Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Enduring the Cross Pt.4

Let's turn back to Hebrews, Chapter 12, and we'll just continue along with this ministry that the Lord's been sharing with us on enduring the cross. We found out that enduring the cross doesn't mean to just put up with it and grit our teeth; but really, we're talking about an embracing of the cross. I think another way to look at it, as we talked about in the last session, is a cherishing of that, a thankfulness for God's grace that allows us to die. We need to die on a daily basis, on a momentary basis, and it's not an easy thing. It's a process.

We've also been seeing that we need each other periodically. It's interesting when you stop and think about the biblical passage in Romans, "...present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." We've all talked about that analogy. We put ourselves up on the altar, and then we jump off, don't we? We need friends to say, "Get back up there! That's where you need to be-up on that altar, man! You made the covenant, and I'm just reminding you. I'm here as a brother [or sister] to lift up your hands and tell you. There's only one place that'll enable you to finish this race we're in, and that's on that cross, up there on that altar, as we wholly give ourselves to that process." "Looking unto Jesus [Hebrews 12, verse 2 says] the author and the finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross..."

We've been talking about the need to see the eternal value of what we're doing. And I really think that if we could live our lives with the eternal perspective, it would cause us to always make the right decisions. Don't you think so? If we'd make every decision in light of eternity (in light of heaven and hell, life and death), we'd make the right decisions. Because I believe that most of us want to spend eternity in the presence of our Lord, and I believe that most of us want to escape an eternal damnation. Anybody for going to hell? We lose sight of the eternal, and we get distracted, and we make judgments based upon temporal benefits, momentary pleasures, and many of these things that are destructive to us. So, we need to constantly look to the joy that's set before us: the joy of fellowshipping with God and enjoying sonship. Beloved, stop and think for just a moment. We need to make decisions in light of being seated with Him at the right hand of the Father. What are you going to give in exchange for that? "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne" (Revelation 3:21). What are you going to give in exchange for that? What's anybody got to offer you that equals that? But we lose sight of it, don't we? We get all distracted, and our flesh rises up, and we get confused, and we get all kinds of noise going on. And this walking snake comes up and says, "Has God said? He's holding out on you!" The next thing you know, we're looking inwardly, and we're doubting God's goodness.

Do you know what allows you to stand up under the cross, the chastisement, of a loving Father? The true belief that He is good. Just yesterday, in the pastors meeting and then in the deacons meeting, two situations were presented to us concerning trials and problems that people are facing in their families. We've talk about pride being at the root of sin, and it is. But pride got its strength, it originated, as the fruit of a wrong perception of God. The moment we doubt the goodness of God-once we diminish His goodness, His eternal purpose in His sovereign reign of righteousness and holiness, we become susceptible to self-exaltation.

Yesterday, we had to send some counsel to a person experiencing a great trial and turmoil in his life. We've all been there at different times, to where we're looking at the circumstances that are surrounding us. We've lost a loved one, we've seen a defection, a decision's been made to apostatize, and our hearts are grieved. A spouse commits adultery. A spouse defects and deserts you. Your house burns down. You lose your job. You've contracted cancer. Whatever it is, we're seeing that many of these things are just the chastening of the Lord.

Now remember, and I want you to get this. We ended with this in our last session: chastening is not always punitive; it's not punishment always. It can be, but chastisement is not always punitive. It's instructional; it's disciplinary. Again, when I say "disciplinary," I'm not talking about something punitive. Discipline is something that is instructing, it is preparing us. When the drill instructor says, "Drop and give me ten more push-ups!" that's not necessarily punishment. That's discipline. It's making you stronger. It's building you up to be able to effect the task. A "disciple" is a "disciplined one," someone whose life is disciplined, exercised by making right decisions, by enduring chastisement, and by receiving wise counsel. So, when we talk about the chastening of the Lord, most of the time we think of punitive action, but it's not always punitive. It's instructional, it's preparation, it's disciplining; and it can, in fact, be punitive.

