I cannot tell you what an honor
it is for me to be here. To be in the presence of, I'm convinced, many of God's
people. I thank the Lord for this place. I thank the Lord for your pastor
and my friend. this faithfulness to preach. Brother Henry, you preachers, it is an honor. It is an honor. It's hard for me to contain myself
when I think of the mercy of God to me. I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Hebrews chapter
12. Hebrews 12. I'd like for us to look at one
verse of Scripture. Verse 6. Hebrews 12. The Scripture declares, For whom
the Lord loveth. He chasteneth and scourgeth every
son whom he receiveth. The writer of Hebrews in the
previous verse, verse 5, says, And ye have forgotten He said, you need to be reminded,
you're oblivious to what the Word is. You've forgotten the
exhortation, the words of comfort which speaketh. And as we've
heard many times, you see that E-T-H is continual. The Lord continually speaks to
His people. Continually. Which speaketh unto
you is unto children. Children of God. Adopted unto the Lord God Himself
by Christ Jesus our Lord. Born from above. Children. The writer to Hebrews says, you've
forgotten that God's talking to you as children. My son, you who are accepted
in the Beloved, redeemed from all guilt, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord. Don't have little esteem for
His correction. Don't think little of it. Nor faint, sink in despair when
thou art rebuked of Him, admonished and reproved. Why? For whom the Lord loveth, as Gabe ably set forth from the
Scriptures. God has a people that He loves.
He doesn't love all men. But whom the Lord loveth, eternally loved, loves, shall
eternally love. Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth
and scourgeth every one, every son whom He receiveth. And he knows best. He knows best
that which is right. For the sake of time, I'll tell
you where it is. We'll be looking at many Scriptures,
but for the sake of time, in 2 Samuel 24, David numbered the
people. And after he numbered the people,
the Lord was going to chastise him. He gave David an opportunity
to make a choice. The Lord gave him three choices. He said, you want seven years
of famine? Or do you want to flee from your
enemies for three months? Or do you want three days of
pestilence? And David wisely said, When it
came down to him having to make a choice, this is what he said,
I don't want to make a choice. I am in a grave strait. Let us fall now into the hand
of the Lord. What safety? For His mercies
are great, and let me not fall into the hand of man. And he
left the matter in the hands of God Almighty. And that's what
we desire. That's what we want. Lord, I
want what You want. Your purpose. Your will. Your honor. And Almighty God,
at the hand of an angel, killed 70,000 men in chastising of David. What was best for David? Whenever
David fell into sin with Bathsheba, murdered her husband, thought
he had it covered up, and God sent a prophet, told him a story
about a little ewe lamb Somebody took a big landowner, had all
kinds of sheep, took poor man's one sheep, took that one, dressed that one,
fed his friend. David said, oh, I'd like to take
care of that fellow. And Nathan said, you're the man. Almighty God chastened him. chastised him, scourged him.
Why? Because he loved him. He loved
David. He had received David in Christ. And when Almighty God chastened
him, scourged him, this is what David penned under the inspiration
of God's Spirit. Psalm 51.3, For I acknowledge
my transgressions and my sins as ever before me, against thee
and thee only. Have I sinned and done this great
evil in thy sight? You want to hear the words of
chastisement of a believer? This is how a believer talks
right here. I'm guilty. I'm guilty. Whom the Lord loveth, continually
he chasteneth and scourgeth, And here's the heart of a believer.
Chastened. Lovingly chastened. Lovingly
scourged. A believer who knows himself,
somewhat knows himself, what he is. Seeing the frailty of
his old man, his old nature. Let me ask you this. I've said
this before here. I'll say it again. You that know
Him, have you ever found yourself trying to pray? Trying to pray. And you're sincerely desiring
to pray. Praying for one another. Praying
for the pastors. Praying for the congregations.
Praying, God have mercy. Next thing you know, you just
catch yourself and you're somewhere else. You just went off somewhere
and you're thinking, The conviction that you feel,
that's the loving chastisement of God that will not leave you
to yourself. And the Scriptures comes back
to your heart as comfort. You think, oh, Lord, if you marked
iniquity. Lord, if you counted what I just
did to my charge, who could stand? Cast me not away from Thy presence. Lord, don't leave me as I easily
find myself straying from You. Cast me not away from Thy presence
and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me." A believer does not
despise the chastening of the Lord. He knows Though these chastenings
and these scourgings are grievous, and you know where they're grievous?
