Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Enduring the Cross Pt.3

This preparation for the hour that we're in, there is really only one method that God can use to prepare us, and that's chastisement. When we think about chastisement, we're always thinking of the negative aspects of it. Paul speaks toward that in this passage. He says the chastisement never is joyous for the moment, but grievous. Nevertheless, the end of it brings about the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Chastisement has many different forms, and we need to see that it's not always the rod. It's not always the trials and the pressures, but many times the chastisement is just a reproof or a rebuke from the Word of God or from a brother or sister who is speaking a biblical principle to us. One of the things we need to ask ourselves is, How easily are we moved by the will of God? Can just an admonition change the course of your life, or are you hard-headed? Are you one of those people that just has to be beaten, and sometimes with an hundred stripes, until you get the point? Some of us even boast in that. We think it's great that we are so strong-willed and independent. We see lack of character as having strong character and resolve.

One of the real issues is, How pliable are you to the heart of God, the will of God? How quickly do you hear that still, small voice behind us that says, "This is the way; walk in it"? How strong-willed are you? How many times do you have to hear the Word the God before you believe it is truth? Do we, as individuals, truly believe what God said, "At the mouth of two or three witnesses [say it] let every word be established"? When someone-a brother or sister, the Holy Spirit as you're studying the Word of God-makes very clear to you out of two or three passages, "This is the principle. This is the way," do you see it as truth? Do you let it be established? Are we like the old adage used in years past, "I'm from Missouri; you have to prove it to me"? Well, God will prove it to you.

Are you a fast learner or a slow learner? I would really like my testimony to have been that I was quick to hear, but I was one of those that had to get burned. But the older I'm getting-and when I say "older," I don't mean chronologically. Let me use another term. The more "mature" I become spiritually, the quicker I am to hear. I'm not as confident in my own perception as I used to be even just a few years ago. I'm much more easily moved today by a slight nudge from God than what used to take a lightning bolt. The things that I used to see as weakness, I now see as strength as I've matured and as I've come to know Him. How ready are you to hear truth? How ready are we to receive that chastisement, that reproof, that rebuke, that instruction to righteousness, as Paul says, that the man of God may be perfect, and thoroughly furnished unto every good work (2 Timothy 3:17)? Are you teachable, or do you have to experience the greater pressures of God? None of us likes to be corrected. We don't like that chastisement, that admonition, but it's a way a life, the Scripture says. We need to see it for what Father declares it to be.

Let's hear what the Word says just a little before you go to the Hebrews passage. Turn back to Psalms for just a moment and look at Psalm 94, verse 12. "Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law." We need to see what chastisement is. When I talk about chastisement, don't see it just as punitive or as punishment. See it as direction, as guidance. Many of us respond to chastisement as just being punitive-"We're being punished." No, you're being instructed. Your life is being set on a proper course. This is the wisdom of God. It comes through pain many times, discomfort, dis-ease of being out of control, of having to humble ourselves and submit ourselves to the purposes and the presence of God. It's the way of life for us. The psalmist says that we are blessed when we receive the chastening of the Lord. We know we're blessed because we're the sons of God. There is no relationship with Father if we don't subordinate ourselves to His chastisement, to His correction. We understand, then, that chastisement is the instruction, the teaching of the law of God.

Proverbs 3:11, the wise man speaking in this third Proverb says to us, "My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction:  For whom the Lord loveth [this is the passage that Paul is quoting in Hebrews] he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth." Isn't it amazing how Satan has deceived us, how our own flesh and our pride have deceived us? Many times we see chastisement, correction, or somebody speaking to us in a way that's going to set order in our lives, as an attack on our character, an attack on our relationship, as being despised or being criticized. Listen to what God says. It is because He delights in us. We are the children of His love. We are the heritage of God, the Scripture says, and He delights in us. He sees what this will produce if we'll stand up under it.

"Despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction." The one thing that God is saying here is that He is going to be consistent. It will always be in your life. "Don't faint," the Hebrews passage says. This says, "Neither be weary of his correction: For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth." It's one of the greatest signs of affection, of relationship. It's one of the greatest signs, really, of the worth that Father is putting in you. He doesn't count you worthless or hopeless. He hasn't given up on you. He is still bringing you counsel. There is still an expectation of what will be produced in your life. It's very important that we really see it for what it is and the motive that's behind it.

The Lord speaks to it in John 15, doesn't He? Over in the fifteenth chapter of John, verse 6, the Lord speaks to it when He talks about the fact that to every branch that's bearing fruit, what does the Lord do? He purges it or chastens it or prunes it so that it would do what? Bring forth more fruit. Chastisement and correction, again, is not necessarily always punitive, but it's instructional. It is a way to make us better at what we're doing.

So many times you think, "Don't you appreciate the efforts I've made?" Of course! That's why I'm pouring more time and effort, that's why I'm investing in you the wisdom of God and the purpose of God, so that you could bring forth [say it] more fruit. "Yes, but I'd rather not have the rebuke, the reproof, the pressure." But don't you want more fruit? "Well yes, I want more fruit for God. I want to grow spiritually." There is only one way: pruning, chastisement, purification, being made strong through exercise, through opposition, through having to prove ourselves in the spirit realm. That's really how this thing works.

The whole story winds down in Revelation, Chapter 3, verse 19: "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and [change your course or] repent." What a powerful passage! "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten." Doesn't that sound so different than what the flesh tells you? Doesn't it sound so different than what the humanists are saying today or the Christian psychologists? It's exactly the opposite of where the masses are today. There is this pressure to be better, to produce more. It comes in many different ways. It comes many times in a positive way, and it comes in positive reinforcements. Yet in that same positive reinforcement, there is always instruction; there is always an addition to what you can do-"You're doing a great job, but you can do this and be better."

We realize, then, that all correction, all chastisement, instruction, reproof, and rebuke is not necessarily punitive. It's only punitive when there is an opposition, a rebellious heart. That's what changes the intensifying; and in some cases, what Paul refers to in Hebrews, the scourging or the bringing forth of blood in this experience, based upon the magnitude. Some of us don't understand this. God is preparing some of us for things that we don't even know are on the horizon yet. Many times we're experiencing testing and reproving of different character aspects in our lives not because of the immediate, but because of something that's future-that we're either going to encounter or things that He wants to prepare us for that will bring fruit into the kingdom.

So when you are experiencing these things in your life, it's not an aspect of just, "I don't understand. I don't know why I'm going through this thing." That's why we spent so much time initially talking about the need to see the goodness of God and to realize that all things are working together for good-"This is good. What is happening in my life right now has an eternal purpose in it. I don't necessarily know what it is, but I'm resting in the goodness of God, the wisdom of God. I'm resigning myself to this new diet, the meat that most don't know anything about." Are you ready to go on that diet, the meat of doing the will of Father and finishing the work? It's pretty unique food. Most people don't really understand it.

I received an interesting e-mail this afternoon from Africa. I got a birthday card that was sent over from Tony. Then I got another one that-I don't know which one of the pastors or deacons initiated it, but one of them initiated sending us a birthday greeting. So they had a note for "Baba" [Dad]. It was interesting to read some of these notes and the affection and the thankfulness for what they had received just from Tony, the gift of Tony being there in their lives, shepherding them. In their eyes, whenever we come over there, we're really "something," because Tony is always bragging on his daddy. You'd think that somebody really spiritual was coming to town! Tony was making reference to this testimony, this cloud of witnesses that we're talking about, and how we see things.

I thought it was interesting. He was just being thankful for the things that we've contributed. He said, "I remember my [he remembered the year; I can't remember the year right now] birthday, because you, me, Star, and some others [I can't recall who the others were] were working on the decks in the back yard." He said, "David Grant had been constantly after you to come to India." One of the things that Tony has been learning and dying in is-and he still makes reference to it like almost every e-mail, in fact-he said, "My tendency to go kick down doors of utterance, and just look for it." He said, "You are always so willing to rest, wait, and let God do things. The one thing that I've learned, the one thing that I'm beginning to learn, is that it's not about our own strength, our effort. It's about doing what God wants done in His time that brings glory to Him, the things that last."

