Applying the Spirit in Man

Before the feast, you know, I began a series on the subject of trial-rearing. And we're going to continue that today. As we saw in the first study, the first key was unity at the top. And it has two closely intertwined aspects. As we saw in some detail, one of the best things you can do for your children is to love your mate. And that's one point, and the other one was that parents must be in basic agreement and respect each other. They'll have differences, but they've got to work it out so that they are united in their approach to their children. Then we discussed the need to understand and accept the responsibility of being a parent. And we mentioned, first of all, that God intended to marriage be for life. And Jesus taught that what God joined together as one, man shouldn't unjoin. Then we covered how Mr. Armstrong, and not only Mr. Armstrong, but many others, taught that before one considers marriage that one has been able to support a wife and a family, that would be in a position to provide for it. And also, that God's words show that the responsibility to teach the children is given to the parents. We went over to Deuteronomy there. He says, you shall teach your children. He assigned all the parents in Israel to teach their children. So they're all assigned to teach. And that's what we're supposed to do, to teach the children his ways. And as we saw, that includes positive instruction and also from time to time correction. Then in July, and it's been since July, I covered understanding the spirit in man. Working with our children, we need to make use of the knowledge of the spirit in man. We covered that in some detail. Spiritual forces have far more to do with human conduct and also misconduct than either heredity or environment. And we discussed how you can't get a better heredity than Adam had, and you can't get a better environment. And yet, he got into trouble very quickly, apparently. It wasn't long before he turned from God's way of life and be tuned into Satan's wavelength. Adam's acceptance of Satan influence had far more effect on his life and on the life of all his children than his heredity or his environment. And I feel the Church of God is really blessed to have been given the understanding of how the human mind works. And I discussed that at some point, but suffice here for a brief review that in 1967, while we were serving in Melbourne, Australia, we attended a ministerial conference in Pasadena. And Mr. Armstrong was his custom. When his mind was on something, it would stay on that one subject, as you probably remember. He would talk about it over and over again. When I was in Brickedwood, he was writing the book, The Missing Dimension in Sex. And during one of the ministerial get-togethers, one of the ministers there, one of the faculty members, got him a card, and he opened it out, opened up the card, and on the cover it said, Sex in bright red letters. And then he opened it up and said, something about this just caught my attention. And they were teasing him that he kept talking about that subject, because that's what his mind was on then. Well, after that, he went to the spirited man, and his mind kept talking about that. But during the conference, he said, understanding the spirit man will affect child rearing. And from that one statement, we've been trying to learn how to use that knowledge of the spirit man in our child rearing. So last time, I covered the subject of the spirit man in some depth. Since that's two months ago, I just want to give a very brief review. Let's go to Job 32. The book of Job, chapter 32.

If you know the book of Job, you'll know that Job was a very faithful servant of God, but he had some things to learn. Hopefully that's the same as all of us. We're trying to be faithful to God, and we recognize we all have things to learn. And he came with a very, very severe trial. None of us would want to go through what Job went through. And Job talked on for several chapters because he felt he wasn't being dealt with properly by God. And he let everybody around know it. So in Job 32, after Job, if you look at the last phrase in Job, chapter 31, the very last phrase, it says, the words of Job are ended. He was full of words, and it came flowing out. And as far as this book goes, that's the end of it.

