Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. I would like for us this evening
to look at one verse of Scripture, verse 6. Hebrews 12, 6. The Scripture
declares, The Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth
every son whom he receiveth. Let's pray. Our Father, we ask you this evening
to bless your Word. Lord, I pray you'd bless the
Word accomplishing that which you've eternally purposed, calling
out of your sheep, comforting your people. Lord, help us to
worship for Christ's sake. Amen. The writer to the Hebrews penned
the words that we looked at last evening. out of the inspiration
of God's Spirit and said, You've forgotten. You've forgotten that Almighty
God is speaking to you. You've forgotten the exhortation,
the words of comfort and solace. You've forgotten these words
which speaketh continually. Unto you as unto children. You've
forgotten that God is talking to you as His children. That He's not speaking in wrath. He's not speaking in anger. He's speaking to you in absolute
love. As children. Children of God. You who by the grace of God have
come to Christ By faith. You who have been born again. Born from above. He says, My
son. My son. You who are a son. Adopted son. New birth certificate. Born of God. Born by grace. Accept it in the
Beloved. Redeem from the guilt and the
penalty of sin. You who have no condemnation
being in Christ Jesus, you who are at peace with God, who have
the assurance and comfort in your heart, despise not. the chastening of the Lord? Don't have little esteem for
it. Don't faint, don't sink in despair
when thou art rebuked of Him, when you're convicted and admonished
and reproved and taught. Here's the reason. For whom the
Lord loveth, And He does not love everybody,
but those that He does love. Those that He has everlastingly
loved. For whom the Lord loveth, He
chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. There is a little song I remember
growing up, we would sing this, Jesus loves me, this I know,
for the Bible tells me so. Well, now I know this. Only a regenerated sinner can
sing that. I know that. I mean, it sounds
good. It sounds, you know, something
you want to hear little kids singing and things like that.
I don't know about that song. But I can tell you one thing
that I do know. I do know that a believer knows
God's love for him by chastisement. That's the mark of God's love. Whom the Lord loveth. How do you know? He chastened
and scourged every son whom He receives in Christ. Every son
He brings to Himself. And this chastisement, this scourging,
He knows what's best. Now, I know how we think. We
think, oh, as I said last week, He's just waiting. He's just
waiting for the right time. And I know I'm going to get blindsided. I know that that is the most
disrespectful thing that we could say unto Him who loved us and
gave Himself for us. We have a distorted view of God's
love We think, that must be, what kind of love is that? What kind of love? Let me tell you something before
I continue in this. I thought of a little example
the other day and I was sharing it with a dear friend. Whenever
I would go somewhere, I'd be going somewhere, and I had four
kids, two years apart. And we'd be out somewhere, be
in a crowd, and this is my job. 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2,
3, 4. No, uh-uh. Come here. Come here. Back here. That's
chastisement. That's chastisement. It is when
God's people desire to go their way. I want to go over here and
look at this. This is interesting to me. No,
come here. Come here. I want to watch you.
I want to keep my eyes on you. That's how I deal with my...
That's chastisement. Now, many times they didn't like
it. But I want to go over here. I want it... No, you come right
here. This is where you are. You're
going to go the way I want you to go. I'm not going to leave
you to go where you want to go. That is chastisement. You say, well, that's chastisement? I mean, some of the things that
I've suffered and gone through, that's chastisement? That's loving
chastisement? Paul says these light afflictions,
which are but for a moment. Oh, compared to Almighty God
saying, depart from Me, I never knew you. Cast Him into hell. Depart out of My presence. I have never looked upon you
in mercy. Never looked upon you in grace.
Depart to say, here, come back here. You come right here into
my presence. Right here where I can see you.
Right here where I can look on you. That's chastisement. Light
afflictions. And we don't have any idea how. How is the best way? In 2 Samuel 24, I'll just tell
you this story for the sake of time. David numbered the people. And God was going to chasten
him. God was going to deal with him.
And the Lord gave him a choice. He said, because you've done
what you've done, I'm going to give you three things to choose
from. And you choose which one you
want, David. For numbering the people. And
the Lord knew he'd numbered them, so that David could say, well,
this is how much strength I've got. Look how powerful I am. He didn't trust God. Do you want
7 years of famine? Do you want to flee 3 months
before your enemies? Or do you want 3 days of pestilence?