He made reference to that aspect with David Grant at that time and how he had come to the house. He said, "Here I am, wheeling and dealing, looking for every opportunity, trying to make myself known, trying to get contacts, and all of this to get doors of utterance open. And you are just waiting around, and a guy comes, beats your door down, and begs you to come to India! I'm trying to get there and can't get there. This guy is coming and practically begging you to come, because you don't want to go unless God sends you." That chastening and that instruction we learned over the years. We came to that place because of having to deal with ambition and God chastening us, learning to rest and to stand back and say, "If God isn't the source of this thing, I don't want it. I'm not interested in it." I will take everything God gives me. I'm not talking about asceticism. I'm not talking about a false humility. If God wants to bless me, bring it on!

I'll tell you what. That is another thing over the years that people have had trouble with. I am not ashamed to enjoy the blessings of God. I don't apologize for them. If God gave it to me and you don't like it, tough! I'm going to enjoy what God has given me. But like Paul, I can say that I haven't taken anything from anybody. Can you rest? Can you let God deal with those character things, chastise you, and bring you to that place where there is a rest and peace in God?

It was such a blessing to see these notes come in and to see the work that is taking place in these men's lives, and the chastening that takes place. I'm not going to give Tony's testimony. He'll share even more about what has been experienced in his life in this second generation. But you know what's interesting? He watched it in me, but he had to experience it himself. He knew it as a doctrine, but he had to experience it to become the warrior, to become a changed man. That's what we're talking about here. You can hear him talk about-and even today he walks with a limp in different areas-how he had experienced in a couple of those years in Africa being absolutely emptied and beyond himself to the point of even being afraid of whether he had any concept of what reality was, because of the deprogramming that was taking place. He rests today-broken, dead, chastened, a warrior, a servant, one of the witnesses of God. Are you willing to go though that process?

I have shared with you in my life the different things that we have endured. I came to realize that there have been two or three people over the years that don't like me. There have even been people who have said non-positive things about me! I've had to stand up and deal with these things over the years, and actually, as the Scripture talks about here with Jesus, despise the shame of this cross: the willingness to identify with the purposes of God, the will of God, the purity of God, jealous for the glory of God. Are you ready to pay what it will cost to embrace this cross, to be hated by people who used to be acquaintances, associates?

There are people right now who are close to you that, very frankly, you are going to move away from, because they are not going to follow this course that we're on. There are people right now that say, "I'm not going any further than where I am. This religion is good, and Christianity is good; but I need to retain my space. This is my limit, right here. I believe in grace. I believe in salvation, and I believe I'm saved. I believe I'm chosen of God, and I'm not going any further than this." You are deceived. That Calvinist perspective will destroy you, because sanctification and holiness is a continual emptying of self. It is a continual conforming to the image of God. You are never holy enough. You are never sanctified enough. You are never committed enough. You are never dead enough. This is the journey that we're on. It doesn't stop. There is no place to stop.

I want to encourage and warn you for where we are: constantly being consumed by the glory and the holiness of God. I know it strikes a natural fear, but beloved, if you lose your life, you get it back. Don't think you're going to con God-"Here it is, Lord, all of it." God knows your heart! God knows the beginning to the end. He knows how every one of us will finish this course that we're on. But He's calling every one of us equally here tonight as He says, "This is the way; walk in it." A cross is being presented to us, an admonition to daily take it up and die. Are you? "Well, sometimes." That's not your choice. It's not discretionary; it's mandatory. What are we doing to help our brothers and sisters die and become that living sacrifice? Are we encouraging them? "Yes, I know exactly where you are. This is a place that takes the grace of God, but you need to understand something: His grace is sufficient." It's all by choosing, volition, that we embrace this cross. Jesus, the Scripture says, "Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and [the end] is set down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2). He chose. "Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done" (Luke 22:42).