Chapter 32, verse 1. So these three men ceased answering Job because he was righteous in his own eyes. A very human failing that we humans get into very easily. Then the wrath of Elihu, the son of Barakal, the buzz-eyed of the family of Ram, was aroused against Job. His wrath was aroused because he justified himself rather than God. And that's another easy thing for we humans to get into. When something goes wrong, we say, well, I did everything right. God must have let me down. And we justify ourselves rather than God. And the problems here are stated quite succinctly for us to look at. Verse 3. Also against his three friends, his wrath was aroused because they found no answer and yet had condemned Job. They didn't have any answer, but they're still critical of Job. And it's another human failing we start being critical of people. We don't know the whole situation, but we start criticizing anyway, and that's what they did. Now, because they were years older than he, they were just a couple of years, a lot of years older than he, Elihu had waited to speak to Job. When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, his wrath was aroused. So Elihu, the son of Barakal, the buzz-eyed, answered and said, I am young in years and you are very old. Therefore I was afraid and declared and dared not declare my opinion to you. I said age should speak and multitude of years should teach wisdom. Now, that's something we tend to think, too. People who are older should have more wisdom and should be the ones you listen to. That's what his point was. But there is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding. There is a spirit in man, and the breath, the inspiration, of the Almighty gives him understanding. The song Sino Commentary, which is a Jewish commentary, states, the divine spirit, or breath, Ruach, gives life and intelligence to all. And they have some references. That is the source of man's wisdom. God can give wisdom through that spirit man. He gives the spirit man, and then he can teach through it. Here, Releihu expresses a characteristically Hebrew concept. As the effect of in-breathing by man of the breath of life from God, man became a living soul. In which the Targum, and the Targum is the Aramaic translation, renders a speaking or rational spirit. They gave him understanding and made humans different than all the other animals on the face of the earth. Remember Genesis 2.7, And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. We also looked at 1 Corinthians 9. We took in some detail. I just want to do the... Sorry, 1 Corinthians 2, beginning in verse 9. 1 Corinthians 2, beginning in verse 9.

Here, Paul is talking on the whole subject of wisdom and understanding, and he's explaining to the Corinthian church how things work. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 9. But as it is written, I has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him. That statement is so compact, but it means no human mind has comprehended the things that God has prepared for those who love him. That's what that statement says. Verse 10. But God has revealed them to us through his Spirit. God reveals what God has prepared for those who love him, through the Holy Spirit.

God must reveal them through his Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit can link with the Spirit and man. It's the coupler, if you like, where God can plug in and tie in in that way.

Paul wrote in Romans, the Spirit itself, meaning the Holy Spirit, bears witness with our Spirit, meaning the Spirit and man, that we are children of God. God's people should be reflecting out and being able to be seen to be the children of God by the Spirit dwelling in them. The Spirit itself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God. The Spirit bears witness that we're children of God. You can see it. It's important for us to understand that.

For the God has revealed them to us through his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. The Spirit gives access to the deep understanding that God has, and who knows how deep that is? I sure don't. I keep marveling at the creation of how many different— Do you ever notice evolutionists never talk about flowers?

How did flowers—what were they surviving against? And why did they come up in so many different colors and sizes and shapes and trees and plants and fruits and, I mean, foods? How did that all evolve gradually? It's just crazy. Anyway, I'm preaching to the choir. Verse 11. But it comprehends the deep things of God.

For what man knows the things of a man, except the spirit of a man which is in him? What man knows what humans know, without the spirit of man being inside there? It gives us access to the things that men do. Think, plan, reason, study, have emotions, react to things, learn, grow, all those things that we do. Build, plan. For what man knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man which is in him? The spirit of the man or in the man gives human understanding.

And we noted last time that Paul wrote this as if everyone understood that. He just wrote it like, well, we all know that. And yet after 2,000 years, it's news to most people today. Sometimes, including people in the Church who don't appreciate the value of that teaching. The spirit of man provides humans with the ability to think and to reason and to plan. It enables us to relate to other humans. Physically, touch them verbally, we can talk to them emotionally and spiritually.

We can interface with other humans because of the spirit man. Then he says in the latter half of verse 11, Even so, no one knows the things of God except the spirit of God. The only one that knows the spirit of God, the things of God, is through the spirit of God, connecting with the human mind.

I like to think of the Apostle Paul. We know he was highly trained in the Scripture. He was a Bible scholar, we might say. He knew a lot about the Scripture, and he was very intelligent and very well trained at some of the best teachers of his day.