When we're facing these trials in our lives, and God's putting the pressure on us, most of us want to know why. We become distracted with the why, and we become confused, and the enemy comes in, and Job's comforters come and begin to question your character and give you all of the reasons why. Let me help you out as we're going to talk about enduring the cross here. Here's all you need to know to finish this race: God's good. God is good. God is sovereign. Satan's not in charge, fate's not in charge, and you're not in charge! And one last thing-all things that God sovereignly does will work for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. If you know those things, you can stand up under the chastening of the Lord. Why? Because you see Him as a loving Father. You see that what's taking place is good, right, and just. It may be punitive, but it's good, and it's right. God is the author of it, and He's the source, so I embrace that. I'm thankful for it, because the fact that He is bringing that to me is an indicator that I am a son of God.

The Scripture says in verse 7 that, "If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?" All of us are going to be under that hand of God. There's going to be the discipline, the pressures, that come upon us. God's not going to let up on you, man! One good day is not enough. "Man, I did good! Let me have a week off!" Isn't that what our flesh tells us? How many of you are one of those people (don't raise your hands) who reward themselves when they've done well? We do something spiritual, and we reward ourselves with fleshing out on seven movies! We fast and then reward ourselves with seven Big Macs (or whatever it is), and we fall into that cycle. The thing that we've got to understand is this: there is no letting up in this journey that we're on. It's every day dying. God doesn't give you a day off. It's every day dying to self.

Now, turn back with me to Luke for just a moment. We're going to be back and forth between here and Hebrews, but I want you to see something in Luke, Chapter 9, verse 23. "And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." You're going to have to make a choice here. This cross is not being forced upon you. Now, don't misunderstand what I'm saying. It's being demanded of you, but it's not being forced upon you. There's a difference, and we need to understand that difference. God is saying, "If you will follow Me, there's a cross to bear; there's a cross to embrace. So, you choose against your own will, exalt My presence and My purpose, acknowledge My lordship daily, and follow Me. For if you will save your life [verse 24], you'll lose it." God's trying to save you from yourself. God's trying to save you from saving yourself. Each of us, then, is doing that very unnatural thing daily of dying, dying to self. The strongest drive we have is self-preservation. It's in every one of us. So, there's a choosing. There's an awareness that, "If I'll embrace this cross and be exercised to daily death, it's going to bring about, Hebrews says, the peaceable fruit of righteousness-of right standing and the awareness of my sonship. I'll begin to delight in these choices, and not just do them out of obligation. I'll be aware of the eternal good, and my motive will be the glory of God and not personal gain. As we're hearing these principles, a lot of us say, "Well, okay. If I humble myself, I'll be exalted." Our motive is wrong. We're wanting to be exalted, and we're using humility as the means of personal gain, which is not true humility. "If I lose my life, I'll gain it." That gain doesn't mean to bring it back under your own control. It means to have it under the control of His lordship, to where we can say, "I die daily, and for me to live is Christ." You see, that's how you gain your life back-Jesus living through you.

He goes on and makes these comments. "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it" (emphasis added). That's the point I wanted to make in those comments that were just stated. It's not enough to lose your life. You lose it for His sake. You don't lose your life to gain it again. Where are you in this process-this spiritual maturity that we're talking about, this embracing of the cross? Is it really about the glory of God? Are we really losing our lives for His sake, for His glory, for His eternal purposes? We're all of us in and out of that, aren't we? One of the most difficult things there is, is to be able to deal with the benefit and the fruit of humility. Because do you know what it does? It does something. What does humility do? Humble yourself, and what happens? You'll be exalted. And what does exaltation do? It makes you have to deal with pride and ambition. Now, some of you won't respond this way, but some of you will. How many of you would like to be the most spiritual person who ever lived? (I'll take a show of hands on this.) For His sake? Could any of us sit here and say really and definitively that it would be? Many of us would like to. I would like to be the most spiritual, and I'd like to think it's for His sake. But I know me, and I know you! This is what He's saying, and that's why it's a daily process. That's why it's relying solely on Him. That's why the Hebrews 12 passage is so important for us to understand, to see what Jesus was doing for us, and what that great cloud of witnesses was that went before us.

