My mother-in-law, she had a stroke. She's with us tonight. Oh, amen. But you pray for her also. Hebrews chapter number 12. Been dealing with the chastening of the Lord. The Lord knows how to get ahold of his children. Hebrews chapter number 12. I guess this will be maybe part 4 of the chastening of the Lord. Look in verse 5, we'll read the context here of the whole verse 5 through 13. The Bible said, And ye have forgotten the exhortation 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 ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits, and live? 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. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward, it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore, lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed. Brother Brooks, would you pray for us? My precious Heavenly Father, we thank you for your love, Father. We thank you for your word, Father. We thank you for each and everybody that comes this way. Father, I pray that the Holy Spirit of God is in this prayer tonight, and only that I have spoken and requested from Christ, Father. I pray for all of you, Father, that that will be done. And Father, that anybody in the law that knows you before it's ever last can do that. It will give you the thanks and the praise and the glory Amen. Ronnie Wayne told me tonight, he said he meant to tell everybody before he preached Sunday night to not judge him by the first time. He said he's dropped a coon dog before and he never ran a coon the first time, but after that he ran pretty good. He said he forgot to tell everybody that, amen. He said he's gonna preach him so hard he ain't got a voice to read a Bible tonight. Verse seven and eight is our text verse tonight, dealing with the chastening of the Lord on this subject. Descendants of the family. Descendants of the family. Verse seven and eight says again, 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 are ye bastards and not sons." Somebody's in the family. Somebody's out of the family. The descendants of the family. First of all, I see the rod of discipline. The rod of discipline. If you are God's child, God will discipline you. The Bible said in verse 7, If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? He said, If ye endure chastening. What does that tell me? Well, chastening is going to hurt. Chasing him will be painful. To endure something means to bear with patience, amen. Enduring the rod, if God breaks out his rod on his child, there will be affliction coming your way. Look in Proverbs chapter number 13, the rod of discipline. Now Proverbs in dealing with the rod is dealing with the dealing of a father with a child, which is physical in one sense, but it's also spiritual in the sense that God is our father and we are his children. For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? So God being our heavenly father, he will chasten his sons. If you are God's, you'll get it. Amen? God will get you with the rod of discipline. And God does it right. Sometimes when it comes to discipline in this world, people do it the wrong way. And they go way far extreme of beating people, which is far beyond the discipline that God speaks of in the Word of God. And then you have some of the far other extreme that do no discipline at all because they don't want to whoop a child and beat them the way you would cause bodily injury and that's on the extreme of the other side. Well, God is always right there in the middle. God knows how to discipline His children the right way. God knows how much of the rod you need to get. What we need in our lives is discipline like God. Proverbs chapter 13, look in verse 24. The Bible said, He that spatheth his rod hateth his son. Now the father loves his children, and as fathers we should love our children. Not only fathers, but mothers should love their children. He that spareth his rod, hateth his son. So if there's no chastening of the son, there's hatred from the father. But he that loveth him, chasten him be times. What is that? Be times. before it's too late, when it needs to be done, amen? Hey, God chases his children in good time, soon, amen? God doesn't wait. Some of the problem when it comes to us is we wait too long to discipline our children. Someone said if you won't discipline when they're four, they sure won't mind you when they're 40. You think something's going to change later on down the road? There's got to be discipline when it comes to raising your children. And we're talking about God chasing in His children, amen? As we look at our Heavenly Father, the way He disciplines us, we in turn should do that same type of discipline to our children. Thank God God don't wait too late to get a hold of us. Thank God God knows when I need a whipping to get me back on path to do what's right, amen? Because if God left me to myself, that's exactly what I'd be, a mess to myself. God doesn't leave us to ourselves and we shouldn't leave our children to themselves. It's amazing in the generation we're living in where children are raising children. Parents' job is to raise the