Here's chapter 12. The first hour we look through verses
one through six, and I read seven as well, I didn't mean to do
that, but that's okay. This hour, we're going to be looking through
six through 11. And our subject is God's love. That's not the
title of the message. But that's our subject God's
love. All men are not subject to God's love. I read something
recently in Romans chapter nine, where the Lord said, before the
children being born, having done no evil or no good, Jacob have
I loved and Esau have I hated. And I read an article that a
man wrote that said, God didn't love Esau any less than he loved
Jacob. He said his hate towards Esau
just meant that he didn't choose to save him. And I said, you
don't know what you're talking about. Because the word hate
and what it means, and the word love and what it means, it's
not necessarily just an emotion like you and I would feel, but
it comes with action. And as Steve was reading there
about how those that he was speaking of, he swore in his wrath that
they would not enter into his rest. That's hate. That's what
that is. It's a covenant action is what
it is. So to hate is a covenant action
and to love is a covenant action. What do I mean? Those whom the
Lord hates, they were not part of the covenant of grace. It's
that simple. And those that he loves are part of the covenant
of grace. It's very, very simple. If the Lord loves you, it's because
he loves you by grace alone, by his choice to show favor alone,
undeserving, unmerited favor towards you. That's why he loves.
Here in his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us
and sent his son to be the propitiation for us. How did he hate Esau? He hated him in a way that you
and I can understand because he's holy. It wasn't just something
Esau did. See, we don't, now some people
are prejudiced. We're racist by nature. That's
just how we are. And you might look at somebody
of a different race, and you may despise that particular race,
because maybe it was a learned behavior, or maybe it was taught,
or maybe it's just something that you chose to do. But typically,
you don't hate just right off the bat. You see somebody, and
I just hate them. That's not the way that it is.
It's an emotion, usually, for humans that's derived based upon
merits, based upon actions, based upon what they do. Not God, before
the children being born, not having done any good or any evil. Jacob have I loved and Esau have
I hated. See the amazing part there is not that God hated Esau. You and I understand this, the
Lord's people understand this. It's not amazing that he hated
Esau. We deserve to be hated of God. We deserve eternal torment.
We deserve to be separated from him. It's amazing that he chose
to love Jacob. That's the amazing part. And
as we heard the first hour, woe is me, the mentality that can
come with that is I deserve better. I deserve God's love. No, we
do not. Unless we are found in Christ.
Unless we are found in Christ, we are the beneficiaries of his
love. Otherwise, we do not have the
love of God. He loves his darling son. He
loves his darling son. And so we know that we're not
entitled. We cry out, woe is me, I'm undone to the Lord. Have
mercy on me, the sinner. Scripture tells us clearly in
Psalm 5.5, he hateth all workers of iniquity. He hates all workers
of iniquity, why? Because workers of iniquity are
trying to work their way to heaven. They're trying to do something
to please God in order to obtain righteousness, in order to obtain
salvation. They're trying to do something,
and that's called iniquity. It's adding one thing or taking
away one thing from the finished work of Christ, and it's called
iniquity. And the Lord says he hates the
workers of iniquity. Understand, Hatred is not just
an emotion like you and I pertaining to God. But as I said before,
it's a covenant action. It's a covenant action. We think
of love as an emotion. We become infatuated with our
spouses, or we should. We should become infatuated with
our spouses. If we don't, there's a problem, probably. But we get
emotional about it, and that love brings forth emotion, doesn't
it? I love my wife. Sometimes it's sad, it's happy,
it's tearful. It's a lot of emotion there.
The Lord proved his love by dying for his people on the cross of
Calvary. He laid down his life freely for his people because
of a covenant, because of a covenant. So it was his love for his father,
his love for his father that demanded obedience to death,
even the death of the cross. And the father was his love for
his chosen people, where he exacted his judgment upon his darling
son upon the cross of Calvary for those people. That's why
His love is different than yours and ours is it's perfect. Our love's not perfect. And I'll
say this, speaking of love, love is not unconditional. There's no such thing as unconditional
love. The only way God loves you is
if you're in Christ, that's a condition. And the only reason he loves
Christ is because he's his son, that's a condition. The only
way he loves you and I is if we're in Christ Jesus. Even our
relationships, everything that we do, our love is conditional.
