Christ's Letter to Laodecia-The Call of The Rod

Q: What does the Bible say about God's chastening?

The Bible teaches that God's chastening is an expression of His love for His children, intended to guide them towards repentance and holiness. In Revelation 3:19, the Lord states, 'As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.' This indicates that God's chastening is not arbitrary but purposeful, aimed at leading us to repentance and zeal for Him. Every believer can expect that, as His beloved children, they will experience His loving discipline to correct and bring them closer to His holiness. Hebrews 12:5-7 further explains that chastisement is indicative of being legitimate children of God; it is a mark of His care and commitment to our spiritual growth. Instead of viewing chastening as merely punitive, we must recognize it as a refining process that cultivates righteousness in us, as stated in Hebrews 12:11.

Q: Why is repentance important for Christians?

Repentance is crucial for Christians as it reflects a sincere response to God's love and His call to restore our relationship with Him. In Revelation 3:19, the call to 'be zealous therefore, and repent' underscores the necessity of repentance in the life of a believer. It serves as a response to God's loving rebuke, showing our commitment to turn from indifference and sin towards a vibrant relationship with Christ. Repentance is not a one-time act but a continual realignment of our hearts towards God. As we endure God's chastening, we grow in our understanding of His holiness and our need for His grace. It is through genuine repentance that we cultivate a deeper fellowship with Him and bear the fruit of righteousness He desires in us, as highlighted in Hebrews 12:11.

Q: How does God call us to Himself?

God calls us to Himself through His Spirit, using His Word to awaken our hearts and draw us closer to Him. In Revelation 3:20, the Lord says, 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock.' This knocks illustrate Christ's persistent approach to our hearts. Despite our spiritual indifference or apathy, He continues to earnestly call us into deeper communion with Him. The act of knocking signifies a longing for intimate fellowship, emphasizing that His initiative to come to us is unmatched by our own seeking. Furthermore, Song of Solomon 5:2 reveals the inner conflict of a believer—a heart that awakens at His call while the flesh seeks comfort in spiritual slumber. Ultimately, it is God's grace that stirs our hearts to respond; He places within us the desire and ability to open our hearts to Him.

Q: What does it mean to be a true child of God?

A true child of God experiences His loving discipline, which confirms their identity and relationship with Him. Hebrews 12:7 clearly states, 'If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons.' This enduring of discipline is evidence of our sonship in Christ. True children of God do not escape hardships; rather, they face them under God's guidance, which serves to refine and strengthen their faith. The absence of such chastening would imply a lack of genuine relationship, as indicated in the verse: 'if you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards and not sons.' Therefore, understanding that God's discipline is rooted in His love reassures us of our standing as His children and motivates us to grow in holiness and obedience.

