This morning our Bobby Ohanas was boasting a
little bit.
He said he came this time to this
conference in fullness because his wife is with
him.
And I think I can boast too.
The Wu's, we are three generations here.
My father, who is 84, is attending the
Richmond Conference.
My wife, my daughter, and also my younger
brother from Minnesota, his family.
And later on in the week, my other
daughter and her new husband will be here.
And also I have another brother and his
wife.
They will join us this weekend.
So that's the real fullness.
Well, thank the Lord, Christ is the fullness
of God.
And that's what we are seeking for, is
to know Him and to enter into His
fullness.
So we just look to the Lord for
a moment, please.
Our Father, we confess our great need of
Thee.
We acknowledge openly that without Thee we can
do nothing.
Without Thee there is nothing.
We do thank You that You have given
us Your Son, the Lord Jesus.
With Him we have all.
We just pray that this afternoon You will
teach us, You will help us to enter
into the Lord Jesus Himself.
We just pray that You will prepare our
hearts for us not to receive a teaching
from man, but Lord, to receive instruction by
Your Word through the Holy Spirit to give
us help.
We do thank You that we can count
on Your help because You are the faithful
one.
We give praise, give thanks in the name
of the Lord Jesus.
Amen.
Now I was given the assignment to speak
on this matter about personal discipline.
And it is a very difficult subject.
And I struggled before the Lord for some
time.
And as I was given this assignment I
always had a very positive look.
It is always a learning situation for me.
Maybe this is the area that I needed
the most about my personal life.
I need to be disciplined.
Well, by way of introduction, in life itself,
life is adjustment and discipline.
You cannot go through life without some form
of discipline or some form of adjustment.
That is life, even on a natural level.
If you want to get somewhere in this
world, you have to discipline yourself to get
somewhere.
Now I am in the area of music.
If you want to perform well, you have
to discipline yourself.
You need to practice.
You have to give yourself 100% to
what you want to do.
Now I have a friend who is a
conductor.
And he said before the concert, he would
have to tell his wife in case he
said, I am going to shut in my
study for the next three days.
Now nobody is to call on me.
If I am hungry, I will go to
the kitchen and get some food.
But I am not to be bothered for
the next three days.
So in this world, if we are going
to get somewhere, we have to somehow discipline
ourselves to get somewhere.
Of course, in the world system, we discipline
ourselves for our own gain, for our own
satisfaction, for our own gratification, for fame, for
power, for success.
So even on a natural level, discipline is
necessary if we are going to get anywhere
in this world.
Now you look at some of those people
that have achieved success in this world.
You look at their life.
In some area of life, there is self
-discipline.
Now, maybe immoral discipline, but it is discipline.
At night, some of the people in business,
they will stay awake, think of ways in
the business world to get ahead, to gain,
to profit themselves.
That is a form of discipline.
Now spiritually, there is also a discipline.
But it is a different kind of discipline.
It is spiritual discipline.
In a way, we cannot discipline ourselves spiritually.
We don't want to be disciplined.
We hate discipline.
Now if you have any kids in your
household, you know how they hate discipline.
You tell them to do something, how they
refuse it.
And how they get angry when you tell
them to do something, or to obey something.
In home, in school, in our society, I
think we are living in a generation where
discipline is prevalent everywhere.
Particularly in school.
There is absolutely no discipline in school.
I know because I taught school for 22
years.
It is very difficult to get youngsters to
listen and to follow instruction correctly.
They all want to do their own way.
Now spiritually, when the Lord took us out
from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom
of light, that is the most tremendous adjustment
we had to face.
From the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom
of the Lord Jesus, what a transaction, what
a changeover.
And just think of the adjustment and discipline
we had to go through.
From the old creation to the new creation.
Something is all new to us, something is
foreign to us.
Just think of the adjustment we had to
make.
The last four or five years, I usually
go to the Philippines to visit my folks
and visit the brothers and sisters there.
The first week when I arrived there, it
was most difficult for me because I had
to make all the adjustments, because I had
to change my whole lifestyle altogether.
I had to fit into their life pattern,
their food, their routine and so forth, the
way how they live and so forth.
The first week is most difficult.
Now I have no way for them to
change their ways to suit me.
But since I entered into their situation, I
must be the one, I should be the
one who is to make the adjustment, to
make the necessary changes.
And that requires some form, some shape of
self-discipline.
Well, God's purpose is not just the discipline.
Discipline is under something.
So God's purpose is to bring in His
sons to glory.
So that we'll be partakers of His nature.
Or, in Hebrew, it says we'll be sharers
of His holiness.
Now to achieve that, in His love, God
does discipline us.
But on the other hand, we have to
be willing to cooperate.
We have to be willing to place ourselves
under the discipline of the Holy Spirit.
Now, next, let's look at how do we
define discipline.
What is discipline?
To most people, discipline is simply do's and
don't do's.
Do's and don't do's, we think that is
discipline.
I think it's more than that.
I can, through the scripture, we can see
that discipline is really instruction.
To instruct, to teach something very positive.
To correct, to train, to improve, to mold,
to strengthen, and to perfect character.
Has to do with our life.
Has to do with our whole being.
Has to do with our spiritual character.
Therefore, we need to be instructed.
We need to be corrected.
We need to be trained.
We need to be improved.
And we need to be strengthened, to mold,
and to be perfected.
