The Chastening of the Lord

Heb 12:5b, 6a ““My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked by Him; for whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth”-

We all live in vessels made of clay, subject to human frailties and bodies that are imperfect. We are quick to jump to conclusions and make imperfect judgments. We have habits from a life of sin that often lead us to make wrong decisions in life. We seek to love God and do his will, but sometimes come short. In prayer, the Lord speaks to us and disciplines us for our lack of falling short. God desires us to live a life of holiness, one that is righteous and pleasing to Him. He knows us better than anyone else and knows are weakness and areas that we need to work on. If we are dealing with sin, we need to confess it to Him and continue to walk in obedience. But, God also want to make up better Christians, and that often requires us to learn hard lessons and a willingness to admit that we can make mistakes that can affect our spiritual life.

Elihu's Advice to Job

August 19th, 2007
Job 36:1-18
With confidence, Job puts his faith in God and His mercy. He was resolute in his convictions that as far as he knew in his heart, he did not do anything that would cause the suffering he was going through. Realizing that Job was not going to admit that he had sinned against God, Elihu takes a different approach. It may be that Job was going through all this because God was unhappy with Job in some area of his life. That he may be experiences bad things, because God was correcting or chastising him for some things in his life that was not sin, but bad judgment. God does chasten those that He loves, and sometime the chastisements of the Lord are not pleasant. Once again, the words that Elihu speaks are full of truth and speak accurately about the nature and attributes of God, but like his counter partners, he too assumed that Job was doing something wrong, and it needed to be corrected. The words we speak are often true and accurate, but are they always appropriate. May we always be wise as a serpent and gentle as a dove and we speak and minister to others.
Compelled to Speak
• When are you compelled to speak up?
• Elihu’s could not restrain himself any longer
Convince of Speech
• His doctrine was right- Stayed with truth
• He was confident of his words
Colossal God
• A mighty God is He
• The holiness of God’s might
Condemnation of the Wicked
• Belligerently break God’s law- mistreatment of others
• Life is short for the wicked-Death waits at the door
Chastisement of the Righteous
• His eyes are always on the righteous
• Why? Change ways, listen to instruction, turn around.
Cry of the Hypocrite
• Lord! Lord! Have we not….
• Cry of sorrow without repentance
Christ Paid the Ransom
• We all deserve the wrath of God
• Mercy through Christ and the ransom He paid