Shelby and I have no property,
no possessions to amount to anything, but I saved a special heirloom
for our granddaughter, something very special. On her first birthday,
I gave Doug and Faith the paddle that we used to use in correcting
Faith, and I trust that they will have the grace, the good
sense, the wisdom to use the paddle properly. The scripture
says foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child and the
rod of correction drives it from him. I know this generation imagines
they're smarter than God, but foolishness is still bound up
in the heart of every child and the rod of correction drives
it from them. That's true in the natural world.
But that's true in the spiritual world as well. Foolishness, Larry, is bound
up in our hearts. And only the rod of correction
will drive it from us. I don't know why, except because
of sin, we never really learn anything without pain and cost. Nothing. We never really learn
anything without pain and cost. And therefore I give thanks that
the Lord God uses his rod to drive foolishness from our hearts. I give thanks that he does chasten
those whom he loves. The hymn writer put it this way,
God in Israel sows the seeds of affliction, pain, and toil. These spring up and choke the
weeds that would ounce or spread the soil. Now let's turn to Revelation
chapter three and hear the words of our Lord. My subject tonight, if you're
taking notes, is the call of the rod. God never lays his rod on the
back of his child without a call and a cause. Never. Here in Revelation
chapter 3, verse 19, our Lord is dealing with the Laodicean
spirit that Laodicean spirit of indifference, of apathy, of
coldness that so quickly steals over our hearts, that Laodicean
spirit of indifference to God, that apostate spirit that so
generally characterizes the religious world of our day. But the letter
is not addressed just to the church at Laodicea and is not
addressed just concerning the apostates of the religious world. It's written to you. and to me
and in verse 19 our master says as many as I love now I sure
hope I'm in that number don't you as many as I love someone says when the Lord saves
you everything is just sunshine and roses it ain't so it ain't
so as many as I love I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and
knock. If any man will hear my voice
and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him
and he with me. To him that overcometh I will
grant to sit with me in my Father's throne, even as I also overcame
and am set down with my Father in His throne. He that hath an
ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Now first, let me talk to you
about the rod. Here in verse 19, our Lord Jesus
says, As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. And the object of
my rebuke, the object of my chastening, is that you whom I love may be
zealous therefore and repent. The Son of God graciously rebukes
and graciously chastens the people he loves. Tenderly, but effectually,
he causes them then to repent. and come again to him. Let's
turn to Hebrews chapter 12. Let me show you this from this
passage of scripture. The chastening of the Lord is
that by which he graciously brings us to himself initially in repentance
and faith. And it is that by which he graciously
brings us to himself continually in repentance and faith as well.
Here in Hebrews 12, the apostle is urging us to run with patience
the race that's set before us, looking to Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. He's urging us to persevere. He's urging us not to be slack. He's urging us to resist and
fight against this terrible Laodicean spirit of apathy and indifference,
which causes many to give up the battle. And this is how he
does it. He tells us in verse 5, And you
have forgotten. You have forgotten how quickly
we forget. How quickly. You have forgotten
the exhortation which speaks to you as unto children. My son,
despise not thou the chastening of the Lord. Don't ever despise
God's chastening. Don't ever despise your Father's
rod. Don't ever despise that which
is the revelation of your Father's love. Despise not thou the chastening
of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him. For whom
the Lord loveth, He chasteneth." Now, sometimes we get the idea
that God's chastening is sort of like our scolding. You know,
we take our kids and we say no to them, or we might slap them
on the fingers and say no, and they just act like you're about
to kill them, but you know it's nothing. That's not it. Look
what it says. And scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth. Now, this is what it means, Rex.
If we're God's sons, we're gonna hurt for it. Because in this
world, we are God's sons with sinful, rebel hearts and natures. Because in this world, we're
prone to every evil. Because in this world, there
are many things that would take our hearts away from Christ if
he would just leave us to ourselves. God's chastening rod always has
a purpose. Let us never, never, never be
as Job's three hypocritical friends, those three self-righteous friends
who came to comfort Job in his misery and wound up only adding
to his misery, sitting in judgment over their friend Job as though
they somehow saw some wickedness in him. But as we ourselves bear
the rod, understand that the rod Always comes because we need
it. It always comes because we need
it. We must never sit back and say,
oh, I wonder what Skip's done now to deserve this. Never. But we ought always to ask, Lord
God, take away from me the sin, the iniquity, the corruption,
the coldness, the indifference, the apathy, the apostasy from
you. that has caused you to send this
affliction to me. That ought to be always our attitude.
God never sends the chastening rod. He never sends affliction. He never sends trouble. He never
sends pain. He never sends heartache. He
never sends a tear without a cause. Read on. Whom the Lord loveth,
he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
If you endure, that's the key word, everybody's gonna suffer
trouble, everybody. If you live in this world, you're
gonna suffer trouble. Man that's born of woman is a
few days and born to trouble like the sparks fly upward that
we find in the book of Job. But if you endure chastening,
that is if it doesn't kill you, if it doesn't drive you away
from your home, If it doesn't drive you away from your Father,
if it doesn't drive you away from your Savior, if you endure
chastening, God deals with you as with sons. In other words,
the chastening rod is evidence of the Father's care. Sometimes
I'm in different places and the parents will try to get their
kids to behave when I'm around. If they make them behave when
