Turn to Isaiah chapter 11. Isaiah chapter 11. I had studied this deal of Romans chapter 5. I was trying to get a message out of that. And I like it when I can just go through a whole book at a time and preach it. I like it, number one, because it's easy. And I like easy things. And I like it because it's easy because you don't have to just guess at where you're going to preach from the next time. And that, you know, sometimes that works and sometimes that doesn't. What I'm revealing to you is I got a little bit of a lazy streak in me. Okay? Amen. And I don't like it much, but anyway, and so I've been kind of going through Romans 5. I went through it last week, and God said no. And I went through it again this week, and God said no. And I tell you, God reminded me of something. I'm going to kind of tell a little story on me here in just a little bit. But God reminded me of something. And there was just something that just kind of was a recurrent theme for me this week. And I want to preach it to you, and I want to preach it to you in grace, and I want to preach it to you in love. And I want to be a pastor to you this morning and just teach you the whole counsel of God for us this morning. And maybe there's some people that probably need to be here that need to hear it, but you're the ones that are here. God brought you here. And if there's anybody else that needs to hear it, maybe they'll hear it on the internet or we'll put it on a CD or whatever it is. But all of us need to understand just how things in God's kingdoms work. I want to ask you a question this morning. And just, it doesn't require a lot of thought, this is an easy answer, but who really, really wants to go to heaven when they die? Just raise your hand. Okay? You just really want to go to heaven. I'm here to tell you this morning that the Bible's right. There is a heaven and there is a hell. And hell is a place I don't want to go to, and I know you don't want to go to. And sometimes it makes people uncomfortable to have to think about it, but I am going to make you think about it this morning. And you need to ask yourself, where am I headed? If I were to die today, where am I going to spend eternity? That is a question that you need to have answered in your mind. It is not for me to judge you. It is not for me to tell you that you're saved or that you're not saved. In fact, one of the greatest problems that's going on in American Christianity right now is that churches are telling people that they're saved and they're not saved. Or they're condemning people that are saved and saying that they're not saved. And that is not our place. It is not the job of the church to tell people whether or not they're saved. It is to lead them to the gospel of Jesus Christ so Christ can save them. And when God says they're saved, they're saved. You believe the Bible, say, Amen. Do you believe that? And so it's not my place to tell you that you're not saved. But it is my place to lead you to the cross. so that God can let you know. And just ask yourself just this real simple question, am I saved? Do I know for a fact that when I die that I am going to go to heaven? And the problem is you don't know when you're going to die. You don't know when you're going to go stand before God. And I would suggest to you with all of my heart that if you don't know that today, that you get it figured out. Amen. That you find out whether or not you're born again, whether or not you're saved. But I asked that question this morning, do you really, really, really want to go to heaven? And God has a way of getting us there. Now, I believe in the cross and I believe in the blood. I believe the atonement of Christ. I believe the substitutionary death on the cross. And I believe in all of those things. But it just kind of came up in my mind one day, why doesn't God save people and then kill them? Okay. Why does he, why, why doesn't God just say people and say, okay, you're safe. Let's go. I mean, I, I would have, I would have liked that. I think, Hey man, rather than go through all the stuff I've been through and this and that and the other, it would be, it would be nice if I, if I could be the thief on the cross, Hey man, and, and be saved the same day that I've died, that'd be real nice. And, but that's not how it is with most people. That's not how it is. God calls us we say that we believe him and then now we're on the testing grounds of life Are we really right with God? Are we really saved? Are we really and I want you to hear this word here Are we really the sons of God and you're gonna kind of get where I'm going with this message here in a little bit Are we really the sons of God if you're not one of God's sons? You're not going to heaven plain and simple. If you will not be his child and let him be your father, you are not going to heaven. You are of your father, the devil, and that's who you're going to spend eternity with. You're going to spend eternity with your father one way or the other. I want you to listen this message. Okay, because this is this is primarily for church people but it is for lost people too so that they know exactly how God works and So I just wanted I want you to get this in your mind do how bad do I want to go to heaven? How bad do I want to go to heaven? It wasn't going to be worth to me now. Isaiah chapter 11 Verse 1. Do you believe