The Crucial Role of Biblical Revelation for Christians

Well, happy Sabbath to my sincep.m. brothers and sisters. I don't often get to speak here in the afternoon, so it's good to be with you. And of course, we gather here today at the end of our Thanksgiving week, so we can be thankful for everybody who's here. Also thankful for the special music. I'm grateful that I was able to be a part of that. In fact, an inside joke is that you just heard Generations the Family edition, and many of you will pick up on that joke. We have so many wonderful things to be thankful for. For instance, our Creator Savior both brought us into existence but also died for us. We can celebrate that this week. There's no reason why that can't be a part of the many things we're thankful for when we gather for Thanksgiving, so I'm grateful that we can claim that. We can claim a Father who loves us. And yes, as Mr. Permar pointed out, will not fail us. He will see it through.

We have our part to play, and that will be one of the themes we'll spend some time on today. I'm reminded of Psalm 119 verse 165, Great peace have they which love thy law, for nothing shall offend them. And you've probably met those people within the body of Christ, people who seem to move through the troubles that might take place, the controversies that might occur. These people persist. It's because, I think at least to a large degree, they love the law of God. And they feel perfectly confident that no matter what kind of trouble might brew, that yes, God will see us through. Yet from time to time, there are topics of social contention that do come among us. And the Apostle James points out in chapter 4 verse 1 that it's because of the willfulness that we humans bring to the situation.

And to that claim, you and I can also add that all of the noise that's coming at us as information, quote-unquote information, every single day, is not helping matters very much. These outlets may not always tell us what to think, but they're more than happy to tell us what to think about. Have you noticed that? Many of them are way too willing to tell you what to think.

That's true, but they are more than happy to tell us what to think about. Now, even further, I believe that you and I should be able to see clear evidence that we Americans are contending daily in various ways with the double-mindedness of a secular humanistic worldview. This has been on my mind for probably at least a decade. I've worked at a number of public institutions, and it's primarily at those public institutions that I've noticed that secular humanism and the various trappings of it have had a huge influence on how we have indoctrinated our students in this country.

For more than the last decade, you and I can go back some time into the past to notice that there were the seeds planted to bring us where we find ourselves today. We are a nation at risk in terms of what we've done to our young people in this country, and what we've done to our young people is they become adults that have children, right? So, successive generations now have been indoctrinated by the humanism around them.

Now, what are the main features of humanism? I have been reading a book simply entitled What is Secular Humanism? I found it among the books that were out here last year. You might remember we had sort of a book scramble, you might want to call it, and happily somebody was willing to share his entire library with the rest of us, and there it was on multiple tables.

The subtitle is Why Christian Humanism Became Secular and How It's Changing Our World. We won't deal with Christian humanism because even it has its problems, but secular humanism has a grip on our nation's throat. It's not going to let go anytime soon. In fact, the salvation of the Eternals is the only way that's going to happen. So, here are some dominant traits that this author picks out for us, and I'm starting from page 10 in his book. I've picked out a number of things throughout the book. So, secular humanism does, number one, this thing.

It seeks various ways to undermine humanity and human endeavors apart from God. That might sound like an interesting trait, but I was there in the 1960s when America's social revolution began to occur, and there are some people in the room here who saw that happen. What happened on our university campuses? The free love, the let's use drugs to experiment with alternate states of mind, right, trying to find some door, some portal into another reality, another existence.

Well, that social revolution also brought us some of the troubles we'll be talking about today. Social troubles that secular humanism also brings, for instance, an atheistic worldview and argues that humans can love themselves more, maybe better, if they do not have to share that love and esteem with God. So, it's much easier to get rid of a benevolent being, but maybe even a being that has demands.

Push that being to the side, because we don't actually see this person. So, why spend time on that when we have our own thoughts and desires? Secular humanism number three also argues for competition and experimentation, and you'll hear us spend quite a bit of time on experimentation today. I'm adding that to this author's claims here, because it seems to me that sense of competition and experimentation is so rife.

In fact, it's happening so often we probably don't pay much attention to it. But Satan has been experimenting on us for some time, and he's trained us how to do this socially. We'll look at a number of issues of which that's true. So, how is there competition and experimentation? Well, the perfect society can be achieved, according to this point of view, by discouraging the free exercise of religion. Let's discard religion.

