody to come and tell you you're wrong. You hate for somebody to come and give you instruction and say, "This area of your life needs to be cleaned up." It gets all over you! The Scripture says you're stupid! Look at it. Whoever hates reproof, exposure of their sin, the testing of their lives... "How come you're testing me? How come you're always putting this pressure on me?" "Because I love you, and the Lord chastens those that He loves." You don't know what you are until you've been tested. You don't know how pure the gold is until you put it in the fire.

There's this TV show on that's very interesting. It's got this little weird doctor guy, and they go around and challenge different myths or stories about things. They were doing a program today about sucking snake venom and whether that really works. No! So, don't try to suck anybody's poison out if you're with them when they get bitten by a snake. The other thing they were challenging was whether bottled water is better than tap water. They did all the research, and the fact of the matter is that tap water is better than bottled water. The reason is that all of it's treated. You know that water that comes from the mountain springs? They treat it! The only difference is the amount of chlorine. That's why the bottled water doesn't taste as bad. I didn't say bottled water didn't taste better. I said it's not better. How did we get on that subject? I have no clue!

We're talking about this reproof that's so important for us, that causes us to love instruction. A child of light runs to the light and wants to know what's really best-not a preconceived notion, not salesmanship, but what is best. "What in my life really needs to be addressed?" As we're looking at these different aspects, he says that you're a fool, you're stupid if you hate someone coming and telling you the truth. It causes us to search our own hearts and ask ourselves if we are we readily coming to the light.

Proverbs 28:13 says, "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper..." We were talking about that this morning. We don't want people to know our problems or our sin. We're all struggling in different areas, but the fact of the matter is, all of us are totally depraved. All of us have sin in our members, and all of us are wrestling basically with the same major sin, and that's selfishness and pride. Everything else is a derivative. So, the issue is selfness. Some of us are less mature than others, and there's still way too much of us. Most of us don't spend enough time on the cross (dead). So, when natural man evidences himself, somebody's got to kill him. And if you're not willing to, we'll kill you! How many of you are glad for brothers and sisters that'll kill your old man? He's dangerous! He will kill you; you will kill you. You're your biggest problem. You thought it was the devil, but it's not. It's you. You thought it was your wife, but it's you. You thought it was your kids, but it's you. You thought it was your parents. It's you! We want to cover up our sins. If you do, you're not going to prosper, and you're not going to grow spiritually. They need to be dealt with. Share with your parents, share with your spouses, share with your best friends, the bosom buddies that you've built. Tell them, "Man, I'm battling with this thing. This thing is killing me, and I need help." Bring it to the light, because Satan can't move in the light. It's your only hope. But when we cover our sin, there is no spiritual prospering; there is no spiritual growth.

"He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." Praise God! Aren't you glad for the mercy of the Lord? God's justice was placed upon Jesus that He might put His mercy on us. We are the recipients of the mercy of God, because God dealt with Jesus justly as He was made sin with our sin. Now, if you reject the free gift of God's grace and His mercy, if you want to continue to move in darkness, justify yourself, and demand personal rights and lordship, then you're going to be judged. God will hold you accountable instead of Jesus. I want to tell you something. "He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy" (Proverbs 29:1). That's a powerful passage! Often reproved. Those of you who just won't receive counsel-you don't love instruction, you hate reproof-you're stupid! As you continue to reject it and stiffen your neck, you'll be suddenly destroyed. Most people misunderstand this "suddenly," thinking it means "the first time." No; God is merciful! How many times have we come to you? How many times have your parents come to you? How many times has a friend come to you? How many times has a pastor come to you? How many times has the Holy Spirit come to you, and you keep hardening your neck? You don't know that you have more than one more chance. Suddenly-it just means that's the last time, and there's no remedy. Though Esau sought it with tears, his birthright was forfeited. How quick we need to be to run to the light, receive reproof and instruction, and to be readily available to be taught the Word of God. We must run to the light, bring these secret sins, and place them where God can deal with them.

Psalm 90:8 says, "Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance." God knows, so who are you trying to hide them from? He's the only One Who counts. He's the One Who should be important. Tragically, most of us have it totally backwards. We're not real concerned that God knows. We're concerned about what everybody else thinks. You ought to be concerned about what God thinks. A holy, righteous God, One Who loved you and died for you-and you walk around knowingly bringing a reproach on Him? There's nothing we do, nothing we say, or nothing we think that's hidden from Him. Yet He still loves us, and He's still drawing us to Himself. Make yourself a candidate for the mercy of God. Don't hide; don't cover up. Receive His mercy. Just confess it, and He's faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. Call it what it is: it's sin! It's not a preference; it's not a different standard. It's sin, because all unrighteousness is sin. "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin" (James 4:17). Sin is transgression of the law.

