Loving correction. It's not punishment. Sometimes we think it is, but
it's not. It's correction. Look at verse
9. It says, We've had fathers of
our flesh which corrected us. That's what chasing is. Loving
correction. The Lord begins this chapter
by showing us his altogether loveless Son, whom whom all the
sons of God are predestined to be like. That's what it's all
about. That's what salvation is all
about. That's what chastening is all about. To make us like
Christ. And that's who we want to be
like, isn't it? That's a mark. a real evidence
that you are a child of God, you love Christ, you want to
be like Him. Like you as a child, if you loved and respected your
father, your mother, you want to be just like Him. And he begins this chapter, and
ends this chapter, telling us to look to Christ. Look to Him. Never quit looking to Him. Verse 2, looking unto Jesus.
Verse 15, looking diligently. Never look anywhere else but
to Him. Look to Him as your substitute.
Look to Him for forgiveness of sin. Look to Him for help. Look
to Him for help. Without Him, we can do nothing.
With Him, all things. Look to Him as our motive. We don't look to the law and
say, this is what I'm supposed to do. We look at Christ and
say, that's how I'm supposed to do it. So we look to him. Look at verse 5 now, we begin
there. It says, You have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh
unto you as unto children. My son, despise not thou the
chastening of the Lord, nor think when thou art rebuked of him.
For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every
son whom he will receive it. That's found in Proverbs 3. Don't
go back there. Proverbs 3, and this is very
good. We need to look at it. He said
we've forgotten. All of us, like children, are
guilty of forgetting. Forgetting what our fathers told
us to do. And there's the exhortation. We've forgotten to do what he
says, and here in chapter 3 of Proverbs, verse 1, My son, forget
not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandment. Length of
days and long life and peace shall they add to thee. Let not
mercy and truth forsake thee. Bind them about thy neck. Write them upon the table of
thine heart. So shalt thou find favor and good understanding
in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy
ways acknowledge him, look to him, seek him, and he shall direct
thy path." Read on. Fear the Lord and depart from
evil. It shall be health to thy navel, merit to thy bones. Honor
the Lord with thy substance, with the firstfruits of all that
increase. So shall thy barns be filled
with plenty, thy presses shall burst out with new wine. My son
despised not the chastening of the Lord." Why would he chasten
him? Because we have forgotten what he just said. We've forgotten. either forgotten or just rebelliously
went our own way. Children do that, don't they? Read on, verse 11, "...neither
be weary of his correction, for whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth
as a father the son in whom he delighted." Happy, happy is the
man that finds this wisdom, the man that gets this understanding.
Happy. All our misery and our sin and
our unhappiness can be traced to our forgetfulness. We forgot
what he told us. And our stubbornness. Children can often be stubborn,
can't they? We often keep both grandchildren
now. We just had one, and a girl at
that, not a boy. And she was an easy child. Now
we've got two, and Sophie is a little different than we've
run into before. It's that soniker. I accuse Marvin
of infusing bad blood. Just kidding. That's the good
part, probably. But anyway, she can be pretty
stubborn. Pretty stubborn. I look at her
and I see me, is what I see. Our stubbornness will get us
into all kinds of trouble and make us unhappy. I love the scripture
that convicts me. It says, if you be willing and
obedient, you will eat the good of the lamb. That's what the
Lord said. I had an old horse one time,
a big draft horse from Ireland. Ninety-some percent of the time
she was pretty nice because she didn't have to do anything. She
didn't work. She didn't earn her keep. She
was a draft whore. She never drafted anything. I
fooled around with her a little bit. Pulled a few things. She didn't have to work for a
living. She just ate. Anyway, one day, she was generally
pretty obedient because I was going to give her things. One
day I went out there. And I was going to take her into
another pasture. I wanted to take her out of one
pasture and into another so that one could grow up, you know,
rotating pastures. And she ran from me. She ran from me. I had the hardest
time getting hold of her. I thought, you fool, I'm not
going to hurt you. I'm not here to make you work
unreasonably. I'm leading you to greater pastures.
If you be willing and obedient, you'll eat the food of the Lamb.