The perfect society can be achieved by controlling the human population to ensure that we have the resources we need, and of course, for the earth's survival. Because so many intellectuals in this nation have become earth worshippers. You and I are aware of that. We see evidence of that. To achieve the perfect society by encouraging moral relativism, both in government and our schools, to guarantee the separation of church and state.

We're told this often, right? We don't want to bring church and state together because, uh-oh, that means the church is going to be in charge of what happens politically. And were Jefferson and others correct in the 18th century when they noted the Catholic church did Europe no favors? We would say yes. Right? That's absolutely true. So, it is true that in the history of the Western world, the Catholic church has been troublesome in terms of how to bring genuine liberty, to bring what means a connection with God. So, the 18th century is a very interesting time because some might say that secular humanism probably goes back that far, that it's been with us for more than 200 years.

Also, this author points out that to achieve the perfect society, if necessary, we should use violence to achieve our ends.

This nation was born out of violence from that point of view. Certainly not, I think, what the father would have encouraged. Did he make use of that series of events in the 1760s, 1770s, 1780s? We would all say yes. He did allow that to happen, right? And some important fruit did come from those experiences to bring us the freedoms that we have today. One final thought. Secular humanism results finally in moral decadence. I've seen this next one, intellectual exhaustion. People pushing for ideas that are absolutely silly, that really don't work in the real world. It's because we've cut ourselves off from the land and we really don't know natural law as well as we should. We don't fully understand how the world really works. One of the clear signs is when people get squeamish whenever it's time to cook a chicken dinner and we have to go out and grab the chicken, right? None of us has probably had that experience in this room. If there is somebody, that person would probably have no trouble with, we're supposed to have a chicken dinner? Let's go out and get that chicken. We'll have a turkey dinner? Let's go out and let's get that turkey.

We are a group of people cut off from how the natural world works. There is social discontent all around us and political failures. We're watching America struggle with political failures right now. So, combining these traits of secular humanism, again, we Americans should be able to see evidence that today's social structures and social struggles within those structures have been growing for such a long time. So, let me create a need for this topic today. Appearing in the forms of a biblical worldview versus the worldview of secular humanism, we are simply seeing a postmodern version of the two trees in Eden. That struggle from Eden has been with us ever since, and we're witnessing that struggle unfold in front of us now. It's very much with us today. We live in an age of unprecedented sources of information to make decisions, and many of these sources claim that they're here to help us with our freedom of choice. We're going to make such good choices. Well, if they're based in moral relativism, for instance, those aren't necessarily going to be great choices. In fact, more often than not, they're going to be failures. So, these choices today can feel burdensome, such as whether to marry, whom to marry, where to work, where to live, what to drive. We consult multiple sources in hopes of making our decisions easier. I remember the last two vehicles that my wife and I purchased, we went out to, at the time, I think it was still in print, to Consumer Reports. It might still be in print. And we ended up, two different years, five years apart, buying what was considered one of the best buys, Consumer Reports said. So, there was so much information coming at us, we needed a resource that would help us sort through that information. So, information could be helpful, but information can be challenging as well. Notice along with these choices come voices that push false ideas, such as accepting that all humans are essentially good. And that leads us to embrace that all lifestyles are equally viable. Second, humanism would approve that and support that idea. And it would accept the faulty view of human development that says all humans learn differently. If I ask for a show of hands of people in this room who've heard that litany over and over and over again, I'm sure nearly everybody would raise his or her hand. Yes, everybody learns differently. But the research out there in education does not support that. That's such a surprise to people when they first hear that. Why? Because normal people, healthy people, can see, they can hear, they can do. Those three modalities are the modalities we need to exercise whenever we're teaching anything.