So, we realize that there is the need to bring everything to the light, not only in our lives, but in those around us. This stupid, damnable code of the prince of darkness that says, "I'm not going to rat on my friends"-that's the devil, man! Besides, you're not being told to run right off and tell your parents, or a deacon, or a pastor. If you're a mature believer, you're supposed to tell them, to bring reproof to them to their face. That's what a loving friend does. That's what a brother does. We bring the instruction right then, right now. We've talked about some of the youth and some of the young adult gatherings and the need to not let all of this stuff slide that goes around. All of these peripheral things, and innuendoes, and questionable areas need to be spoken to. Now, I'm not talking about our own personal preferences and consciences. We've spoken about those things before. We're not here to talk about micromanaging one another's lives and not leaving room for conscience or disputable matters. We're talking about addressing the abundance (or lack thereof) of spiritual fruit in our lives. We're talking about, in light of the condition we're in as individuals and a body, should we be doing this, or should we be doing that? Should we be fooling around in things that may even be amoral, or should we go for high ground? Should we find out whether, at this moment, it should be a time when we're praying? How about spending some time in prayer and intercession instead of partying all the time? When was the last time you were the one who said, "No, let's not go to a movie. Why don't we go and pray?" And if somebody said that, would the response of some be, "Aw yeah, you're wanting to be super spiritual, huh?" "Yeah, I am! And what's wrong with you?" And the rest of the group go, "Ha, ha, ha!" Don't be laughing. You ought to say, "Hey, what's wrong with you? What he's suggesting is what we should be doing, praise God! Don't you be shooting your mouth off and criticizing somebody who wants to pursue God." Where are you in stepping up in this thing? You see, that's body ministry; that's reproving darkness. And I want to tell you something. The worst thing in that scenario I just spoke of was not wanting to go to the movie. It was making fun of the guy who wanted to pray. So, you see what we are talking about. We're not talking about actions. We're talking about relationships. We're talking about the kingdoms of light and darkness. We're talking about a jealousy for the fruit of the spirit. The need, then, for us to bring reproof and instruction is very obvious.

The question may be asked, "Well, is it my place?" Are you part of the body? "Well, I'm not a deacon. I'm not really seen as the leader in the group." I've got a question. Why aren't you? "Because he is." Why? "Well, because he said he was." Then you say, "He's not. I'm the leader now, because he's been leading you the wrong way." Say to him, "I'm challenging your leadership. You're taking this group the wrong way!" Somebody say, "Amen!" Husbands, you need to stand up and say, "I'm the leader." (Your wife says, "Sit down! You've tried this before, and you ain't taking over!" And all the kids go, "Amen!)" You're going to answer to God. The blood of your wife and your kids is going to be on your hands, man, if you don't stand up and start bringing instruction unto righteousness!

As I was sharing that, my mind went to that little story. I love that story! A group of men go to heaven, and there are these two lines. There's a big line with a sign over it that says, "Hen-pecked Husbands," and it's full. And then there's this other line with one little guy standing over there. Everybody's looking at him, and they're all envying him. Everybody's walking by and giving him high fives. One guy says, "Man this is neat! How did you get in this line?" He said, "Well, this is where my wife told me to stand."

I've talked to some of you young adults and youth just recently. It's only one decision away. All you've got to do is decide to let Jesus absolutely become lord of your life and value hearing, "Well done, good and faithful servant," more than anything else in the world. You'll no longer fear men's faces. You'll no longer be under the temptation when Satan takes you up in a mountain, shows you all the kingdoms, and says, "I'll make you rich. I'll give you all of this fame and all this power. I'll give you a good life. You won't lose your wife. You won't lose your children. You won't lose your business. All you've got to do is bow and worship me." You have no fear of those things when you've already died. Satan has no power over you when you've already chosen the absolute kingdom of light. That's the liberty, that's the peace that's been purchased for you by the blood of Jesus, but we're living so far beneath that freedom that's been given to us.

"Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil..." (Psalm 141:5). Are you looking for a righteous man to smack you around a little bit? It's oil, the psalmist says. It speaks of healing. It heals us from this warfare. It heals us through all of this chastisement. It's a kindness to me. Whom have you chosen to follow? Proverbs 25:12 says, "As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear." Do you want some jewelry to wear? Here's some jewelry for you to wear right here: being adorned with righteousness and holiness. Proverbs 10:17 says, "He is in the way of life that keepeth instruction: but he that refuseth reproof [is in error]."