But as highly trained as he was, believe it or not, he had no understanding of the things of God. You know, sometimes we think people who know a lot about the Bible, especially technically, but they're not always so clear on the things of God, the things that are important to God. Paul's eye had not seen, nor had his ear heard, nor had it entered into his heart, the things God prepared for those who love him.

And although he was a great Bible scholar, he was walking around in the dark.

That's an astonishing thing. And then God confronted him on the road to Damascus, and he began to learn. And my guess is that he began to learn pretty fast.

In Matthew 13 and the parables, Jesus said to them, Have you understood all these things? They said to him, Yes, Lord. Then he said to them, Therefore every scribe, instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven, is like a householder who brings out of his treasure old things and new. Paul had that treasure back there of all those scriptures and that knowledge, and you can bet he was awake for hours, thinking, Oh, that ties in over here. Oh, all of a sudden it would start clicking back and forth. And he'd probably, well, he got to the point where he could tell Peter a thing or two. He could point out, You're missing the point of the gospel here, Peter, because, and he could do it, Peter said, Oh, you're right. Let's say, I think Paul learned pretty quick. Nevertheless, it had to have God's Spirit. So he's right, and the only way you can learn is through God's Spirit, and now God used him to write that, because he now understood it. Verse 12, Now we have received not the Spirit of the world. He talks about the Spirit of the world. That's the Spirit that is presently working throughout the earth. I think, well, I went to Ephesians last time. I'll just read it this time. And you, he made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sinned, sins in which you once walked according to the course of this world, like he did. Verse 13 According to the Prince of the power of the air, he broadcast through the air the Spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. That Spirit is the spirit of the world, and it's working in the sons of disobedience. Put those two thoughts together.

Paul also wrote, Now the works of the flesh are evident. They are evident to the converted mind.

To the Spirit-led mind.

And it means it's easy for the Spirit-led mind to see what the works of the flesh are. You can see them. They're there. The point is, let's go to verse 12. Now we receive not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. We learn what's freely given through the Spirit. Those things we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. And then he goes on, he says, But the natural man does not receive the things of God. For they are foolishness to him. Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Okay, so those led by the Holy Spirit can discern spiritual things. And what's the first thing we perceive? First, God grants us repentance. It's called the gift of God in Romans 2. Repentance is a gift that God gives, and he has to give it through the Spirit to one degree. Somehow it starts off, Peter was repentant before the day of Pentecost. And Jesus said to him, The Spirit has been with you and shall be in you. But it grants repentance. That means we can recognize carnal attitudes in ourselves. All of a sudden we see it, hey, look what's working in there. Look what's going on in there. And we begin to see it. And we strive to turn from them. Another way to state that same point is we see the Spirit of the world working in us.

We start seeing that. And then we can recognize them in others, including our children. And we can gently, I emphasize gently, help them recognize the Spirit. Of course, we can't expect children to be converted. But we can help them to discern the spiritual motivations behind their actions. We can help them to see it. And that's something we should do. So last time I close with a question. Aware of the Spirit of man. What should be our goal in child-wearing? We have the knowledge of the Spirit of man available to us. And we need to make use of it. I gave one example last time. That seemed to resonate with a number. And the example was, whether we realize it or not, parents control what I call the spiritual environment in the home. What is the spiritual environment? I gave different examples. I've changed them a little bit. Not completely, but just a little bit. Is the home calm and peaceful? Or tense? Hostile and angry? Some home is one way, some are another. Is the communication open and honest? Or is it hidden and dishonest? You don't really know what's going on.

Is it respectful in tone? Or in spirit would be a better way to say that. Or is it disrespectful? Do people talk disrespectfully to each other? Is it reasonable? Or is it argumentative? That you're going to make a point it's reasonable? Oh, I can see that. Do people go back and forth and argue? Our families used to like an occasional good argument.

I like to say, I've said this for years, contrary to the law of physics, it produced all heat and no light.