We have to help people see what they need to see, hear what they need to hear, and then do what they need to do in concert as much as we can. Are there people who rely more on what's visual as opposed to what's auditory? Sure. But it does not mean that we teach exclusively to the visual or teach exclusively to the auditory. Or, oh, my son, daughter, doesn't like to listen, doesn't like to read. This person likes to do things. Well, guess what? That son, that daughter, can still hear, can still see. We should be able to use that preference for doing in concert with seeing and hearing. This should not be a surprise. This is not rocket science. Now, the Bible points out that God's revelation, which is where we want to go today, is not difficult to carry. Jesus says, my yoke is not burdensome. Biblical revelation is the actual source for freedom, and we know this because Jesus says, you shall know the truth and it shall set you free. I think all of us would agree, therefore, that the Bible continues as a source of living principles and best practices for human social success. So, my purpose today with everything that follows is for us not to believe me, but to believe our Bibles, read our Bibles, practice what's in our Bibles. In the name of practical Christianity, therefore, what is some of what the Bible has to say about whose voice deserves our careful attention as we make social choices right now. Now, we live in an age of innumerable blogs, Facebook posts, podcasts, any combination of social media that might be out there. So, we have to ask ourselves in our own attempts to communicate what we believe to others, to what degree are we adding clarity or clutter when we share what we're sharing with other people, to what degree is biblical revelation clear in the convictions that we say we practice and share with others. So, the title of this message today is The Crucial Role of Biblical Revelation for Christians. The Crucial Role of Biblical Revelation for Christians. Now, as many of you know, I have the privilege and responsibility of teaching apologetics at Ambassador Bible College. So, let's start where we start in that class. Apologetics comes from the Greek word apologia, which simply means a defense. So, is it related to the word apology that we use in our current parlance today? It is related, but it's not the same thing. So, when a husband apologizes to a wife or a wife apologizes to a husband, it's not to provide a defense.

That's not going to sail well, right? So, husbands and wife spouses, even parents and children, have had to find ways to negotiate that. There may be reason for a defense, but for the most part, it's a concession, right? There's been a wrong, and so it's important to provide some kind of concession. So, what do we mean by apology, therefore, in apologetics? Well, we're trying to practice defending our faith as Peter recommends in 1 Peter 3, 15, being ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within us. Now, to contend for the faith is much easier with a set of essential skills. Exercising the ability to read and write helps us to understand better what we believe. George Orwell pointed out that there is a connection between reading and writing, and if people aren't willing to read and write very carefully, they really won't know what they think. They really can't be as sure of what they think. In fact, writing is one of the best ways for you and me to know that we are convicted of particular ideas. We've written them out. We see them. We've used that doing modality, that kinesthetic modality, to write it out. The conviction becomes so much deeper because we're holding it in our working memories. So, the more we're writing about our convictions, the more those working memories go into longer-term storage. And these are the fundamentals of becoming more convicted. So, hearing isn't enough. We know that doing is the goal, as the apostle James points out. So next, of course, I take people to a Scripture that can be foundational in terms of talking to other people, but more importantly, in their own convictions. So, would you please turn with me to 2 Timothy 3, 16? And by the way, so many of the Scriptures we'll use today will not be a surprise. These are Scriptures that all of us know well. That's the reason why I believe we can talk about this topic, because we have a decent understanding of Scripture. So, 2 Timothy 3, 16, we're simply reminding ourselves of what the apostle Paul says here. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. This is the core of the biblical worldview. I mentioned earlier that there is a competition between the biblical worldview and the secular humanistic worldview.

But for you and me, there should be no competition. We are convicted that our beliefs, our practices align with biblical revelation. And where does that come from ultimately? As a kind of bookend, the tree of life shows up in Genesis at the beginning, and the tree of life shows up at the end in the book of Revelation. That is the metaphor for our convictions. And we are carrying the leaves of that tree wherever we go when we page through our Bibles. The leaves of the tree of life are right here. So in contrast, aligning experimentation with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we're going to call it the tree of cunning, because that's considered an appropriate translation for the tree of knowledge, the tree of cunning, the taking on to oneself, the ability to decide one way or another. To be cunning is not necessarily a bad trait. In fact, we would find inappropriate circumstances to be cunning, to be clever, to be entirely appropriate. Because we are made in the image of God. But how are we using that cunning? How are we using that cleverness?