Now, we could go on, and on, and on, but I'm not here to read the concordance to you. I'm just trying to give you an example of how much God has to say about us receiving reproof, instruction, and counsel-the exposure of our sins, not hiding these things, but challenging sin in our midst. It's so important that somebody steps up and begins to be jealous for God. It's important that somebody steps up and becomes a genuine friend who is willing to bring instruction, reproof, correction, and the rebuking before all that all may fear. When somebody makes that smart little comment about someone who's wanting to do right, rebuke them in front of everybody! They shot their mouth off in front of everyone! Tragically, there have been incidences similar to that that have just been left alone. Let it not be once named among us. That's what Ephesians says-once is too much. So, God is calling us into that place of living in the light, of dealing with and exposing these areas that are unacceptable in our midst.

Turn back to the Ephesians 5 passage again. We saw this morning that this chapter runs down through the context of walking in light: walking as children of light; having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather rebuking them; that all things that are exposed come from light; that we are to redeem the time because the days are evil. And we're to understand what the will of the Lord is. Well, what is God's will? What are the rules? What are we supposed to do? "Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is" (verse 17). Do you want to know the standard? Here it is right here: "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit" (verse 18, emphasis added). Don't be drunken with wine. What's he contrasting here? He's talking about the natural versus the spiritual. Don't be a consumer of the world's treasures and heroes.

We've talked about that before. There's nothing wrong with watching sports and playing sports. There's nothing wrong with that. But I want to tell you something. If you can list the roster your favorite basketball or football team, and you can quote all of their stats, then you should be able to memorize some Scripture. You should know the names of the 12 apostles and be able to quote the books of the Bible, because where your treasure is, that's where your heart is. I'm not concerned with whether you know the stats of this particular player if you are filled with the Spirit. But if you're drunken with the world's fame, amusements, and treasures, then I'm concerned. If you can quote the stats of the Washington Redskins' quarterback and say, "Well, you know, he threw for 12 yards," but you don't know that there are 12 apostles, now we've got a problem. Hear it again; here's the question. Are you filled with the Spirit, or are you drunken with the cares and the amusements of this world? Why don't you be the one who says, "Let's not go out and play; let's go out and pray"? There's nothing wrong with playing a few hours a week if you're so full of the Spirit and have prayed sufficiently to be able to stand and be totally unaffected-not vexed, not weakened, not distracted. Jesus said it this way. "The world has no hold on Me." Jesus could go to the party. Jesus went to parties, but they had no effect on Him. There was nothing there He desired, and He was there on a mission.

Wherever you are, are you looking to share the gospel? Can you go to the mall and not be moved by the masses that are going to hell? Can you go to the movie theatre and sit in there, and the seats are packed with people who are going to a devil's hell, and leave and not share Jesus with somebody? We're epistles that are read of men, and we are the light of the world. It's the reason that we live. It's not about these little things. It's about being filled with the Spirit. It's about being moved with compassion on the masses that are lost. God wants to give us richly all things to enjoy. There's nothing wrong with having fun, but not at the cost of dishonoring God, of bringing a reproach on Him, or of coming to prefer these things. So, we're not consuming these things on ourselves.

That's why he says, "Here's the will of the Lord: be filled with the Spirit." "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (verses 19-20). Do you want to know why we get distracted by these other things? It's because we are not thankful. We think we're being cheated. The devil's always telling us, "Man, you're missing out! If you were out there partying like them, and if you were doing that, and if you had that, and if you lived there, and if everybody knew your name, you'd be happy." It's a lie! "In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (1 Thessalonians 5:18). How thankful are you for what God's given you? How thankful are you for the blood of Jesus Christ that's redeemed us and set us free from the power of sin? You were sometimes in darkness, you used to be under the power of Satan, you used to be damned and on your way to hell, but now you've seen the light, praise God! You've realized the foolishness of self-lordship. Are you thankful for that?