the Bible say man and there shall come forth a rod of There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. There are seven spirits here listed in Isaiah 11 verse two that are with I want you to get that now. They rest upon the rod. These spirits rest upon Him who is the rod. Now, I want you to get this. This was kind of how the Lord delivered this into my heart. What I preach to you, I believe and I experience. Okay? I believe it and I experience it. In verse 3, He said, and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. Now don't you think about the rod now. And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. And he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears. But with righteousness shall he judge the poor and reprove with equity. That means with equality, equalness. God is an equal opportunity God. You believe that, say amen. But He will make things equal. Things have to be equal. And I want you to get this. In front of most courthouses in America, there is usually a statue of a woman, and I don't like statues. I don't like statues. I think they're idols, and I don't want to get into all that this morning, but usually there is an image of a woman. Her name is Justice, and she is blindfolded, and she has in her hand a pair of balances, okay? And they are equal. A court is always a court of equity. If a man performs a crime, then the justice demanded must be equal to the crime. You do not throw somebody in prison for life in prison for running a red light. That's not what you do. That is not equal. Likewise, in a civil suit, Someone who has a grudge or a complaint against somebody else, they're heard by a jury, they're heard by a judge, everybody presents their case, and it is the responsibility of the court and the jury to, if they have been done wrong, to give them an equal amount based upon What has happened to them? And I know that a lot of lawsuits, there's a lot of inequality. Sometimes people will sue and they've got a legitimate deal and they don't get anything out of it. Sometimes people sue over something seemingly minor and they get millions and billions of dollars out of that. That doesn't seem to be equal in a lot of people's minds, but that idea of equality. Now I want you to listen to this now because I want you to get this. This will help you. God judges based upon equity. Okay. And. Everybody in their mind puts forth this idea this false gospel idea that when they stand before God What is it? What is there by saying I have a lot of good deeds and My good deeds. Oh, they far outweigh my beer drinking and my carousing around in my filthy mouth They far out rate far outweigh those things and God looks at the scale and says I think I think it's okay I think he can come in. That's not how it is. I When you violated the law of God, automatically, the scales are unbalanced. And the Bible says that no amount of your righteousness will ever tip the scales in your favor. It will never, ever, ever happen. You believe the Bible, say amen. Okay? Would it be okay if you got, if, let's say that Gary got pulled over. He was doing 75 and a 25 in a school zone. Okay. Racing through there trying to get to trying to get to McDonald's and a cop pulls him over for doing 75 in a 25 in a school zone. And Gary slips a cop a hundred bucks and he calls that as good deed. And the cop says, okay, you're free to go. Does that, is that right? Then quit thinking that you're righteous before God because you've done good things. You still have an outstanding balance that needs to be paid off. And here's, here's the deal. It is a, it is a debt that you cannot pay in eternity. That's why hell is not just a hundred years or 5,000 years. Hell is forever because that's what makes it equal. This is why your your idea of your works of righteousness is never ever ever gonna work out. It will never work out God is a God of equity. Can I hear somebody say man? That's not really the message, but that was that's pretty good start With righteousness shall he judge the poor and reproved with equity for the meek of the earth and he shall smite the earth with what? The rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. Now I'm going to preach a message on the rod. I'm going to preach a message on the rod. Now I'm going to preach this, how God delivered this to me. And I'll just tell you a little story here in a little bit. But let's go to the Lord and let's ask God's blessing now on His word. And, uh, let's ask, ask for God's help to help me preach heavenly father. I love you and God, I know Lord that you love me. I really do. I know it in my, I know it in my heart. God, I'm so, I'm so thankful God that I get to be your son. I'm so thankful God that I found acceptance Lord in you. And I'm so thankful, God, that you treat me like a son. And I'm thankful, dear God, Lord, for the... Father, Lord, for the illustration that you gave me at the house, Lord, this morning, before we could ever come to church, God, you were showing me this. And God, I love you for that. And Father, I pray, dear God, Lord, that you would always treat me as your son. And father, Lord, that I could always treat you as my father. Lord, father, this sermon may not mean a whole lot to other people. Lord, it really means a lot to me. And I just, I have to preach it. And I just prayed your God, Lord, that you would help me