children. Amen? Someone said that, you know, the old stories that go when it comes to discipline of children, someone said that my father was patriotic. He laid the stripes and I saw the stars. Kind of thing, you know. There's all kind of things that go along with that kind of stuff. Said that my daddy took me to the woodshed for a business meeting. You ever been to the woodshed for a business meeting? Amen. He gave the charges and I carried them out. It's about how that thing works, you know. It's just discipline of children, amen. We need to discipline our children. Someone said that I was raised at the knee of a devoted mother. and across the knee of a determined father. That's what we need, discipline, amen. Our father knows how to balance the discipline. He does it before it's too late, amen. If we're not careful when it comes to, you know, we're talking about the chasing of the law, but you can't deal with the chasing of the law without putting the application of how we do it as parents in our area, amen. We need to have the same kind of discipline God has. We better get a hold of our children while there's a chance. Don't wait until they're 15 to try to raise them. You better get a hold of them while you got a chance. Get a hold of your children, be times, amen? Very soon, don't wait till it's too late. Amen? He that spareth his rod, hateth his son. Look in Proverbs chapter number 19. The rod of discipline, God pulls out the rod. God will discipline his descendants. If you're God's children, you will get it. Chastening, what is chastening? Well, one thing about chastening is, there's many things about it, but one thing about chastening is, chastening is an assurance of you being a child. We're talking about the descendants of the family. If you are in the family, God's going to whip you. Someone say, you walk up to two five-year-old boys and they're sitting there fighting one another. And the man goes over there and grabs one of them and beats his tail. What does that show you? He's the parent. Who's he beating? He's beating his child, amen. You got no business doing this. He's not beating someone else's child. That's not his child. Amen. He beats his own, amen. If you got one, you better beat him. Not talking about something that's abusive and far out on the extreme of the government's going to come in on you, but you better put the rod on them. God said there's a rod. They must be disciplined, amen. They must be shown that, hey, this is not right and this is right. And there's a punishment for doing wrong. There's no consequences anymore. I'll never beat my young. Are you going to raise a hell? Here's what you're going to raise. You better beat them or they'll soon beat you. Proverbs chapter number 19, there's got to be a rod of discipline. He said, if you endure chastening, why would God say to be endured if it wasn't something you're going to have to go through? Proverbs chapter number 19, look at verse number 18. Chasing thy son while there is what? What does that mean? There could be a time when there's no hope. I mean, surely nobody want to get to the point in their life where there's no hope for their child. Chasing thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his what? You know how many weapons has been not carried out because of tears? You don't think God knew something about that? I mean, you believe the Bible, right? Chasing thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crime. A crime shouldn't say, well, I'll let you go this time. Especially, by the way, if you're going to raise your child and you're going to tell them they're going to get something, they better get it. Never tell your child they're going to get something and not fulfill it. What does that show? That shows they can't trust your word. Carry out the action. This is what we're going to do. This is what God told me to do. I heard a story out there. I don't know if it's really true or anything. They said a boy, a man raised a rebellious son for 20 years and said he, his son was just, just rebellious. Couldn't do nothing with him. He said he never dissed him. He said he got down on his knees and had a, had a talk with the Lord all night about his son. And God said to carry that boy out there and beat him. So the next morning, him and that boy went for a walk. He got out there about miles away from the house and he said, son, take your shirt off, I'm fitting to whoop you. And his son looked at him and laughed and said, you ain't going to beat me. He said, son, I said, take your shirt off. He got up in his face and he said, you'll never whoop me. So that old man grabbed that boy by the nape of the collar and he said, me and the Lord had a talk last night. And I told the Lord I was sorry for the way I raised you and for not disciplining you like I should. And the Lord told me to take you out here and wear your tail out. And me or you both, one of us is coming out here with a whooping. I'm going to do what God told me to do. Said the story goes that old boy laid down and beat that boy. He ain't beat him since he was 14 years old. Said after he beat that