Don't run. Bow. Submit. Isn't that a good
exhortation to all of us? No, we run. This is the way that
seems right unto us. It's always wrong. Seek the Lord
in all thy ways. Acknowledge him, he'll direct
your path, the right path. Lead us in the right path. Not
just a good way, it's the only one, what he said. Happy is the
man. And like a faithful parent, our
Heavenly Father chastens his children when they go astray. Go back to verse 6. Verse 7,
if you endure chastening, God deals with you as sons. What son is he whom the Father
chastens not? If you do it according to scripture,
you use a rod. I know that's unpopular now,
even unlawful, I guess. It will be. It doesn't matter. That's the way the Lord said
to do it. Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world, man's so-called child raising? Time out. Time out. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Time out. Chastening has to be
painful. We'll see that in a minute. Verse
8, You be without chastisement, for of all our partakers in you
are your masters, not sons, not God's children, true children,
are chastened by the Father, verse 9. Furthermore, we had
fathers of our flesh, our flesh and blood parents corrected us,
we gave them reverence. I know that my parents didn't
enjoy chastening me, I know that now. I didn't think that then, but
I remember After getting in trouble
or something going out, and I had a big old dog, big St. Bernard
dog, and I'd get in that dog house with him. Huge house. I'd crawl in there with him,
put my arm around him, cry, and, you're the only one that loves
me. Anybody? Oh, how foolish. My parents loved me more than
they loved themselves. And if you do, if they did, if
you do, you chase them. You don't chase other people's
children, do you? We chase our own. And we gave them to the
reverend. Shall we not much rather be in
subjection unto the Father of spirits and live? And do you know the Lord's chasing
is mostly through his Word? Isn't that the way we chase our
children mostly? Every time they do something
wrong, we don't pull our belts off, do we? The world would cram you here
in a belt. The rod, the scripture talked
about the rod. At any rate, every time they
do something wrong, a spank them or something severe like that,
most of our chasing and our dealing with them is through our word.
I remember that if you love your parent and respect them, you
fear disappointing them. You hate their frowns. You don't
like it when they're angry at you, when they're disappointed
in you. You don't like that. It bothers you, troubles you,
and you'll not be happy until they smile at you. And our daughter,
I could just look across at her and she just burst out crying. She knew I was disappointed.
That just killed her. And different children are different. And the Lord deals with us according
to our personalities that He gave us. In His wisdom, He deals
with us. Verily, they for a few days chastened
us after their own pleasure. That is, it seemed good to them
according to their finite understanding and wisdom. Sometimes they're
wrong, most of the time they're right. A lot of times we did
not get chastened when we should have. Mike, we got by with a
lot, but they didn't know about it. Well, they may have known
about it. I kind of turned a blind eye to it. I was the fourth one
by that time. They're ready to just quit, I'm
sure. At any rate, God always, in His
infinite wisdom and love, it's always for our profit, verse
10, always for our profit, that. Here's the end. Here's the purpose
of chasing that. We might be partakers of his
holiness. True children, true children
of God are being made like Christ. We've said before that holiness
means, well, holiness is Jesus Christ. You want the definition
of holiness? Jesus Christ. That's holiness
personified. This is what we are being conformed
to, or who we're being conformed to. God's people are partakers
of Christ's imputed righteousness. He's made unto us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, holiness, and redemption, all those things,
charged to our account by his work, by his obedience to the
law. Our sin was charged to him, he
was made sin for us. And God's people are partakers
of his imparted righteousness, made like Jesus Christ. If there's no imputation of Christ's
righteousness, there's no holiness. If there's no impartation, there's
no holiness. No correction, we're not sons. God's chastening is
to make us like Christ. And as I said, he does it Mostly
with his word. David said this, when thou with
rebukes dost correct man for his iniquity, he makes all his
beauty to consume away like a moth. Nine arrows are sharp. God's
word. Guilt is a wonderful thing. As
bad as it makes it feel, it means it works. He's dealing with us. His word is convicting us. The
Holy Spirit never quits leading and guiding and convicting and
reproving and rebuking ever quits his children. This is who chastens
us. He reproves, rebukes, corrects,
instructs through his Word. The Holy Spirit convinces of
sin, righteousness, judgment, all as it relates to Christ. So we need to, if we ever quit
feeling the sharp errors of his Word, be alarmed. Be alone. If we ever quit rejoicing over
the comfort of his Word, be alone. Be alone. These are signs of
life. Pain, joy. Tears, laughter. Savior of life,
the Word. Words of life that deal with
us as children. Verse 11, he says, Now no chastening
for the present seems joyous, but is grievous, hurtful, painful. The best lessons learned are
often the most painful, aren't they? Painful. By experience. The old saying is, experience
is the best teacher. No, really, experience is the
only teacher. The only teacher. We really don't
learn anything until we go through it to experience it. We don't
learn God's Word until we experience it. To experience. We can learn it in our heads.
Then someday we go through something, and the Word of God comes to
mind, comes to heart, and says, oh, now I know, now I know. Nevertheless, he says, afterward
you yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which
are exercised thereby. Peaceable fruit of righteousness.
Peace-giving righteousness is what we get by looking to Jesus
Christ. Look into Jesus Christ. He said,
My peace I give unto you, I leave with you. My peace I leave with
you. And my peace I give unto you.