This might make us think of another scripture, Proverbs such as this one, there is a way that seems right to humans, but the ends thereof are the ways of death. You'll remember that's Proverbs 14 verse 12, and it's also in 16 verse 25. So I want us to understand, please understand that experimentation does have its place. We know that when we're growing up, we're learning about how the natural world works. We go through various kinds of experiments in order to understand the world a little bit better. When we're adults, for instance, we use experimentation to accomplish such as this, this example. So in testing iron versus steel in constructing buildings, we humans decided that steel works better. But it took experimentation for us to get to that point. There was no need for revelation on that particular issue. So there are all kinds of experiments that we conduct that we probably should conduct because we want to understand how the world works better. So today, rather, we're talking about experimenting with the social principles and the social rules that God has promoted in the pages of his Bible. That's the kind of experimentation we want to discourage. We want to take a look at what biblical revelation has to say rather than, let's go out and find out what the tree of cunning has to say about whatever issue we might choose. And we'll choose a few today. We'll also remember that—and we can't ever forget this—that Satan is the prince of the power of the air. So Ephesians chapter 2, verse 1 and verse is following. Make that abundantly clear. So we've learned from the devil, unfortunately, that whatever pleases me is what I want to do. It's what he decided to do long before we humans were ever a reality. It's what he wants us to do. Here's a confirmation of that in 1 John chapter 2. We're going to verse 15. Again, a scripture that you know well. 1 John chapter 2, verse 15. The apostle John advises us not to love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. We want to sort out some of that today.

So when you and I consider the source for that love and placing ourselves first, we know going back to the Garden of Eden, it was Satan who pushed that point of view. And we've been experimenting ever since with various social principles deciding how we want society to run, as opposed to perhaps what God suggests, and not even perhaps in that case what God insists on, what will bring genuine happiness for you and me. So let me use a softball example to start out with, and then we'll go into a couple of examples that have some difficulty to them, have some challenge to them. So here's a sample false premise and how it's led to an experiment in our culture. So some people claim, for instance, I've already mentioned this, that people must be naturally good because there are so many good people in the world. If I were to ask for a show of hands, nearly all of us have heard people reason this way. Is that God's point of view? We should shake our heads no. That is Satan's point of view, trying to distract us with what's false, what's not genuine. So what kind of experiment does this lead to? Shouldn't we, for instance, put criminals in prison as an attempt to reform their behavior? That's what we've decided to do, for instance, in this nation. But if we look carefully at the law of God, we won't see a single prison. It's not there. Israel did not have prisons. So very easily, you and I can take some of these claims very easily, go to examples in Scripture, and we say, well, that's not there. That's not what God intended for Israel. It's not what He intends for the human family. So some ways in which this premise is false, we know, in fact, that no one is good. No, not one. That comes from Psalm 14, verse 3. That's a memory Scripture for many of us when we were younger. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, Romans 3.23. Once again, a memory Scripture. So people must be naturally good. Ah! No! Never has been true. Wasn't true from the beginning is not true today. Here's some other biblical revelation. Why not prisons? Why shouldn't we use these highly fortified concrete bunkers that we have around the nation? Well, in the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 8, verse 11, Scripture you know well, because a sentence is not executed speedily. The hearts in men are set to do evil. When people don't receive immediate justice, then trouble begins to brew at that point. Here's another one. Use two or three reliable witnesses to determine if something has actually happened. That's going to lead to speedier judgments.

And some examples of that from the book of Exodus, chapter 21, for instance, there is in the middle of that chapter the penalty for capital murder.

If in the mouths of two or three reliable witnesses somebody committed capital murder, that is murder with intent, that person had to be put to death. There was no lingering. There was no death row. There was no 20 years, 30 years of appeal after appeal after appeal. Are the witnesses reliable or aren't they? That's the issue. Here's another example. Also in Exodus, chapter 22, what is it that people had to do for any theft? They had to repay double. That's the revelation of God.

Simple remedy. Should we put those people in prison? Wrong! It's not going to accomplish what we want prison to accomplish. There won't be reform. 75% of our people who come out of American prisons go back again. Recidivism that is returning to prison is a widely recognized phenomenon. It's not working. We're not reforming people. Now that was a softball. Here's one that is still somewhat of a softball, but we might be able to maybe recognize that there could be some trouble among us with this particular issue. So here's a weak or faulty premise and the experiment that people are conducting. Somebody might say risky gambling and or taking on excessive debt is a personal choice. In America we talk so much about personal rights, right, and personal choice. My body, my choice, is a common refrain we've heard. And the experiment goes like this. Everybody's doing it. I'll also bet my future earnings against my present desires in risky ways if I want to.