And the condition of God towards his people is you have to be
found in Christ. Not having your own righteousness,
which is of the law, having his righteousness. That's the only
hope we have. Now, for the chosen of the Lord
and Christ, the good news is, is he chose us unto grace. unto
mercy, unto love, unto compassion. He loves his people with the
only, with the perfect love, with an unchangeable love, with
an everlasting love, never had a beginning or never had an end.
And I love that. If it doesn't have an end, that means I can't
get out of it. See, if the condition was based upon you and I, for
me to be loved of God, we would be in trouble. If it was one
condition, name the condition, one condition that you and I,
in ourself, we're responsible for in order for God to love
me, And that's silly how people talk in that regard. They say
the Lord wants to save you, but he already loves you. He can't
save you unless you let him. Well, that's not love. See, the love that
the Lord has had an action that went with it. And it was in the
covenant of grace where he actually ransomed his people. He redeemed
his people. That's love. I'm gonna do this
and you're gonna be saved. That's love. And that's exactly
what he did for his people. Now, as we see in our text before
we read it, whom the Lord loveth, that's what I've titled this
message, whom the Lord loveth. He says these words, whom the Lord
loveth, he chasteneth, he chasteneth. Now there's a subject that false
religion has misconstrued so often as being punishment, as
being wrath, as being many different things towards a person who does
something wrong. Penance, you have to, oh, you
have to pay penance. What do they do in Catholics? The Catholics,
they go and You have to say so many Hail Marys. Sometimes you
have to give some money to the church. You have to do this.
You have to do that. And that's called penance. There's other
religions that do that too. Even Baptists do that, but they
do it in a different way. It's all penance, but it's not
true. None of it's true. Christ paid the debt that his
people owed. He endured all the punishment.
was due His people. He endured all the judgment that
His people were due. And in doing so, the Lord therefore,
because there's no condemnation to them which are in Christ,
the Lord will never punish His people. The Lord will never cast
judgment upon His people. We were judged in Christ on the
tree. It's done. It's finished. So whenever chastisement
comes our way, it is not a matter of punishment. It's not a matter
of judgment. That took place on the cross
for his people. It is a matter of a loving heavenly father making
us, causing us, leading us and teaching us to seek the face
of Christ, to bow to the feet of Christ and worship him again. Those whom he pardoned, Those
whom he justified, those whom he sanctified, those whom he
redeemed, he teaches. He teaches. What did he say?
They all shall be taught of me. He's our teacher. He's our teacher. Every trial, every circumstance,
every struggle is a lesson from our loving Father and Savior.
that causes us to look to Christ. That's what he's teaching us.
Causing us to have no confidence in the flesh. Causing us to realize
I can't fix this. I can't fix my sin. I can't fix
my circumstance. I can't fix my life. That's no
good. That's no good, Lord. You're
gonna have to save me. You're gonna have to save me
again. And here are the good news of the gospel. Al read this
for us back in the men's study. Ephesians chapter two says, but
God who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherein he loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, he hath quickened us together
with Christ. By grace you are saved. It goes
on to say, for by grace you are saved through faith, in that
not in yourself is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man
should boast. See, his love accomplished something. I love that. I love that. I've heard men say, well, he
loves you, but you can still go to hell. He shed his blood
for you, but you can still die and go to hell. What does his
love have to do with salvation then? What does his blood have
to do with salvation? What does his death actually accomplish if
that's the case? Nothing would be the answer. What a terrible
thought that he's a failure. That means he's not God. That
means everything they believe is not true whatsoever. Thank
God his love accomplished something. His love never had a beginning
or end, it's unchangeable. That's why we glory in nothing
but Christ, nothing but the finished work of the cross, nothing but
his successful redemption of his people. Here in his love,
not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son
to be the propitiation for our sin. Let's read our text, Hebrews
chapter 12, verse six. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth and scourges every son whom he receiveth. If you
endure chastening, God dealeth with sons. For what son is he
whom the father chasteneth not? But if you be without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers, then you are bastards and not sons.