Now you choose. And David wisely said, I am in
a great strait, let us fall now into the hand of the Lord, for
His mercies are great, and let me not fall into the hand of
man. And God gave him 3 days of pestilence. and kill 70,000 men? Light affliction. Light affliction. You said 70,000 men in light
of eternal judgment? Anything this side of hell is
mercy, grace. He may chase His people openly,
like He did David. He may do it privately. He may
do it, just David and one other maybe, when David was exposed
for his sin. Falling into sin with Bathsheba,
the chastisement of the Lord. This is chastisement. David, Nathan said, you're the
man. David knew he was the man. He
knew he was the man. And that chastening word broke
his heart. And he penned under the inspiration
of God's Spirit, for I acknowledge, Psalm 51, verse 3, I acknowledge
my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me against thee,
and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. Maybe the Lord is chasing him
that way. Maybe the Lord will chasten him
and it's in complete silence. I've told you so many times,
Brother Maurice Montgomery telling me God will put a man on a limb
sometime and make him think he's going to leave him there. If
you've never felt that way, you that know him, you may. You may. I'm telling you from experience
as the Lord is my witness. There was a time in my life where
I went through about a year and a half, that point to where my
kids even told me, said, Dad, you're not the same. Grieving,
grieving, wondering whether Almighty God would leave me to myself. David felt that very pain in
his heart, and he said, Psalm 51, 10, Create in me a clean
heart, O God, and renew aright a constant spirit within me,
and cast me not away from Thy presence. And take not Thy Holy
Spirit from me. Oh, the pain, the chastisement,
the scourging, When Almighty God makes a man think he's going
to leave him alone. Somebody says, well, I've never
experienced that. Well, I'm glad. I'm glad. But I'm telling you,
it's lonely. It's lonely. You have no place
to go. No place. A believer doesn't
despise the chastening of the Lord. The trials hurt. They're grievous, Paul says.
They are grievous. But they're thankful. God's people
are thankful for the correction. They're aware of the offense.
And they confess and desire to forsake it. I don't want to disobey
Him. I don't want to be disrespectful
of Him. You know, we talk about, for
whom the Lord loveth. And again, look at those ETHs.
He has always loved them. I have loved you with an everlasting
love. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth,
and chasteneth, and chasteneth, and scourges, and scourges every
son that he receiveth, and receiveth, and receiveth. A believer is
continually going through chastisement. Now listen. Listen. You are continually
going through chastisement. Every time we've talked about
here trying to pray, trying to pray, trying to read, and the
convicting power of Almighty God that tells you how in yourself,
wayward you are, that's chastisement. I know it. How do I know it?
The Spirit of God told me. Scourged you. Scourged you. Oh,
Lord, if You marked iniquity. Lord, if You dealt with me on
the basis of this attempt at prayer. Lord, if You dealt with
me on the attempt to stand and preach. Lord, if You marked iniquity. And Lord, You know. You know. You know. You know what I've
thought. You know what I've done. We talk
about scourging. Whom the Lord loveth, chasteneth,
scourgeth." When did this start? When did this start? We think,
well, we were converted and somehow along the line we kind of got
to a point where we decided it's got to get a little wayward.
So later on in life, it started at conversion. A pattern. Paul said, 1 Timothy
1.16, a pattern of conversion was Paul's conversion on the
road to Damascus. That was a pattern of how God
saves His people. Saul of Tarsus was an arrogant
Pharisee on the road to Damascus, going the way he wanted to go. This is what he wanted to do.
And Almighty God turned to Acts 9. Almighty God stopped him. Stopped him dead in his tracks.
He had letters of authority. This is what I'm going to do.
And in Acts 9, verses 3 to 6, this is what the account says.
Acts 9, 3 to 6. And as he journeyed, He came
near Damascus. And suddenly there shined round
about him a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth. He
heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord?
And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. It is
hard for thee to kick against the pricks. It's hard, it's obstinate,
it's foolish to resist the One who commands. And he trembling and astonished
said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto
him, Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what
thou must do. You know what just happened right
there? Everyone that the Lord loveth,
He scourgeth and chasteneth. Every son that he received. Saul! Saul! Who are you, Lord? I'm Jesus. The one you're persecuting. It's
hard for you to kick against the bricks. The Lord was not going to leave
Saul. And He's not going to leave any
that He has eternally loved to their own way. He's not going
to do it. God loved Him, therefore He chastened
Him and scourged Him on the road to Damascus and called Him by
grace. Why? Because He had received
Him in Christ. I want you to listen to this
verse of Scripture. Proverbs 22.6. Train up a child. Turn to Proverbs 22.6. If you have a Bible that has
the margin in the middle, you'll see what I'm talking about here.
Proverbs 22.6. Train up a child. The word train
there is catechize. Catechize. Catechize. Teach. Catechize. Train up a
child in the way he should go. The way he should go. Actually, the way that the Hebrew
is written right there, and it's interpreted for us in the margin
that I have, the way he should go, which I've found to be the
way that it's actually He said, train up a child in His way. Train up a child in His way.
And when he's old, he will not depart from it. Now that verse of Scripture can
mean only one of three things. Train up a child or categoize
a child and leave a child to his own way. Train up a child
and let him think that his way is right. Leave a child to himself. And just say, do whatever you
want to do. You make up your own mind. You
make your own decisions. Exercise your own free will.