I get to decide that. Is that what the Bible has to say? Well, how is this premise weak or faulty? It's not entirely false, and we'll talk about why, but it is largely false. It's weak. Do we remember what our Savior said about starting a project and not being able to finish it?

How it's unwise to start a project without having the resources in place to finish that project. People are betting their futures against their current incomes, counting on the fact that if I gamble excessively, not a problem. I've got a paycheck coming in, right? Or if I'm risking unmanageable debt, that's okay because I have a paycheck coming in. What's some sample biblical revelation that could help with this? Our Savior helps in Luke 14 when he talks about not having the resources to finish a project. Proverbs 22.7 points out, the borrower is servant to the lender. It creates a servitude that no one should take on easily. And in Romans 13.8, remember the Apostle Paul says, oh no one, anything. And some secular wisdom that I recalled from Shakespeare, neither a lender nor a borrower be. Let all of that alone if you can, if you possibly can. Now, it's worth noting, I said that there would be a qualifier, it's worth noting that Bible does not prohibit debt. We will find provisions for debt when we look at what we call the law of Moses. It's actually the law of God delivered to Moses. He recorded it. You and I know that there were times when debt is necessary. But there was also a jubilee year that would help release people from these debts. We don't practice that. We do have bankruptcy, and the opportunity to declare bankruptcy, that's a cheap version of the same idea.

So debt itself is not the problem. It's unmanageable debt. It's risky gambling, for instance. And you are well aware in the last five years, we have more and more opportunities to bet on sports and nearly anything else than we've ever had before. We can have apps on our phones, and we can get in the middle of all of that. And apparently a large number of young men are struggling with debts they should not have incurred. So why is this risky behavior important? Why does it matter? And you'll find we're following a pattern of how is the premise of each of these arguments false? What does the Bible have to say? What's some biblical revelation? And finally, why does this behavior matter? Why are we paying attention to it? So once again, I point out that we're talking about unmanageable debt, right? So I don't want to ask for a show of hands, but probably too many of us would admit that we either are carrying or have carried too much debt. We perhaps took on too much risk. And I hope for nearly everybody here that's in the past. I hope that's not an issue for you because like we noted, the Bible points out that's a burden people really don't want to carry. So it stings to acknowledge that maybe we've been guilty of some of that behavior. And rather than listening to the siren voice of secular humanism that says we get to do whatever we want to when we want to do it, the still small voice of revelation, biblical revelation, should trump those other voices that are coming at us. Here's another false premise and an experiment that likely comes from that. I've already used this one on you in terms of part of the introduction, but we want to take it somewhere. Everyone is different. So everyone learns differently. We spent a few minutes on that. That's the premise that people might use for this argument. In rearing my children, I can either embrace or reject the approach that my parents use with me. I wonder, are there other ways I can get that job done? Are there other sources that can help me with that? Let me find out what the latest and greatest child-rearing techniques are out there on the tree of cunning. Let's find out what a secular professor has worked out or what a childhood behaviorist has worked out that maybe I should pursue, that I should seek. Now, how is this premise false? We'll use Proverbs chapter 1 verse 7. The fear or deep respect of the eternal is the beginning of knowledge, and we might say the beginning of wisdom. Now, it's worth noting that the word knowledge here is also the same word used in the phrase, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It means the same thing, cunning, to be clever. So, is being cunning, being clever, being able to sort true from faults, is that a bad behavior? You and I would obviously say no, it's not. So, when I say tree of cunning, I mean there will be positive issues, there will be positive sources of information out there on the net, for instance, but there will be hurtful sources of information as well.

Somebody with a credential, somebody who has a good headshot, has an interesting website, can lead us down the garden path when it comes to how we rear our children. So, what's some sample biblical revelation on this? Well, we have Deuteronomy 6, verses 6 and 7, so I'll have you turn there with me. You know it well, but it's worth using it as a foundation.

