We live in a time, and especially
in our area of the country, where you can find about any kind of
church you're looking for. From extremely formal to extremely
informal. From extremely conservative to
extremely liberal. From extremely dignified to extremely
emotional. But what's hard to find is one
with a true conviction of and commitment to God's holy word
as the authority, the absolute and only authority. What the
Bible actually teaches. And we certainly don't claim
to be better than anyone. I readily confess that, but we
are committed here to God's word being the full authority on everything. And you wouldn't believe the
religious folks I've talked to through the years that says,
I know what the Bible says, but there is no, but what the Bible
says is the authority. It sure is. Now I want to read
that whole passage, but my text verse is verse six. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. And the title of the message
is also in verse six, just four words. Whom the Lord loveth. Whom the Lord loveth. Those words
are worthy of much, much consideration and meditation. And they open
up a whole world of thought pattern whom the Lord love it. The subject is very strong doctrinally and the. Issue is this, God's
word tells us one thing, organized religion tells us another. Because you don't build kingdoms
offending people. But the truth is either God has
lied to us or men have lied to us. Which is it? Men, I flipped on the radio yesterday
to so-called gospel radio. I said, so-called, and the first
words I heard was a quoting of Romans 5, 8, but God commended
his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. God did his part. Now we must
do ours. That preacher made the us and
the we, in that verse, all of Adam's race. But the New Testament epistles
are written to God's children. The us and the we are God's people. Paul's writing to believers.
And so my question, does God love a person enough to give
his only begotten son and then, and then let that person
perish in their sins? Did Christ die in vain? Well, the answer is in our text,
whom the Lord love it. Who did Christ die for? Whom
the Lord loveth. Who will God save? Whom the Lord loveth. To whom does he give eternal
life and enlightenment and growth and discipline? It's whom the
Lord loveth. We all love the story of Joseph
in the Old Testament, beginning in Genesis 37 and concluding
at the end of Genesis 50. And as most of us have read and
studied and heard taught and preached about the many things
Joseph suffered and experienced in life, We remember that all
his trouble started because of one thing. His father loved him. His father loved him. His problems, he never had a normal childhood. because his father loved him.
His brothers despised him because his father loved him. His brothers sold him into slavery
because they despised him because his father loved him. He was
carried to Egypt. He was abused, misused, falsely
accused, imprisoned, suffered many things. Unnecessary on man's part. And yet none of it was without
divine purpose. Man was doing one thing. God
was doing another, but it all began because his father loved
him. And this morning, all of the
experiences in the lives of God's children. If you are one of God's
children, it is all because. He loved you. All the bitter,
all the sweet. All the painful, all the pleasant. All you liked and all you didn't
like. We have a God big enough and
wise enough to have put it all together before any of it occurred. You
put it together in one package, all your life's experience. Why? Whom the Lord love it. In this passage, we read the
word chastening in verse five, chastened in verse six, chastening
in verse seven. Again, chasteneth in verse seven,
chastisement in verse eight, chasteneth in verse 10, and chastening
in verse 11. Chastening is not punishment. It is correction. The Greek word here means to
train, to educate, to discipline, to keep on the right path. Whom the Lord loveth, he chastened. Now, if this be true and it is,
the Lord don't love everybody. You say, well, I never heard
that. Well, keep listening. Keep listening. If this be true,
and it is. People live and some of them
religious people live year after year, day in and day out. Spitting in God's face and preachers lie to them. and
keep saying God loves you. That's not what this said. Whom
the Lord loveth, he chastened. If the Lord loves you, he'll
come after you. That's what this says. If the
Lord don't love you, he'll leave you alone. You can go on your way uninterrupted
and might get to enjoy this party we call life a lot of years before
you drop into hell. But that's all it'll take for
you to go to hell is for God to leave you alone. You're not
going to change it on your own. Have nothing in you to change
it with. Had so many people tell me, well, I'm going to get my
life straightened out. How are you going to do that? When are you going to start?
They haven't started yet. This is God's work, folks. You
talk about warped to think that we can change things and do anything
ourselves to make God smile. That's messed up. He's running
his business. and he's running it well. Oh
my! You say, well, I believe he loves
me. Do you? Do you? Well, here's
the answer. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth. A lot of parents punish their
children, not because they love them, but because they don't. They love themselves. And for
their own glory, they try to beat their children into being
what they want them to be. Proper discipline is not punishment. It's correction. And the word here is chastening. Chastening is a love word. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chastened." Now, apart from love, discipline is punishment. But
in love, discipline is chastening, correction. Another love word
is grief. Someone you don't love can't
grieve you. All they do is make you mad.
You know what I'm talking about? It's people you love that grieve
you. Jesus Christ, a man of sorrows
acquainted with grief. What's that grief about? A lot
of things. But his grief is out of love.