Then they'd shut up for a while and then go back. Is it reasonable or is it argumentative? Is it a spirit of criticism? Or is it a spirit of encouragement? Different tones that are there. What's the spiritual environment to learn what it is? And we all need to ask ourselves, what is the spiritual environment in our home? So that's a good place to begin applying the knowledge that there is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding. That's a start. Let's see what else we can learn about child rearing, understanding the spirit in man. As I said, what is our goal in child rearing? What is the goal you have?

Here's something we learn from the spirit of man. When we understand that, we know that God has given every human being the power of choice. Because each individual has a spirit of man, has its own will, has its own mind, everyone has their own choice. And nobody can take it away. When children are little, parents make most of the choices. I like to say a newborn baby doesn't decide anything, not even which side it's going to lay on, or what color pajamas it's going to wear, or whatever. Nothing. But over time, and it happens more quickly, all parents tell me this, it's amazing how quick they say they're starting to express their opinions. And they have their own will, and sometimes they can't even talk, but you can tell they're thinking something.

Over time, children will begin to start making their own choices. And one day, you can be sure this will happen, parents will have no direct control over their choices. None whatsoever. They'll be out of the nest and flying on their own. They'll be able to go wherever they want to go and do whatever they want to do.

That's true for the five infants that we asked God to bless here last week. They're little there, tiny, and yet one day, they're going to be on their own, making their own choices. There's another thing we should know. And sometime after that, probably a long time, we also know they'll be judged by Jesus Christ for the choices they've made. Isn't that right? Everybody's going to be judged. He'll judge the living and the dead. As Paul wrote, we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and we all shall.

Mama won't be there to offer justifications for bad behavior.

By that time, the fruits of a person's life will have been made quite clear. It'll just be clear. And it'll be right there. Therefore, since they have the spirit man, shouldn't our goal be to instill self-discipline in them? To make them self-disciplined, that they can do it themselves. We have to teach them to govern themselves in godly thinking and in godly conduct. Teach them to develop from an untrained and undisciplined children into mature and self-disciplined adults. Sometimes it's possible to force other people to do something. Parents and others can sometimes force their children to do something or not do something. You have control. And that could go on for a long time. But one day, someone who has been coerced for a long time will eventually say, I've had enough. And it seems to be more with the children of Israel. Stubborn, stiff-necked people, God says. And you'll no longer be able to force them to do anything. Once you lost control, you lost control.

When the Chicago congregation of the Worldwide Church of God broke up, one man who had been a part of the congregation for several decades, he was here long before I came, and apparently those decades weren't so happy. He said to me, no one will ever again put the arm on me.

He felt coerced.

And he'd had enough. And when he had the chance, he departed. He departed. As I said, those decades must not have been very pleasant. Nobody likes to be coerced, or feel coerced. If you look at Proverbs 22, Proverbs 22, I'll read it to you from the NIV. It's pretty close, but Proverbs 22 and verse 15, reading from the NIV, which I like the NIV in the Old Testament, especially, it says, Folly, New King James' foolishness, is bound up in the heart of a child. But the rod of discipline, New King James' correction, will drive it far from him. Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him. Now, in Hebrew, the word used here for discipline in the NIV, or correction in the New King James, includes instruction, rebuke, warning, and punishment. It includes all four of those. Actually, it's the same in English. Although we don't tend to think of it, the root word is disciple. It's the same more discipline, disciple. Teaching or learning, being taught, and that includes instruction, rebuke, warning, and punishment. That teaching that leads to a child or adult becoming self-disciplined and being on their own, being able to discipline themselves. That was our goal in child learning, and that's my goal in the congregation. I don't try to run your life. You'll help you notice that. You run your life. I'm working on mine.

But to teach, to instruct, and sometimes give a warning, and sometimes to deal with things in the congregation, that's all there. That's all in there. Have a look at Psalm 32 and verses 8-11. Again, I'll use the NIV. Psalm 32.