The Bible is largely a book of principles. It does have best practices, but it largely asks us to use principles. Deuteronomy 6, and we'll start in verse 6.

And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. So, this is the eternal talking.

You shall teach them diligently to your children. Now, diligently, that adverb means carefully with precision. It doesn't mean casually. It doesn't mean when I get around to it or when I feel like it. It means I've got to be on my game the whole time. Notice the verse continues, and shall talk of these things when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. Does this sound like everybody learns differently? It doesn't to me. It seems like this is the course of action to take for everybody. All children need this careful attention. What's some other biblical revelation, careful advice? This is one we've heard before from Proverbs chapter 22 verse 6, rear up a child in the way he should go, and he will not depart from it. So, what does to rear, what does to bring up a child mean? It means the same thing we saw in Deuteronomy chapter 6 verses 6 and 7. Diligently, carefully. Not casually, not all, I'm a chill kind of personality, so I'm going to use a chill kind of approach with my children.

It doesn't get the job done. Here's some more biblical advice. Please turn with me to Proverbs chapter 23 verses 13 and 14. And I promise we'll talk about why this matters. Why caring about how we rear our children matters ultimately. So, we're going to Proverbs 23 verse 13.

We're breaking into the context, but as you know, the Proverbs, the book of Proverbs is a collection of why statements. So, we have, there are reasons why some Proverbs don't appear to fit in a context, but we don't want to talk about the construction of Proverbs today. We want to talk about the merit of Proverbs. So, verse 13 says, do not withhold correction from a child, for if you beat him with a rod, you and I would say, beat may not be the best translation here. When you beat him with a rod, you shall beat him with a rod, sorry, when you beat him with a rod, he will not die, you shall beat him with a rod and deliver his soul from hell. A better translation I found probably reads this way, don't withhold discipline from a child if you apply the rod, he will not die, but you will save him from an early death. So, when we see the concept of hell here at the end of verse 14, we're not talking about Gehenna, we're not talking about some kind of everlasting fire, right? We're not talking about that at all. We're talking about an early grave. I have an example for you that I'll share in just a moment. So, intentionally, you might find this interesting. The word rod translates here both as correction. Yes, it does mean a wooden instrument. It does say that. And by the way, we need to remind ourselves who's talking here? All scripture is given by inspiration of God. This isn't Solomon. We have to discard that thought. This is the eternal God talking to us.

These are the words of God. We don't get to pick and choose which parts of scripture are more valid than other parts of scripture. That's not how this works. 2 Timothy 3, 16, all scripture is God-breathed. It's given by inspiration. So, yes, it does mean a wooden instrument, but it also means an instrument of guidance, such as a shepherd's rod. We might even say a kind of prod that a parent encourages the direction in which he or she wants his or her child to go. So, when you and I think about the dual purpose of a rod, it's not to hurt. It's not to harm. It's not to abuse. So, many of us in this room experienced the rod of correction, but my guess is you probably experienced both kinds. Yes, there were times whenever, in my case, I was guilty of lying. I was guilty of rebellion. I needed the wooden rod of correction. I'll admit it. I needed it.

It helped me find a better path. But at the same time, my parents used a kind of shepherd's rod to make sure that I remembered the penalty for lying. I remembered the penalty for stealing. That I didn't want to do those things again. They were careful. They were diligent about these matters. Now, it's interesting to note when we turn over to Proverbs chapter 29 verse 15, just a few pages over, Proverbs 29.15.