"For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels. But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God." Then the transfiguration occurs, and this is a fulfillment of that. Peter misunderstood this and said Jesus wasn't going to die. There are some very important principles here. We're not looking for "disciplined" lives-people who are studying eight or ten hours a day, who are out just preaching the gospel on every street corner, and witnessing to everything that moves, and denying the world. What happens is that many of us become ambitious in our spiritual pursuit into doing the works. But there are times when you just need to sit down, be quiet, and sit at His feet. You see, we've got two different approaches. We've got people who are always wanting to be in the highways and byways preaching, but they don't have a clue as to how to be quiet before God and just be at peace. We've got people who are ambitious. We've got people who think it's a sin if they haven't witnessed to somebody that day.

How many of you witnessed to somebody this week? Let me see your hands. Praise God! Keep it up! That's what we're to be doing. We're admonishing every one of you to go out into the highways and byways and compel them to come. Each one win one-that's our goal this year. We're going to win somebody. Have you determined that? Are you praying and believing God to win a soul? Why? So that we can double the size of the church? If that's your motive, that's not what we're trying to do here. We're not interesting in doubling the church. We're interested in embracing the cross, in being obedient to freely share what we've received, and in dealing contrary to the kingdom of darkness' principles.

But do you know what happens? We get ambitious, and we get compulsive. We feel like we have to, and we're no longer walking in the spirit. How about just taking the day off, not witnessing to anybody, bringing your kids up here to the playground, and enjoying a picnic? That would probably be the most spiritual thing you've done in weeks! I want to bring us into this place of understanding that enduring the cross is dying to your own ambition, whether it be secular or spiritual. Enduring the cross is understanding that you don't understand. You're wasting your time to set your own course and a plan and think that it's going to stand up.

If we're going to embrace the cross, we're going to have to come into that realm that we all think we're in already, and that's living and walking by faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now, of course, we make provisions, and we have an understanding of principles and general guidelines that we're trying to follow. But we are always at that place of losing our lives, of being ready to move in a way that is pleasing to Father.

I'm a little bit off course; I'm actually about two weeks ahead of where we're going! So, let me see if I can get back here real quickly for this evening.

We're talking about the crucifixion of ambition, both secular and spiritual. We're talking about humbling ourselves to realize that we don't know. There's a great cloud of witnesses that have gone on before us, and we're following those who, through faith and patience, have inherited the promises. We're running with patience this race that's set before us. (We're back in Hebrews, Chapter 12.) The thing that I'm trying to get across tonight is this. The chastening of the Lord is probably one of the main sources of guidance for our lives. God pressures us and destroys spiritual pride in our lives of thinking we know and the spiritual ambition of thinking we're better. Who am I talking to? I'm talking to those of us who want to be more like Jesus. I'm talking to those of us who think a little more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. I'm talking about the fact that you're no more righteous and no more spiritual when you're working than when you're not working. I'm talking about that ability to rest and let God order our steps through the daily bread. "Give me this day my daily bread. Give me today's instruction. Feed me. Give me sufficient for today-sufficient grace, sufficient strength, and sufficient revelation for today. I don't need to know about tomorrow." Are you able to die to tomorrow? Are you able to embrace the cross and just live for today? We're a people who want to live for tomorrow. We want to understand. We want to be prepared. Can I share something with you? If you'll die today, you'll be prepared for tomorrow.