Furthermore, we have had fathers in our flesh which correcteth
us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in
subjection unto the father of spirits and live? For they verily
for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure. for our prophet,
that we might be partakers in his holiness. Now no chastening
for the present seems to be joyous but grievous. Nevertheless, afterwards
it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which
are exercised thereby. God's love. I've already told
you the title, I'll tell you again. Whom the Lord loveth.
Whom the Lord loveth. And he says whom the Lord loveth
he chasteneth. God's love is not based upon our merits. It's
not based upon our actions. It's not based upon our intentions.
It's not based upon our doing. God's love is based upon no regard
or consideration of us whatsoever. Now that's good news if you've
been made a sinner. If you see that you can't do anything right
when it comes to pleasing God, that's good news. When you hear
that Christ is the one he considers on your behalf. Christ's work
is the one he considers on your behalf, the Lord's people. Christ
is the one that it was all contingent upon. Not you and I, it was on
him. He considered him, his works,
his motives, God has enabled us to see really
how bad our best intentions are. We'll be utterly dependent upon
him. We'll be utterly dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ and
grace alone. If the Lord never shows us how
bad we really are, we won't be dependent upon him. We'll think
that we're still okay. But the day the Lord shows you
you're a sinner, you'll need a savior. You'll need to be saved. You'll need to be rescued. You'll
need to be made holy, be cleansed of that sin. And that's exactly
what the Lord did on the cross for his people. Now I said this before, but I
wanna reiterate this, it's important. You have to bear with me, my
nose wants to run this morning. Chastisement is neither judgment
nor punishment, neither one. That's very important that we
understand that because in every false religion church, that's
what they preach is chastisement is judgment. and punishment,
meaning if you make a mistake, if you sin, you're going to be
punished by God. There's somebody in my family
that actually I've heard them say this, that you can, you can
upset God. You can make Jesus sad. You make
him cry. That's not true. That's not true. That's foolishness. Boy, if I
could, we'd be in trouble, wouldn't we? If you could, we'd be in
trouble. If I can, if I can make God angry, and incur his wrath
again, I'm hurting. I'm a goner. But the Lord loves
you on behalf of Christ. So you are not a disappointment
to him. Not even a little bit. No, you're perfect the way you
are because you're in Christ Jesus. That's what he did on
the cross. He made you the perfect righteousness of God in Christ.
If you're his, that's what he did. So not only can you not
upset the Lord in a negative way, Can't make him angry, but
everything you do, he sees in Christ, and he says, well done,
my servant, well done, my child, well done. Enter in, thou good
and faithful servant. That's what he says, isn't that
amazing? That's what the gospel says.
Christ suffered all the punishment and judgment due us in the substitutionary
act on the cross. The scripture says in Isaiah
53, he was wounded. for our transgressions, he was
bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement, now here's
that word, chastisement, same thing as chastening. The chastisement
of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. What does that mean? That means
his enduring the wrath of God and the punishment due us brought
us peace with God. That's what that means. Brought
us real peace with God. There is now therefore no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. Why is that? Christ took that
condemnation and the means whereby we were condemned and he put
those means away. So the condemnation's gone. The
sin is gone. That's what he did. Christ Jesus is our peace with
God. Therefore chastisement is the
loving correction of a father towards his children. the loving
correction of the Father towards his children. What does chastisement
do? Well, it corrects us. It corrects us. Now, those of
you who have children, if they were young enough, and some of
you still have children that are young enough, if I was to correct your
children in front of you, you'd probably get upset. That's just
how we are by nature, right? depending on how I did it, I
suppose, how often I did it. But if I tried to correct the
children of this church in a manner that I would do my own children,
and even in front of their parents, somebody might get aggravated
at me. Why is that? That's not my child. That's not
my job. That's not my responsibility.
Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. He only chastens his children. Chastening is, Chastening is only for the Lord's
people. He doesn't do it to everybody.
It's a good thing, even though it may be grievous for a time.
And that's what he said here. It may be grievous for a time.
But nevertheless, afterward, it yieldeth the peaceable fruit
of righteousness. What is the peaceable fruit of righteousness? Is that
not Christ Jesus? It causes us to see him and plead
for him. He is that fruit of righteousness.
Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's what we yield unto him. This is important. If you and
I are not taught of God, we're not his. At least he hasn't revealed
himself yet. If we're not taught of him, either
we're not his or he just hasn't revealed himself yet. But those
whom the Lord loves, he will chasten them. Guaranteed. Guaranteed. We're made to have no confidence
in the flesh. Now ask yourself this question. This is an important
question. I think I've said important a couple of times. All of it's
important. Ask yourself this question. What is God's purpose
and will concerning his chosen people? What is his purpose and
will? Number one, it was their salvation
before time ever began, but after they're called out of darkness
into his marvelous light, what is his purpose and will? Is it
not the welfare and the safety and the well-being of his children?
Is it not him that you heard the first hour or not two sparrows
sold for a farthing? And he said, your father notices
there's not one that falls to the ground unnoticed yet you're
worth more than many sparrows, many sparrows. You have a worth
to the father. Well, how much are you worth?
Well, how much did it cost him to redeem you? His only begotten
son, that's how much you're worth to him. Think about that. That's
the purchase price. The blood of Christ was the purchase
price for his people. We weren't cheap. Matter of fact,
it was the most expensive transaction that's ever been. It was priceless.
Absolutely priceless to redeem. That's why it'd be so foolish
to say, well, yeah, he did his best. Now you got to do your
part. No, he did it all. But the priceless, the only priceless
thing that could be used to save us from our sin Substance, that's
the word I was looking for. The only priceless substance
that could have redeemed us is blood. If he did that for us
on the cross, do you not think his purpose now is to continually
bring us back to him and love, continually teach us in love,
continue to draw us in love? He said, oh, it's grievous sometimes.
It's grievous. Why? It's grievous to the flesh.
Grievous to the flesh. Every time that flesh gets knocked
down a little bit more, we're reminded what Paul said. Paul
said that he was afflicted with a thorn in the flesh. And he
said, for this thing, I sought the Lord three times. I prayed
to the Lord three times. Lord, will you remove this thorn
in my flesh? And the scripture is not clear on what that thorn
is. There's speculations. The Spirit's quiet on that. So
I think it'd be wise to be quiet on that as well. Whatever it
was, it was enough for him to cry out to the Lord three times.
We don't know what it was. And what'd the Lord tell him?
My grace is sufficient for you. That's what he told him. For my strength is made perfect
in weakness. My grace is sufficient for you,
for my strength is made perfect and weakness, what does that
mean? That means the weaker you are in the flesh, the more dependent
you are upon him. And the more you see his power,
his strength as the perfect power and the perfect strength you
need. Otherwise we never would, would we? Not if we were strong
enough, if we could fix everything, if we took care of everything
ourself, we would never need him. But he causes us to need
him. And he tells us, my grace is
sufficient for you. No matter what you're enduring,
no matter what you're facing, no matter what the fight is,
no matter how hard it seems, my purpose, the purpose of God
standeth sure, knowing this, having this seal, the Lord knoweth
them that are his. His purpose remains, remains
constant. Scripture says, you being evil
know how to give good gifts unto your children. How much more
shall your heavenly Father give unto you? That I ask him. The design, purpose, and objective
of the father is to drive his children back to his son to worship
at his feet. That's his purpose. And that's
exactly what we're going to do. He can't be stopped. He can't
be prevented. If he wants you to bow down to Christ, you're
going to bow to Christ and I am too. That's just how it works,
isn't it? I love that because if I'm given a choice, I won't
bow. I'll bow up as we heard the first hour. We're made to
look to Christ or we never will. See if the need, and you see
this here, In verse two, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of faith. If looking is the need, then
our issue must be looking somewhere else. If looking is the need
that we have, looking unto Christ is the need we have, then our
problem means that we're looking somewhere else. Is that not true?