Love for his wayward and foolish children. Now, the next thing in our text
verse is scourgeth. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he received. There are
numerous similar words in the New Testament, but the only other
occurrence of this specific Greek word used here for scourgeth
is in John 19.1. Then Pilate therefore took Jesus
and scourged him. Now whom the Lord loveth and
chasteneth and scourgeth. What Pilate did to the Lord,
the Lord does to us. But how does he do it? by experience
in life. He told us the disciples. John 1633 in the world, you shall
have tribulation. And he wasn't talking about this
so-called seven years garbage either. He said in the world,
as long as you're here, buddy, it's going to be trouble. This is for God's child. It's
ordained. It is decreed. From the lips
of the Savior in the world, ye shall have tribulation. Not in heaven, there's no tribulation
there. Not in hell, God's children aren't
going there. But in the world, you shall for
certain have Tribulation, trouble. What effect does it have? What effect does it have? First, it brings out the fallen
nature. It brings out a pity party in
us. But to the unbeliever, it brings
out Their nature too. They'll curse God over what happens
to them. But to God's children, it humbles
us. The Psalmist said in Psalm 1,
1971, it is good for me that I have been afflicted. How long
since you've looked in the mirror and said that? It is good for me. Don't feel
good, but it is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I
might learn thy statutes. So for God's child here in verse
11, now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Oh, it don't thrill
us. Uh-uh. And just like a little child,
no child wants you to get that splinter out of their finger.
Oh, you're going to hurt me. You're already hurt. No child wants to go to the dentist,
me included. Nevertheless, afterward, Yet
yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby. He calls it an exercise of correction. If Jonah hadn't been God's child,
he wouldn't have sent him to Danavon to start with. And he might have got by with
committing suicide. That's what he did. He told him,
throw me overboard. I'm often asked, can a child
of God take their own life? Jonah did. I'm through. God's caught up
with me and I'm done. Throw me overboard. Samson did. He knew he couldn't
survive that roof caving in on him and 3,000 people. But the Bible says he slew more
in his death than he did in his life. And Samson is with the
Lord today. He's even in the list of heroes
of faith in Hebrews 11. So don't listen to this junk
about what people say. The truth is we walk through
this world almost in a coma. Be honest about it. Unaware and
without thought. of so much going on around us
and that happens and why it happens. We're too busy complaining that
it did happen and contending that it shouldn't
have happened. And why me? Some years ago, there was a popular
book come out sold millions, why do bad things happen to good
people? Well, they hadn't read the Bible.
There ain't no good people. There is none good. No, not one. And whatever happens to you is
better than anything this side of hell is better than you deserve.
Don't you know that? That's the fact. That's the fact. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth.
In the world you shall have tribulation. What's the duration of it? As
long as we're in the world. That is, long as we're here,
you shall have tribulation. I'm getting pretty sick of religionists
that would have us believe they've arrived. They're everything God
ever wanted them to be. And he's so proud of them. And it's the rest of us, it's
a bunch of failures. They've got all the sin out of their
life. They perform so well till God's
thrown aside everything he's going to do and He's so excited
about what they've done. That's not so, that's hogwash. The truth is most of what little
we've done right in life was accidental on our part. We'd rather have done it wrong. But the one who's really accomplishing
anything worthwhile in us and with us is the Lord. Actually, the experiences in
life that we thought were so great were probably meaningless. And that that you thought was
meaningless, in vain, is probably the precious and gracious
hand of God working. Isaiah said this, as the heaven
is higher than the earth, so are God's ways higher than
our ways and his thoughts than our thoughts. I've known a lot of folks Preachers,
by the way. I can blast preachers. There,
I'm telling you. And I've known so many that could
tell you, well, God's in this. God's not in that. God's in everything. God's in everything. And as we
heard in our Bible class, He's doing all this for one of two
reasons. To bring you to Himself. to mature
you and mold you as his child, or to justify sending you to
hell. Not that he needs any further
justification than he already has. But that's how it goes. That's how it goes. We live one hour at a time, one
day at a time. We laugh at one thing, we cry
at another. And as I said already, God is
big enough and wise enough to put it all into one decreed package. And the greatest joy you'll ever
have in your life is to realize that God knows what he's doing
with me. I don't have a clue, but I rejoice
that he does. When I was a little boy, when
I was about nine, Ten years old. My first job was picking cotton. South Carolina, where we grew
up. And about all this generation knows about that time in the
South was that black people picked cotton for white people. Well,
guess what? My first job, I was a white boy,
picked cotton for a black man. And his name was Press McKinney.
I guess his name was Preston. I never heard that. We always
called him Press. Press McKinney. And his farm was on Highway 101,
just a little bit down there from where 414 crosses. And I started in the afternoon. And that afternoon, y'all are
listening good now. I quit talking about the Bible.