So, Jesus is calling us into this walk in the spirit, into this identifying with Him. "...I have meat to eat that ye know not of...to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work." He's calling us to our Gethsemane of saying, "Not My will, but Thy will be done," and the embracing of that. Jesus asked the question, "Can you drink the cup that I'm about to drink of?" "Yes, I can." "No, you can't," He said. Then something followed that. "But you will." What was He saying? "It is impossible to embrace that cross and to drink this cup in your own strength. But after I've died, after I've paid the price, after I've gone before you, you not only can, but you will."

Let me ask you tonight. Have you partaken of the cup? Where are you in this process? How would you perceive yourself at this moment in this process? Do you want me to tell you where you are? Do you want me to give you a little gauge of your spiritual maturity tonight? How well do you handle correction, discipline, and authority? As we've been weaving these two principles of divine order and embracing the cross together, they walk hand-in-hand. Because the fact is, in order to subordinate yourself, to put yourself under willfully (as Romans 13 tells us), you've got to be dead, don't you? You've got to die to self. So, where are you today? How are you handling this? Did any of you have conflicts with parents today? How about your employers? How about a police officer? How about your husbands? How about your deacon? How have you responded today to being less than you think you are? As we're embracing this cross, as we're learning to die, as we're allowing ourselves to be placed into this body as it pleases Him, it demands this daily death. So, He's going to be constantly instructing us, and humbling us, and disciplining us. That's going to be the instruction of a parent.

We've been talking to the kids. I fear for this generation! Every generation of us kids-we were all a bunch of yahoos! Adolescent kids are just an accident going to happen, man! We understand that, and that's just the way it is. That's not what concerns me. What concerns me (and I've addressed it before) is this broken order. The thing that concerns me most is not that adolescents want liberty and to vaunt themselves. It's that the men aren't performing their role of bringing chastisement, correction, discipline, and holding this thing in proper order. So, we're losing a generation.

As we go on in this study, men, I'm going to be talking to you, because you're the priests of your house. You're the ones who have to go first and taste of this cup. You're the ones who are going to have to die to your secular ambitions, your little hobbies, and these things. There's a place for these, but I want to tell you something. You have been called to train your children up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. You have been called to stand before them and say, as the apostle Paul did, "Follow me as I follow Christ." You should be able to look into your children's faces and say, "If you do what I tell you to do, if you do what I do, you're going to heaven, man!" Do you have that assurance? Some of you barely know your kids' names! You don't know what's going on in their hearts and in their lives. I sit back in some of those deacons' meetings, and it makes me want to weep at the lack of involvement of some of our parents in their kids' lives and the lack knowledge that they have of their spirituality. We have plans of how to purchase the new house. We have plans of how to get the new flowers to grow. We have plans of how to get the curtains hung up. We have plans of how to retire. But we don't have any plan or any course set for getting our kids to heaven. We're just hoping it happens somehow through osmosis. It's going to take a price paid, men, and a hope that's before us. It's going to take an awareness that there is no greater investment that we can make of our time and energy than to empty our lives into our wives and our children.

I woke up this morning-you know how you wake up and you're thinking about things. I was asking myself the question, how well did I know my father? As soon as I woke up, I started to call my brother and say, "Did you know Dad?" Because as I think back on my life, I knew about my dad, but I didn't know him. I've shared this with you before, that I don't think I ever heard my dad say, "I love you." I can't recall it anyway. If it did occur, it was maybe in the very last years. He provided for me. If I had to grade him by "Leave it to Beaver" standards or secular standards, he was a good dad. He worked hard; he sacrificed; he put food on the table. He provided the opportunity for us to have an education. We were constantly going up the ladder, chasing the Joneses. I thought, "He was a good dad."