And so that's how we define discipline in
the scripture.
Is to instruct, to correct, to train, to
improve, to mold, to strengthen, and to perfect
character.
Now, some aspects of discipline.
I think this session will just dwell on
two aspects.
First is this matter of instruction, and then
the second aspect is this matter of evaluation.
To instruct, we need an instructor.
To be trained, you need a trainer.
An athlete or a soldier.
A soldier needs a sergeant.
An athlete, they need a trainer or a
coach.
And thank God, our instructor, our coach, our
trainer is the Holy Spirit.
So do bear that in mind.
We have no other teacher, we have no
other trainer than the Holy Spirit that God
has given to each one of us.
Therefore, we know in the New Covenant, we
do not need anyone to teach us from
the outside.
But we have the anointing in us.
He is doing a teaching from within.
That is real teaching.
And that requires some discipline.
To listen and to be conscious of that
inward instruction, inward training, inward voice.
Now, next is the instruction itself.
The course instruction.
And the instruction is our transformation and confirmation
to the Lord Jesus himself.
So the one objective of the Holy Spirit's
work, instruction, training, in our life, so that
we can conform to the image of God's
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
So let's not forget that.
That is the goal of the Holy Spirit,
to change us, to transform us, so that
we'll be Christ-like.
That is the objective, the goal, of the
Holy Spirit.
Now, this mental evaluation is so necessary on
our part.
Because how can we tell that we have
learned something?
Or how can our instructor really know that
we have received something from him, we have
learned something from him?
It's only by real testing.
By what evaluation?
So, brothers and sisters, our whole Christian living
is a life of receiving instruction, as well
as a life of evaluation, under the light
of the Holy Spirit.
He will teach us, and he also tests
us, to find out whether we have learned
anything from him.
Or if there is anything that we learned
in the wrong way that needs some correction.
So, evaluation has two sides.
One is to confirm that we have learned
something.
And the other one, the negative side, is
to discover that we haven't really learned much
yet.
So, therefore, there is hope for us to
be instructed again.
Thank God the Holy Spirit nearly gives us
up.
If we fail, he is very patient.
He will keep teaching us until the lesson
is learned.
So, brothers and sisters, here we see there
is no shortcut here, to be followers of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is no shortcut to the throne.
There is no shortcut to the fullness of
Christ.
So, as Brother Tom was sharing last night,
and the thought just came through my mind,
and this morning as well, as well as
this afternoon, because one of the messages I
have at home by Brother Kirsten Spock, entitled
this way, Emptiness unto Fullness.
So, there is no shortcut.
To enter into the fullness of Christ, we
have to cross Jordan.
We have to give ourselves up.
Emptiness unto fullness.
So, the Holy Spirit is very particular.
We have no way of bypassing him.
No way.
So, brothers and sisters, it's good for us
to know that the Holy Spirit, in a
way, he never gives us up.
But the question is, are we willing to
endure his instruction and his evaluation until whatever
lesson he is teaching us is learned.
Now, what is the purpose of this discipline?
Of course, we mentioned the goal of the
Holy Spirit is our conformity, our transformation, confirmation
to the image of the Lord Jesus.
But as far as our practical way of
life here on this earth, I believe there
are two aspects, or two ways.
One is to prepare us individually so that
we can fit into the corporate expression of
the Lord Jesus for this present hour.
So that the fullness of his life can
be fully expressed in the people.
Now, for instance, if you know your fellowship,
as you already know, the problem of any
fellowship is not the individual brothers and sisters.
The problem of any fellowship is how we
are going to live together.
It's a corporate problem, not an individual problem.
So the dealings of the Lord, the discipline
of the Holy Spirit is to prepare us
so that we can be fitted together corporately
into an expression of the Lord Jesus on
this earth to express his fullness.
The second thing is the Holy Spirit is
preparing us in this life so that we
will fit into what is to come.
In other words, to be a ready people
for the life to come.
As sons, or let's put it the other
way, as wife of the Lamb.
To be properly fitted to the King of
Kings, the Lord of Lords, so that we
can assist him administering his kingly affairs in
the ages to come.
Now brothers and sisters, if that is the
case, that will require strict discipline.
Now you are not even on a human
level.
If you are a commoner, you will receive
one kind of education.
If you happen to be born in a
royal family, in a kingly family, you will
receive a totally different education altogether because you
have the throne in view.
Therefore, you have to go through much discipline,
much instruction, much restriction, which average people will
not have to go through.
So brothers and sisters, we are called to
be kings and priests.
So our spiritual education will be totally different.
It has to be always looked at from
the heavenly point of view, not from the
earthly point of view, because God is calling
us to be heavenly people.
So our education, our discipline is strictly heavenly,
spiritual.
Now the next thing, I think we can
go to some of the more practical things
that we can share this afternoon, is how
to be disciplined.
We all know discipline is necessary, but how?
That is always the question.
So if the Lord willing, this afternoon, I
will share three aspects.
First is obedience in faith.
That requires much, much discipline.
Obedience in faith, that is the first point.
Second is submission in hope.
To obey is very, very difficult, if not
impossible.
To submit is also very, very difficult, if
not impossible.
And the third thing is sacrifice in love.
Sacrifice in love.
So shall we turn to a few important
scriptures, please?
First, let's turn to the book of Deuteronomy,
chapter 8.