God is telling us here through a proverb, the rod and reproof give wisdom, but the child left to himself brings shame to his mother. And it's based on this proverb that I have an example for us today. Now, before I get to that example and why this issue matters, we do want to acknowledge that the Apostle Paul points out in Ephesians 6.4 that we don't want to provoke our children to anger. We do have to be wise about how we use correction, but we do need to wisely gain their attention when they aren't paying attention. We don't want to let those behaviors slide because then the tree of cunning is in the position of control. Satan is using that knowledge, that unwillingness to make a correction, to guide. He's using that to cause trouble for us later. So, why does this matter to those of us who are not currently parenting children? Well, for 46 years now, we've been a practicing educator, and I can readily detect when my students have learned cooperation and self-control from those who are willful and disruptive. I've seen it dozens and dozens and dozens of times. I wasn't the source of that trouble. The source of the trouble was the tree of cunning, and whatever techniques parents decided they wanted to try with their children, whatever experiments they wanted to conduct, as the teacher, I had to live with the results of that. And as you can imagine, that's extremely unpleasant. I'm not there to manage people's behavior. I'm then there to help manage their need to learn and, I hope, to provide interest in learning. That's why I'm there. At all levels of education, therefore, I've witnessed that it's my self-disciplined students who are by far the better learners. They were by far the stronger learners, and my self-controlled co-workers were often the best employees to work with. They were under control. They had learned discipline. They were there to get the job done. They were there to be a part of a team. Not there to be in some kind of a competition. Not there to experiment, well, what will happen if I'm disruptive?

I wonder what will happen. So I have an example for you. I had one senior student when I was sojourning in the world of secondary education teaching high school. I had a senior who insisted on trying my patients. Now, I'll be the first to admit that I have a kind of calm demeanor, a calm exterior. I interact with people fairly calmly. His desire was to disrupt that as much as he could. We were in a fairly small group of 15 people, so it was easy to detect that Bryce was not on task. So with my classroom management techniques, I knew I have to direct his attention. In fact, redirect his attention to the task on hand and provide the results if he did not.

He decided he didn't want to be redirected, so I had to direct him out of the classroom and elsewhere. And the students already knew I had that system in place. In fact, many of the teachers did. There was a place for disruptive students to go in the high school if they didn't want to cooperate. He came back—we met every other day—so he came back the day after, the day that we had off, and he was reasonably under control. But the time after that, he was out of control once again.

The next part of this behavior management program is it's time to engage the parents.

Let's not delay this. Let's get on this as quickly as we can. This was at the beginning of an academic year. So we got together—the parents and I got together—and I recognized the problem immediately. He came from a blended family. The father wanted to have some control over what was happening with Bryce. The mother wanted absolutely no control over his behavior. I detected this immediately, so I recommended something I wouldn't normally recommend to most people. I said, have you considered sending him into the military? I said, he does not respect authority, and he does not understand how to function within a group. Have you considered that?

And of course, the mother was absolutely surprised. The father kind of nodded his head like this. Well, maybe that would accomplish something. Here's the principal reason why I'm telling you this story. Two years later, he was caught selling drugs within a thousand yards of a school. He's sitting in prison right now. It didn't have to be that way. The parents received a warning from me. I'm sure I was not the only person who provided a warning.

The mother didn't want to manage. The stepfather was not in a place that he felt he could manage, his stepson's behavior. So, passivity does not work. It will not get done what we want to get done. So, any kind of permissive approach, any kind of gentle approach, could be highly risky, according to Scripture. Here's a final sample premise and an experiment.

We want to protect our children from the dangerous world out there. That's the premise that some people use. Therefore, shouldn't we keep them safe at home with us is the experiment.

Now, how is this premise false? We go back to Proverbs chapter 1 verse 7. Remember that fear, or awe of the eternal, is the beginning of knowledge, the beginning of wisdom. So, it's the way we should be reasoning every day. If our children are learning this foundation from you and me, they will go on to be largely successful in the real world, the actual world. So, what's some sample biblical revelation that talks about this? Well, you know these well. Do we sit in our basements, in our bedrooms, in the church of God? Go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel of the kingdom? That doesn't sound like a bedroom activity, right? It's not. It's not a basement activity. It's, oh, we have to be out there engaged in the world. You know that's Matthew 28-18. Here's another. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of a sound mind. That's from the Apostle Paul in 2nd Timothy 1 verse 7. The Lord takes no delight in those who shrink back. This is one that affected me when I was a young person, Hebrews 10 verse 38.