But it isn't in natural man. The best of the secular fathers don't have the ability to become one in the spirit as you do with your kids and your wife. How much value have we placed on that? What are we doing with our time? We're running around, and we're not a whole lot different from the secular people running to their soccer games. What are you doing with your time? Are you getting to know your kids? Do you know the inner recesses of your kids' hearts? Do they even talk to you? "Well, no; they don't want to. You know how that goes." That's not acceptable! Now, I know how things are. Please don't misunderstand. I'm not talking about getting your kids, putting them on the stool, and shining a light on them, and saying, "It's interrogation time! Tell me what you're thinking!" You're not going to get a lot that way. They'll plead the Fifth! Are you really interested? We die for His sake. You die for their sakes. What are you doing to empty yourself out, to be able to let Jesus be seen through you by this transparency that we've talked about? You sit down with your kids and say, "Man, I know! Do you think I don't know what's going on?" Hold up a mirror and say, "Look, man! This is you in twenty or thirty years, with all this stuff sagging! I know what's in you; you've got my genes. You were raised in my house. I know what's going on inside of you. I know why you're doing what you're doing. I did it, too! I'm as stupid as you are; I'm just older and still stupid! We need to help each other. We've got to finish this course, and I need you as much as you need me. Let's help each other finish this course. I'm not against you. I'm here for you, man. But there are rules, and there's order, and that's how it's going to be."

So, we begin to paint for them the eternal perspective. We begin to lay our lives down and sow into them. We don't despise the chastening that's going on. When they fail, we have empathy, and we pick them up. And after God's through whipping them, we whip them. Then we embrace them, and we tell them, "Here's why. All of Exodus, Deuteronomy, and Leviticus are the explanation of why. If you do that, here's what's going to happen. Don't do that, because these are the consequences."

Do your kids know the consequences? We talked about the fact that whom the Lord loves, He chastens, and He scourges every son. We said that God would actually be found guilty of child abuse in our courts today! Do you want to know one of the big problems we have today? Most of the kids don't fear their parents. There's not a reverence. There's not been scourging; there hasn't been bloodshed. We're not quite as bad as the world, but we say things like, "I'm not going to tell you again! For the fifth time, I am not-I'm serious! You're going to have a potential time out!" instead of instant justice, judgment, chastisement, discipline, the rod of reproof and rebuke. We're such a self-willed, independent people, not answering to anybody for anything, and it's killing us. It kills us in our personal devotions. It kills us in our personal thought lives. We live secret lives as individuals, and we portray godliness and spirituality. But the fact of the matter is, so many are whited sepulchers, full of dead men's bones, and nobody knows anything about anybody. There's one way that God uses to find out what's in there. And you know what it is? It's pressure through chastisement and a clear course. That's why most people have been uncomfortable here in this fellowship. Even though we haven't done it as well as it could be done, we've taken some good shots at it, and most of you have stood up under it. We've been banged around, but we're chasing this thing, and God is blessing. The point that I'm making is this. I see a gap. I see a segment of us getting out through the cracks. And I'm wanting to encourage us to bring them back to that great reward of personal discipline, paying a price, and making a contribution. We're going to address these specifically as we go on.

This isn't going to be real popular, especially with some of the young people. But how many of your children have chores, something they're contributing back into the home? We don't have a problem getting them to work up here, because it's expected of them. What are you doing to bring about disciplines at home? Are your kids laying in the bed on Saturdays until eleven o'clock, twelve o'clock, or one o'clock in the afternoon? What is that all about? "Well, they stayed up late on Friday night partying." So what? I want to talk about some practical things. What are we doing to bring order and discipline practically into the lives of our children? Divine order-do you know where your kids are? Let me ask you another question. Do your kids tell you where they're going, or do they ask? We've had situations here just recently, where parents literally didn't even know where their kids were! As we look at these aspects of discipline and chastening, men, it's your responsibility to oversee that house-specifically setting a course, not sparing for any crying, and being sure that the course that you're on is going to bring them into the very image of Jesus.

