No one lives without some sort of discipline. Even the most immoral person lives by a standard. During the sixties, many restraints were cast aside. But those who longed for freedom actually were led into a type of bondage that, so to speak, bound them “hand and foot.” What many failed to understand is that no one is totally free when following the lust and dictates of the flesh, the lower nature. We all have a lower nature.
To break that binding hold, we need a new birth, the kind Jesus spoke of in His meeting with Nicodemus in John 3:5-7:
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
Receiving that new nature delivers us from the bondage we are born with. It may surprise you to learn how the Bible describes our natural condition. Notice what the apostle Paul said in Romans 3:9-18:
What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes.
Do you now understand how we are bound in our natural state? Without the new birth experience, there is no release or escape. I must press that upon your heart.
Even after being born again, our lives need to be controlled. The old nature keeps manifesting itself in many ways. Again the apostle Paul expresses how we are, in Romans 7:14-19:
For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
I admit, friend, that is not a very bright picture. It is not a very healthy-looking picture. But beyond all doubt, it is clearly evident to us that we need help. Our lives need to be disciplined. I stated earlier that everyone lives by some sort of discipline. I am told that even the Mafia, hardened criminals, has guidelines for living. It has certain rules it rigidly enforces. Of course, we cannot look to the Mafia for ideals except to point out that even the lowest of men have a system of discipline for life.
Discipline may be from without, as, for example, the laws of our communities, states, and nation. But discipline may also come from within. We call that self-discipline or self-control. Yet self-discipline requires standards or guidelines. The apostle Paul sets forth some guidelines for PROPER DISCIPLINE in I Corinthians 4:16-21:
16 Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.
17 For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach everywhere i...