Right here. This is where it's grievous.
This is where it hurts. Somebody said, well, I just can't
stand the thought of getting sick. Sickness is not something
that we by nature would pick. But I'll tell you this, I'll
tell you where it stings, where it hurts. I just quoted, against
you, Lord, I've sinned against you. Scourged. But let me ask you this, where
did these chastisements begin? When did they begin? The Apostle
Paul revealed that he was, according to 1 Timothy 1.16, a pattern to them which should hereafter
believe on Him to life everlasting. Paul said, I was by the grace
of God, by God's good choice, I was a pattern. I was a pattern
of God's mercy to save a sinner. Christ Jesus came into this world
to save sinners. And Paul says, I'm chief. I'll tell you what a believer
says. I think I'm chief. Every believer says that. But
Paul said that and meant that. I'm chief. He said, you want
to know, he said, I was a blasphemer. I blasphemed God, despised God,
despised His people. He said, I was a pattern though.
How God saves wretched, unworthy, Turn to Acts chapter 9. This is how Paul said, this is
how the Lord saves sinners. Acts chapter 9. You know this
passage. Acts 9 verse 3. This is how God
saves sinners. Sinners that are not looking
for God. No man seeks after God. Leave a man to himself. No man
seeks after God. Paul was doing just exactly what
Paul wanted to do. Saul of Tarsus had letters of
authority. He was going to go to Jerusalem.
He was going to take those who were of the way, bring them bound
back to Jerusalem, and give them just exactly what they deserved,
he thought. Acts 9, verse 3, And as he journeyed,
he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him
a light from heaven. He fell to the earth, and 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. 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. It shall be told thee what thou
must do. Almighty God scourged and chastened
this man, Saul of Tarsus. You know why? He loved him. He loved him. Received him in Christ. It's
one of his elect, one of his chosen. That's what he told Ananias. He said, chosen vessel unto me. I chose him. I set my affection
upon him everlastingly. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. Saul! Why have you persecuted me? Who
are you, Lord?" He told him who he was. Saved him by grace. He lovingly, lovingly, what mercy
that Almighty God would knock that man off that high horse
of his and put him in the dirt. Proverbs 22.6 says this, Train
up a child, Turn there. Turn there. Proverbs
22, verse 6. I want you to look at this. Proverbs 22, verse 6. If you have a margin in your
Bible right there, it says, train up. Catechize. Catechize. Train up a child in
the way he should go Now in your margin, if you have that, it's
the word His. His. When He's old, He will not
depart from it. Now this is what it says. I believe
this is the meaning of this scripture. You catechize a child in His
way. You leave a child to His will. You leave a child to His thinking.
to his thinking that he knows best. You leave him to his own
free will. And when he's old, he's never
going to come to that point where he says, you know, I don't think
I'm doing right. You leave a child to himself. Leave a child to do what he wants
to do, the way he wants to do it, when he wants to do it. And
when he's old, he's going to do it the same way. God Almighty does not leave His
children to themselves. And aren't you glad? Believers
know something about the old man, know their need of being
taught Lord, You turn me. I'll be turned. Lord, You lead
me to Me. I don't know what's best. I don't want to make the decisions.
I don't want to be in control. Don't leave them to themselves.
Don't leave them to their own way. That's God's way when it
comes to dealing with His children. Oh, we lie to the prophet. He
honored his sons above God. And Almighty God killed them. Lord, chasten my children the way you
chastened me. Lord, teach my kids. I thank
God for you, Gabe. Hannah. I've got two other girls. I thank God that Almighty God
would not leave my kids to themselves. Lord, have mercy. Whom the Lord
loveth, He is going to bring them to a knowledge of who they
are and who He is. They are in need of Him. But
that chastisement and scourging that begins at conversion is
when God stops a man and tells him, no, you don't have the last
thing. You just think you had the last
say. Truly, He does work all things
after the counsel of His own will, according to His purpose. How long is it going to last
until we leave this world? Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth
and scourgeth every son that He receiveth. He's not going
to leave his children. In this world, old Saul of Tarsus
began to know something of who he was and who God was and is
on the road to Damascus. And after years and years of
God teaching him and instructing him and chastening him and scourging
him lovingly, After all those years and years
and years and years, this was Paul's conclusion. O wretched
man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? Chastisement. We hear that word,
chastisement. Scourging. And we think, oh,
I just fear so much. I don't know what the Lord is
going to do to me. I'm telling you, as Bob was talking
this afternoon, whatever the Lord is pleased to do in loving
chastisement, loving scourging. Let me try to give you an example. My four kids, they were all about
two years apart. And I would go somewhere with
them, and I'd be there, and I don't want you behind me, I want you
in front of me. I want to see you. And this was my job. One, two, three, four. One, two,
three, four. Come here. Right here. Right
here. Back here. Right here. But I want you right
here. Chastisement. Loving chastisement. I want you where I want you.