Where we left off this morning was, "Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him" (Hebrews 12:4-5). We went back and saw that passage. How do you look at chastening this evening? Are you despising it or valuing it, embracing it? Remember what the chastening is. It's not just trials. That is part of it; it will be that at times. He will go on and share with us here in just a moment that it has to do with relationships, iron sharpening iron, submitting, and obeying those that have the rule over you. That is God's instructor to you. That is God's chastening. That is the authority of God. We talked about it in Romans 13. When you encounter authority, you encounter God. "The powers that be are ordained of God" (Romans 13:1). It is not an accident that these people are in your lives. It's not an accident, young people, that you're part of a Christian family and a Christian community. This isn't an accident. God put you here, and He has given instructors as His voice to lead you into His will. "Well, I'll determine what God's will is for my life. I'm a rugged individual. I'm an American!" No, you're a child of Adam; you are a rebel; you are a child of the devil if you're not a child of God. If God isn't your Father, He's your enemy.

Once we begin to understand these things and unlearn all of this humanistic perspective that so many of us have, we will change in our attitude toward chastisement. We'll stop despising it. We'll begin to delight in counsel; we'll begin to delight in authority; we'll begin to delight in reproof, rebuke, and instruction. It's when you stop despising it that you begin to experience the joy of sonship, true relationship. There's just a rest. Why would I cringe at somebody expressing love to me? When Dad says, "Clean your room," and the child hears, "I love you," then you've got it. You understand what he is saying here, because correction, instruction, and reproof are "to whom the Lord loves." "No, you're not going tonight" should be interpreted, "I love you." The husband's oversight-hearing the input of the helpmeet and choosing a separate course is not rejection; it's "I love you." He says, "My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." Think about that. The fact that God is reproving me, instructing me, and recreating me means He has received me. I'm accepted in the beloved. I qualify, now, for this chastening. I'm part of the family. If we are despising it, if we are rejecting it, he goes on and tells us that we're not children, but bastards.

He says, "If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not." Let me stop here for just a moment and speak toward something practically. Fathers, if you are not actively involved in consistent chastening of your children, then not only do you not know the fatherhood of God and are not enjoying personally the benefits of your spiritual sonship, but you're leaving your children in the natural under the oversight of Satan, the kingdom of darkness, confusion, rebellion, and death. Look, it says, "If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not." It is your job! It's your representation of Father. You have no right not to instruct, chasten, discipline, and correct your children. If you find it difficult to do, it is because you find it difficult to let your Father deal with you; you have no confidence in your sonship. If you had confidence in your relationship with Father, you would have confidence in the task of bringing your son into that same relationship with you and Father, the overseer. "But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons." He is implying to us here that our children will end up rebels; they will end up bastards; we will have no relationship, because all of us have to be under constant direction, authority, reproof, rebuke, and instruction. In fact, you'll see that it is one of the greatest determiners as to what our relationship is.

As parents, it's very important that you don't take this thing personally. It's not about you. With a rebellious child, it's not about you. It's about their hatred for God. If you truly love your child, it can't be selfish on your part either, of just wanting peace in the household, wanting your child to succeed. It can't even be selfish in the fact that you want your child not to go hell. It has to be that you want your child to understand the glory of God, the majesty of God, the authority of God. It's a jealousy; it's a choosing. When you conflict with those that are under you and you have a conflict there, it's a jealousy for the One you love most. What it comes down to, when you have this situation with a wife, a child, or whatever, is whom you love the most. That's what the real issue is in all of these situations. When we're dealing with chastisement, dealing with instruction and reproof, that begins to be the motivating factor.

He goes on and says in verse 9, "We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us." Now, can I ask you this question again, fathers? Are you? He is drawing a direct parallel. He is assuming that natural fathers are correcting their children and that, therefore, children understand order-and even in the more insignificant areas of the temporal, that they understand there is authority and there are consequences; and therefore, you must realize the greater consequence of the eternal.