My tendency as an introvert is to shrink back. This scripture persuades me that the eternal can't use me if I choose to do that. He needs me engaged. He needs me out there productive. Do good to all, yes, especially to the household of faith, but do good to all. Again, it's not a basement activity. It's not a bedroom activity, right? I'm not, I can't do that in my living room. I have to be out there engaged with what's going on in the world. Now, we have to remind ourselves that God supplies spiritual armor. He promises in Ephesians chapter 6, but we have to learn how to use it. It's defensive gear. We have to learn how to interact with people around us. That's the purpose of the apologetics course, to learn how to give a witness to people who ask us about our faith. We have to learn how to use that equipment appropriately, but we have to engage with people out there. Now, yes, all of this does come with a godly caution. We're in but not of the world, and we have to keep ourselves unspotted from the world. So that's a caution, for instance, from the Apostle John in 1 John 2. We have to be careful with that. Also, James chapter 1 verse 27 points out that being unspotted from the world is a careful activity. So, yes, we have to be engaged in the world. We don't want to be tainted by the world. So why does this issue matter to older people like myself who want the work of the church of God to continue? Why would this be of interest to somebody like me and maybe many other people in this room? I suspect the COVID experience may have taught too many of us, including many of our young people, to fear the world and hide out in our homes.

Rather, we truly need our teens and our young adults to be prepared to carry on the work of God. There are several of us who won't be here in another 10 years. So we need people to fill our spots. We need a deeper bench in terms of an athletics metaphor. So I ask our young people to consider the following. If you're contemplating higher education, for much of your learning, please leave your laptops and computer workstations in your bedrooms and go to class. Please get out there and engage with other peers so that we have a chance to use that armor, that whole armor of God. Interacting with others, I know, is challenging. And in somewhat challenging circumstances, it is uncomfortable. But it's what God expects of us. Clearly, the passages that I use, the few passages that I use, indicate that God does not take delight in those of us who shrink back. He wants to know that we're willing to engage. It's also interesting to note that wise Americans such as Mark Twain have noted that the weakest of all virtues are those that go untested by the fire of experience. People can claim all kinds of virtue, but if they haven't actually tested the virtue, is it really a virtue? Is it really a spiritual strength? We don't know. There isn't the evidence for that. So, what I've seen from my teaching is that we humans appear to learn more and learn more deeply when we're slightly uncomfortable. That's when I tended to learn more in my classes when I was just slightly uncomfortable trying to sort out what was true from what was false, what I could use from what I couldn't use, to make use of the biblical foundation that I had been given. I had to exercise all of that. So, I'll say this incidentally for anybody who's unsure of how to proceed in helping teens with this kind of transition, taking education from the home and out into the public classroom, please come and talk with me privately because I can point you to several UCG families that I personally know who've negotiated these obstacles successfully. I know several families whose young people are doing just fine.

So, please consider leaving the bedroom workstation and going out into the classroom to learn to support the way of God a little more completely. We need you for the work of God in terms of terms of the function of belief, in terms of the conviction that has to come from people who've been tested. We need that going forward. Otherwise, the Church of God will wane. It'll become unfortunate like some of the religious institutions in this country that stopped functioning and no longer exist. I don't want to name those because I don't want to embarrass anybody, especially here in the eastern part of the country, but some religions have died because people weren't out there engaging in the world. Well, in closing, I hope that we've been able to see through these few examples that too many of us may have chosen experimentation over biblical revelation in various parts of our lives. If any of this has touched us because, yes, I experimented maybe more than I should have, I wasn't listening to Scripture as carefully as I needed to, somehow, at least in some ways, many of us would have to admit the tree of cunning holds more interest for us than the tree of life. It appears true that the many voices of secular humanism around us are overwhelming us at times and may provide more clutter than clarity. We have to think about that pretty carefully. Is what I'm listening to what I'm reading cluttering the truth of God, or is it clarifying the truth of God? These voices are more than willing to lead us into the rocks of despair and destruction, and I don't want to see this happen to the people of God. I'm talking to myself, I don't want to see this happen to me. So I know that some of this material today has been somewhat challenging to hear because, yes, conversion is a process and we are works in progress, but it's clear that we still have important work to do. We heard this Scripture earlier, we have to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling from Philippians 2.12. It's an ever-present challenge. So let's strive to choose biblical revelation over experimentation and making the many important social choices that we make, especially those that we pass on to our children and exercise within the body of Christ. This is the crucial role of biblical revelation for Christians.