boy, him and that daddy knelt down there in prayer. They ain't prayed in 14 years together. And talked it over to the Lord, and that boy looked at his daddy and said, you'll never have another trouble out of me the rest of my life. That's a little story, a little illustration of what goes on, but that's probably something that rarely happens like that. It usually don't turn out that good. But I'm telling you, you better get them while you got a chance. And I'm guaranteeing, if you get a hold of God, God will tell you you better get a hold of them. And you better not spare for their crime. You better back up what you say you're going to do. If we're going to raise children for God. Hey, I'm talking about whom the Lord loveth, he chastened us. Amen? God loves us and God chastens us. Hey, putting the rod to your child shows the love you've got for your child. It's not hatred, what the world might say. Man, it's love. You've got to break them. Well, they got a rebellious spirit, amen? They got a sense of, I'm going to do my own thing, amen? Hey, breaking that child is what it needs. You raise that child right, and then you break them down where they'll respect you and honor you. It'll make it easier for them to get respect from God. God respect them, or they respect God. There's got to be a rod of discipline. There's an endurance. If you endure chasing, and God dealeth with you as with sons. But what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? Look in Proverbs 22. God knows how to drive it away. It's the rod of this one, amen? It's a painful thing. It has to be done. And you can't spare for crying. You can't hold off until it's too late. You've got to do it while there's hope, the Bible says. While there's a chance. Hey, God does it for us, amen? And as God does it for us, we're to lay over and do the same pattern for our children. Hey, don't you know God loves you? That's why He wants you and God don't wait until it's too late. God don't wait until you're too far out there where He can't get you. Hey, God tries to break you down and get you where you need to be. So what we need to do, Proverbs 22, look in verse 15. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. We're talking about physical parents, physical fathers, but we're also speaking about the Heavenly Father. If foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, you know what God knows about us as children? We got some foolishness in us. Foolishness and we're saved got foolishness bound in our heart, but the rod of correction to drive it far from God knows how to get it out of you God knows how to break you down. Amen. God knows how to drive it away. Amen Thank God for the chastening of the Lord Proverbs 23 look in verse 13 The psalmist said something to affect that is good that I've been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes Got to be some affliction there's got to be a rod of discipline Proverbs 23, 13. This is not the God that the world teaches. The world don't talk about a God that does this kind of stuff. The world's God is this lovey God that's a fake love. It ain't even real. It doesn't have a balance in it. And what is being portrayed as a God to this world is what's being portrayed as raising children in this world. And from the foundation, that thing's where it's been destroyed. And it's crumbling over into our homes in the way we're raising our children. If you get back to God's principles and God's way, everything works better on it. Proverbs 23, 13, the Bible says this, withhold not correction from the child. For if thou beatest him with a rod, there's that rod of this one, he shall not die. Verse 14, thou shalt beat him with the rod and shalt deliver his soul from hell. Deliver him from hell. Deliver him from a hellish life. deliver him from all kind of hell that he can get into. God knows how to drive it away. The rod of discipline, God's rod of discipline is for a purpose, it's for hope, amen, it's to do it in time so it saves you a lot of trouble, amen, foolishness driven out of us, amen. It's not going to kill us, amen, but it's going to deliver our souls. God's trying to deliver us from things. Paul said it in Philippians chapter number two. He says, work out your own salvation with food and shrimp. Work it out. Work it out. It's in there, right? But work it out. What does he say in verse 13? For it is God which worketh in you, both the will and the do of his good pleasure. What is God doing? God's working in you to try to work it out. And sometimes it takes the right of discipline to work it out in our lives. Hadn't it taken some rod on your child before to get out of them what you needed to get out of them? That was in there, just needed to get out, right? It's got to be worked out. God knows how to work that thing out of us. You're saved by the grace of God, the Spirit of God lives inside of you, the new nature's inside of you, but sometimes God's got to beat it out. Got to work it out. And that rod of discipline will drive it out, amen? Hey, God'll get His own. Let me show you this before we go any further. Look in Isaiah 49. God'll