And you're listening good. See how crazy y'all are? That first afternoon, I picked
the nine pounds, and the pay was three cents a
pound. I made 27 cents on my first afternoon. So, boy, that wasn't much. It
was the first time I ever had 27 cents in my pocket in my life. Saw some of the adults' hands
and fingers bleeding from those old stickers on the end of the
cotton hull. Some of them picked over 100
pounds, made over $3 that afternoon. But I made 27 cents, nine pounds. And that wasn't much, but I told
all that to say this. When I picked a ball of cotton,
I felt like It didn't weigh anything. Nothing. I doubt if it would
even move the scale. But what would it matter if I
missed some? What would it matter if I dropped
some? Didn't weigh nothing anyhow. But finally, I wound up in my
bag with nine pounds. Many things in your life, many
days in your life, seem as nothing, seem worthless. You never seemingly
experienced anything good but God. I want to tell you that's
a big, big, big Two words in the Bible. Y'all look it up in
your concordance, but God. So I don't get it, but it makes
much difference. Why? But God, I need to be conscious of what
he's doing. His spirit. Can you imagine Jacob's heart?
The day those boys came in the house with that bloody coat, What an effect that had. I've had a few days like that. And then imagine Jacob's heart
some 22 years later when the Bible says he saw the wagons
coming that Pharaoh had sent to fetch
Jacob and take him to Joseph, whom he loved. His spirit revived. And we ask, why is life like
this? Up and down. Sorrow and joy. Weeping and rejoicing. I'll answer
that. Two things and I'm through. Number
one, because I'm God's child. 1 Corinthians 11, 32, but when
we're judged, We are chastened, corrected of the Lord that we
should not be condemned with the world. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. That's not God's purpose to condemn
us, but to correct us. His children, whom the Lord loveth. Secondly, and finally, the destination is to be like
Christ. I didn't say the goal, not something
God's aiming at, hoping for, and might be, but I said the
destination. Romans 8, 28, and we know, we
don't guess that all things, everything works together for
good to them that love God. This is not the world. This is
not Adam's race, but to them that love God. And who are they
that love God? The rest of that verse tells
us to them who are the called according to his purpose. And I hear people foolishly quote
part of that verse for everything and everybody under the sun.
Well, you know, the Bible says all things work for good. It says all things work for good
to them that love God. Who are they? Them who are the
called according to His purpose. His purpose, according to God's
choice, according to God's free will, if you please. What is
that purpose? The next verse, Romans 8 verse
29, For whom He did foreknow, decree, foreordain, He also did
predestinate. Don't be afraid of that word. What it means is that God determined
the destination beforehand. Now, we can't predestinate anything
because we don't have the ability to make sure it happens. But
God can. Whom he did foreknow, he also
did predestinate to do what? To go to heaven? Get a robe and a crown and shout
up and down the street? No, no, no. Whom he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his son, that he, Christ,
might be the firstborn among many brethren. God wanted a whole
house full of young'uns. And He wants every one of them
to be just like His beloved, Jesus Christ. And it's going
to happen. 1 John 3, 2, Beloved, now are
we the sons of God already. It doth not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we know, we
don't wonder, we know that when he shall appear, we shall be
like him. We shall have been conformed
to his image. And even in body, Philippians
3.21, he shall change our vile body. Some take offense. It's your beautiful body being
referred to as vile. That's what God said it is. It
shall change our vile body. If you see what God sees, you
wouldn't take offense at it. He shall change our vile body
that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according
to the working whereby he is able. even to subdue all things
unto himself." Well, who is all this for? Whom the Lord loveth. That's all. The religious world
today has missed it. Trying to drag the church house
full of goats and turn them into sheep. It don't happen. It don't
happen. hear my voice and I know them
and they follow me. I lay down my life for the sheep. You believe not because you're
not of my sheep, whom the Lord loveth. We've been affected by all the
stupidity of this. Why couldn't we build a mega
church? We've got a great location right
here close to town. We've got a beautiful building.
We've got wonderful people. Oh, you are so nice. Most of
you don't cuss out loud. Why couldn't we build a mega
church? Bring in a multitude. and convince them to love Jesus
by giving them a piece of pizza or a hot dog. It's not working. It has never worked. And by the
way, that's why religion is a joke to this generation. We love Him because He first
loved us. That's how it works. If you don't love Him, it's because
He hasn't yet revealed that He loves you. And if He does, He'll bring you
to love Him. And if He don't, you'll perish. The ball's not in your court.
It never has been. So play all the religion you
want to play. But this is about a love relationship
with the Lord, which he started. He started. If you don't love
him with all your heart this morning, I would challenge you
to plead with him to reveal his love for you.