Let me start winding this down for this evening. (I've gotten so far off course that I don't even know where I am!) He says in verse 9, "Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence..." All but outright rebels will ultimately respond favorably to authority and discipline of their fathers. It's a God-given principle. That and that alone is how you spare their lives from rebellion and the independent spirit. Look at verse 9 as it goes on, "... shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?" In other words, if you don't teach them at this level, they're not going to respect your heavenly Father.

I tried to think back, as I was sharing a little bit ago, about my dad. What did I learn from my dad? What did he contribute into my life? How well did I know him? I can't really say I knew my dad. As I said before, the things I knew about my dad was, he was a hard worker, and he never missed a day of work. When he finally had a heart attack, and it came time for him to retire, I think he had-I don't remember exactly-but it was about three to five years of sick leave saved up with the government. He was a GS-12 or something like that. He never, ever-I never remember him not going to work one day. Now, I had a few sick days, like during the World Series. I always stayed home then. The World Series flu hit me every year about that time! Dad knew it was seasonal, so he made a deal with me. He'd say, "Okay, you're not feeling well, huh? Okay, if you're going to stay home, now you've got to keep the score book." So, we'd keep score of the World Series game-every ball, strike, and everything. He knew baseball so well that he could look at that book and replay the whole game. (You see, they didn't have TiVo, so there were no recordings) He was a good guy. Do you know what I didn't realize until later on? He was running around with other women. I never knew that about Dad until after he died. He was an alcoholic in his later years. I learned a lot of things about him that revealed his character that I never saw as a child. He guarded against that. He was a good Dad. He was a good Dad, but he wasn't a good man. Tragically, we have some good men here that aren't good dads. I want to see us make an effort, against all of our personal discomfort, to begin to get to know our kids.

Some of you are just absolutely scared to death of your kids, and of being vulnerable before them, and of getting to know them. Some of you kids are going, "Oh, dear God! Don't sic my parents on me!" But down deep, you want to know them, and you want to love them, and you want them to love you. It's the most precious thing we have, and many of us are wasting it because we won't take this cross of dying to personal ambition and of pride in many of cases. Some of you parents and children have built such walls against each other that now it's going to take a lot of death to self to just swallow the pride, and die to self, and just begin to say, "I'm going to fulfill my role in this thing, and let God bring healing here in our midst." And I'm talking about some of you young-adult children and your parents. Because until this is something that's healed in our midst, the personal disciplines and chastisements that each of us is going through are not going to reach the core issues. I'm going to encourage some of you young people to go to your parents and embrace that cross. Don't be concerned with how they're going to respond or how it's going to be received. Just let your parents know that you need them to love you and that you need them involved in your life. Some of the parents need to do the same. Go to your kids and say, "Man, I've let you down! I haven't loved you, and I haven't been instructing you. I've just been harsh, and whenever you finally get under my skin and irritate me, I go off half-cocked and get mad. I feel for you, and I know the trials you're in. I've been there, and I want to be here for you. You should be able to come and just tell me anything, man! We'll cry together, and we'll fight together." We've built these images and these walls that have to come down. The question is, who's going to start?

Can you answer these questions? Is there reverence in your household? Is there fear? Is there a fear for God? Is there an order in your home? I'm not talking about the letter of the law. I'm talking about, do your children respect you? Do they understand clearly the vision that's before them? Ladies, do you honor your husband? Do you respect your husbands? Are you delighting in your husbands? I'm talking about the fact that they are the treasure of your life. And when your husband comes in, your face lights up, and that's the highlight of your day! Are you seducing your husbands? I'm talking about literally, physically. Are you delighting in them and seducing them, so that they're not being destroyed by the strange women who are out there preying on the household of faith? Oh, but we've all gotten caught up in our little hobbies, and we've got our little friends over here, and we've got this club. And we don't know each other. For some of us to get back together is going to take some great personal death. Then we can begin to see that healing that we spoke of.