get His own. We're talking about descendants of the family. If you're in God's family, God'll whoop you. If you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards and not sons? You're either in the family or you're not in the family. And if you're in the family, God's gonna pull out the rod. And it's to give hope, it's to drive out foolishness, it's to drive hell out of your life, amen. It's to work out that thing that's in you. God's trying to work it out of you. Isaiah 49, look in verse number 15. Look at the illustration God gives here. Can a woman forget her suckling child? Could a mama forget her youngins? What a sad thing. that a momma would forget her youngins. Can a woman forget her suckling child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Turn him over. No care, no compassion. You know what? If you saw some woman that would turn over her child and have no compassion for her child, you'd say she's one unfit mama. And I'd say amen if you said it. Might even say hallelujah. You're right, she's a sorry mama. To forget her own? To not be there for her own? Is that not a sorry mama? Some of you are probably even thinking about mamas like that right now. That's a sorry mama. Why would she do that? Because of maybe her own desires of her own life, fulfilling her own lusts, amen, whatever it might be, she just gave up on her own to live her own life. That is a sorry mama. But what if we don't fulfill the office of a father and a mother the way God's told us to do? Are we not in the same boat? Are we not in the same boat? Well, we're still there for them, but we're not doing what's right by them. If we're not doing what's right by God, we're just like the woman forsaking her pet children. If you're sparing the rod when you should be giving the rod, if you're not beating them B-times, if you're not trying to drive that hell out of them, if you're not doing what's right when it comes to the rod of discipline, amen, you're no different than a mama that's just forgotten her youngin' altogether. You're just there in person. That's a little extreme, I know. But that's the reality of it. That's the way God looks down on it. If we're not doing what's right, what's the use even being there? I mean, that's a little extreme. I'm not that kind of parent. If you're not doing right, we might as well be. What is the characteristic? That woman that's left that child, she's not doing what's right by it. She's not there to raise it, right? She's not there to, and we're talking about it in the form of just discipline right now. There's a lot of things she's not doing. But she's not there to beat that child. She's not there to drive the foolishness out of him that she should be because she's absent in his life. If you're there and not doing the same thing, what's the difference? You know what they call that in the Bible? Hypocrisy. You're there in show, but you're not there in action. God said, will she forget him? Yes, she'll forget him. She'll forsake him. Look at it. Look at it again, verse 15. Can a woman forget her suckling child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. We're talking about the chastening of the Lord. We're talking about the descendants of the family. If you're in God's family, God won't forget. God ain't going to forget, amen. God's going to be there for that part of discipline, that part of chasing it in our lives. There's a lot of attributes of God that are in our lives, but God will be there for the attribute of discipline, amen. God will be there to correct us. God will be there early. God will try to drive the foolishest out of us. God will try to deliver us from that hell in our lives. Because God's that kind of good Father, amen, for whom the Lord loveth He chastened. When it comes to being a descendant of the family, they'll be the rod of discipline in your life. It'll be shown by the fact that God disciplines you. Does God discipline you? Can you get by with your hellish lifestyle? Can you get by with your foolishness? Or you continue to live a lifestyle that there's never the chasing and handling of the Lord? It's a good telltale sign that you might not be in the family. God said, I won't forget mine. A natural mother might forget hers, but he said, don't you forget this. I won't forget mine. If you belong to me, I got a whooping coming for you. And you can rest assured that I will fulfill my discipline in your life. when it comes to the discipline of the descendants of the family, when it comes to this part of the chasing of the Lord, it's the assurance that, hey, we are of God. Verse seven and eight's dealing with the descendants of the family, showing us that, hey, you're either our child, verse seven, or verse eight, you're not a child. You're either a son or you're a bastard. If you're a son, you're gonna get the rod of discipline. If you're without the rod of discipline, you're a bastard and not a son. It's the assurance. the rod of discipline will come. God will get his own. Look back in Hebrews chapter 12. There's the rod of discipline, but there's the reason for his dealing. The reason for his