How many of us are cheating our children out of this understanding? "We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us." The assumption is you are. The question I have tonight is, Are you, and to what degree? We have talked about this-not "sometimes." The rules can't change in your house. We are trying to teach those that are under us-men, especially your wives and your children; and of course, you have to learn the lesson first if you're representing Jesus-about immutability, about eternal values, about divine order. That's what we're bringing as instructors. That is the course that we're setting. The Scripture makes it clear, we can't spare for the crying (Proverbs 19:18). We can't be distracted by any different emotional upheavals, but we stay on course because of this great cloud of witnesses. We don't lose sight of the objective: that we might be partakers of His holiness. I'll say it again. It's not about having a tranquil household. It's not about having moral, successful children. It's not about having a great marriage and celebrating your golden anniversary. It's about being partakers of His holiness. Is that what you are after? Is that why we are doing what we are doing in our homes? Can we say that is the true, pure motive? Many of us have been very influenced, as we've said before, by the tide of twenty-first century Christianity-which is morality, federalism, looking to accomplish observable success, acceptable order-and we are worshipping the creature instead of the Creator. What is the motive? Why are we doing what we're doing? Is it jealousy for God? "I have meat to eat that ye know not of. ...to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." "I do always those things that please [the Father]" (John 8:29).

Paul, as he is speaking here and taking us down through this passage, is going back to the eleventh chapter. He keeps referring to that. He says we have a great cloud of witnesses-people that have gone before us, people that have become champions of faith. Without faith, it's [what?] impossible to please Him. Now listen. Here are two phrases in these two chapters that accompany and complement one another. Get them in your thinking. "Without faith, it's impossible to please God" and "Without holiness, no man shall see God." Pretty important subject matter, wouldn't you say? In the midst of all of this, what is he doing? He is taking this whole eleventh chapter and saying, "You know what? Every one of these guys learned obedience by the things that he suffered. You have a great example before you, a great cloud of witnesses, and guess what? If you endure, if you're going to imbibe these things, if you're going to partake of these things, you are going to suffer. So don't be weary. Don't faint. Stand up under the chastening of the Lord." Then he is going to finish this with-as we go on into the next couple of verses-the fact that you are not going to do it on your own. "Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed." God is not willing that any of us perish here. Be patient with those that are around you, but make straight paths. When I say "patient," I don't mean compromise, but make straight paths.

Heal the broken, those of us that are broken. There will to be times of weakness, times that we fail, but strengthen and lift up, bring reproof and rebuke. If they accept it, they are sons. If they stand up, bow their necks, and say, "I don't believe that. I don't need you speaking into my life," then they are bastards and they are not part of the household of faith. It becomes that clear. Then that lets us know how we relate to these folks.

We've talked about children. If it's a rebellious child, and they are bringing leaven into the community and strife, and they're giving occasion to the flesh-"For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work" (James 3:16); "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways" (James 1:8)-we saw that you destroy that one; you put him out from your midst. In the New Testament church, how do we deal with these things? You excommunicate them. You turn them over to Satan for the destruction of their flesh so that their souls might be saved (1 Corinthians 5:5).

We all want to compromise, and we want to be easier-"Well, they're doing a little better. Let's meet them halfway." No, they come all the way! There isn't any meeting halfway. "You repent; you die; you do the will of God, thus saith the Lord"-that's how we set forth the holiness of God. That's when we change the value. There aren't a whole bunch of votes. It is God's way or the highway. When we begin to live in that comfort, Satan has nothing to distract us with. Our minds are made up. There is no alternative; I'm just going to do the will of God. When your kids begin to know that, and your wives begin to know that, guess what? There are no more debates. You have already proven. Why bother asking again?

So many of you men get worn out. The kids are saying, "Oh, please, Daddy!" and the wife is saying, "Let's just consider...." "What part of ‘no' don't you understand?" Is your yea, yea and your nay, nay? "Maybe I'm being too hard. Maybe it's not the right decision." Maybe you don't know the Word of God! Maybe, men, you'll become more confident when you know Jesus. Isn't that what we talked about this morning, looking unto Jesus? If you've made the decision that Jesus would make, what are you uptight about? Why are you questioning yourself? Why are you entertaining any other course? "I've told you what the will of God is. Now let's go do it." When we come into that kind of understanding of order in our households, in our lives, we have peace, and we have faith because we know we're doing the will of God. We have one heart and one mind, and we're in one accord. There is no way that Satan can come and begin to bring division and strife. There is no way that certain individuals in your family are going to be picked off. It doesn't mean they won't rebel, but they're not going to be isolated and picked off, because of this order that we're talking about.