and encourage me, God, and deal with my heart. I prayed your God that you would help and encourage these other people to father. And anybody that hears this message. Lord, Father, just be glorified in this place. Lord, I don't know how I'm going to preach this, but Lord, I'm going to leave that up to you, and I'm going to leave it up to your Holy Spirit, God, to deal with our hearts. But Lord, I just, Lord, I'm just so thankful, God. After being an outcast, Lord, of just about everything in life, Father, Lord, that I don't want to be an outcast with you. So Father, Lord, just bless this church, bless the message, bless the preaching, and bless your word, Father, Lord, in our hearts. And we give you all the praise and all the glory in Jesus' name and all of God's people said, amen. Sometimes I run the risk of sometimes when I, every now and then I'll kind of break down a little bit and I'll cry. And I know that any clown up on TV, on religious TV can get up there and cry and make a big scene out of it. And that's all fake and phony and all that stuff. But, um, This message is based upon, number one, the Word of God. The Word of God is always true, and it's based upon my own experience. And experiences are always subject to the Word of God. But I'm going to preach something, and I hope it's going to feel like it's right to you because of what you've been through, what you might be going through right now, or what you will go through in the future. And I'm just going to prepare you for days that are coming if you have not experienced them already. I'm going to preach a message this morning on the rod of God. He said there in Isaiah 11, he said, there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And I want you to notice that the seven spirits of God, the Holy Spirit, are associated with this rod. And I want you to get this. The Holy Ghost of God is always accompanying the rod of God. Now, this rod here is a prophecy concerning Jesus Christ. And he has the seven spirits of God on him. That was evident in the book of Revelation. In verse 4, he's judging with this rod. And I'm just going to run down. I was just looking at the word rod in the Bible. And I was just looking at different rods in the Bible. And I'm just going to run down them very quickly. And there's one in particular that I'm going to deal with this morning. And you pray for the message. There was the rod of Moses. The word rod, the first time it ever shows up in the Bible, the word rod, singular, It shows up in this. God's asking Moses a question. What is that in nine hand? And he said, it is a rod. And if you remember this story, it was this rod. It was, it was the rod of Moses that performed the miracles. This rod is a picture of Jesus Christ and that it performed the miracles. It turned the water into blood and it, uh, it, the rod is what separated the, uh, the the two halves of the Red Sea and brought salvation. It was the rod of God. You listen to this now. It was the rod of God that brought salvation to God's people. And really all of these are pointing to the one area that I'm going to focus on this morning. But there was the rod of Moses that brought salvation to the people of Israel. The Bible talks about a rod of iron that Jesus has, that he's going to rule with in the last days. And I want to tell you, this iron, this iron rod, iron is a hard metal, and it is this iron rod the Bible talks about, God, Jesus will come down and he'll rule and he'll break things in pieces that need to be broke up, and he will rule with a rod of iron, which means that when Christ is ruling, that nobody's going to be able to just get away with anything, that he's, It's gonna it sounds like he's mean but really the rod of iron means that when God rules God's way is the is the right way Can I hear you say man? I mean if you if you worked in a work environment where your boss walked around with a big iron rod all the time and if you Decide to do something your way and he'd come across you'd hit you and on back with that thing You'd say well, maybe it's his way Amen, maybe maybe maybe we should do it the way the boss did it Okay, or any boss that will stand his ground and say this is the way we do it here And if you don't like it, there's the road go on down it that boss is ruling with a rod of iron Can I hear you say amen now? He might be right. He might be wrong, but he's ruling with a rod of iron So there was the rod that Jesus is gonna rule with there is a measuring rod in the Bible a Measuring rod, you know what that tells me God has a standard God standards, right? And everybody else's is wrong You need to get that in your mind. Bible talks about it. Every man did that which was right in his own sight. And here it is. You can say that a foot is 11 inches all you want to, but that is not a foot. You can say a yard is 4 feet, but it's not. It's 3 feet. You can say a pound is... In order to make yourself feel better, you can say a pound is only 8 ounces. But it's not. A pound is 16 ounces, and there's a rule, there's a standard, and everywhere there's a rod of measurement. And God told Ezekiel, he said there was an angel there that had a rod, and he was measuring everything. We see the same thing in the book of Revelation, that a rod was used to measure the temple. And I want to tell you something, this Bible right here is the measuring stick