dealing. God will put the rod on his own. If you endure, that means it's going to be hard. That means you've got to take it with patience. It's going to come. If you endure, chastening, verse 7, God dealeth with you as with sons. You're in the family. He dealeth with you. What is this dealing? God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the father what? Chastened if not. Is there one God doesn't want? No. There'll never be one he won't want. There'll never be one God doesn't dislike. He said in verse eight, he said, but if you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers. God gets His own. But there's the rod of discipline. It will have to be endured. It will hurt, but it's a purpose to drive things out. But there's the reason for the dealing. Why does God discipline His children? Let me give you five things. Number one, God will deal with you and discipline you because of rebellion and stubbornness. You're rebellious? A rebellious child? What should a parent do to a rebellious child? should put the rod on them. And if you're God's child, and we're talking about our father and son relationship, God's not going to put up rebellion and stubbornness. Amen? Alright, like y'all don't believe that, look in Deuteronomy chapter 11. Reasons for His dealing. Number one reason for God dealing out the discipline would be for stubbornness and rebellion. God's children, you know what, sometimes can be stubborn and rebellious. But you can rest assured if you're God's child now, that's the thing, there's the assurance of this thing, as the descendants of the family, if you're in the family, there will be a reason for the dealing and God will deal out His discipline on you because you're stubborn and rebellious. I've seen stubborn and rebellious Christians. You know what I've seen? Gotta whoop their tail. There's some people that claim to be in the family, they're not in the family. And the stubborn rebellion spirit that they have, they're holding on to the eternal security of God. Hey, there ought to be some assurance of that thing that God pulls the rod out and whoops you. Why is God not whooping you? Why is not God driving that foolishness out of you that He said that you should do? Would God ask you to do something as a father that He wouldn't do as a father? God even told us in Isaiah, mothers might not even do it, but I'll be sure to do it, right? That's what he said. God's going to get you if you're his. If you're stubborn and rebellious, it'll be a reason for God to deal out the discipline on you. If you endure chasing, God dealeth with you as with sons. There's a reason for his dealing. Why does God do it? Because we're rebellious, stubborn. Look in this, look in Deuteronomy 11, look in verse 1. Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, always. That's a good thing to do, ain't it? Ain't no one gonna hurt you to do what's right by God, never will, would it? I don't like standards and things to do. That's what a father does, he gives you things to do. Try to keep you out of danger and all kinds of other things. But anyhow, look at verse 2. And know ye this, for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the Lord your God, His greatness, His mighty hand, and His stretched out arm. I said, I'm speaking, somebody knows about that stuff. I'm not speaking with the children that don't know it. Look at verse number 3. And His miracles, and his axe, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and into all his land." They saw what I'd done over there, all the mighty axe I did, including he puts in here the chastisement of the Lord. Look at verse 4. and what He did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, to their chariots, how He made the water of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how the Lord hath destroyed them unto this day, and what He did unto you in the wilderness, When you came into this place, brother preached on the wilderness Sunday night very well, didn't he? He's talking about the children of God that's in the wilderness. He said, what came unto you in the wilderness? What did God do to you when you was in the wilderness? He said, I'm speaking to you to know what God done to you when you was in the wilderness. What did God do to him? Verse six, and what he did unto Dathan and Abram, and sons of Elab, the son of Reuben, and how the earth opened their mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that was in their possession in the midst of all Israel. But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the Lord which He did." What's he saying? You saw what God did, how He brought chastening. What did He do? He chastened the people of God. In the wilderness, this Dathan, this Abram, what did he do? He opened up the earth and swallowed them up whole. Why? Because he was rebellious against the man of God. What's that show? Where they was against Moses? No, they was against the God of Moses. And the God of Moses got angry and said, am I going to put up with this? What did he do? He chastened them and even killed some of them. He said, you've seen the mighty acts