And we'll read 5 verses 5 to verse
10.
Thus you are to know in your heart
that the Lord your God was disciplining you
just as a man disciplines his son.
Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the
Lord your God to walk in His ways
and to fear Him.
For the Lord your God is bringing you
into a good land, a land of brooks,
of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth
in valleys and hills, a land of wheat
and barley, of vine and fig trees, pomegranates,
a land of olive oil and honey, a
land where you shall eat the food without
scarcity, in which you shall not lack anything,
a land whose stones are iron and out
of whose hills you can dig copper.
When you have eaten and are satisfied, you
shall bless the Lord your God for the
good land which He has given you.
So in these few verses, we see discipline
is related to Israelites entering and possessing the
land.
So if you put in a New Testament
term, discipline is vastly related to our entering
into the fullness of Christ.
It is a canon speaks of the fullness
of Christ.
So there is no shortcut to enter into
canon.
Discipline is the key.
Let's turn to another passage, and very familiar
to most of us.
Let's turn to Hebrews 12, and
we'll read from 5 to 11.
Hebrews 12, 5 to 11.
Now we know the book of Hebrews is
a challenge to the Hebrew believers to enter
in or to press on to something that
is far better, something that is better, or
sonship.
Let's look at verse 5.
And you have forgotten the exhortation which is
addressed to you, O son.
My son, do not regard lightly the discipline
of the Lord, nor think when you are
reproved by Him.
For those whom the Lord loves, He disciplines,
and He scourges every son whom He receives.
It is for discipline that you endure.
God deals with you as with sons.
For what sons is there whom the Father
does not discipline?
But if you are without discipline, of which
all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate
children and not sons.
Furthermore, we have earthly fathers to discipline us,
and we respect them.
Shall we not much rather be subject to
the Father of Spirit and live?
For they discipline us for a short time,
as seemed best to them, but He disciplines
us who are good, that we may be
sharers of His holiness.
All discipline for the moment seemed not to
be joyful and sorrowful, yet to those who
have been trained by it afterwards it yields
the peaceable fruit of righteousness.
And let's turn to one more portion, Revelation
3.
Revelation 3, verse 19.
Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline.
Be zealous, therefore, and repent.
And I think we'll just touch one more
verse.
Let's turn to Psalm 50, verse 17.
Psalm 50, verse 17.
For you hate discipline, and you cast my
words behind you.
For you hate discipline, and you cast my
words behind you.
Well, brothers and sisters, in Hebrews, we read
that those He loved He disciplined.
And He disciplined every child of His.
So, brothers and sisters, that is a very
encouraging statement.
Because it did not say, I'll discipline most
my children.
It did not say, I'll discipline some of
my children.
It says, I'll discipline every one of my
child.
And brothers and sisters, in that case, we
are all included.
So take heart.
No one is exempted from discipline.
You can try to avoid it, as for
the land's sake, eventually, it will catch up
to you.
So, why try, why ignore it?
Why reject and why take lightly the discipline
law?
Let's evaluate.
So, I think that should be our attitude.
So, let's settle this matter.
As long as you are a child of
God, you are not exempt from discipline.
And discipline is God's love in action.
When we are being disciplined, we know we
are loved.
We see it clearly in Hebrews 12.
When we are disciplined, we know we are
in the household.
You can only discipline those who belong to
your household.
For example, I have two girls.
I can discipline my two girls.
But I cannot discipline this brother's children.
I have no right.
Because his children are his responsibility.
My children are my responsibility.
And we are God's children.
And it's His responsibility to discipline us.
So, brothers and sisters, we are in the
household.
If we are disciplined by Him.
Or when we are disciplined, we know we
belong to Him.
We are loved by Him.
We are in the house.
To me, that's very encouraging.
And it's very comforting.
That we are loved.
Disciplined because He loves us.
Well, let's share those three points I just
mentioned.
First, faith and obedience.
Now, brothers and sisters, in Scripture, we know
belief or faith and obedience always link together.
Just merely belief and if there is no
obedience, act following your faith.
Your faith is not living faith.
It's not real faith.
We know faith is a gift of God.
We have no faith of our own.
So, Galatians 2.20, we are told the
faith that we live, the faith that we
have is the faith of the Son of
God.
Now, why did the Lord Jesus have this
faith?
The faith of the Son of God.
To believe His Father.
Completely trust with Him.
Because our Lord Jesus, when He came, He
was prepared to do the will of the
Father.
Therefore, His faith is living faith.
His faith is real faith.
His faith works.
So, brothers and sisters, if we are not
prepared to obey the Lord, then our faith
is not a real faith.
It is not a living faith.
It is not a true faith.
It's when we are prepared to believe, to
obey, then that faith is real.
That faith has power.
That faith is active in our life.
So, brothers and sisters, many Christians today, we
live a defeated life, it's because we do
want to believe, but we are not prepared
to obey.
Therefore, our faith is not a living faith.
Our faith doesn't seem to be able to
transform our life.
There's no transformation taking place.
There's no confirmation to the image of Christ
taking place.
Because we are not prepared to obey the
Word of God.
So, brothers and sisters, so, faith and obedience
link together.
And faith and obedience is the only link
that we can have with the Father.
With the things of the spiritual, with the
things of the heaven.
Because Hebrews, you know, told us that without
faith we cannot please God.
There's no way.
Those who come to must believe that He
lives.