Train up a child in his way. That's the wording. Train up
a child in his way. When he's old, he will never
come to a point to where he'll say, you know, this is just not
right. Maybe I ought to change my attitude. Train up a child. Categorize
a child. Give a child the ability or the thought that his way is
best. And he'll never change. It either
means that, or it means train up a child in the way the parent
thinks he should go. And when he's old, he will not
depart from it. Or it means train up a child
in the way God says he should go. And when he's old, the scripture
says he will not depart from it. Now, I know that There's
something dogmatic about that last verse right there, that
last part. He will not depart from it. It's emphatic. The only
one that's consistent with the Scriptures is the first one.
Leave a child to his way. His way. And when he's old, he
won't change. You leave him to himself. And
he won't change. Too many have raised up their
children under the sound of the gospel. And when they were old, they
did not go the way of the Lord. Train up a child in His way. Leave him to himself. And when
he's old, He will not change. Let a child think. Teach him
to experience life for himself. He'll never change on his own.
Almighty God must. Now that does not relieve the
responsibility that we have to train up our children. The Scripture
says Ephesians 6, verse 4, And ye fathers, provoke not your
children to wrath, But bring them up in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord. You teach them that which is
right. But just because you do, does not mean that God's going
to be obligated to show them mercy. You leave a child to himself,
he'll never change. You trust God with him. Eli,
the old prophet, had two boys. And these boys, go back and read
the account. I mean, they did some awful things. nasty things. And Eli did not
chastise him, scourge him, left him alone, and God killed him. God killed him. Chastisement
begins at conversion, and it continues until we leave this
world. You listen, Paul on the road
to Damascus, I'm chastised, scourged on that road. Saul, you stop. You stop. You're wrong. You're mine. I'm going to show
you what you must do. And God stopped him. Started
right there in conversion. And Paul, the apostle, went through
his life and penned these words in Romans 7. was scourged and scourged and
scourged. One who was loved eternally and
eternally scourged. And here's Paul, the man that
Almighty God used to pen much of the New Testament. And this
is what Paul said, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? Scourging, scourging, scourging. You will never this side of the
grave, you that know Him. Not be scourged. Not be chastised. God Almighty is going to teach
us. But here's the reason that we're
to instruct and discipline our children. Because God disciplines
His. This is the reason. The Scripture
says, spare the rod and spoil the child. Spiritually thinking, aren't
you glad that God didn't do that to you? Proverbs 22.15, foolishness
is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall
drive it far from him. The rod of correction of this
Word, blessed by God's Spirit, to that child, that object of
God's mercy. I know physically, humanly, we
are to discipline our children. Just as the Lord, by the rod
of His conviction and power, chastises us and doesn't leave
us to ourselves. Why? Because foolishness is bound
in our heart. You correct your children. You know, I just love my children
too much, don't I? Just the thought of taking a
rod, a belt, Don't hit them with your hand.
Caress them with your hand. Love them with your hand. Take
a rod, Scripture says. Take a belt. Take a little paddle. Take a spoon. You say, man, I
don't know, Marvin. We ought to obey God rather than
men. I'll tell you right now. Proverbs 13.24, He that spareth
his rod, hateth his son. But he that loveth Him chasteneth
Him betimes." Quickly. Quickly. When He does it, discipline
Him. Discipline Him. Oh, the mercy of Almighty God
that chastened me. And He does now before the vapor
of this life was over. I know. You know, he's talking
about Saul of Tarsus being on the road to Damascus. The Scripture
bears out that there were others there with him. There were other
people there with him. Paul says, talking about those
that he said, they heard something. But they didn't hear what Saul
of Tarsus heard. They heard something. As far as we know, as far as
the Scripture reveals, there was only one to whom the Lord
scourged and chastened that day. As far as we know, there was
one there that God loved. There was one there that God
received. And God stopped him and chastened
him. And the others went their merry
way. To refrain from discipline a rebellious, unruly child, humanly
speaking, or for God Almighty to leave a man or a woman to
themselves, to their way, to categoize them in their way and
lead them to think that their will, their way, their thoughts,
their works is the way, is death. But to refrain from disciplining
a rebellious, unruly child is to say, I do not love you. I don't love you. Withhold not
correction. And every one of these verses
of instruction of disciplining children, look at it spiritually. To withhold, no, withhold not correction from
the child. For if thou beatest him, and
it doesn't mean abuse, it means to correct him. If thou beatest
him with the rod, He shall not die. Withhold it from him spiritually,
and he will. He'll go his way. Rebelling against
God. Oh, how clearly does a believer
begin to see the wisdom of the love of God in chastisement.
It's the way of the Lord. to chasing me, to stop me in
my tracks, and to call me out of darkness to show me what I
am, to tell me I'm not who I think I am. I'm not almighty. What
the world calls love in the withholding of correction, Almighty God reveals. That's the hatred. Withholding
is not love for whom the Lord loveth. He chasteneth and scourgeth every
son whom he receiveth. Thanks be unto God that the Lord
would stop us on our road to Damascus and call us by His grace
and mercy and to reveal to us every day, O wretched men, that
you are. Who is going to deliver you from
the body of this death? I have and I will, for Christ's
sake. Amen.