in the wilderness. You've seen the chasing in the hand of the Lord. Hey, rebellion will cause God to chase in you and stubbornness will bring God's wrath on your life. Look at the illustration he gives over here about discipline children. Look in Deuteronomy chapter 21 on this same subject here. I'm gonna give you a number two in a minute. Deuteronomy 21. I'm talking about why God, what's God's reasons for his dealing. What's God's reasoning for chasing him? Deuteronomy 21, 18. Stubbornness and rebellion. Deuteronomy 21's a little extreme under the law, but the principles here about stubbornness and rebellion. You know what happens over here in Deuteronomy 21? To a stubborn and rebellious son, they take him out and they stone him to death. Preacher, we ain't going to go out and stone our young as a death. That ain't what you're saying there. You know, I'm not saying that. But I'm saying the principle is that God chastens rebellious, stubborn people. God just done it in a sense under the law of killing. If he'd done that now, we'd all be dead, including us parents. But the principles there that God dispense, God chastens for stubbornness and rebellion. Deuteronomy 21, 18. If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them. And of course, he goes on to what they do, they stone him. But what does he do? They've been what? Chasing him. Chasing him. You know what you're to do as a parent? You know what God will do to his children when they're stubborn in rebellion? God will chase them then. Matter of fact, you push God far enough, God will open up the earth and swallow you whole. What do you mean, Richard? He'll kill you. So what do you do? There's reasons for God's dealing. Why would God discipline His children? Why would God chase them? Well, number one, stubborn in rebellion. Number two, iniquity. Sin in your life. God is chasing you. You're God's children. 2 Samuel chapter 7. Let's go quick. We'll look at them quick. 2 Samuel 7. God was chasing you. Oh man, over here in the prophets. I'm going to wait for them. 2 Samuel 7. Iniquity. There's reasons for his dealing. If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. What's the reasons of his dealing? Well, stubbornness and a rebellion. Number two, iniquity. 2 Samuel 7 verse 14. I will be his father. See that? And he shall be my son. If he commit an what? Iniquity. I will what? There's a relationship of a Father and a Son, right? That's what we're talking about. God's our Heavenly Father. We're His Son. There's the principle here, right? He said the principle is, if I'm His Father, He's my Son. If He commit iniquity, I, who the Father, will chasten Him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men. Who's He speaking of? He's speaking of God the Father and His Son. And if his son does wrong, if he commits iniquity, God will chasten him with the rod of men. There's ways that God'll do it. We looked at that already before. With the stripes of the children of men. Why does he do it? Iniquity. Sin. Does God whoop you? You sin? Does God pull the rod out on you? Number three. Why will God, what's the reasons for dealing? Look in Hosea 7. You look at the major prophets. Then look at the minor prophets. Hosea 7, right before the book of Joel. Right after Daniel in there. Hosea 7. Number 3, why would God, what's the reasons of His dealing? Mixing with the world. You know God's not going to let His children run with the world. You know, if you're a good parent, there's certain people you just ain't gonna let your children run with? You just ain't gonna run with them. You know why? Because as a parent, you've observed your child, you've observed that child, and you know they're not good for one another. And it might not even be that they're bad for your youngin', your youngin' might be bad for them. You know, sometimes you might not let your young go to somebody's house and you might think, well, they just think their young is better than theirs. No, they just know that if their own young gets around you, they're going to do bad. You ever thought like that? A good parent knows what's good for their child. Hey, man, they observe what's going on. Hey, God will not let his children run with the world, and if you run with the world, God's going to get you. I told you not to go over to their house. Some of you are like, that never happened to you. You ever went somewhere you shouldn't have went? And you had no business going over there and you knew it. Your mama and daddy had to look at you and say, I told you what was going to happen when you went over there. And you was hard headed. You know what God will do? What's the reasons of this deal? I'm talking about why God whips his children. For running with the world. Come you out from among them, be you separate sample. God said that thing in a while because it's going to influence you in the wrong way. Look in Hosea 7, look in verse 8. God will judge you, God will chase you for mixing with the world. Hosea 7 verse 8, Ephraim had mixed himself among the people. Oh, that ain't good. The Bible says, Ephraim is a cake not turned. Strangers