Discipline is one of the main characteristics that leads to diligence in service and devotion to God. This is the chapel platform coming to you from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. After the hymn, today's speaker is the late Dr. Gilbert Stenholm, who was the director of ministerial training at the university for many years. He makes references to events that had occurred up to the time he delivered this message on Thursday, July 1st, 1971, at a university chapel service. If we wonder at the sloppy actions and poor character witness of Christians today, often the need is to discipline ourselves in our faith in Christ and His Word. We must be consistent. If you have your Bible, please turn to Ephesians chapter 4 verses 10 through 15. Listen now to Dr. Stenholm's message of standing for Christ titled, What is Lacking in Christianity. Turn to hymn number 44, Blessed Assurance. Blessed Assurance. Stand together. Lord of glory, faithful, glory be thine! There is salvation, perfect surprise, Born of His Spirit, once in His blood. This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song, Okay, we'll slow it up on the chorus like we want to do it. This is the rapture, now come to my side. Angels descending, praise from above. Chambers of mercy, birthplace of love. Hail to my glory, this is my song. Praising my Savior, all for Him alone. Hail! Bring me my Savior, Lord of all. This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long. From the fourth chapter of Ephesians, beginning with the tenth verse. He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. For he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Till we all come in the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and the cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love may grow up unto him in all things, which is the head, even Christ." Paul, a prisoner for Christ, is writing to encourage those who have been saved under his ministry, and knowing that he is in his last days of his ministry, is trying to encourage those who are following in his footsteps to carry on the same opportunities that were afforded him, knowing, of course, some of the pitfalls and the difficulties that he encountered and they which, in return, will also face. There were a lot of things that were lacking in the lives of these people. There were many types of religions, as there is today. There were many who compromised even then, as they do today. Human nature has never changed. God's never changed. He has set the pattern and the rule, the Old and the New Testament. He gave us a way to live, and we have rejected that. We've gone the way of our own interests and selfishness, our self-righteousness, and there are many things that we lack as Christians. Now, time does not permit. to bring in all we'd like to say. But I thought of some of the things that we lack today as Christians. The opportunity that is afforded us. Now, Paul says that God has given to us various gifts. Now, as we look over this audience today, we don't know everyone, but we know most of them. And we see a potential, the possibilities of leadership, the possibilities of being an influence on others by your ability, your personality, by the things that you are able to do that God has given to you. Now, God didn't make us all alike. If He had, we might be in a mess. When He made you, He made me, He threw away the pattern. That's probably a good thing. You certainly wouldn't want to be like me, and I don't want to be like you. But He gave to every one of us. a potential opportunity for leadership. And we are shirking that leadership today in our country. Now, if there's any place, as we were reminded yesterday by Dave Harrison, we have the greatest opportunity of any group in this country and the world to manifest our Christian testimony around the world. But even in a place like this, it's easy to become calloused and hardened to the conditions and to take things for granted. And when we do, we better take heed lest we fall. Now you know that in our office we are very much in touch with pastors and churches and Christian organizations and religious groups. We've had an opportunity during the course of the years to observe very carefully the trends that have taken place, churches and groups that started out faithfully determined to stand true to the principles and policies for which those organizations and churches were founded. But as time has gone on, they've cut the corners. They have allowed certain things to creep in. They have gone away from some of their doctrinal positions. They have lacked in their Christian discipline. They have become tolerant to the movements that are surrounding them. And today we look back and we say there doesn't look like much hope for this group. I'm afraid that in most of our churches today, in most of our schools, we can write above the doors, Ichabod, the glory hath departed. I hope it'll never be said of this place, the glory hath departed. You and I have a great opportunity and we cannot emphasize this too much on this dedicated campus. Maybe sometimes we feel, oh, there's too much emphasis on this. We cannot be too emphatic. God founded, through Dr. Jones Sr., this institution. And we are determined, as we have read the Bible and as we carry out our creed, that this school is going to be true to those principles and standards. Now, what are some of the lacks we have today in Christian circles? Well, first of all, the lack of instruction. Now, why were most schools founded, Christian schools, on a doctrinal position on the Word of God, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he was born of a virgin, that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, that we are justified by faith through grace, that there is a literal hell, a literal heaven? We believe that God deals with men and he meets out his penalty. Now, these doctrinal statements are located in most of the articles and bylaws of the schools today. If you look at some of the catalogs of these so-called Christian schools, church-related schools, you'll read the bylaws and the articles, and you'll say, I find nothing wrong with those. I can subscribe to that. That sounds good. But isn't it unfortunate they don't carry out these of particular doctrines. Why is it that they've gone away from those very doctrines that made that school? Well, there might be a number of reasons. They've allowed personnel and faculty to come into the schools that do not believe in these great heritages, these great truths. And so they give their liberal views, and it doesn't take long until the whole