And He's a rewarder of those who seek
Him.
So, brothers and sisters, faith is the link.
And through faith we honour Him.
Now, I'm not saying empty faith, just simply
believing.
I mean faith through obedience.
Faith through obedience, we honour Him.
Faith through obedience, we please Him.
So, brothers and sisters, I hope this will
be helpful to all of us.
I think for many of us, we live
a life of Christian, simply just believing, believing.
But never into the obedience of that faith.
And therefore, we live a very undisciplined Christian
life.
And there simply doesn't seem to be any
power in our Christian living.
We live a defeated life and somehow we
say, I believe, I believe.
Because we lack the element of obedience.
Faith, obedience also need to be maintained and
it's also progressive.
Now, I think we know that in Romans
1, there is this term that the righteous
shall live by faith.
But also in that same verse it says
the righteousness of God is revealed from faith
to faith.
So, we have the gift of faith initially,
but that faith needs to be activated continuously.
So, we move from faith to faith.
It's a progressive thing.
In other words, we obey.
As soon as the Lord has given us
something new, we also are ready to obey.
So, it's faith, obedience, faith, obedience and faith
and obedience.
Now, let's turn to the 11th chapter of
Hebrews and look at some of the examples
there.
Now, we know very well, brothers and sisters,
that in the book of 1 Corinthians 13,
at the end of that chapter, Paul mentions
three things.
Faith, hope and love.
And then if you take a look at
the last three chapters of Hebrews, 11 is
the chapter of faith, 12 is the chapter
of hope and 13 is the chapter of
love.
Now, recently I was with Brother Kong in
Australia and our Brother Kong shared about the
three pillars for the building of the church.
Without those three pillars, there would be no
building of the church.
And those three pillars are illustrated by three
persons through their three epistles.
James, Cephas, you want to look at it,
it's in Galatians 2, James, Cephas and John.
And if you notice, the arrangement of the
epistles, James comes before Peter and Peter comes
before John.
James speaks of faith in work, Peter represents
hope and John represents love.
And as our Brother Kong shared in Sydney,
without those three pillars, church cannot be built.
Corporate.
Same thing applies to us individually.
If we do not have faith, if we
do not have hope, if we do not
have love, we cannot build up a spiritual
life in the Lord.
There's no way.
So, through these three chapters, we can look
at some of the examples.
Faith, obedience and action, hope and action, and
love and action.
And all of these three aspects require self
-discipline.
Now, I hate to use this word self
-discipline or personal discipline.
Because we don't want to discipline ourselves.
Let's be very honest.
We hate discipline.
That's why we read from 50, 17, the
Lord said, you hate discipline because you cast
my word behind you.
We don't want any discipline.
We want to do it our own way.
That is our fallen nature.
Therefore, if we are going to have any
discipline, we need to rely on the life
of Lord Jesus.
It's only through His life, we can live
a disciplined life.
Now, I know you, all of us in
this room have tried many, many times and
how we failed miserably.
We all have tried at least once in
our lifetime.
But you determine that you're going to read
through this Bible from Genesis to Revelation within
the first year.
I don't know how many times I tried.
Now, is that true?
Every time you determine to try, what is
the consequence?
You fail miserably.
You just cannot do it.
And if you fail to do it, your
conscience bothers you.
You know you have to do it, but
you cannot do it.
And when you don't do it, something inside
tells you something is wrong.
Same thing with this matter of witnessing.
You know as the Lord's people, you ought
to witness, share the Gospel with the insane.
And yet, how often we neglected the opportunity
the Lord has given to us.
Right there.
We know we have to do it, but
somehow we cannot do it.
And when we fail to do it, we
feel miserable inside.
Brothers and sisters, I believe that is a
teaching and discipline of the Holy Spirit to
tell us apart from Him, we cannot do
anything.
So brothers and sisters, one of the lessons
the Holy Spirit is teaching us is that
we have to cast upon Him.
He is the wisdom.
He is the energy.
He is the power.
He is everything.
Without Him, there is nothing we can do.
So this matter of discipline is not that
I can discipline myself.
It is simply I just give myself over
to Him.
So in a way, faith and obedience, strictly
speaking, is surrendering.
Andrew Murray says that surrender and obedience is
not something God wants you to do.
He expects it.
The reason He expects it is because He
has given the life of the Lord in
you.
That life in you, that new life in
you is a surrender life.
That life in you now is an obedience
life.
Therefore, God expects surrendering and obedience from you.
So thank God, what He demands, He supplies.
And the problem with us, we know God
demands something, but we try to use our
own self, our own energy, our own know
-how, our own ability to meet God's requirements
and therefore we feel miserable.
Now this matter of faith and believing that
God has given life to us, it is
not a small matter.
So sometimes I feel that sometimes we overlook
the place of Christ in our life.
Isn't that true?
How we overlook?
If Christ is the beloved Son of God,
He is what He claims He is.
And He came in, into your very heart
and took up His residence there.
For instance, it is not a small matter.
The very Creator Himself, the Redeemer Himself, came
into you, into my heart and took up
His residence.
It is not a small matter.
But do we express the greatness of Christ
in our lives?
We fail.
Because basically, we fail to believe that the
life in us has the power, the energy,
the ability to express all that is in
that life.
It's because of our unbelief and also because
of our disobedience.
Well, let's look at the 11th chapter of
Hebrew.
