Revival Conference 2007 - Harold Vaughn - Part 4

But they refused to come back within the bounds. They hearkened not to the voice of their father. Friend, rebellion against parental authority, God's design for the home, God-appointed leadership is a prelude to Ichabod. God has placed authorities over us for our protection, but when we move out from under that protective covering, we're exposed to tremendous hurt and harm that God never intended. I read that four million parents were beaten by their children in a single year in the United States. We're all the time hearing about child abuse, which is horrific. What about parental abuse? A missionary was telling me one day how his kid, this rebellious child, had come up and pushed him, cussed him, and shoved him. You know what I think? I think it's time for the men of America to take a hormone shot and take control of their homes and get a little backbone and quit acting like a bunch of feminized lizard wimps. My friend, it's high time the men of America took a stand. Can you believe what's going on? The Christian psychologists will tell you that rebellion is normal. I want to tell you that rebellion is neither normal, natural, or necessary. We were in a church one time and some young people were acting up, and my 11-year-old son said to me, he said, Dad, if that's what being a teenager's all about, I'm going to skip that part. And you know what? He skipped that part. Going up climbing fool's hill is not normal, sowing your wild oats is an abomination, and where in the world did we get to the point where we think rebellion, which God said is demonic, is somehow acceptable in the house of God? If we can train a killer whale to take a fish out of the trainer's mouth without taking the trainer's head along with it, we can teach our children to sit in church and have respect. Things are so low now that if your children look decent, can carry on a conversation with an adult, I'm telling you, people think they're exceptional children. I'm tired of people coming up to me and saying, Well, you know, you just have the most wonderful children in the world. What do you mean? Because they didn't touch you. Oh, you think this is something extraordinary? Rebellion against parental authority. This guy told me his son had dyed his hair orange or purple, I don't know what it was, and had more lead on him than a piece of buckshot and all this kind of stuff, and he said that he didn't want to push him. Let me just say something to you a minute. Let me just say something to you. If the world wants to go naked, we don't have to follow suit. And if the world wants to act like a bunch of lunatics, God's people ought to have some sense of decorum and decency and modesty. And if the man of God in the house doesn't have enough backbone to do it, he needs to get right with God, my brethren. Rebellion against parental authority. I come from Charlotte County, Virginia. So rural, we don't have a stoplight in the whole county. I didn't say the town, the whole county. You probably already figured that out. But I come to this remote part. I got the report of two 15-year-old stepdaughters who plotted and executed the murder of their mother and father. Fifteen-year-old girls killed their parents. The ultimate expression of rebellion. Young people, people in a conference like this, you never physically attacked your mom and dad. You probably never even talked back. You might not ever even talk about your mother and father to somebody else. But I want to tell you that rebellion in the heart is just as serious in the eyes of God. And before the glory departed, my friends, there was rebellion against parental authority. But let me give you the fifth thing. Before the glory departed, they ignored the Word of God. They ignored the Word of God. Look in chapter 3 and verse 1. Chapter 3 and verse 1. And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli. And the Word of the Lord was precious in those days. There was no open vision. When the Bible says the Word of the Lord was precious, that means the Word of God was rare. It was scarce. That God was not revealing Himself at that time. When the Bible says there was no open vision, that means there was no prophet to consult to find the will of God. God had very little to say to Israel. There was a famine of hearing the words of God. And maybe one reason the Word of the Lord was so rare in those days was because there was no need for God to say anything else to His people when they had not acted on what He had already said. Understand, these people knew the law. They did not have copies of the Bible in their home. They did not have it. But they understood the law. Today, we have a complete Bible. And this Bible is everything that God has to say to the human race. My friend, when they ignored the Word of God, their sin was bad. But if we neglect the Word of God in our day, our sin is even worse. They ignored the Word of God. And the glory departed. My brethren, not just ignoring the parts you like. Brother, I'm telling you, if we ignore the parts we don't like, I'm telling you we're in trouble with