of God right here. We don't determine what the rules are and how things are that God does God's already set a standard and and what happens in Christianity and in churches today This is why America is failing is that every church is doing their own thing and they're making things up and they say well There really is no standard when in every other aspect of life. There's a standard in every aspect of life Oh Jimmy worked on trucks their standards He put, he fixed tires. Jimmy, was there a standard for how much and how many pounds per square inch a tire was supposed to have on a truck? He knew the standard. Could you make it up however you want to? No, there's a standard that you have to go by. Wayne, he does inspections. Did you know that he's got a rule that he doesn't just say, well, I think it ought to be this way and this way and this way. He follows standards that are given to him. And I want to tell you something. If we're going to say that we're Christians, then we ought to live by the standard that God gives us, the measuring rod that he gives us. Somebody say amen. And I would tell you something, when you decide that you're going to live by your own rules, God's got a rod for you. Now, I want you to listen to this message, okay? Because if God give it to me, it's not fair. You know how, you know how the kids are in the family? It's not fair if all the kids, if all the kids did something wrong, it's not fair if one of the kids gets a whipping for it. In fact, my mama used to, and she still tells it to this day. She said, when I was growing up, we had about five or six kids in the house. And she said, they was old and young. They just run the gamut. But when mama got ready and one kid got a whipping, they all lined up and they all got a whipping. Oh, that's terrible. That's not fair. Hey! Whether they did that wrong, I guarantee you, see, I know that bunch. And if they hadn't done that one wrong, they'd done something else. Amen? And she was just playing catch up for them. But anyway, this is the rod right here of God. It is unalterable and it does not change. And anybody who will try to change the Bible, what they're doing, they're trying to change the measuring stick. You know what they're doing? It's kind of like those rides at Six Flags. When you go to those rides, Caleb used to get mad all the time because he'd walk up to that little deal that they had for the ride. You never seen those? He'd walk up to it and he didn't measure up to be able to ride there. Boy, that'd make him mad. I mean, he'd get mad. He'd cry and everything else because he could not measure up to the standard that Six Flags, you know what they were doing? They were doing that to keep from getting sued from some little kid falling out of a ride because they weren't big enough in there. So you know what some people are doing right now, Gary? They're taking their standard and they're lowering it. So that now they measure up. Now really, I mean really, they're not capable of riding the ride, but they lower the standard by changing the standard and so now what it is, you can be a sodomite and be in the pulpit and still, according to them, still be right with God, measure up. That's not my message. So we have the rod of Moses, we have the rod of iron, we have a measuring rod, and then we have a rod of chastening. And I'm going to read some verses out of the Bible. The only way I know how to preach this message is just preach it out of the Bible. And a rod of chastening, it means exactly what it says. And I heard this preached one time, and I was just kind of going through in my mind the truth of it. In the, in the old Testament law, did you know that God never instituted jail houses in the old Testament law? God did not. God did not have a law for jails or prisons in the old Testament law. There were forms of punishment, a person, either you had to pay restitution. I mean, if you, if you damaged somebody's property, you had to pay that back. Or you were to be caned, which means you had a rod taken on you and given. I'm talking about full grown adults. If you had committed certain crimes, you were to be taken and you were to be caned. You were to be hit with a rod and whipped. And then, but there was finally, there was a law that allowed for capital punishment, execution. Okay, but there were not any penitentiary systems built into the law. And I'm not saying that that's all wrong. I'm just saying that's just how God had it. One of the ways that God has of keeping His people right is through the rod of chastening. And I just want to say to you, and I'm not going to preach a message on how everybody ought to raise their kids. Because I don't, I mean, I believe the Bible, but I don't get it right sometimes. But I believe in corporal punishment. And this sounds so bad and so evil in the day that we live in right now. And the magazines and the TV shows and the health experts in this world, I want to tell you something. If all you've got of your opinion on how to raise children is coming from Oprah Winfrey and the doctors and Dr. Phil and everybody else, I want to tell you something. You're getting the wrong idea on how to raise children. They're leading you astray. And the experts, the quote unquote experts are coming out every day with some new study that was funded by some liberal godless group saying that that corporal