have devoured his strength and he knoweth it not. You know you get out in that world, things are getting sucked out of you, you don't even realize they're gone. You think you're still the same. Others looking at you thinking, man, there's something wrong with them. And they think, man, ain't nothing wrong with me. You done lost the touch of God on you. Running with the world. You lost a little bit of the edge. Something's missing in your life. Strangers have devoured his strength. And he knoweth it not. Kind of like Samson over there. When he went over there, you know? He shook himself and winced in it not that the Spirit of the Lord had forsaken him. Left him. Said, I'll go out and do like I always did. Then he got over there in a mess, didn't he? Look, yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not, and the pride of Israel testifieth to his face, and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this. Verse 11, Ephraim also is like a silly dove without heart. They call to Egypt, They go to Assyria. Boy, that's the world, ain't it? When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them. I will bring them down as the fowls of heaven. I will chastise them as their congregation hath heard. Woe unto them, for they have fled from me. destruction unto them, because they have transgressed against me, though I have redeemed them." They're mine, yet they have spoken lies against me. There's a relationship there. Ephraim was God's. They did wrong. They mixed with the world. God's chasing them. Number four, what's God's reasons for dealing? Look in the New Testament. Look in 1 Corinthians 11. descendants of the family. If you're in the family, you're going to get it. Why will God do it? God will do it because you won't judge yourself. Now God's compassionate in His dealing. God's a long-suffering God. God knows when to get the rod out. God gives space of grace, space to repent. But if you won't, God will. Why will God chasten you? Because you won't deal with yourself. 1 Corinthians 11 verse 31, for if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. That's 1 John 1, 9, confess your sins. God's faithful and just to forgive you, right? Cleanse you from all unrighteousness. But when you're judged, we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world. Why will He deal with us? Because we won't deal with ourselves. Number five, Revelation 3. Why will God deal with us? Because we need instruction. There's a purpose for it all. If you're in the family, you're going to get it. I'm not trying to be a down and out message, but it kind of is on the part of this one. It's just reality. Descendants of the family. You know what? I know it's kind of a down that we get beaten. It's like nobody likes to talk about a whooping, you know. But in reality, it's assurance that you're in the family. If you ain't getting it, there's a problem. Because we need instructions. Revelation 3, look in verse 19. Look at this. He said, As many as I love, whom the Lord loveth, he chastened. I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore in what? Repent. What's God doing? He's instructing. He's instructing His children. He instructed them in verse 18 on what to do to get that white raiment, get that eye salve, amen? God's whipping us to instruct us on how to do it right. You know what a good parent will do when he whips a child? He'll say, this is why I'm doing it and this is what we're going to come out of it. God will whoop you and chase you and instruct you at the same time. Look back in Hebrews 12. The descendants of the family, what do they get? They get the rod of discipline. There's the reason for their dealing. But verse 8, there's the reality of the descendants. It's the reality, what we're his. Verse 8, but if you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards and not sons. The world, the lost. You know what, you know what, you know what, sometimes people say, well, you know, preacher, I'm getting disciplined, I'm, you know, things are going bad in my life. Do you know how because things are going bad in your life doesn't mean God's whooping you? Let me just clear that up before we go any further. Look, hold your, hold your, just turn there. We'll turn two more places, I promise. Psalms chapter 107. Let's just look at this real quick. He said, well, I'm getting whooped all the time. You know, it rains on the just and the unjust. It goes both ways. I mean, all because you're getting bad things in your life don't mean God's whooping you and you're his child. Could just be your own sins bringing bad stuff to your life. You know? So don't get confused that, hey, I'm getting whooped so I'm God's child. And really, you're just a rebellious sinner living like hell and reaping the rewards of your wrongdoing. The world is afflicted because of their sin, and this should not be mistaken for the chastening of the Lord. I'm going to say that again. The world is chastened because of their sin, and it should not be forsaken, mistaken as the chastening of the Lord. Don't say that that's God whipping me because I'm His child. It might just