In the NIV, God says Psalm 32 verses 8-11, I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. That's what God will do. He will instruct and teach in the way we should go. I will counsel you and watch over you. What a blessing that is! And then in verse 9, Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding, but must be controlled by bit and bridle, or they will not come to you. I think the New King James says there's a stomp on you or something like that. You know, a horse and a mule are very useful animals, but they don't have any understanding. So you've got to put something on them to control them. Do not be like the horse or mule, which have no understanding, but must be controlled by bit and bridle, or they will not come to you. Verse 10, Many are the woes of the wicked. They have wicked because they don't alert. But the Lord's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him. Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous, you make good choices. Sing all you who are upright in heart. As a young man, I was working at some menial task somewhere, and it occurred to me that if I couldn't be trusted to do the right thing without supervision, I would always need a supervisor.

Isn't that right? If you can't be trusted to do the right thing, if you can't be trusted to do the right thing without a supervisor, then you're going to need a supervisor. Somebody would say, do the right thing!

From that time, I determined to be someone who would be relied on to do the right thing without any human supervision.

So I wasn't like a horse or a mule. It had to be controlled. Of course, Jesus Christ is my head, my supervisor, my king, and my savior. He's still in charge. And he's the one who's going to work it all out.

But we all have to be self-disciplined. We all have to be able to operate on our own. We all have to have that self-discipline to do the right thing. That's what Christians are. You lead them, but they follow because they want to go in that direction. You don't drive them like you do cattle. Cattle, you've got to drive. Sheep, you gently lead. It's quite different results. When our children were little, unless they were in danger, I never took their hand away from something they were told not to touch. I never went and grabbed the hand and pulled away. Why? I wanted them to be self-disciplined, so I instructed them to take their own hand away from whatever it was. And if they didn't withdraw their own hand, they were disciplined by instruction, rebuke, warning, or punishment, or some combination of those, depending on the seriousness there. So our goal was to make them self-discipline, which means you take your hand away, because if you take it from them, you're coercing, in my view.

The goal is to teach our children to be self-disciplined. We are constantly training our children, whether we realize it or not. In a study back when we did this in a Bible study, a small group Bible study in 1989, I mentioned that I've heard of and learned about a number of people who had grown up with weak moms and no dad. That's a difficult situation, as I'll plan to show you in future. And later in life, they were known to, when they were young, they were known to have argued and pleaded with their moms about something, Oh, please, please! And I did that, too. And too often, she would give in. My mom was divorced, and so all the kids have the issues. All of them do. Why don't I? And she would do her very best with her limited funds to give into this very selfish little kid. I see it differently now than I did then. But people who get away with that for a long time tend to grow up manipulating people. They manipulate to get their way. And especially, they like to manipulate ladies. It's really sad. Now, if a child screams or whines to get its way, what spiritual attitudes are at work?

As I said in Galatians 5, Paul listed the works of the flesh which he said were manifest and IV obvious. Would you say these apply? Hatred. That's one of the works of the flesh. That's the starting of the ones of a particular group. First set deals with sexual sins. This is the first step section of Galatians 5 that deals with just other things. Hatred. It's actually a plural word, but we don't have a plural hatred in English. And then, contentions. Well, when you're pleading, there's a contention there. And there's bad will. And the NIV says for contentions, discord. Okay? And then jealousies.

The NIV says rivalries. And outbursts of wrath.

NIV fits of rage. Loss of emotional control. Going out of control. And then selfish ambitions. Selfish ambitions. That means wanting for self. Wanting for self. That's what it basically means. The word actually has to do with politicking to get your way. And then, dissensions. Now, dissensions. And the next one is heresies, which the NIV says factions. The Exposer's Bible commentary says, dissensions and factions denote a state of affairs in which men are divided and feuds flourish. And with little kids fighting for its way, it's a state of affairs where men are divided and feuds flourish. The last one is there is NIV's. That's passion. And also murders, which is the long-term outcome of hatred. You have hatred. Start with hatred, and you end with murder. They're connected there. That's that section in the middle there of the works of the flesh, which Paul says are obvious.