I'll finish with this for this evening, where he says in verses 13 and 14, "And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." I see kids running households, who need to be disciplined, instructed, controlled, and set on a course. I see children who are being smothered and dominated by their parents and not being allowed to grow. They can't even have one independent thought for themselves, and the parents think that's what it means be the authoritarian. That's not the scriptural principle. We're all individuals. We all have independent gifts and calls. You're pastors of your home, men; you're not cloners. Give them some room to grow in this whole process. Instruct them, and then let them make some mistakes and get beat up. Then heal them, and put some salve on them. Be there to instruct them and set them on the way. Bring the instruction, and bring the discipline.

One of the things that all of us hate to hear in the flesh is, "I told you so!" But you know, that's really the job of a parent. You don't have to say it in those words, because none of us like it. But the whole deal is, we give the instruction. When the thing doesn't work-and you know it's not going to work, but you let them make the mistake. Then you come and say, "Now, remember. I shared this biblical principle with you, that every seed produces after it's own kind. You're going to reap what you sow." You begin to give them instruction and show them that the Word is sure. "Every time you go contrary to it, you're going to fail, and here are the consequences of it. But I want to tell you something. Every time you fail, I'm here to pick you up, man! I won't excuse it, but we're going to deal with it and put you back on course." So, this whole process of personal embracing of the cross is what the Scriptures require of us daily.

We'll pick up on it in the next session. I've got a lot of things that I want to share that I think are practical for us.

You know we've been facing some issues. We've been praying for [one couple], as their child has just been blatantly God-hating, and it breaks their hearts. It breaks the heart of a parent. What do you do with a kid like this? We've had [another family] who have been believing God for the restoration of their son and others in their family. We've had people who have backslidden and defected in our midst. We see these pressures, and it creates a fear and an anxiety in some of us. "What's going to happen with my kids?" The Scripture gives very clear direction in what we do in those cases. And in the natural, our flesh just recoils! But let me remind you, as we started off. As you're faced with all of these circumstances, and you begin to administer biblical methods of responding to them, the Scripture is clear. The rebellious child in the Old Testament was taken to the gates, presented to the elders, and stoned to death. What was God's thought behind that? A little leaven leavens the whole lump. That's a law. That is an irreversible law. "Well, except in my house." It'll leaven your house, and it'll leaven this church. So, you purge out the leaven. That is the biblical principle.

You see, we have to embrace the cross, and go against our own emotions, and go against what has been told to us now for decades. "Don't stunt their growth. They have rights to express themselves." Women's lib, broken order. The head of the woman is the man. Children, obey your parents in the Lord. There's order; there's structure, and it's been totally disregarded for a couple of generations. As we begin to re-institute biblical order, there's going to be a natural recoiling in ourselves, because it's not common to us. So, we're going to have to take up this cross. We're going to have to endure this discipline of our own minds and our own hearts to submit to God's way so that we can be healed and so that we can see the supernatural restoration of those who have been lost. When someone comes and tells you, "Let's go serve other gods," and then he gets specific-it doesn't matter if it's your mother, your father, or your children-what do you do? You be the first one to put your hand on them and kill them. Is God serious about holiness? Hebrews 12 says that without holiness no man shall see the Lord.

We're living in the midst of a generation of rebels. We live in a nation that vaunts independence and individual ruggedness. I love our country to the extent that natural love and appreciation can be given for the opportunity we've had to bring the gospel and to live out from under tyranny. But at the same time, it's created in us a great weakness. In the body of Christ, it's not about individualism. It's about finding your place in the community, and it's about the good of the whole. So, we're trying to re-learn and re-institute these things into our thought processes and to save our kids from this spirit of lawlessness. You're to be the first one to bring that discipline. Have you been? Have your ways been better than God's? Has your love been greater than God's? As parents, we think, "I'm just going to show them love, and I'm going to show them compassion." Do you want to know what the compassion of God is? The compassion is that they haven't literally been stoned to death and that there's still an opportunity for them to avoid eternal damnation. That's the mercy of God. That's the grace of God.