Peace, giving, righteousness is what we get by being conformed
to Christ. You know, a true believer is
miserable in disobedience and sin. Miserable. Like our children are miserable. You know, we know that we're
unprofitable now, all of us. Even if we think we've done everything
required of us, we're still unprofitable. But we don't have to live that
way, unprofitable. We don't have to live in constant
guilt, feeling a father's displeasure. These things will make us miserable.
A bad attitude, a bad state, sin. We've talked about besetting
sin here in this chapter, but lay it aside, he said, like he
would talk to children. Stop. Right? Lay it aside. That's what he said. That's what
we tell our children. Stop that. And sin, self, love
yourself. Quit loving yourself. How much
does the scripture deal with self? It's put us in a bad way,
and the Lord will frown on us if we're selfish. The thing we
hate most in our children is selfishness, isn't it? Isn't
it about the same? If our children aren't sharing with one another
and pitching in, we just anger them, aggravate them. Self, the
world, it'll make you bad. Evil communication is corrupt
in that. And so God chastens us to come in here. We get some
of it in private, in our own study, but mostly we come in
here and hear the Word. If a man's doing his job, he's
preaching line upon line, teaching line upon line, verse by verse,
here a little, there a little, and we're receiving. And this
is amazing, the wonderful thing, God in His providence, this is
how we know He's speaking to us, that just the time when we
need it, The man standing up there will go through something,
and he's not conscious, he's not aware of what you're going
through at that time. But he'll speak from God's Word, deal with
something exactly at the time you need it, exactly the thing
perhaps you and your wife are talking about, or you and your
children. That's how you know it's of the Lord. Never fail to do it. Especially if we're seeking.
Seeking. If you seek a blessing, open
your mouth to feel it. Well, in all scriptures proper,
it says that we might be partakers
of his holiness, his doctrine of correction for instruction
in righteousness. Christ our righteousness, but
be like him, furnished unto all good works, that the man of God
may be furnished unto all good works. Look at chapter 13, verse
21. We think Paul wrote this. He said, May the Lord, in his prayer,
make you perfect, verse 21, perfect, complete, mature, grow up in
Christ in everything, in every good work, to do his will, working
in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through. It's never
apart from, it's never in yourself, it's always through Jesus Christ,
looking to him, to whom he glory forever and ever. Did you read the bulletin? Help
with the hands, knees, and feet. Verse 12, lift up the hands that
hang down, the feeble knee. Make straight paths for your
feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way. Let
it rather be healed. These hands and these knees and
these feet, we'll look at here a little bit more. Follow peace
with all. And holiness, once again, what's
holiness? Jesus Christ. Follow Him. Follow
Him. You can't go wrong. Paths of
righteousness are His path, the way He tried. Looking to Him,
looking, verse 15, looking diligently. Looking where? Looking to Him,
diligently. Looking to Him, as we said, for
help. Looking at Him as our example. Looking to Him, lest any man
fail at the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing
up. Here's what will happen if you don't look to Christ. We
don't look to Christ. We'll fail at the grace of God.
We'll look to the law. If we keep looking to Christ,
we'll look to the law. We'll look to ourselves. We'll
look to others. We look at the world and we end
up proclaiming like Esau. Here's another thing that will
happen. Lest any root of bitterness spring up, we keep looking to
Christ. We'll become bitter and angry
and so forth. Remember, Christ crucified is
what reconciles us to him, to God, and one another. How's that?
If the altogether holy and loving Son of God died for such a worm
as I, to forgive me, put away my sin, how could I not forgive
my brother? How could I not be reconciled
to my brother? If he did that to reconcile me
to God, how could I not be reconciled to my brother or sister? So that
root of bitterness, if you don't look to Christ full of bitterness,
bitter toward Others, bitter in yourself, bitter toward God,
springing up trouble in you. Many are defiled. You're not
only defiled, but everybody around you. Verse 16, lest there be
any fornicator. All this is talking about a person
who never really was regenerated and born of God, experienced
this new birth. That's what this is talking about.
It'll end up proving. Because can a person call from
the omnipotent grace of God, by grace he's saved. Can a person,
you know, we coined the term once in grace, always in grace.
What we mean by that is simply, if we're saved, we stay saved. And you're saved because of who
saved you. If God saves you, you stay saved,
right? Did not Christ say, I give unto
them eternal life, and they shall never perish? Does it not say
we are kept by the power of God? We don't keep or save. Kept by
the power of God. Did not Christ say, no man shall
pluck them out of my hand? I've heard these fools say, yeah,
but you can jump out. Our hope is, all our hope is,
that He'll keep us. But this calling from grace also
means if you quit looking to Christ, as I said, you'll look
to the law, you'll look elsewhere, and you'll end up in the end Your
religion will be in vain, your profession will be in vain, and
you'll end up in all manner of uncleanness like the world. Verse 16, Fornicator, profane
person as Esau, Esau for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
That is, in exchange for his soul, he took a bowl of beans.