We're looking at circumstances, we're looking at trials, we're
looking at physical things. We're not looking with the eyes
of faith to him. That's how you cast aside the
weight and the sin that does so easily beset us, the unbelief,
we look to Christ. Well, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.
I want to look, I desire to look, cause me to look, cause me to
rest, please. And we beg for that, don't we?
The whole time the Lord is just drawing us back with cords of
love to him, just cords of love. This is why the writer said,
despise not the chastening of the Lord for without it we're
left to self, we'll be left to our sin, we'll be left to Satan
if the Lord leaves us to ourself. This is actually an echo from
Proverbs chapter three. I don't know if you remember
in Proverbs chapter three when we went through that several Wednesdays
ago but there was a message brought and I think that was one that
I wasn't able to record so I didn't even look at that one when I
was studying here but The point is, as it says in Proverbs 3,
my son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary
of his correction. For whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth, even
as a father, the son in whom he delighteth. Well, this tells
us that chastisement's not for everybody. It's for the sons
and the daughters of the Lord. It's for his people. It's for
his people only. It's for the Lord's children.
Every single child of God will be taught of the Lord. They will
be taught, they will be chastened. They will be brought to the knowledge
of Christ again and again, made to deny self again and again
and again. That's our problem, is we have
a hard time denying self, don't we? We think too highly of self. The Lord says, I'm not gonna
let you do that anymore. And he brings us back to the
feet of Christ, and we say, truth, Lord, I am a dog. Have mercy
on me, give me some crumbs from the table again. I strayed again. If you experience trials and despair, and the Lord
brings you back to Christ, that's pretty good evidence you belong
to him. If you've never experienced trials and despair, if you never
have troubles, pretty good evidence you don't belong to him. For
whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. He chasteneth. Now let's read
verse five through eight here. and ye have forgotten. We do
that a lot, don't we? We forget, forget his promises,
forget his word. Look to the left, we look to
the right. You've forgotten the exhortations which speaketh unto
you as unto children. My son, despise not thou the
chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him
for whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every
son whom he receiveth. If you endure chastening, God
dealeth 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 you are bastards and not sons."
You don't have a father. You don't have an only father. That's
his purpose, is to chasten his children. To chasten his children. Now, notice he says in verse
7, if you endure chastening, and a lot of People I've heard
comment on this have said that like it's penance. And if you
endure this, if you commit penance, if you try to make things right
enough and you keep enduring the chastisement, then this will
happen. But the focus isn't on our ability
to endure, but our need to be dealt with as sons. What do I
mean by that? Enduring means The scripture
says, submit yourself therefore to God. And that's the whole
message here is he's saying, despise not the chastening. It's
a good thing if the Lord's chastening you. Although it's grievous for
a time, he's saying if you endure it, which simply just means bow
to the Lord, look to Christ, don't look to self, don't try
to figure it out, don't try to kick against it, look to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Chastening is on purpose for
a specific reason, a designed end, and the Lord's the designer
of it. And he drives us to his Son.
I will say this, as I was studying this, I thought of this, some
trouble just because we have trouble doesn't mean that it's
chastisement. Think about that. Some trouble
that we have is a result of sin alone. We're sinners, sinners
by nature, sinners by practice, sinners by pleasure. We just,
that's what we are. And so we find ourselves sinning.
And at the same time, the Lord uses the most inopportune things
in our mind to draw us back to him. He allows us to leave this
to ourself for a moment, if I can put it that way, or removes his
hand off from us just for a moment. And we find ourselves in trouble.
And that may not be chastisement, we just may bring that upon ourself
because of our sin. But then the Lord brings us back
to him anyways. Isn't that glorious? Not gonna
leave us to ourself. He's gonna draw us back to him
again. We're made to confess Christ is all again, over and
over and over. The point to that was, is we
don't get to blame God every time we have trouble. That's
the point. I have a flat tire on the way home from church.