be the bad consequences of your sin, reaping what you sow. Psalms 107, look in verse 17. Fools, because of their transgression and because of their iniquities, are what? You see that? Fools, because of their transgression and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Why are they getting afflicted? Because of their transgression, because of their iniquities, and they're fools. You're reaping what you sow. And does it mean you're a child of God? Amen. God's discipline yields forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness in your life. It changes you. If it's not changing you and instructing you and pulling you in another direction, it just might be the bad consequence of the life. there's a reality of a descendent, the descendent of God gets his discipline and God will change him or God will kill him when a father does it right it nurtures and brings admonition to our lives look in Ephesians 6 and close it use this as a Physical father-son relationship, but look at this and in terms that God the father and we his children God's discipline Ephesians 6 When a father does it, right? His discipline his chastening it nurtures and it admonishes the child and could I say Nobody Can do it any better than our father? We've done it wrong plenty of times. But when it comes to the Heavenly Father, He knows how to do it right. And the instructions He's given to us as children is something that you can rest assured that He's done it perfect every time. That's our Father. Verse 4, verse 1, look, children obey your parents and the Lord. We're at the bay of the Lord. He's our Father, right? For it is right. It's right to obey God, right? Honor thy father and thy mother, which is the first commandment with promise. It's going to bring forth rewards in your life, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. It works with God the Father, too. You'll live long. It'll be good, it'll be good for you. It'll help your life if we'll listen to our Heavenly Father. And ye fathers, this is the Heavenly Father giving instruction to earthly fathers, but surely He would do something that He said for us to do. God wouldn't give commands to a father on earth that He wouldn't do as a father in heaven. Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath. You think God's ever provoked us to wrath? but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. What is nurture? To bring them up in the nurture. Nurture is that what promotes growth, education, and instruction. That's what it does. As a father, we're to bring them up in the nurture, we're to promote growth, education, and instruction in our lives. Are you instructing your children the right way? Are you bringing forth growth in their life? God's chasing him, and you know what to do? You're to bring forth growth in your life. You'll see that child growing up a little bit and getting some instructions, amen? They're learning the right way, why? Because that's the nurture of the Lord and his chasing hand on our lives. How can I tell whether it's God chasing a son or it's the iniquities and sins beating on a bastard? How can you tell the difference? How can I tell if it's God's chasing hand on a child of God or the iniquities and sins beat down the afflictions on a bastard? You know what it does when God does it? It nurtures. It promotes growth. When you see them getting beat like that, you know what they're doing? It's giving instruction to their life. They're growing. You know what that bastard gets? Just keeps on getting back and digging in their iniquity more and more. Just the way it is, man, having a rough life, you know? God's beating me. Well, where's the instruction? Where's the nurture? Do you think that our Heavenly Father would tell us as earthly fathers to bring our children up to nurture and admonition of the Lord if He wouldn't do it Himself? God's chastening hand will nurture your life. You'll be able to tell. There's the reality of the descendants. You can tell which side of the family you're on, whether you're God the Father's or the Father the Devil. One of them's your father. It promotes growth, education, and instruction, but it also admonishes. What is admonition? It's reproof. It's caution. It's counseling against a fault. Canceling. Does God cancel you? How can I tell whether I'm the reality of the descendants? Which side am I on? Am I in verse 7? If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is whom the father chasteneth not? All are partakers, unless you're a bastard, not a son. There's the reality. The chasing in hand of the Lord shows whether you're his child or not. But don't mistake your afflictions as being the chasing of the Lord if it's not nurturing and bringing admonition to your life. If it's not promoting growth, if it's not educating you, if it's not instructing you, it's just like, well, I just, well, I just... You might be a pastor, not a son. There is the descendants of the family. Everybody's from one family or another. Either God the Father is your father or the God of this world is your father, the devil. Heads are bowed and eyes are closed.