We're at war. We're at war! We are talking about the eternal souls of our children, our wives, and of our own lives. I'm constantly speaking to you, men, because that's the order of God. Men, have you taken up the cross? Our father, Adam, failed. His method of listening to his wife put us where we all are. Now, I'm not going to take the time to have to explain. You ladies all know and have read the great best-selling [book], Adam's Rib. You know the worth that the Word of God puts on your role. I don't have to go back and speak toward those things: the value we place on you and your role, and the honor that comes with your position. I'm talking about the original sin. I'm talking about the role of the man and the dishonor of having your head covered, men, by anything but Jesus. I'm talking about the need to be confident, the need to look unto Jesus (the author and finisher), the need to know the course, to set the standard, to embrace the cross yourself as an example.

"We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence." Many of you think, "Well, if I take this position, my kids aren't going to like me." Don't you believe that lie! They will reverence you. Oh, it may not be a momentary response, because chastisement is grievous for the moment. Every one of us has selfishness and pride and that tendency to rise up. That's in all of us. But if you stay the course, if you're consistent, it will bring a knowledge of God and a reverence. If they don't reverence you, they're not your children.

"Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure." That "own pleasure" just means what they perceived as wisdom or seemed to think was good for us. Every father wants what is good. Well, not every father. Most fathers want the best for their children. They want their children to be successful and at peace. So the decisions are what seems good, "after their own pleasure."

"But he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness." You see, most earthly fathers are correcting their children for their children's good; we are being corrected for God's glory. The fact that we partake of God's holiness is not for our benefit; it's for God's glory. It is to make us better servants of God. It is to enhance the kingdom. It's not creature worship. Though we are eternally, supremely, infinitely loved by God, everything that is done and invested in us is for God; it's not for you. God didn't redeem you for you; He redeemed you for Him. "Well, that seems selfish." How could it be selfish when God is infinitely love? You are judging from your limited perspective. You know why? It's because there are two different categories of worth: there is the worth of the creature, and there is the worth of the Creator. As we're adopted as sons, and He delights in us and draws us to Himself, we will always be "other than." It's all for His glory. It's all for His majesty. He is making us better children for His glory and our profit. He's revealing His eternal purposes for our redemption and our reconciliation-and His glory.

He goes on and he says, "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous." I think we can all say "amen" to that. There is an important word there, though, that I want you to see. No chastening for the present [what is the next word?] moment. You see, it doesn't seem to be, but it is. "Count it all joy when ye fall into [different tests and trials], Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience" (James 1:2-3). Jesus, the Scripture says, endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him. How can we, then, take this immediate pressure, rebuke, reproof, correction, negative response to our petition, as love, as good? It's when we see that joy set before us. When you can understand, "I don't get it now, but it's going to work something good. I'm trusting that. I believe that as I move in obedience, I believe the wisdom of God will come through my parents. I believe in the wisdom of God coming through my instructors. I believe in the wisdom of God. I believe that my life is ordered of the Lord. I believe that I'm not my own; I'm bought with a price. I believe that it's no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me." Have we been reprogrammed, refreshed, renewed in our minds to that place? That will cause us to respond differently to chastisement. It will cause us to not despise it but to embrace it and to rejoice in it. It seems, to the natural mind, grievous; to the spiritual mind, it's joyous because it shows I'm a son. It shows I have a relationship. It causes me to hope in something better coming in the future.

"Nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby." In other words, the more you habitually submit to authority, to chastisement, to reproof, to rebuke, and to instruction; when it becomes such a habit that when that one in authority speaks to you, you know this is God and rejoice in it, rest in it; there is an exercise, a habit of obedience, a habit of faith being exercised in expectation of some eternal value coming from it; and through that exercise, the proving, the constant choosing to submit, to obey, we become strengthened, and we learn by conditioned response that there is no other way to please God. "Without faith it is impossible to please him" (Hebrews 11:6). You cannot do this without faith. Without holiness, you are never going to see God. Both of those are contingent upon obedience in order. This is what he's saying to us.

"Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down." This is telling us it's not going to just come like that [Pastor snaps his fingers]. You're going to find yourself at times, when you're being opposed by those in authority or when you're not getting your way, walking like [Pastor droops shoulders and walks painstakingly]. But there will be a time of having your hands lifted up, rejoicing, and your feeble knees strengthened, just like Joshua and Hur took the hands of Moses.

"And [cut through] make straight paths for your feet [as we ‘rightly divide the Word of God,' Paul says to Timothy] lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed." The course we're on brings us to healing, and the lame in our midst are not turned out of the way. In fact, we are not just casting over the weak and saying, "He's never going to make it," but we bring healing and strength, and we're patient.

"Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright." He's talking about spiritual fornication, despising the birthright of God, refusing the chastisement of God, refusing your position. That's what Esau's problem was all about: fornication that brings death, destruction, strife, and profanity into this holy place. We are jealous for the glory of God as we each find our place and submit to it, receive the chastening of the Lord, that authority that is ordained of God, so that He can show Himself mighty in our midst. Then God will arise, and our enemies will be scattered.

Father, we thank You for Your Word tonight. As we rest in these principles, as You renew our faith when we go to the Word of God and understand the lordship of Jesus, as we trust in our knowledge of You and Your ways, then truly we can be at rest. We can hope against hope. We can, like those in the eleventh chapter, call things that are not as though they were. We can go, not knowing the end of this course. We can delight in the cross and despise the glory of Egypt. We can live in all contentment in caves and covered with animal skins, because we have bread to eat that the natural mind knows nothing about.

Father, in this place tonight, we are at so many different places. We have heard this message from so many different perspectives. Many of us have different concepts of how to apply it. But by Your Spirit, You are ordering each one tonight. The central message is clear to all. There is a cross. It's about dying to self-will. It's about the death of our own temporal agendas. It's about finding our place in the body of Christ and in the order of Your kingdom. It's about living for You and not for us. It's about not despising the pressures being placed upon us to make us conform to that call of sonship.

Make it real, we ask, Father, in every one our lives. Help us to endure. Help us to stand up. Help us not to despise, but in fact to joy in that which is set before us, that You might be glorified; because when it's over, we will be like You. We will see You as You are, and we will ever be with You. That's our hope; that's our treasure, Father, in Jesus' name, amen.

Gary is going to come and play for us for just a moment. The brethren are going to come. We'll take just a moment and spend some time here at the Lord's table. We won't spend a lot of time in admonition, because I don't know that we can say anything more than what the Word has just said to us about the partaking of these emblems, in remembrance of Him, recognizing His lordship. For the most mature among us, it's a very sobering message. In fact, I've found that the most mature usually respond with the greatest awareness of their lack-"Dear Lord, I'm just so messed up." Yes, you are. And God is so able to be glorified in us if we will humble ourselves. "Yes, this is really a good message-for all those other people." You didn't really hear. It's you!

"As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you remember My cross, My death." What are you remembering tonight? Do you understand that broken body and that shed blood purchased you? That's what you're remembering tonight: "I'm not my own; I'm bought with this price." When you drink this, you are acknowledging He has paid in full, and you belong to Him. That's what we're doing tonight.