Now, many of you have never been out there and tasted it, and you won't take our word for it. You think we're just over-the-hill idiots. You can't listen to Solomon, when the richest man who ever lived (he made Gates look like a pauper!) says, "It's not in being rich; I've had it all." The guy had silver dunes! Silver was worthless to him, so he just stacked it up. "Don't even bother counting it," he said. You say, "Dear Lord! I'd like to go play in those dunes!" He talked about his palaces, and his pools of water, and his wives and concubines, and his wisdom. The monarchs of the world came to sit at his feet to listen to his wisdom. He spoke of the grandeur that he had experienced. Not only was he the richest man, but he was the wisest man, probably the most intelligent and learned man of that generation. And he says, "Let me sum this whole thing up for you. It's vanity; it's worthless; it means nothing. Here's the whole duty of man. I've searched it out. I've searched it out experientially and philosophically. I've experienced it, not by hearing alone, but by partaking, and I'm telling you, it's vanity!" And you say, "Boy! I'm going to try it for myself!" It will kill you just like it killed him. I'll tell you something. Those of us who were sometimes darkness, who have been delivered from that thing-we don't want to go back! I've tasted all of that stuff. I've drunk all that the world has to offer, and it leaves you thirsty. There's nothing there but vanity, vexation, and destruction. Our lives are just vapors. It can be gone tomorrow, man! I mean, dear Lord, one lady on a cell phone in a minivan, and you're done! There's no promise of 80 years. "What, are you just trying to scare me, Pastor?" Yes! If you knew you were going to die tonight, what would you change? That's how you're supposed to live every day. If you're someone who can say, "I wouldn't change a thing," thank God for His mercy. Because it's not you, it's His grace and His mercy that's working in you.

"Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God" (verses 20-21). Basically, what we're talking about is the lack of fear, a lack of reverence for God. We just don't really believe, just like is so typical with youth. And we're not just talking about chronological youth. We're talking about spiritual youthfulness, spiritual adolescence. Adolescents think they're invincible. There's just that natural tendency to think that we're going to live to be old, but sufficient to the day is the evil thereof. Take no thought for the morrow. Are you right today? Our lives are just a vapor. And if you live to be 80, 90, or 100 years old, you're going to look back, and it's going to seem like a vapor.

I was sitting out on the balcony with my grandma as we were on that cruise. I love to talk to her, and I like the reminiscing. At 97, she's seen a lot of stuff! Her mind is just as sharp as can be. She catches every little comment that we'll make and jabs that we'll take. (I enjoy that.) She catches all of it if she can hear it. Her mind's sharp, but her ears are not as good as they used to be. But she was talking about this thing, and you could see her face just light up. She was talking about when she was a teenager. She said, "It was just yesterday!" She remembered the story she was telling so vividly. She didn't have much of a childhood. She got married, I think, at 15 and had my mother when she was 16. At 14, her twelfth sibling was born, and as soon as the baby was born (it was delivered at home, like they were in those days), her Dad took the baby, handed it to Grandma, and said, "Here, this one's yours to raise." That's how they did it! They had 12 kids, so the siblings would take care of each other, and that one was hers. That might have been why she got married and got out of there; I don't know. You might live to be 97 or 100 years old, and then-eternity. How sad it is to share with someone-and my grandmother will look at me just as matter-of-factly and say, "I don't believe that. I don't believe in heaven or hell. I don't believe in those things." What a waste to live all that time, 100 years here, and go to a devil's hell! She's a pretty good lady, real good by the world's standards. Are you ready?

The fact of the matter is (and we'll end with this) if you're not ready to submit yourselves one to another in the fear of God, under the Word of God, under the standard... You see, the context of this whole fifth chapter, as it comes down to this conclusion, is putting yourself under that light-submitting yourselves one to another, being ready to be reproved, and walking as children of light. For the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth. It proves what is acceptable to the Lord. That is the indicator that you fear God-when you run to the light, when you put yourself under the judgment, the reproof, and the instruction. Otherwise, you're that hard, stiff-necked fool that the Scripture speaks toward. You might think you're bad now, but you will be broken suddenly and without remedy.

Father, we thank You for Your Word tonight. We just ask that You would continue to illuminate us and that we would be quick to hear the Words of truth, that we would run to the light, that we would confess our sin, and receive the mercy of God. Father, cause us to catch the spirit of all of these Scriptures that have been shared tonight.

What was said to us? Be pliable, be ready to change, and be vulnerable. Come to the light, submit yourself, and seek instruction. Love it when a friend will come and tell you the truth. Don't think you're smarter than those who have gone before you, the great cloud of witnesses. And you'll walk in the light, as He is in the light, 1 John says, and there will be communion.

Make it real, we ask, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Let's stand before the Lord. Well, before we go, turn to somebody next to you and say, Walk in the light, praise God! Amen. Go in peace; God's love go with you.

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