As I said last time, if screaming and fits of rage are whining work, what do we teach him? What do we teach the children? We teach them to scream, to rage, and to whine if they work. As I said last time, I would separate them. I said, now, wait. Can you ask for that in a nice way? Can you ask for that in a simple way without all this upset? And they could. See, I saw them. We had two problems, not one. We had two problems, and we dealt with whatever issue they were concerned about. And that worked. Now I want to examine the father's role, which today is not well understood. And I think that's an understatement. The spirit of the world has been working against fathers for a very long time. I had an article in Time Magazine in 1984. It was More Scriptures Without Sexism, October 29, 1984. To feminist critics of the Holy Scripture, there is something grievously wrong with the beginning of the 23rd Psalm in traditional translation. The Lord is my shepherd has a distinctively male aura to it. Far better, say critics, to render David's words in a neutral way. God is my shepherd.

Isn't that amazing? I read that, and I'm still amazed. Similarly, sexism is alleged rampant in the commandment given to Moses. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. Fairness would dictate that an even-handed condemnation by any or husband. These are just two examples from a new anti-sexist rendering of hundreds of widely known biblical passages that was issued last week by the National Council of Churches. The aim of the balanced six men, six women committee that prepared the translation was to rid holy writ of the male bias that supposedly runs through both the Hebrew and Greek scriptures and subsequent English translations. That means expunging any reference to a male god such as the Lord, the Father, and masculine pronouns like he, says committee member the Reverend Sharon Ring of the Methodist Theological School in Delaware, Ohio. Much hurt is caused by oppressive speech. I think that's just astonishing. I think that's just astonishing.

The carnal mind is hostile to authority, especially God's authority. Elohim is a family, and the head of the family is the Father. And it says a lot about the role. We don't say our parent who are in heaven. We're not baptized into the name of the parent, the child, and the Holy Spirit. We'll shorten this down a little bit. No, not at all. Satan society is hostile to authority. That means Satan society is hostile to fathers who represent authority or are pictured as representing it. And they ridicule it, and they resent it, and believe it. Hollywood has a constant movie stream where there's some authority figure, military, not military, and there's a young guy who's not conformist, and he proves the old guy wrong. That's the theme of movies over and over and over and over again. They never seem to get sick of it.

This society is producing fewer and fewer men because God set it up so that fathers build men.

And those with God's Spirit recognize the Spirit behind the hostility to authority. I can see it. God's servants are respectful of authority, all authority. Now, some authority tells you to do things wrong, and you cooperate with them, you don't compromise, you do what God says. We serve God rather than man, but nevertheless, we're respectful. Peter, before the council, was respectful of the council, but he said whether we should do what you say or what God says, you judge.

Now, notice what God says about the role of fathers. Please notice that. Let's go to Malachi 4 and verses 5 and 6.

Malachi 4 and verses 5 and 6. Reading from the New King James, he said, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Christ's first coming was not the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Christ's second coming is the great and dreadful day of the Lord. It's going to be a very powerful day indeed. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. The word curse there probably is in your margin says utter destruction. If fathers aren't doing their job, God says, well, we're not going to keep this going.

Now, there are prophetic aspects of this prophecy, but let's just examine it in terms of families. The hearts of the fathers, through Elijah's work, the hearts of the fathers will be turned toward their children, and the hearts of the children would be turned toward their fathers. Notice the order. First, the fathers toward the children, and then the children toward the fathers. Isn't God implying that his servant Elijah, which means, my God is YAH, Y-A-H, his servant Elijah, will turn the fathers' hearts toward their children, and that will result in the children's hearts being turned toward their fathers? You know, as we're going over 1 John, we read the verse, we love him because he first loved us. And he initiates the love, and we start learning from it, and we respond to it that way. Now, brethren, how do you turn somebody's heart? How do you do that? Think about your parents. Is your heart turned toward them? If so, what turned your heart toward them? We know it wasn't because they're perfect. I think we can rule that out. It wasn't because they were perfect. Wasn't it because you appreciate and respect them?