Let's sing it together as the brethren serve us. We'll all hold the emblems and partake together. "Jesus, I am thirsty/Please come and fill me...." O Father, help us tonight to redirect our gaze and reprioritize our treasures. In every one of us, somewhere down deep, there is something that we think, "This will do it. If I could just experience this/If I could just obtain this/If I could just have this relationship/If we could just have this reconciliation with family or friends." It's not there, beloved. It is in your accepting the will of God. It's in you judging that God's ways are right. It's in you being able to die to having to understand, to manipulate, to control. There is a rest for you tonight. There is a resigning to the will of God. There is an embracing of that cross that will set you free. There is a losing of your life that will let you finally enjoy it for what it's all about. Get His best tonight. Step back. Give Him everything. Trust Him, and let Him be glorified in you. Let's sing it again and just worship Him. "All I want is more of You/All is want is more of You...."

Father, as we take these emblems into our hands, we have come to not fear that cross but to boast in it, to delight in it. We have seen what we can produce living separate and apart from it, and we have known the joy, the peace, and the strength of identifying with Your suffering, with that death. We lapse into thinking that we know and thinking, "If I could only achieve this, I'd be content." No, we would just be full of pride and self-accomplishment. And what audacity, to think we know what would satisfy us. We choose to lose our lives that they might be taken up again for Your glory. We can't do this, but by Your mercy and Your grace and by faith, we choose other than self.

We lift these emblems with thanksgiving, and we say, "Thank You for dying for us." Thank You for paying the price. Thank You for adopting us as sons of God. When we were Your enemies, You were made sin with our sin. You are preparing eternal good for us at every turn, and yet we doubt You every day. You continue to come back, draw us, and say, "This is the way. Here's the gift of grace. Here's the impartation of faith that will cause you to finish this course if you will stand up under My Word."

With that confidence, and with thanksgiving for Your purchase of us, we receive these emblems and choose the newness of the life of Christ, not the self-life that's ours daily. Strengthen us with Your Word. Strengthen us through Your body and its wisdom and its counsel. Strengthen us through our choice tonight to say, "Not my will; Thy will be done." And for that we say, "Thank You, Father, in Jesus' name." Now bless these emblems. Bless our lives, we ask, Father, in Jesus' name, amen. Let's partake of the bread together. And now let's partake of His blood, signifying You are not your own, in Jesus' name.

Let's stand before the Lord. Take just a moment and thank Him tonight. Just thank Him. Just rejoice in what He is doing in your life. Thank Him for the reconciliation that we've had as sons of God, that we are children of God. We've endured His chastening. We delight in His Word, and He delights in us. Can you receive "no" with the same thankfulness that you receive "yes" from your Father? Can you receive "no" as the same statement of love as "yes" from your Father-for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness? Let's sing this together. Just delight in Him. "I just want to praise You/Lift my hands and say, ‘I love You'...." We thank You for Your guidance and Your wisdom, Father.

Spiritual guidance comes in so many ways, as I've shared with you. Many of us want to hear, "Here is specifically what I want you to do." When you are living in a way that just says, "Father, it's all Yours. Whatever You want, just initiate it." We want to hear these things. As you know, over the years, we have kept so many areas (as it pertains to the cars and different things) out. I've had no clear direction. When Father spoke to us last year, we stopped. We started this year fresh, and we are waiting to see what Father has. Then right out of the clear, we got a call that somebody wanted to buy our motor home and our trailer. I said, "If somebody just walks off the street and wants to buy the thing, then I'm assuming that we're not supposed to do that for now." I don't know that it's going to happen, but those are things that I'm talking about in our lives. Just be ready for whatever Father says at the moment. It's just a quick work: that you obey, and that you're willing to do.

It's always from the sources you wouldn't think. What's the guy's name, Paul? Paul Mitchell, the hair guy, the hair products guy, the billionaire? So he can afford it, at least. God does weird things. It's not like "Joe Smith." Wouldn't that be God, to send some weird-looking hairdresser guy to buy your stuff out of the clear? It's just hilarious how God does things, but are you ready? Are you just willing at all times to instantly change course, to do whatever He tells you to? To load up today? If He says it today, today it's done! That's what we're talking about, being able to live separate from your own will, your own understanding, your own timetable, all of these different things. Whatever Father says. "I have bread to eat that you know not of." Turn to somebody next to you and say, "Are you enjoying that new bread?" Amen. Go in peace. God's love go with you.

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