punishment doesn't really work. It's not really producing. Your, your grandparents were wrong is what they're telling you. And what they're really telling you is don't touch that child. that there are other more creative ways to bring this child to obedience. And I want to tell you something, they call themselves child psychologists, but they didn't design the psychology of a child, God did. God designed the psychology of a child. And I want to read some verses out of the Bible this morning, and they're a dual application, but really they're an application to us sitting here in this congregation today. And I'm going to ask you this question again, do you really want to go to heaven? Do you really want to go to heaven? And I will tell you, lost people do not go to heaven. Lost people do not go to heaven. If you're not a son of God, you're not going to go to heaven. And that's all there is to it. But we have a rod of chastening. And I'm just going to read down some verses on how this is to be applied in relation to God's kingdom. Take your Bible, turn to 2 Samuel, if you would, chapter 7. And I want you to pray for me because I just really... Believe it or not, I'm up here shaking. Okay? I'm up here shaking on preaching this message. And I want to preach it right. I want to say it every now and then. I'll get to a point when I'll start breaking down and crying like a little baby. And it's not because I'm sad or afraid or anything like that. It's because I'm overwhelmed with emotion on how God deals with Mike Hoggard. How God deals with Mike Hoggard. And sometimes it just gets overwhelming to me. 2 Samuel chapter 7, this was a prophecy given concerning the house of God. Now we know that the house of God is a temple not made with hands. It's the kingdom of God. It's the house of God. And really, the son of David is not really Solomon. It is primarily applicated to Solomon, but its future application is to Jesus Christ. And he said in verse 13 of 2 Samuel chapter 7, he said, He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. And I want to ask you a question. Are you really concerned with building the house of God, and are you concerned with establishing the throne of Jesus forever? And if you're not, you're not in the kingdom. He Jesus said seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you And I would tell you something on this rod rod of chastisement Here's what's going to happen You're either going to be interested in what you can get away with or you're going to be interested in the kingdom of God But you cannot be interested in both at the same time Now I hope to really preach this in a way that you can understand and I'm not looking for some big emotional response in you but I am looking that God will deal with your heart the way that he dealt with mine and I'm going to tell you a story here in a little bit that God reminded me of this and it opened it up to me, this message this morning. So number one, are you concerned about the Kingdom of God? Are you concerned about everything else and what you can get away with? If you're concerned with what you can get away with, you're an unruly child. God's kingdom. You're an unruly child. You're not concerned about your mom and dad. You're not concerned about anything else mamas and daddies Let me ask you a question. What do you have a problem with in your home? You have a problem with your kids and they mess the house up and who has to go in and clean it all up It's mom and daddy. They have to take care of all the stuff If the kids were concerned about mom and daddy in their house, they would clean up their own mess Very few kids do that But we have make them do it Amen that make them do it now watch this He said so he shall build a house for me in my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever And I will be his father and he shall be my son if he commit iniquity. I will do what? Give him time out for him to think about what he did. Is that what that says? Does it say that I will ground him to his room? Does it say that he will take away Nickelodeon TV for a whole week That's not what it says. What it says is, I will chasten him with the rod of men. Now, if you say that corporal punishment is wrong, then you're calling God unrighteous. Okay, you're calling God unrighteous. God said, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men. But I want you to notice verse 15. But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. In other words, if you will be a son of God, God will chasten you, but he will never, ever, ever, ever take away his mercy from you. Can I get somebody to say amen? Just because your daddy's whooping you doesn't mean he hates you. Just because God, your Father, is chastening you, that does not mean He hates you. In fact, it's the opposite. When God chastens you, He is proving His love to you. And I will go ahead and throw this in because I don't know, you know, I want to get us out at noon, but I want to preach this. And I will go ahead and tell you that when we read Isaiah chapter 11 a while ago, the seven spirits of God are always accompanied with the rod. You are not saved if you're not full of the Holy Ghost. If you have another spirit in you, you're not God's, you're not saved. The Holy Ghost of God accompanies the rod of God, the chastening of God. You say, I don't believe that. Well, let me give you another verse. In fact, I want you to read it with your own eyes. Turn to Psalm 23. Psalm 23, so that sounds familiar to me. Yes, it does. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want he making me to lie down in green pastures He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restored my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for whose sake For his name's sake not for not so you can get cocky and brag about how righteous you are He's leading you in righteousness for his name's sake Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me." What? Thy rod and thy staff do what? They comfort me. Comfort is a Holy Ghost term in the Bible. Jesus called the Holy Ghost in John 16, the Comforter. Now I'm going to tell you how God designed children. God designed children to want to be comforted. Amen Children need comfort from mom and dad and I would tell you there's all kinds of situations in this country where parents are Ruining their children. They're giving them internet. They're giving them cars. They're giving them credit cards They're giving them everything in the world every material possession in the world video games and everything else But they will not love their children the way children really need to be loved You know how children need to be loved they need to be hugged on They need to be held. They need to be kissed and They need to be touched and comforted by their mom and by their daddy. That is what they need. Children don't need your junk at Christmas time. They need mom and daddy. They need grandma and grandpa. Amen. Listen, I cannot, I cannot recall for you one thing that my granddaddy ever gave me. I mean, I know he gave me some gifts and meemaw gave me some gifts at Christmas, but I will tell you what the treasures that I have in my meemaw and peepaw is not the gifts that they gave me, but the love that they had for me. And the times we could go down to Arkansas and I can sit on grandpa's lap and I could sit there and meemaw serve up them eggs. I won't tell you what she could cook. And I was comforted by the love that my grandparents and my mom and daddy had for me. The times that I could crawl in my mama's lap and she could hold me and tell me, she said, son, I love you. The night that, the day that I broke my wrist in three, I was in first grade and I had to lay there in bed with my daddy. And my daddy just looked over and this was not his way, but he just looked over at me laying there in bed. He said, son, I love you. The night that I was ordained to be a preacher, my daddy came and he looked at me and he said, son, I'm proud of you. That's my comfort. Children are designed to be comforted by their parents. And I will tell you, the world will tell you a false system, but God comforts his children, how? With his rod. A child that will be corrected by their father is a child indeed, a true son. Are you listening to me? Let me tell you about, God reminded me of something. Every now and then I get a little unruly. I know that's not right. We have this idea that preachers don't do that. But preachers are men and preachers are the ones who know better and still do wrong. Okay? And every now and then I get a little unruly with God and I get cold and I kind of get disobedient and this and that and the other and I ain't praying, I ain't reading my Bible and I just ain't worth anything. And one time God was just, I mean, he was just really raking me over the coals over this deal. And he was just really putting it to me. The Holy Ghost was bearing down on my soul and I knew that you know How we when we just think about when your kids and you're doing something wrong and and you always afraid that mama's gonna find out about it Daddy's gonna find out. Yeah, I mean you're afraid you you're not sorry that you got you're not sorry. You did something wrong Sorry, you got caught. Amen. He's thinking in your mind. I need to be better about this. Don't get caught no more Well, God always catches us. Amen and He always reads our mind, he always knows what we're up to, and we can't lie to him. And I'll tell you what, what I did was I came down, I literally came into the sanctuary, it wasn't church time, but I came in here and I prayed at this altar. And I was, I mean, the Holy Ghost just beared down on me something awful. And I remember praying, God, You have my permission to chastise me over this. I mean, You do. You have my permission. In fact, I said, God, please. chastise me over this." Now, I cannot ever recall going to my mom and saying, Mom, would you please whip me? Because I want to tell you something, my mom did not hold back. You see, I've grown up a little bit and I know about the Lord and I know about how things work. And I was there at the altar and I said, God, please chastise me. God, please chastise me. And you know what God did? He commenced to lay in it to me. And the next day, God began to just tear me apart. And I laid down that night and I said, God, thank you. Okay, but that's enough. And God said, no it ain't. And the next day, God just, I mean, He just wouldn't let up on me. And I laid down again that night and said, God, okay, that's enough. And the Lord, I did ask you for this and I'm not complaining, but that's good enough. I learned my lesson and God said, no, you didn't. Not yet. You're not, you know how we always tell them, I'm