I can't say, well, why'd the Lord do that? It's a tire made
by man. It's not supposed to last forever.
You know, blaming the Lord is not, we can rejoice in it though,
by saying, well, at least I know the Lord will purposed it. I
know the Lord allowed it. If he hadn't have, it never would
have happened. You say, you're going to rejoice over a flat
tire. Boy, I hope I can. Don't you? I hope I can. Whenever something like that
happens, rather than just murmuring and complaining and grumbling
little things that we fuss about all the time. Lord, teach us
your ways, cause us to be like Job, put our hands over our mouth,
because I do it all the time, and I don't want to. That which
I would do, I do not, but that which I would not, that's exactly
what I found myself doing. You could ask yourself and know,
how do I know if this is chastening of the Lord? Well, does the chastening
lead you to Christ? That's the answer. If it's leading
you to the Lord, if the Lord's bringing you to himself, yes,
it's of him. It's all of him, but it's chastening of the Lord
to bring you back to Christ. If it's not leading you to Christ,
it's probably just because we're sinners. And we can still cry
out, Lord, save me. We can still cry out, Lord, have
mercy on me. We can still cry out, Lord, show me the Lord Jesus
Christ. Allow me to see him and draw me back to him again. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. False religion, as I said before,
hold to the notion that chastening's punishment, and it's designed
to beat the offender down to make him crawl back to the throne
of mercy. That's not what the Lord said, though, was it? He
said we come boldly, complete confidence in the finished work
of Christ, we come boldly to the throne of grace, having obtained
mercy. No, we don't get beat down by our Lord, brow beat by
law-mongering from our Lord, come crawling back to Him, wounded
and sore because of Him. We've done it to ourselves several
times probably in our unbelief, but no, it's not that He's beating
us down and punishing us because of our sin. The Lord Jesus Christ
endured that punishment. No, the message is that we get
to come boldly and full confidence of Him to the throne of grace.
We don't have to crawl to the throne of mercy. It's extended,
open invitation to the Lord's people because of the finished
work of Christ. As a matter of fact, the Lord
in scripture, he tells us that that's not his method because
that method, that beating down, if you throw the law at people,
you're going to get one of two things, either a Pharisee or
a rebel. And I can testify to that being
raised in false religion that I was, I was a rebel and a Pharisee.
I'd be a rebel for a little while, then I'd get Well, I'd bounce
back and forth, and it was by God's grace that he didn't leave
me to myself, and I didn't mess up my whole life. You know, he
did that. He put me with a woman that puts up with me. Now, it's
glorious, the grace of the Lord, how it surpasses our understanding. He didn't leave me to myself,
and I'm so thankful for that. But that's all that beating does. It's all that beating does, it
makes either a rebel or a Pharisee. It makes someone that's self-righteous,
that's completely obedient to everything that they've been
taught from a man, or it makes a rebel that's anti-everything
that that person has taught them. That's it, that's all it can
create. God don't deal with us by beating us or punishing us.
He deals with us as sons and he chastens us and teaches us
how in love, in love. Scripture says this in Isaiah
51, therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come
with singing unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their head.
They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning
shall flee away. There ain't gonna be no more
sorrow and mourning with the Lord, not for his people, it'll
be joy, it'll be peace, why? Because Christ was successful
on the cross. He purchased our pardon, he gave
us that joy. He is that peace for his people,
that's why. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. Our Lord does not use the instrument
of punishment or Christ would have failed. Christ would have
failed. The next time you see yourself
going through a trial, think it not as punishment. Don't think,
well, if I could do a little bit better, I wouldn't have this
hardship. If I could do a little bit more,
maybe I would please God and he wouldn't put this on me. Don't
think that way. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Look to the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's the one that endured the
wrath of God and put away that punishment. He saved his people
from their sin. Christ didn't fail, saved his
people from their sin. Now, man corrupts this truth
by, I always talk about false religion, but man in general
corrupts this truth by saying, Well, they force morality by
threat of punishment. They say you need to live a moral
life, or you need to do this, and here's the consequence if
you don't. I remember hearing that. I remember one time visiting
a man in the hospital with my father. My father was a pastor
in false religion, and we went and visited oftentimes after
service or whatever. We went in there to the man,
and the man had his appendix taken out. And dad said, well,
what happened? He said, well, I chose not to
tithe for the last year, and the Lord got his tithe, took
out my appendix. We can laugh at that, but it's
a true story. God don't work that way, not with his people.