First is this matter of walking in obedience.
Walking in obedience.
The illustration here we find is in verse
5, chapter 11 of Hebrew, Enoch.
And the Old Testament, Genesis, we're told that
he walked 300 years with the Lord.
And he was not.
And the Lord took him.
Walk of obedience.
Brothers and sisters, in the New Testament way,
we can put it this way, is to
be yoked to Christ.
To be yoked to Christ is not an
easy matter.
Because we have no choice.
Wherever He goes, we go.
And our natural tendency is we want to
do it our own way.
We have our own desire.
The flesh is fueling us.
We want to think things our own way.
We think we have a solution to our
problems.
And so therefore we struggle, we struggle, until
the moment here comes that we know we
can no longer struggle.
Then we submit, we obey.
So brothers and sisters, this matter of walking
in obedience with the Lord will require a
tremendous discipline.
I'm sure you heard some of our brothers
in this platform in years past share how
difficult it is to walk with the Lord
Jesus.
Some people think to walk with the Lord
Jesus is such a beautiful, such a happy
walk.
Because He's so perfect.
We are so imperfect.
He's so holy.
We are so unholy.
He's heavenly.
We are earthly.
There's such a contrast between His life and
our life.
So for those two lives to walk together
is impossibility.
But thank God He causes to come and
follow Him.
Therefore all the adjustment, all the discipline has
to be from our side.
Because He's unchanging.
So any change that needs to take place
has to be from our part.
And thank God for giving us the Holy
Spirit to change this.
And all we need to do, brothers and
sisters, is just to simply give our will
to Him.
Will our will to Him.
So that He can do His work in
us.
So this matter of walking with the Lord,
brothers and sisters, if we walk close to
Him and walk close with Him, we will
find how difficult, how impossible it is.
It's only by grace.
It's only by grace that we are able
to walk.
So to walk with the Lord will require
a tremendous discipline on our part.
Many Christians like to do works for the
Lord.
Therefore in Christianity we are full of Christian
activities.
Radio, television, not just this country, in fact
it's worldwide now.
So everybody is engaging in some form of
Christian work.
Brothers and sisters, but to do the work
of God under the direction of the Holy
Spirit is a different matter altogether.
Because everything that we do has to be
initiated by Him.
If it is going to be of any
value.
So this matter of ministry, this matter of
walking for the Lord and with the Lord
will require a tremendous adjustment on our part.
I know some brothers express often times about
certain brothers.
They say, oh, this brother possesses tremendous gift,
such vision, such seeing, and yet he is
not doing the work that's comparable to his
vision.
Brothers and sisters, if we have a vision
of the Lord, that vision in a way
limits us.
We cannot do what most people do.
Let's face to it.
Vision increase our spiritual horizon.
But vision often restrict the activity of the
flesh.
And that's very, very hard.
Because we have a love for the Lord,
we think we should do things for Him.
But brothers and sisters, if our work, our
ministry is to the only value, has to
be initiated by the Lord Himself.
And if that is the case, brothers and
sisters, we need to dispernounce.
We dare not to move until He tells
us to move.
Therefore, this matter of waiting is vital in
working with the Lord.
I know it's a hard lesson to learn,
but it's a necessary lesson.
And this last few years, especially with some
of the Chinese in this country, there are
many groups, they love the Lord.
They study the Word together.
They fellowship freely in the Spirit.
They grow in the Lord.
There's a real manifestation of the presence of
the Lord.
So is God's sake.
But many of them, as soon as they
form themselves into a church, then they get
into a tremendous problem.
Troubles begin.
You know why?
Because they did not seek the might of
the Lord.
They move into something they think is simply
expedient for themselves.
Therefore, they're into a great deal of agony,
spiritual agony.
So brothers and sisters, if our service, our
work for the Lord is to be of
any lasting value, we have to learn to
wait for the direction from the Lord.
Working with the Lord will require discipline.
Working with the Lord would also require discipline.
And then one of the examples in this
chapter of Hebrews 11 is the love of
Abraham.
He lived a life of obedience.
We know a few times he tried his
own way.
Remember one time he went to Egypt because
there was a famine in the land and
how he got himself into trouble.
His unbelief is disobedience.
So discipline sometimes we have to learn through
hunger.
Because once we know what's hunger then we
appreciate the food.
I think one of the problems in this
country we have plenty of food and we
don't know what's hunger.
So we don't really appreciate what we have.
And I think Abraham in his case, God
is teaching him a lesson.
So that he will hunger and thirst after
God himself.
Because the perversion is in the land.
He was in the land but he left
the land and went into Egypt.
And he thought in Egypt he could find
real food.
But he found trouble.
And later on in his life in the
case of Ishmael again it's something that he
tried to do for God.
So brothers and sisters so we need to
walk in obedience.
We need to walk in obedience.
And we also need to walk in obedience.
And all these three aspects of Christian life
require a tremendous discipline on our part.
Because discipline, strictly speaking is learn how to
say no to the flesh and say yes
to the Holy Spirit.
That's all.
Even the cap, what is discipline, spiritual discipline,
is simply learn how to say no to
the flesh and say yes to the Holy
Spirit.
And brothers that lesson is the hardest lesson
to learn in this life.
It will take our whole life to learn
how to say no to the flesh and
how to say yes to the Holy Spirit.