sorry. No, mom said, no, you're not sorry yet, but I'm going to make you sorry. And God was telling me, Mike, I've heard you say sorry before. Are you listening to me? Because sorry just, when it comes to God, sorry just seems to roll out so easily from us. And God can always tell whether we're lying through our teeth or not. When we say that we repented, we really haven't. And the third day, God, I mean, He is just wearing me out. And I laid down that night and I said, God, please, that's enough. I can't, I can't take anymore. And then into the fourth day, I mean, this is going on for four days. God's just tearing me up. And the fourth night, I'm God, please, that's, that's enough. And the next morning, very early in the morning, I woke up. And immediately what was in my heart was, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. And I knew what God was doing. And when God spoke that to me, the whipping was over. It was done. But what had happened was God was confirming something in me. And I don't know how you are. But I've always tried to be honest with people and just tell you a little bit about, because there may be somebody sitting here, maybe somebody listening to this that is like this. It's just like that dream I had this morning. I struggle with acceptance. I mean, I just, I really wrestle with it. Growing up, I mean, when we had PE, I'm the last one picked. Okay, sound familiar to anybody? When the kids are playing games in the neighborhood, they pick everybody else and then they pick hog, okay? And I wanted to be with the tough crowd and that didn't work out. I wanted to be with the burnout crowd, that didn't work out. And I wanted to be with this and I wanted to be with that and it just never, it never really worked out. Played high school sports one year, ninth grade basketball and I'm the one on the bench except for when we play Grandview. When we play Grandview, they let me play. And that's just how it was and I just, I struggled for acceptance. I wanted a letter on my jacket so I could be one of the boys. And to this day, I mean, I'm older now and I'm more patient, wise, but I'm telling you, I still, every now and then, I will struggle with whether or not I'm saved. I'm just being honest with you. And if you haven't, you are either more spiritual than me or a lot more cocky than me. But I'm telling you that I struggle every now and then with acceptance by God and I'll read the word and I'll believe it, but it's still a struggle for me. Am I preaching to you this morning? And so God said that morning, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." And I got it right then. Was that God, I mean, the mere fact that I had said, God, please chastise me, number one was me saying, God, I cannot control my thoughts, my actions, my feelings. Raise your hand if you can control your thoughts, your feelings, your act. Raise your hand. You almost got you there, Roy. Roy says I'm in perfect control of my thoughts and my actions. I know I'm an idiot. Amen In fact when we are in control of them, that's we're in bad shape somebody say amen We cannot control a child listen to this now a child cannot control their foolishness Let's let's start walking through the scriptures Um, how many of you know that verse spare the rod and spoil the child? How many of you know that verse? Raise your hand. That verse is not in the Bible. I caught you. The principle is, but that verse is, that is not a verse of the Bible. Okay. But I will tell you, I don't listen to this. Proverbs 22 15 foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. Listen, and I'm not talking about raising kids this morning. I'm talking about us sitting here today trying to be Christians and trying to be church members and saying that we want to go to heaven when we die. And I'm here to tell you that foolishness is so bound up in us, it's not even funny. Foolishness. I mean, you stop, I mean, you stop thinking about kids. They're foolish at what they do. Kids that will take scissors to the hair and cut their own hair. Have you ever seen kid do that? It's foolishness. Amen. I've done it. Thinking that everybody would like me now because I trim my eyebrows real nice and everybody's going, what did you do? Foolishness. Burning the tree house down. That was me. I burned the tree house down, caught the woods on fire. That was me. Foolishness is bound inside of Mike Hoggart's heart. I'm tell you what I'm just I'm the probably one of the biggest fools in this church house today. I Got so much foolishness in me. It is. I mean, it's just it's not funny And you know what I realized that day sitting at that altar God, I know I'm I got I am foolish. I'm rebellious. I'm stubborn and God I'm begging you Drive that out of me And I want to tell you something, that one little swat that we give to our kids, sometimes that don't cut it. It might get them out of our way for about an hour, but that ain't going to do it. And God spent about four or five days just whooping the fire out of me. You know what God was doing? Let me tell you what God was doing with me. God was making my future temptations so distasteful and so sour That instead of craving wickedness, I would go, I don't want to do that again. Has that ever happened to you? Listen, God will sour your stomach when it comes to your sin. And you ought to be thankful. Amen? You ought to be