I want to see you. But I wanted to go over there
and see this, you know. No. Right here. You say, that's
chastisement? That's all chastisement is? Whatever the Lord is pleased
to do to this sinner, whatever He does to me, that
to this old flesh is grievous. There were many times that Gabriel
wanted to do something and I didn't want him to do it. I said, no,
no. I hurt his feelings. But I knew
what could have happened. But compared to eternal judgment,
anything this size of hell is mercy. Right here. Right here. This is the reason
we're instructed to discipline our children. Why? Because we
love them. We love them. You consider these
verses of Scripture spiritually. I do know, and you want to live
by these according to raising your children. Parents, listen
to these Scriptures right here. But listen to these Scriptures
in light of the Spirit of God's teaching us of our need before
Him. Foolishness, silliness is bound
in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive
it far from him. God doesn't leave His children
to themselves. We must not either. Proverbs
13.24, He that spareth his rod, hateth his son. But he that loveth
him, chasteneth him betimes. Quickly. I don't know how many
others there were with Saul of Tarsus that day. I don't know
how many there were. There were others that were there.
Saul of Tarsus, Paul the Apostle, related that later, giving the
recurrence of that event that happened on the road to Damascus.
And he said, those that were with me, they heard a noise,
they saw, but as far as I know, there was one that God called
out of darkness. There was one. There was one
that was corrected. There was one that was chastened.
There was one that God revealed Himself to. And as far as I know,
the Lord left the others to themselves. One man. All the others may perish, but
there was one that was not going to. Proverbs 23.13, withhold not
correction from the child, for if thou beatest him with a rod,
he shall not die, but if God leaves a man to himself, he will. The most glorious display though,
of love, was at the cross. whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every
son that he receiveth. He who knew no sin was made sin, that we his people might be made
the righteousness of God in him. He who of himself deserved no
chastisement, bore the guilt, bore the sin, made sin, bore
it in his own body, and there the indescribable love of God
gave me what I deserve. Paul said, I was crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless, I live. The life
that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved
me and gave Himself for me. Indescribable love that Almighty
God, who loves His people, loves His Son, Love. Absolute love. And satisfied all the demands
for justice. I read something Brother Henry
wrote one time. And he said this, the Lord had
one Son without sin. None without chastisement. He bore the guilt. He paid the debt whom the Lord
loveth. He was satisfying Himself. Brother Scott used to say this,
God had to do something for Himself before He could do something
for His people. He had to satisfy justice. I'm a just God and a Savior. Justice had to be satisfied. The law had to be honored. He
had to put away our guilt. The soul that sinned it is going
to die. And the Lord Jesus Christ, you
said this, you're right, He laid down His life, bearing our guilt,
paying our penalty, put it away. Here's love, turn and closing. John 17. Oh, what a joy it is
just to read this blessed chapter. Here's love. John 17, these words
spake Jesus and lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, Father,
the hour has come. Glorify Thy Son that Thy Son
may glorify Thee. Glorify thy Son is the substitute,
the surety. Glorify me as your Lamb, your sacrifice, your bearer of
the sins of your people, our people, that I may glorify thee. as the glorious God of all grace,
the One who has mercy on whom you'll have mercy and compassion
on whom you'll have compassion. Father, glorify me. For those that we've everlastingly
loved, putting away the guilt of our people. And there, according to love's
demand, Justice is demand. Righteousness demand. The Lord
Jesus Christ cried from the cross, it's finished. It's finished. It's finished. And I know right
now, what was demanded, He finished it. And I can stand here tonight
and I know, I know what He paid. He paid in full. Whom the Lord
loveth, He chasteneth and scourgeth every
son that He receiveth. Lord, thank you for the privilege
just to be able to be in the place where you're honored according
to your gospel, for Christ's sake. Amen.