And that was the lesson the Holy Spirit
was teaching Abraham.
To say no to his own need but
to say yes to what God needs.
Then I'll give one more example in this
chapter of 11 of Hebrew.
It's in the case of Moses.
It's not easy because the world is its
attraction.
It's very, very tempting.
Not to speak of this world system.
Even the religious world.
There is full of attraction.
And Moses was marked out for God to
be a leader for the nation Israel.
And because he was a marked person therefore
he went through strict discipline which the rest
of the Israelites did not go through.
Our brothers and sisters all of us in
this room we are all marked people.
And God will discipline you and he will
discipline me until he get us what he
wants us to be.
And Moses had the courage to refuse to
be called the son of Pharaoh.
Refuse.
Brothers and sisters, that would take some discipline.
You know, in the empire Egypt to be
called a king son is something.
In this world to be recognized as somebody
is something.
There is an attraction there.
In the Christian world, to be recognized as
a person who has tremendous prophetic ministry is
something.
There is attraction there.
But because Moses was a marked man and
because he knew he was under the discipline
of the Holy Spirit, he refused.
He refused to be called the son of
Pharaoh.
And brothers and sisters, there are situations we
have to refuse.
We have to refuse.
We have to be separated.
We are a separated people.
Therefore we need to refuse some of the
attraction surrounding us.
That will require a tremendous discipline.
And not only Moses refused, then he left
Egypt.
And what is the median?
Median.
Brothers and sisters, to refuse is one thing
but to let Egypt is quite another thing.
And let's speak of this, brothers and sisters,
we are marked out for the Lord.
We are people separated under the Lord himself.
We are not our own.
We have been purchased by that blood of
the Lord Jesus.
We can never claim our own.
We are marked out.
And we have no part of this world.
And yet the flesh is often drawn to
what's in this world.
The soul is often drawn to what the
religious world can offer to us.
And therefore we need to be disciplined people,
have the courage to say no to these
things.
Refuse.
And if left those things, if necessary.
So Moses not only refused, but he also
left.
And that is a great price that Moses
paid.
So brothers and sisters, in this life God
needs men and women like Moses that will
be able to help these people and to
deliver them from this present world system.
Out of it and into Christ.
And therefore brothers and sisters, we need to
be prepared to take the steps that Moses
took.
Not just to refuse but to let this
system.
So brothers and sisters, to be that kind
of person, it requires a tremendous discipline.
The easiest thing for us to do is
to compromise.
Moses could easily compromise.
But once he compromised, God cannot use him.
God cannot use him.
So brothers and sisters, we need to walk
with the Lord in obedience.
And that will require discipline.
Because he's perfect, he's holy, we have to
change, we have to do the adjustment.
If we desire to walk the walk of
the Lord, we need to learn to wait
upon him.
Because only that which comes from him and
uses from him is eternal value.
And we need to learn to live a
life of obedience or a life of discipline.
And then we have to learn to say
no to something.
We have to be willing to leave something
behind if we are to enter into what
the Lord desires us to enter.
So brothers and sisters, so the first thing
is this matter of obedience in faith.
Now let's turn to the 12th chapter of
Hebrew and this matter of hope.
Now faith often refers to the past or
present but hope includes the future.
So hope is always what lies ahead.
So we need to have faith but we
also need to have hope.
Because faith refers to the past and the
present but hope includes the future.
Now this hope in Timothy 1, it tells
us this hope is none other than the
Lord Jesus himself.
If you turn to 1 Timothy 1 and
Paul says this way Paul, an apostle of
Jesus Christ, according to the commandment of God
our Saviour and Christ Jesus who is our
hope.
So this hope we talk about is the
Lord himself.
And this hope, if we turn to 1
Peter 1 3 Peter tells us that it's
through new birth that we are brought into
this living hope through the resurrection of Jesus
from the dead.
I'll quote that verse for you now.
1 Peter 1 3 Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who
according to his great mercy has caused us
to be born again to a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead.
So this hope is Christ.
The faith is Christ.
The hope is also Christ.
So we can build on nothing else but
Christ himself.
Because all the other things are sand.
They all want to go.
Only Christ is the solid rock.
Now the most encouraging thing is that in
this chapter of 12 of Hebrew, it began
with so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding
us.
Now that's very encouraging.
It says then you are not alone.
There are witnesses there.
They have they have this hope in them
and their hopes were all fulfilled.
They stood there as testimony that our hope
in the Lord Jesus is not in vain.
And that is most encouraging.
So the first the writer of Hebrews show
us this beautiful picture.
All of these witnesses their hopes in the
Lord Jesus were fulfilled.
And then they encourage us to run the
race.
Now you can run because this hope is
certain.
This hope is sure.
This hope is true and this hope is
real.
So thanks to the Holy Spirit.
So at the outset of this chapter, he
shows us those who have achieved this hope.
And that gives us tremendous encouragement to run
the race.
So that's most encouraging.
Because there are those who are already there.
Their hopes were fulfilled.
Their hopes were realized.
And now the writer says now run.
And then verse 2 says fixing our eyes
on Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith.
They were able to fulfill their hopes because
they had fixed their eyes on the Lord
Jesus.
For instance, our hopes would not be fulfilled
if our eyes were not fixed on the
Lord Jesus.
Because he is the author and the perfecter
of that faith.
Once we turn our eyes away from him,
our hopes will not be realized.