I wasn't around, they wouldn't have to do things like this. But they'll
try to get them to behave when I'm around. If you don't behave, Brother John's
gonna get you. Oh no, Brother John's not gonna get you. Not
my children. Not my children. No sir. I'm
not responsible for them. They're not my children. I'll
do my best to see to it they obey me, but I'm not about to
take the Rod Warren and David's kids down here. They're not mine.
Now mine's another story. That's another story. And our
Heavenly Father deals with his children, all of them this way.
But you don't. If you endure chastening, God
deals with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the father
chasteneth not? But if you be without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards and not sons.
That is, your religion is just a hypocritical profession. You
don't really know God. Your religion is just a hypocritical
profession. You've never been born of God. Furthermore, We've
had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them
reverence. Now this is what it's talking
about. When you discipline your children,
if you discipline them wisely, you don't do it to gratify yourself,
you do it because you love them. You don't do it because you're
mad at them. Don't ever, don't ever, don't ever discipline your
children when you're angry with them. The way to get past that,
discipline them because you love them. When I was a boy growing
up, I frequently was the subject of wrath and discipline, but
it wasn't the discipline of love. As a matter of fact, I can't
ever think of a time, I can't ever think of a time when the
pain wasn't inflicted because I had caused pain, embarrassment,
and frustration. Not one time, because there was
something demonstrated indicating that this is for your good, this
is because we love you. Not one time. And we gave them
reverence. Our fathers beat us to death
because they were angry. And we reverenced them. Shall
we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and
live? Because His discipline is never because He's angry with
us. Our Heavenly Father never, never,
never strikes His children because He's angry. Look what it says.
For they barely for a few days chastened us after their own
pleasure, but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of
his holiness. Bobby, the reason he sends the
pain is so that we might be his forever. That we might be partakers
of his holiness. No chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous. If it did, it wouldn't be chastening.
You know, you take your child and now son, I'm going to have
to correct you. And when you get done, he's standing
there laughing at you. You hadn't done much of a job. You haven't
done what you needed to do. No chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, when God gets done,
this is the end of the father's rod. Afterward, it yielded the
peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby. Now then, here's the conclusion.
When the Lord says, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten,
repent, be zealous therefore and repent. He says, let's lift
up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees. Let's continue
in the race. Let's pursue Jesus Christ with
all our hearts. All right, now here's the call.
Look at verses 20 through 22. Behold, I stand at the door and
knock. If any man hear my voice and
open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him
and he with me. Picture him if you can. Here's
the Lord Jesus, leaning hard against the door of his church,
leaning hard against the door of his own house. leaning hard
against the door that has been bolted against him by complacency
and self-sufficiency and indifference. But thanks be to God, he's not
willing to be turned away. He knocks. He knocks. Knocks. leaning hard on the door. He
knocks by the word of the gospel and by the voice of his spirit
and calls to all who will hear his voice saying, open to me,
open to me. Let's see if I can make good
on that. That's not just speculation. Turn to the Song of Solomon,
chapter five. Song of Solomon, chapter five, right before the
book of Isaiah. Song of Solomon, chapter five. Verse two. Here is the bride, the Church
of Christ, speaking. I sleep. Boy, we like to sleep,
don't we? Tired, you want to lay down and
go to sleep. But spiritual sleep is a horrible thought. Sleeping when we ought to be
watching It's a horrible cry. I sleep. Blessed be God, though
it's not the sleep of death, but my heart wake. What a conflict
there is in this heart of mine. I am two men with two natures,
with two hearts. I sleep. But my heart waketh. There's something in me that
cannot sleep. My heart waketh. My inmost being,
that new man created in me, that real self, my heart waketh. It wakes because it's the voice
of my beloved that knocketh. Behold, I stand at the door and
knock. saying, Open to me, my sister,
my love, my dove, my undefiled. What an address. Open to me,
my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled. Open to me. In
this state of indifference, in this stupor
of apathy, in this sleep of coldness. His word, Bobby, is nothing has
changed. You're still my sister, my love,
my dove, my undefiled. Nothing's changed. Open to me,
for my head is filled with the dew and my locks with the drops
of the night. I've been toiling all the night
long for you. And here's the response. Don't bother me right now. I put off my coat, how shall
I put it on? I've washed my feet, how shall
I defile them? But blessed be God, he will not
be turned away. He will not. Look at this. My
beloved put his hand, put in his hand, by the whole of the
door. Obviously I wasn't there during
this time so I can't speak from actually having seen these things
but I'm told that in these ancient times when men built houses,
they didn't put locks and keys on like we had. They didn't have
the modern mechanical devices that we have. They didn't have
burglar alarms and such as that. They didn't have the tumblers
and such as that as we have now. But men would build a house,
and the man who built the house, the man who owned the house,
would arrange the locks in the door so that he knew exactly
where the lock was, that he knew exactly how to open the door,
and he would put his hand in. and tripped the door, and he'd
open the door. The Lord Jesus Christ here describes
himself as our beloved, that one who owns the house, that
one who bought the house, that one who built the house. He knows
how to open the door. We will never open to him. neither
in initial conversion nor in after conversions. We will never
open to him, though he knock ever so fervently, unless he
puts his hand into our hearts and trips the tumblers and opens
the door. So whatever happens, my beloved