Take heart, and if your appendix goes bad, It's because you're
a body of flesh, a body of sin, and it's time for your appendix
to go bad. Now, was it ordained of God before
time ever began? You better absolutely believe it. But it's not because
of your sin that you've done and the Lord said, okay, I'm
going to do this to you because of that. No. Christ endured the
full wrath of God and punishment on the cross of Calvary. He's
not looking for you to do anything. He's not looking at you for anything. He looks to his darling son as
all of our righteousness, as all of our sanctification, as
all of our redemption, as all of our justification. He looks
to his son. There's good news in that. If
I break my arm, it's my fault. No matter how it happens, you
know, well, it's an accident. Well, it's still me that did it. Lord
ain't doing that in order to punish me. Maybe he's teaching
me to pay attention. Think about that. That's something
we need more of, don't it? We don't pay attention near enough,
do we? No, he's doing what he does because it's finished. It's finished. He's bringing
us back to him over and over again. He's going to say, seek
ye my face, over and over again. He's going to make us cry out
to him. He's going to make us believe
him. He's going to make us trust him. And stop trusting ourself.
Lord, I can't trust myself. I have no confidence in this
flesh anymore. They that force morality by threatening
a punishment, that's one of the definitions of self-righteousness,
that's all that that is and Christ is our righteousness, we're made
to flee to him. Now the good news of the gospel
is this and the work of righteousness That's what the Lord's working
in his people. We're already the righteousness of God in Christ,
but that's what, that's what this is, is he is making us need
his righteousness more and more. That's what he means by the work
of righteousness. It's continually just the need that we have more
and more that becomes predominant as his people, the work of righteousness
shall be peace. I love that. The work of righteousness
shall be peace. The more you're made to need
him, the more peace you're going to have in yourself. Now you
already have peace with God, but he's going to reveal that
peace more and more. Isn't that glorious? Then he says the effect of righteousness,
it's going to be quietness and assurance forever. Quietness
and assurance forever. Don't you need some quietness
in your life when it comes to sin and trouble? Heartache, needs
some quietness, needs times of peace. Peace is so underrated.
I was talking to Greg Elmquist this week, and we talked about
that a little bit. I said, peace is so underrated. We have peace
in our church. The Lord's done that. I love
that. We get to come and worship in peace, and there's nobody
threatening to kill me. Thank God for that. I mean, it
might sound silly, but there's really places on the earth that's
like that. We don't have that here. We don't have contention
and strife and all these things. Why? Well, the Lord's teaching
us. Christ is all. Christ is all. Whom the Lord
loveth, he chasteneth. I want to read 2 Corinthians
12, 9 again to us. He says, the Lord says to Paul,
my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect
in weakness. And he said this last part, I didn't quote this
before, but he said, therefore, most gladly, but I'd rather glory
in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Glory in my infirmities, the
power of Christ may rest upon me. What does that mean? Whenever
you are dealing with your infirmities and you are looking to him, you
are at your strongest because you're resting in his strength.
Not your personal strongest. It's your resting in His strength.
That's your strongest. That's where we can be the strongest,
is resting in Him alone. Times of weakness, He becomes
our strength. In times of trouble, He becomes our rest. In times
of sorrow, He becomes our joy. In times of conflict, He becomes
our peace. In times of heartache, He becomes
our loving Father that chastens us and brings us back to Him.
He does this for His children. His children's good and for His
glory. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteth. Let's pray. Father,
we ask that you would take this and bless it to our understanding
for your glory. In Christ's name, amen.