As long as our eyes are fixed on
him, that hope will be realized.
And then of course when that hope is
certain and that hope is that of the
Lord Jesus himself, then we're given strength to
run.
For instance, it's not that we have the
strength to run to the goal.
But it's the goal, the prize, gives us
the strength to run.
I think the way we run in the
sports world and the way we run spiritually
may not be quite the same.
To be qualified for a race you have
to be physically fit to run that race.
You have to be qualified.
Now in one sense spiritually we have to
be by new birth we are qualified to
run the race.
But the strength to run that race is
the goal.
It is Christ who is the attraction, who
is the power that draws us and who
keeps us in the race.
So brothers and sisters, thank the Lord.
He is not only the goal, but he
is also the strength in us to achieve
that goal.
Therefore, that hope is certain.
That hope can be a reality.
Now to run in this verse here to
say endure.
Endure.
Now to endure requires some discipline.
I think our problem is not the initial
search of power.
Our problem is how we maintain in that
race.
Somehow if you look back into our Christian
experience we all began that race sometime somewhere.
But the question is before we knew it
we were on the side.
We disqualified ourselves because we did not maintain
or endure in the race.
We let something else come in to hinder
us from staying in the right course and
run the race.
Or it could be our eyes were just
a little bit out of focus from the
real goal.
Because the way we draw our strength to
run the race is the Lord Jesus.
That goal will keep us in the race.
He will keep us in the race.
He will give us strength in the race.
Once we move away from him, we are
out.
So brothers and sisters, to stay in the
course, to endure would require real discipline.
So the problem of many of us is
not the initial thing.
It's how we maintain it to the end.
So it's not how we begin, it's how
we end.
And that will require endurance.
And that will require real discipline.
And in this condition I'll just add one
thing.
You know, to run this race is just
to gain Christ.
We know that.
And that is a price worth the endurance.
If you think the gain is Christ himself,
then it's easier for us to endure.
Because we know it's worth it.
And also the other thing is that you
know, in Paul, in 1 Corinthians, love is
not jealous.
So in this race, it's not a competitive
race like the race we see in this
world.
If we run this race, we see somebody
run ahead of us.
It should not be a distraction.
But it should be an encouragement to us.
Now that will take some discipline.
Now in the natural, if I'm running and
somebody pass me on and then just keep
going, oh, I'll be just so discouraged, I'll
just give it up.
I say, now what's the use?
Because the prize will be his.
According to this, do you know in a
sense, we are running corporately for Christ.
What your gain is my gain.
What his gain is our gain.
And so there's no jealousy.
And that will require some discipline.
Because it's no longer an individual thing anymore.
It's a corporate thing.
So when somebody run ahead of me, I'll
be greatly rejoiced.
I say, hallelujah, somebody is up in front
of me and has the faith and obedience
and submission to go ahead and run that
race.
And what he gain is for all of
us.
And that will be a tremendous encouragement to
all.
For instance, to me that is the key
to the whole thing about this race.
It's not in a competitive spirit.
It's not so-and-so has witnessed five
times this week, I have witnessed nothing.
It's not at all.
If that sister has witnessed five, thank God
for what she has doing.
What she does is for the residents.
And I think that should be our spirit.
And that is the right spirit.
So brothers and sisters, let's run this race
together.
If somebody can get ahead of you, that
will cause us to rejoice in the Lord.
So-and-so is moving on to the
Lord.
That should give us tremendous encouragement.
So brothers and sisters, shall we try to
encourage one another by moving forward onward to
the Lord?
And that will require a tremendous discipline because
our natural self is, you see, oh, it's
more spiritual.
And he's more spiritual, oh, let him run,
I'll quit running.
No.
He runs for you but you need to
run for the others.
And that's hard.
Because when the race, we always think, I'm
running for myself.
The prize is just for me.
No.
It's together that we may gain him.
And together that he may gain all of
us.
And I think that's one of the reasons
why Paul used this illustration as running race.
All of us, for one thing, to gain
Christ.
Now, our time is just about there now.
And I think maybe tomorrow I'll just touch
on this mantra of love.
And maybe we can quickly just touch a
little bit on this mantra of love.
Let's turn to the 13th chapter of Hebrews.
Maybe for the next five minutes we'll just
touch a little bit.
I'll just pick a few words here to
share.
Verse 1.
Hebrews 13.
Did love of the brethren continue?
Now just take note this will continue.
Our problem is not love.
Our problem is continuing love.
Let's face it.
We all love once.
There's no question about that.
But are we continuing in that love for
the brethren?
That is a real challenge.
That will take some discipline to maintain and
continue in that love for the brethren.
That is some discipline.
Out of ourselves, we can love once, but
we cannot continue.
The problem is the way to continue this
love is not to rely on our natural
love.
It's only the love of Christ can maintain
that love.
It's only the love of Christ can love
the brethren.
So we cannot continue in that love.
We know that love is ourselves.
But when that love continues, keep loving the
brethren.
You know that is not your love.
It is the love of Christ.
So brothers and sisters, we need to appropriate
the love of God to maintain that love
and to continue that love for the brethren.
Now verse 2.
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers
for by this soundly entertained angel without knowing.
Neglect.
Now that's another word.
It's so easy to neglect.
It's just natural to neglect.
It takes some discipline not to neglect.
You have to be on the watch.