school is contaminated and the school is gone. It doesn't take long for any church, organization, if they're not faithful to this word, there's going to be a falling away. And that's exactly what could happen to this university, a lack of instruction. Now, we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. If he isn't, let's close this place up. If the Bible is not inspired, let's close this place. If there's not a literal hell and a literal heaven, then let's close this place and may the day never come when the liberal forces take over this place. But there's a lack of instruction today in our churches. You ask the average church member today, I don't care what church it is, what does your church believe? What do you believe about this? and this doctrine and that doctrine. Well, I don't know. Ask the average Baptist. He says, well, I guess it means water baptism. We have a pool. What does your Baptist church believe? What are your distinctives? What do you believe on this and that? I really don't know. And I'll tell you one of the reasons why we have a mess today when they give the The close of the meeting and they open the doors for the membership of the church. They come down the aisle. This may be one of my pet peeves. Come down the aisle and they want to join the church. The clerk walks up with her notebook or his notebook. Pastor says, you come to join the church? Yes. How do you come? I want to come by letter. I want to come because I believe in Christ. Well, He doesn't even ask him if he owes many bills, if he's had problems marital, if he's had some record in the community. What kind of a man is he? To say you come by letter doesn't prove anything, nor does it prove anything if you say, I know the Lord. Let's find out a little bit about him. We're so eager to have big churches and make an outstanding report to our particular association or our conference or our senate or something else. Sounds good and looks good on paper, but I'll tell you right now, I'd rather have quality than quantity. And we just take them in just to have membership. That will not work. And when you take in men and women in your churches today that really don't know the doctrinal truths of the Word of God, they contaminate others. They're the ones that create your problems when you bring up something that has conviction, and they begin to rebel, and before long, you've got a split in your church. Now, this school believes in the doctrinal position of the Bible. Now, we may differ in some viewpoints that maybe we'd call minor, but we all believe that God created. We believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. We believe the Holy Spirit works in the lives of people today, convicting men of sin. We believe that someday, praise God, we'll be absent from the body and present with the Lord. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Now, with just lacking instruction, why Sunday school teachers that are asked to teach Sunday school classes come to a Sunday school class and have a boy and a girl in the class? Maybe they've gone for several years and you say, are your boys and girls saved? No, I've never had the opportunity of seeing my boys and girls saved. Well, I'd take her out of there as a Sunday school teacher. Do you mean to tell me that a child six, seven, eight years of age and you as a Sunday school teacher, supposedly having read the Bible, should know something about the truths that you haven't even led your children to Christ in your class of all people? What's the matter? I guess I just lack the instruction. I don't know the word. And I'm afraid that we could look all over this country today and see people that are supposed to be participating in the church who are lacking instruction. What else? Lacking discipline. Now, Paul knew that you had to have discipline. He was disciplined constantly. I'm sure there are many things he'd like to have given up. He'd like to just quit. What's the use? I can't take it. It's too difficult. Why, I've been on a ship, and we've had a shipwreck, and I have nothing to wear, and I had a cloak that I left to Troas, and I wrote and told him to bring it when you come. I haven't got anything. The discipline. It's the discipline that makes an institution, makes a church, makes the home. And I suppose if there's anything we're criticized for at Bob Jones University is discipline. They used to criticize us because we weren't accredited. Well, you know our position on that. We don't want to be accredited because we don't want to be dictated to by ungodly men telling us how to run a Christian institution. And it means that we have some definite opposition because we dare take that stand. But you know what they criticize us for now more than anything else? Discipline. I wouldn't be down in that prison for life or money. Why, you got to do this and you got to do that. You can't do anything. Well, listen, you can do anything if it's right. In other words, anybody that begins to criticize us because of discipline is because they're not right and they know what they'd like to do to uproot the very things that made this school. You've got to have discipline in your business. You've got to have discipline in your home. You've got to have discipline in a school. You've got to have discipline in a church. Why, listen, I think it's sad today as we look over our churches that one day stood as strong bulwarks of the faith. Now they've become nothing but social nightclubs. Why, they can have dances and bingo parties and every kind of a thing going on, and they'll come by great throngs, but you ask for a prayer meeting and nobody will show up. The discipline. It's not easy to be disciplined. By the way, you know, it's not easy to pray. It takes discipline. It's easy to say, now I lay me down to sleep. Pray the Lord my soul to keep if I should die before I wake. I pray the Lord my soul to take. Amen. Good night, Lord. Dear Lord, we thank you for this food. Amen. That doesn't take long, does it? But if you get on your knees and you begin to pray, and we're all guilty of it, it takes discipline. It takes discipline to read the Bible. I wonder if we had a test today from the Bible department. They said, take out a sheet of paper. I want you to write, for memory, twenty-five to fifty verses that you know from memory. Absolutely perfect. What kind of a grade would we get? What kind of a grade would we get? Well, I'm afraid we wouldn't do very well. Why? We didn't discipline ourselves and really study the Word. that we might grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord. And that's a lack today, a lack of