I'm saying all of this because we've just had another young person who's chosen to go his way. Now, I'm beginning to ask myself a question. If there begins to be one young person after another, and there's a common denominator-they can thumb their noses at God, defy the holiness of God, defy the Word of God, and they're still living at Mom and Dad's house eating, and drinking, and being taken care of, and air conditioning, and rides to public school, and being dropped off at the gate-what's the message being sent to the rest of us? My question to you, parents, is this. When are you going to stand up and do the Word of God? When are you going to do something about your representation of the holiness of God?

Someone asked me a question just before church started. They asked about [one young woman] being here, because they had heard that she wasn't here with us any longer. I would just like to share the good news that she's repented, and she's coming back here. I'm thankful, and God's going to bring healing. God is doing a great work in [her husband's] life. [She] has come to a place of wanting to submit and to be under her husband and under authority here in the fellowship. And we're believing for a complete healing and for fruit to be borne in her life. Can you say "Amen" to that? So, when you see her, treat her like a sister. Love her, and if she gets out of line, smack her! That's what we do to each other! The thing that precipitated everything was this. As we were sitting the other day, I was having to deal with this situation, and she completely defied the direction I was giving her. And I said, "There's only one thing that we can do from this point. You refuse to do what I'm telling you to do, so go out and don't come back. Go away; but as for me and my house, we're serving the Lord." Now, it might be slightly embarrassing to her to hear this, but she needs to be embarrassed. It's not going to hurt her to be a little bit embarrassed. In fact, the work that God's doing in her life right now and the teaching we've been having is something to delight in and say, "In the natural, this is kind of embarrassing. But praise God! Look at how I'm being loved! This is in the light. People are loving me. [Now, I'm not just talking about {her} in this. I'm talking about all of us.] People understand that I'm a goof up, but they still love me, praise God!" Isn't that what you want? Isn't that how we're going to finish this course?

I have a question to ask you as we close. Are you ready to embrace the cross? Because as intimate as we've been (in fact, too intimate), the only reason I had to make that announcement tonight is because of the Calvary Temple grapevine and the confusion that came because some of you talk too much. Can anybody say "Amen" to that? The good part is, we're family. The bad part is, we gossip sometimes. Some of us gossip more than others, and if you're a good friend you ought to tell them. You should say to them, "You shouldn't tell anybody but me that stuff!" The point I'm trying to make tonight is this. I believe that we're at a time in our lives as a fellowship when we're going to have to bring it up a notch. We need to really identify where we've been remiss in finding the order, the discipline, and the corrections in our homes that are necessary. We must see where we are in our willingness to be open, to be disciplined, and to love. We must also realize that we do these things because of the joy that's set before us and say, "This pressure's going to work in me, and it's going to be good, praise God!" It's just like this situation with [this young woman] and trying to help her out. I could have made a generic announcement tonight, but she's family, and she's going to be treated like anybody else. Some of you have got to be in a position now where you say, "Hey, I might be an instrument that God can use. I've been where she is. I can sow into her life. I can comfort with the same comfort wherewith I've been comforted." Some of you need to go to [another family] (and I know you have) and lift their hands up. Some of you need to follow the course that they've set and be willing to put your kid out like they did. We can come and play church, or we can embrace the cross and get people to heaven. That's what it's about.

Father, we thank You for Your Word tonight, and we just ask that as You speak to us, we'd be doers of this Word and not hearers only. It's our choice tonight to die to the comfort zone. It's our choice tonight to put down all of the secular wisdom, methods, psychology, and philosophy, and go to the Word of God and ask, "What does the Bible say to do?" and do it. That's where we're living, and that's where we choose to die-within these pages, according to Your will, and according to Your eternal purposes, that we would be able to bear the fruit of obedience. Grant that, Father, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

Before you go, turn to somebody next to you and say, "It's time for you to die." Amen. Go in peace; God's love go with you.

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