God. You let a denomination, a local church, a family, or an individual turn a deaf ear to God's revealed will, it won't be long before the glory departs. Brother, God has plainly told us how to deal with sin toward Him. He's told us to confess it and forsake it. And judgment must begin at the house of God. We've got too much preaching that strokes the emotion and too little preaching that strikes at the heart of our problems. And my brethren, I want to tell you it's high time for judgment to begin at the house of God. God's told us how to deal with sin toward Him. He said confess it and forsake it. I was preaching in the Socialist Republic of Vermont. And a lady came up to me after service. And she said, I have no sense of God. I feel so cold. I feel like God's a million miles away. And she went on lamenting her spiritual condition. And then she said, but I'm addicted to soap operas. I know I shouldn't do it, but I watch them all the time. And she went on along that line. And then she said, but I love the Lord. And I said, time out, time out. I said, ma'am, you have just told me how cold your heart is, how that you feel like God's a million miles away, how that you feel spiritually numb. And, ma'am, you have told me that you are doing things that you believe are contrary to God's word and God's will and God's character. And then I said, ma'am, you have the audacity to tell me that you love the Lord. I said, sister, maybe the problem is the same problem we all got. Our problem is not that we love the Lord. Our problem is we love ourselves more than we love the Lord. You know, when a man goes out and sleeps with a prostitute, he doesn't love the prostitute more than he loves his wife. He loves himself more than he loves his wife. Now, God has told us how to deal with sin toward him. It's a good thing to come in seasons, come in seasons, seasons of purging, seasons of examination, seasons when God broods over our hearts. I don't know about you, but I've been such a constitutioner that God doesn't brood over me on a regular basis, brother. It doesn't take me long to get hard and calloused and away from God in my heart. We can't afford to ignore the word of God. Brother, when God speaks to your heart, obey every prompting that God gives you. God's plainly told us how to deal with sin, problems, and relationships toward others. If you've offended somebody, the Bible tells you, we're to go to them and seek to make it right. If somebody offends us, we're to confront the situation and forgive them. I was preaching one time in South Carolina. The kid was standing out there in the auditorium. I mean, he had such a sober look on. His face looked like a reprint of the Book of Lamentations. You know what I'm saying? I mean, he was sitting there, and he looked like he'd swallowed a curtain rod. I mean, the guy was absolutely miserable. He came up after service, and he began to lament what a terrible shape his spiritual life was in. He said, I'm so cold. He said, I've even been out here praying, but I have no sense of God. And he said, I feel like God's so far away. And he went on and on. And I said, well, brother, why don't we get on our knees here, and why don't you just tell God everything you just told me? So we got on our knees, and I prayed. And I said, now, you go ahead and pray. And then he cranked up that old pre-recorded cassette prayer, you know, the one that you pray every time you go to prayer meetings where everybody's got it memorized. And, you know, he was praying that kind of a pre-rehearsed prayer. And then after about 40 seconds, he began to quiet down. And then after 45 seconds, he was stone silent. And I looked over at him, and, man, his face was turning red. And I thought, we're getting close now. And then he lingered in that position for a moment, and then he blurted out, he said, God, I just can't say it. God, I just can't say it. I looked at him. Man, sweat was pouring off his face. He was red as a beet there. Neck veins had popped out. He looked like a redneck evangelist. And I looked at that guy, and I thought, man, we're getting close now. He was silent for a few more moments, and then he bluttered out. He said, Oh, God. Oh, God, I stole it, God. I stole it, Lord. And I want to tell you, that guy unloaded a truckload of sin. I'm telling you, he talked up all kinds of iniquity, got it all out. And by the time he got finished with all of that, he didn't look like a reprint of the Book of Lamentations, brother. He looked like Galatians chapter 5, something with the fruit of the Spirit, man. He had a smile from ear to ear. I mean, he was smiling so broadly he'd make Robert Shuler look depressed. I mean, that guy was happy. We got up off our knees. He looked me in the eye. I said, only one more thing to do. He said, yes, sir, brother. He said, I'm going to get it right. I said, do it before tomorrow night and come give me the report. Well, a year earlier, he'd gone to a grocery store and something didn't get on the cash register tape. So his wife, thank God for these patient wives, she'd waited. And she said, now, honey, before we go home tonight,