And that's what people are given. What does a man give in exchange
for his soul? About anything. About anything. If you quit looking, following
Christ, looking diligently, that's what will happen. Every time.
Every time. All right. Strength for the hands,
knees, and feet. Here it is. Lift up, he says,
the hands which hang down. Lift them up. The picture here is a person
who's downcast and dejected. When you're downcast and dejected,
you know, you're like this. You stoop down, you fall down,
fall on your knees. Weak, feeble knees. Lift up hands. How's that? And praise to God. And praise
to God. Children of Israel, after they
partook of the Passover, they went out with a high hand. I'm not in favor of this literal
waving of hands. That's a show of the flesh. That's
a show of the flesh. But let's lift up holy hands. That's Christ's hands isn't it? That's Christ's hands. And lift
up our hands in service to Him. Lord, here am I. Send me. Lift up in praise and lift up
in service. Raise your hands to God in thanksgiving.
It will relieve a dejected spirit. It will. The feeble knees. Somebody wrote one time, help
for feeble knees is to be on them more often. Be on your knees
more often. Without Him, we can do nothing.
That's why He says pray without ceasing. Our knees get feeble
when we don't use them enough. And also, it means stand up.
Stand up. The one that's bowed down says,
stand up. Lift up, bear up, cheer up, he
says, those others. One way to help your hands and
feeble knees is to help others. God doesn't help those that help
themselves. God helps those that help others. God helps those that help others.
The greatest in the kingdom is the servant. Lift up, bear up,
bear one another's burdens. Those feeble hands that hang
down, hold up your brother. The feeble knees and the weak
feet, verse 13. Make straight paths for your
feet, lest that which is is lame, be turned out of the way. Let
it rather be healed. I want you to turn real quickly
to Proverbs, and we'll end this way, because this is where he's
quoting Proverbs. If you'll just go back to the
first chapter, and notice how often it talks about the feet,
the feet, the feet. The feet is our walk. The feet
is the direction we go in, our ways, our tendencies. And if
you're like me, and I know you are, your feet are prone to wander,
your feet are ready to halt, your feet almost slide, slip,
stumble easily, and they stink. Need washing. Here's how he does
it with the washing of his Word. This is what sets our feet in
the right path. Verse, where do you begin? Chapter 1,
verse 11, if they say, sinners entice you, come with us, let
us lay wait, let us work privately for the innocent without cause. Verse 15, my son, walk not thou
in the way with them. Refrain thy foot from their path. Their feet run to evil and make
haste to shed blood. Chapter 2, verse 11. Verse 11 says, Wisdom and discretion
will deliver you from the way of the evil man, from the man
that speaketh forward things, who leave the paths of uprightness
to walk in the ways of darkness. Verse 15, whose ways are crooked
and forward in their paths. And the Lord's word and wisdom
to Christ, that thou mayest walk in the way of good men. Keep
the paths of the righteous. Chapter 3, verse 5, we just read
this. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart, lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways
acknowledge him, he shall direct thy paths. Show me the way that
I should walk therein. Christ did, didn't he? He's the
one. He's the one. Chapter 4. On and
on and on it goes. My son, hear my sayings. Verse
10. Hear my sayings. The years of thy life shall be
many. I have taught thee in the way of wisdom. I have led thee
in the right path. When thou goest, thy steps shall
not be straightened. When thou runnest, thou shalt
not stumble. Run, the race set before you
hath. Looking up to Jesus. Look at
verse 14, "...enter not into the path of the wicked, go not
in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn
from it, pass away." That's religion, too. We don't join with religion
in any way, shape, form, or fashion. Read on. It says in verse 18,
"...the path of the just." is a shining light. Oh, that's Christ,
isn't it? The light that shines more and
more into the perfect day. The way of the wicked is darkness.
They know not what they stumble upon. Verse 25-27, in closing,
let thine eyes look right on them. Where? Right back where
we started, looking under the Lord Jesus. Right. Let thine
eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy
feet. You know, this is the good way. This
is the right way. It is. Ponder. Ponder. Oh no,
that's bad. Yeah, that's good. Huh? Yeah. Let all thy ways be established.
Turn not, verse 27, don't turn to the right hand nor to the
left. Remove that foot. Believe me. Make straight paths with
your feet. Follow peace. Look indifferently. We want to deal a bit more with
that thing of following peace with all. Very good. I read a message by Brother Spurgeon
that was just outstanding. We'll look at those things a
little more. But strength of the weak hands and feeble knees
and feet, He's our strength. His Word is our strength and
our wisdom.