You have to be on alert.
And that takes some discipline.
Now it says hospitality to strangers.
Not hospitality to those who are in fellowship
with you or those who you know in
the Lord.
Now I'm sure if some of the brethren
and sisters you meet here in Richmond this
week and you happen to like them and
know them and you get their address and
you say the next time you come by
please do drop in and visit us and
see us.
That seems to be a very natural thing
to do.
You love to receive the saints.
We often do that.
If you come by Glasgow drop in and
see us.
We like to receive you in the Lord.
Now that's very natural.
That's very natural.
And thank God for that.
In this verse it says do not neglect
to show hospitality to strangers.
If some somebody you never know, you never
met before and come and knock at your
door, what would you do?
To take that person in and treat him
the way he should be treated.
As the Lord would have treated him.
According to this, it would take some discipline.
It would take some discipline.
And then verse 3.
Remember the prisoner as though imprisoned with him.
And those who are ill-treated, saints, you,
yourselves, are also in the body.
How we remember the things we like to
remember.
We are all like that.
And the Bible says remember the prisoners as
though you were imprisoned with them.
That is a hard thing to do.
Now, brothers and sisters, thank God for some
of the stories we heard from China.
And about those who were tortured in prison
and suffered for the Lord.
And don't you sense that when we heard
those stories we sort of entered into what
they have gone through, what they have gone
through a little bit.
As we heard the story, there's something inside
respond.
As though what they have went through is
part of us.
Don't you feel that way?
That should be the way.
It would take some discipline to be able
to enter into the suffering of God's people.
But also those who are outside of Christ.
Strangers.
It's hard for us to treat those we
like, nice.
And those we don't know, we will treat
them differently.
Now, I'm saying that I know how to
treat those strangers.
I don't.
But I think we are all in the
school of Christ.
We are being under-disciplined.
We are all learning.
We are being instructed.
And we are being transformed and conformed to
Christ.
But I think that is one of the
vital lessons we have to learn.
And I don't think there is a better
way to share the gospel of the Lord
Jesus by practical deeds.
Sometimes a deed is better than preaching.
By the way we treat them, we show
them Christ.
I think showing them Christ is far more
effective than preaching Christ to them.
So I think that could be one of
the most neglected ministry of God's people.
It is to show our love and hospitality
to those who are outside of Christ.
I can give you one illustration here, and
then we will continue the rest maybe tomorrow
afternoon.
Recently in our South Jersey Bible study group,
several of our friends came to know the
Lord.
And there was no effort on our part
to really preach the gospel to them.
But down deep in our heart we have
a concern for their soul.
But when we invite them to come to
our fellowship sometimes, we never aim our gospel
at them.
Or we never try to testify to them
that we are Christian, that they are not.
But they need to be saved.
But down deep in our heart we have
a longing that they will come to see
Christ in the lives of these people.
That's all we have a longing for.
So therefore we invite them to our fellowship.
But the inner bottom is the wonderful thing
is that before you knew it, one by
one came to know the Lord.
Just by including them into our fellowship, bringing
them in, treating them as though they were
one of us.
Not preach to them.
Not to testify to them as though they
are out there and we are in here.
But simply with love, by faith, we include
them into the family.
And hope they'll be conscious that they are
not in the family.
And they desire to be in the family.
And so the Holy Spirit can begin to
work.
And so I can testify to you this
way it's been happening quite often in our
area.
Some of the new believers in our fellowship
they came to know the Lord within the
last two or three years.
It's all through this means.
As we have our money fellowship we try
to invite as many as we can.
As we fellowship they came to awareness that
the God that we love and the Lord
Jesus that we appreciate and remember is alive
and many of them came to know the
Lord that way.
So that is love and demonstration.
That is love and demonstration.
So maybe that's what we should do in
many localities to include those and it will
take some discipline.
Because we don't know how they're going to
react to us when we invited them in.
And sometimes you encounter that those who do
come they let you know they really don't
appreciate your invitation.
So what do you do?
You still love them.
You still show that you want them to
be there with you.
And so in that case they are hard
to touch.
So I think maybe that will be all
for this afternoon and then tomorrow maybe we
can just go on a little bit about
some of the marks of a disciplined life.
Some of the signs spiritual marks of a
disciplined life.
And maybe we'll just touch a little bit
on this matter of love.
So brothers and sisters, this disciplined life is
so essential.
And it's through obedience and through love.
And I just looked at my notes and
I didn't touch this matter of submission in
faith.
Maybe tomorrow we'll touch a little bit.
So shall we bow our heads.
Our Father, we do thank you for getting
us together.
We have to confess that we are so
inadequate in sharing, expressing what's in your heart.
We just pray that the Holy Spirit will
speak and do what is humanly impossible.
Lord, we just pray that you will, in
a way, draw us to yourself, make us
willing vessels, make us willing to make ourselves
available to you.
Lord, that you can do your work in
us.
That you can love us, you can change
us into the likeness of Christ.
And Lord, we know the way of the
cross is the only way.
The way of death is the way to
resurrection.
And the way of the cross is the
way to glory.
We just pray that you will challenge our
hearts to be made willing, Lord, to follow
you all the way.
Lord, that we may experience into your fullness.
So we just commit each other into your
loving hands.
And do be with us.
Bless your people, Lord.
We give praise to thanks in the name
of the Lord Jesus.
Amen.