discipline, of being faithful to God, not being his problem children, saying things against him, denying him, wishing you could just compromise a little bit so it wouldn't be so difficult to have to always being told, well, they're a bunch of fanatics. Like Dr. Jones' old statement, he got so sick and tired of people straddling the fence, he gets shot from both sides. Why don't you get on one side or the other and let just one of them shoot at you? But when you straddle a fence, it's a lack of discipline. I'd like to hang on to the world a little bit. I enjoy that. I'd like to hang on to the Christian activities. I enjoy that too. I want them both. You can't have them both and be right with the Lord. But it takes discipline. I want to be disciplined. I don't want anybody to tell me what to do. And that's just about what's happened in America. And now that yesterday, Ohio was the 38th state to ratify the voting age of the 18s, well, they may have a perfect right to vote. But I'll tell you one thing, these 18-year-olds and older that have had the kind of training they've had in the average school today and the lack of discipline at home and the activities have been going on in the average community today, I hate to think what's going to happen. in the next few years when they become our leaders. They do not know the meaning of discipline. They don't know the meaning of instruction. This is going to be a dilemma in the United States. Thank God, and I repeat it and I'm proud to say it, thank God for the discipline here. And I said, I know some of you are saying, I don't like it, it's pretty rough right now. Oh, it isn't. We haven't hung you yet. No we appreciate it. I remember when I get ready to leave this leave for home many years ago become a freshman here. I was going in fear and trembling. Dr. Jones senior I had seen him at Cedar Lake Conference grounds and we were in that hotel lobby and was going to sign up to come to school and I looked at that man and he stared me right in the face and I thought can I take it. Boy he can stare right through you. And he said, Son, do you think he can make the grade? I said, Yes, sir. So we're going home. My dad said, I'm not at all worried. I'm so grateful that I've met that man, because if you don't behave down there after he gets through with you, I'll take care of you when you get home. And I knew he meant that. A lack of discipline. And there's a lack of consistency. And many of these Christians In the word, we're inconsistent. And when you don't have the discipline and when you don't have the instruction, you're not going to be consistent. You're going to be inconsistent. And you can't be like Billy Sunday used to say, shine for Jesus on Sunday and be a London fog on Monday. You ought to shine for him every day. Now, we're inconsistent. We're not consistent. I like a consistent life. I always think of Dr. H. A. Ironside, pastor of Moody Memorial Church. When I looked at him, I saw a man who was consistent. When he said something, you knew it was absolutely the truth, and he was honest, and he never wavered. In one moment, our dear Dr. Haight, that we had on this campus for so many years, was a great blessing to all of us with her prayer life, her Christian testimony. If there ever was a saint of God, she was. But I'll tell you right now, when you thought of Dr. Haight, she was consistent. There was never any question in your mind as to her position. She wasn't one thing one day and then something else another day. She was every day what she claimed to be. Time flies. Well, the last thing, we lack courage. Let somebody else do the talking. Let somebody else do the soaring. I am timid. I don't have the ability. So, like Moses, we make an excuse. I'm not eloquent in speech. I don't have the courage to speak out. Listen, there's not one of you that in some type of activity have courage when you need it. Don't tell me. Give me that kind of excuse. When it comes to other things, you'll sure stand up and have courage. The same thing that will give you the courage to stand up on other matters will give you the courage to stand up when it comes to the truth of God and standing through the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, and the last point, and we'll get to it, lack of quality and refinement. God doesn't want a group of dirty, filthy Christians. He wants clean vessels that he can fill. And when we tell the things that we do and say things that we say and do the things we do, it casts reflection on the Lord Jesus Christ. There's a lack of dignity and refinement that we need. Now, I don't mean the strong formal type of activity that you have to just act like you're a king or queen or some royal throne. No, I mean when you walk, people can recognize that you've been with Jesus as they did Peter and John, the fourth chapter of Acts. They must have been very careful in their choice of words as they faced those Sanhedrins. They presented themselves in dignity, in refinement as Christian men. They were courteous, polite, and they took knowledge of them. They'd been with Jesus. You know, that was the thing that I'm sure made Daniel the great leader that he was. He was a man that placed himself before that people, the Old Testament. They knew that he was somebody when they saw him because he was faithful to God. Now, we have many things that we lack today, but now let's be faithful to the calling that God has given to us, that as we so live Christ, that we might be a blessing to lead others to him. Our Heavenly Father, we give thee thanks this morning for the great men of history who have stood strong and stalwart and straight. who did not bow their knee to the current problems and the difficulties that surrounded them, but they remained faithful to thy word. Now we thank thee for this institution. We thank thee for these who are here this summer, for those who are absent from us, and for the many splendid reports that we are receiving of the lost that are coming to Christ, the Christians that are being strengthened. And we thank thee, our Father, for this base of testimony. May we ever keep it true until Jesus comes. In his name we pray. Amen. Thank you for joining us for The Chapel Platform. If you would like a copy of today's message, just send a check for $5.13 to Campus Store, Bob Jones University, Greenville, South Carolina. The zip code is 29614. Please mention the speaker, Dr. Gilbert Stenholm, the message titled, What is Lacking in Christianity, and make sure to mention today's date. The Chapel Platform has been sponsored by Bob Jones University. Join us again for The Chapel Platform.