put his hand in by the hole of the door, and when he did, when
he put his hand in my heart, my bowels moved for him. He knocks, says open, and our
response is later. Don't bother me now, everything's
going so good. But he won't accept that. He
puts his hand in our hearts and moves our hearts to him. Now
look at this. My bowels were moved for him
and now I rose up. I rose up to open to my beloved. And my hands dropped with myrrh
in my fingers, with sweet-smelling myrrh upon the handles of the
lock. He left his fragrance there.
He left his sweet-smelling savor there. I opened to my beloved, but he had withdrawn himself.
How come? He had withdrawn himself and
was gone. My soul failed when he spoke. And now I saw him, but I couldn't
find him. I called him, but he gave me
no answer. Why does the Lord Jesus hide
himself from us? To make us seek him. Why does
he put his hand in our hearts and calls us to run after him,
to open to him, and then withdraw himself? To make us know how
desperately we need him. And then in verse seven, she
speaks of the watchmen, gospel preachers, referred to throughout
the Old Testament as watchmen upon the walls of Zion. The watchmen
that go about the city, watching over your souls as they that
must give account. They found me. You come and I'm preaching the
word to you tonight Sometimes somebody leaves the building
and I say, Brother Don, it sounds like you've been reading my mail. I found you. I found you. Found out you. And smoked me. With the word. Smoked me, rebuked
me, reproved me. Smoked my heart. And the keepers of the wall, they took away my veil from me.
It means if I'm faithful to your soul, that's what I've got to
do. Strip away every facade, every pretense, everything behind
which we might attempt to hide ourselves, just strip it all
away. So that every time we come, we stand naked before God. our
sin exposed, our heart smitten because of sin, and turn to Him
who is alone the Lord, our righteousness, our wisdom, our righteousness,
our sanctification, and our redemption. Our Lord Jesus sovereignly opens
the door and lets Himself into the hearts of His people, and
yet He only comes in where He's wanted. This is true with regard
to grace in the initial aspect of it, and it's true with regard
to the reviving of our hearts from time to time as we fall
into apathy, lethargy, indifference in this Laodicean spirit. And
we must never confuse these things. We open the door to Him. Oh, Son of God, come in. with all our hearts. But we would never do so if he
didn't first put his hand in and open the door. You understand
that? So will you folks believe God
saves sinners against their will? No! Oh, no, no, no, no. Brother Scott Richard said one
time, what God does is he saves sinners against their will with
their full consent. That's exactly what he does. And when he draws
us to himself, he graciously forces us to open the door to
him, and we are glad to do it. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest, and calls us to approach unto thee. Now then, in verse
21, our Lord tells us that if we will open our heart and receive
him, he will graciously come in to abide with us forever. Any man will open the door. Verse
20, I'll come in and sup with him, and he with me. Our Savior
said, if a man loved me, he'll keep my words and my father will
love him and we will come into him and make our abode with him.
And Judas, not Iscariot, but the other disciple named Judas
said, Lord, how will you make yourself known to us and not
to the world? Hang on, you'll see. I'll come in and sit down
with you. I'll sup with you. I'll make
myself known to you. I'll abide with you. I'll feed
you. I'll uphold you. I'll strengthen you. I'll refresh
you. I'll revive you. I fully realize that in conversion,
you who are yet without Christ have no ability in yourself to
do anything, and yet you must awake Arise from the dead and
come to Him. And if you do, it's because He
has awakened you and raised you up from the dead. And I'll tell you what I know
by just as real experience. Bob, when my heart's cold and
indifferent, I cannot muster life in myself
no matter how I may try. You ever tried to pray when you
couldn't pray? You ever tried to worship God when you couldn't
worship? You ever tried to walk in sweet
fellowship with Christ when you could not walk with him in sweet
fellowship? You ever tried to hear him speak
from his words? when his word was just silent
in your heart. Well, what's wrong? We cannot turn ourselves to him. We must be turned to him. And yet if we're his, He will
turn us and make His face to shine upon us and cause us to
run after Him at the appointed time of His love. That fellowship and communion
which begins on earth, that fellowship and communion we have as we gather
with our Savior around His throne with the Jerusalem which is above
will continue in heaven in everlasting glorification. Our Savior says,
if you overcome, if you open to me, I'll come in and sit down
with you and serve with you and you with me. And if you overcome,
I'll give to you to sit down with me in my throne as I overcame
and sat down with my Father in his throne. Our Lord Jesus who
was made to be sin for us, was made to cry, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? And when it was over, Oscar,
he seated forever with his father again in perfect acceptance,
because he put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. But what's
the application to us? David also cried, my God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? And I often cry, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? And the answer is given plainly.
Your iniquities are separated between you and your God. but blessed be God. When he's done, he who now comes
in to meet with us, to sup with us and calls us to dine with
him will cause us to sit down in perfect fellowship and uninterrupted
communion on his throne as kings and priests unto God forever
and forever. He that hath an ear to hear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. Amen. All right, Lindsey, you come
lead us in a hymn, please.

Christ's Letter to Laodecia-The Call of The Rod

What does the Bible say about God's chastening?

Why is repentance important for Christians?

How does God call us to Himself?

What does it mean to be a true child of God?

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Christ's Letter to Laodecia-The Call of The Rod

What does the Bible say about God's chastening?

Why is repentance important for Christians?

How does God call us to Himself?

What does it mean to be a true child of God?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

Comments

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