Wasn't it because you know they tried hard to teach you how to be a responsible person? Wasn't it because you now know they made sacrifices for you that you were too young, too immature, or too inexperienced to appreciate? And when you get older, especially when you have your own family, you start thinking, whoa, I didn't realize how much my parents did. I had no idea. And you start understanding that in a way you never understood before. And then you go ask them a question. When did I start doing that? When did I start doing that? And you start with, what did I weigh? And then you go on to other questions of what did I do and how did you handle it? Wasn't it because they corrected you when you needed it and you know you needed it? I collect stories on that, and I found some really strong men will brag about how their dad stood up to them when they were starting to feel their oats. And their dad stood up to them, and they tell the story with a big grin on their face about how my dad, my dad, you can tell their heart was turned toward to dad. It was very clear because he stood up to them. I heard of a prison chaplain here in Chicago who was considered very helpful to the prisoners because he would say to them, you know your mother tried to get you to do the right thing, but you wouldn't do it. And they're sitting there in prison in their uniform and there's not a lot of which you can go there with that. Of course, for them, it's mostly too late. Their actions have produced results that are almost impossible to reverse. And it's very, very sad.

If your heart is not turned toward your parents, only you can examine the reasons. And I hope you do. And gain understanding.

Can you turn someone's heart by discipline alone? I don't think so. John McClain, an elder who previously served here in the Chicago area, told me he was going through his shop once and he saw a t-shirt that said this. The beatings will continue until morale improves.

The beatings will continue until morale improves. The beatings will continue until morale improves. We love him because he first loved us. He was patient with us. He was kind with us. He had to correct us from time to time, but we know we needed it. We didn't know so much at the time, but as we look back, we think, oh my, it's really important to see this. In James 1, 27, the epistle of James, in the NIV it says, religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless, religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this, to look after orphans and widows, the fatherless and widows, who are trying to raise kids on their own, to look after the orphans and widows in their distress. It's a distressful situation. And to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. To keep oneself. Nobody makes you do this, you do this yourself. To keep oneself from being polluted by the world. Let's go over to Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12. And verse 7.

Hebrews 12. And verse 7. If you endure chastening. Now, as Christians, Paul is talking about enduring chastening. But we're also parents, and we sometimes have to do some chastening ourselves. And Paul makes that point here. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a father does not chasten? Miss Ring would not like that word. Who the father does not chasten. But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then are you illegitimate and not sons? If God's not correcting you from time to time, something's wrong. But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them the human father's respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the father of spirits? The father who created spirits. I mean grass and trees, but spirits. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the father of spirits and live? For they, the human fathers, indeed for a few days chastened us as seen best to them. But he for our prophet that we may be partakers of his holiness. God is trying to get his children to be holy and conduct themselves in holy ways, in his holy ways. For they, indeed, for a few days chastened us as seen best to them. You look back and you see your family. They did, most of them did, perhaps some didn't, I'm sure some didn't. But most people I know look back and they see, I see what they were trying to do and they didn't have some training and things. People didn't have a lot of training. They didn't have a lot of understanding. But they did their best as they thought they should in their generation. For they, indeed, for a few days chastened us as seen best to them. But he for our prophet that we may be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful. Now when we're going through trials, the chastening doesn't seem joyful. And when we have to take our children and chasten them from time to time, it's not pleasant. I never said that it was going to hurt you more than, hurt me more than you because it was going to hurt them more than me. I knew I was doing it for their good, and to save them from death, actually. It says that, by the way, in Deuteronomy. Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful. And to chastise our children is painful. Nevertheless, afterward, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. King James exercised by it. It comes from the word from gymnasium, believe it or not, to physically do it there. Nevertheless, afterward, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Next time, we'll focus on some practical aspects of chalvary.