thankful. Let me read some other verses to you. Let's see here Proverbs 10 13 in the lips of him that hath understanding wisdom is found But a rod is for the back of him that is void of understanding When you will not apply your heart and your mind to know this Bible God will take a rod to you And he will apply it to your back God and when when we say back in the Bible, we know what part of the back we're talking about. Amen we're talking about the part where God loaded it down with nerve bundles and Amen. It's very sensitive area and it has a lot of fat and tissue in it and very little bones so that nothing will be broken. It's a big giant cushion is what it is. But man, it hurts. And God designed that for us. Why? to give us some understanding and some wisdom so that we get it, so that we understand now how God works. And I want to tell you something. God woke me up that morning and He said, Mike, I want to give you some wisdom now. I want to give you some understanding. I want you to know that I am your father and that you are my son and I will never stop having mercy on you. Somebody say amen. That's what God was doing with me. I'll never stop loving you. And I'll never stop having mercy on you and forgiving you of your sins. And I will always feed you and clothe you and take care of you. I will be your daddy and you'll be my son forever. God had to use the rod to get that in me. You get it? Proverbs 13, 24, and you listen to the Bible. He that spareth his rod, hateth his son. You afraid that God hates you? If you won't let Him whip you, He will. And if God doesn't take a rod to you every now and then and take care of business with you, He does hate you. But the verse says, but he that loveth him chasteneth him B times. Now I was going to look that word up a while ago and I forgot it, but you know what I think it means? When we are talking about multiplication, we never say 8 multiplied by the factor of 5, do we? We always say 8 times 5. I think it's a multiplication term. Okay. Multiple chastisements. And that's what God was doing with me. He didn't just give me a little swat and say, now don't you do that no more, little Mikey. That's a shame. No, no, no, no. That's not what God... And have you ever seen these grandma paddles? They sell them in little stores like that, little knick-knack stores, these grandma paddles. Big old long wooden board with this pillow, fluffy pillow on the deal of it. That's grandma paddle. God does not own one of those as far as I'm concerned. Amen He's got a big old rod and he takes it after me and he and I say that's enough God said not yet It's not enough. I have to multiply this thing. Why? Because I don't want to just punish you. I want to change you. I want to correct you. I don't want you to think that you can do whatever you want to do anymore. I want you to think that you will do what I want you to do anymore because I'm your daddy. Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him Proverbs 23 withhold not correction from the child for if thou beatest him with the rod He shall not die. You know what God hadn't killed you You might have thought he was. You might have wished he would. But God did not kill you. Thou shalt beat him with the rod and shalt deliver his soul from hell. I want to tell you something. I want God to deliver my soul from hell. Somebody say amen. I want God to deliver me from hell. I do not want to go to hell. I want to go to heaven. I want to be with Jesus when I die. Somebody say amen. And if it takes God to take this old fool and to whip the fire out of me about once a week, then so be it. I'm leading up to something. I want you to listen to it now. Proverbs 26, three, a whip for the horse. Do they, do they still whip horses? You ever seen a horse race? Them jockeys know how to get them horses going. Don't they? They'll take a little whip and they'll apply it to the backside of that horse. And they can make that horse. I mean, that horse will run, run, run, run, run a whip for the horse and a bridle for the ass and a rod for the fool's back. That's what God said. Proverbs 29, 15. The rod and reproof give wisdom. Listen to this. But a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame. A child left to himself. You know what that means? Children that are not punished in homes. And I want to tell you something. Look around at the generation we got coming up right now. Number one, they are not comforted by mom and daddy's touch. And number two, they are never corrected. Not God's way. They have been told by the daycares and they've been told by the child psychologists that timeout is sufficient to punish them or listen to this or yelling at them and yelling is not discipline. Sometimes it's necessary, but it's not discipline. Yelling is not. And they've been told that and they will not punish and train their children and technically they are left to themselves. So now we have girls that are 13 and 14 years old getting knocked up pregnant, smoking cigarettes, sexting their boyfriends on their cell phones, disobedient to every authority that there is out there, disobedient to civil authorities, disobedient to school authorities, Disobedient in their clothing styles and their makeup and everything I mean, this is the generation that we have but it's not really their fault. It's mom and daddy's fault For letting them go Now you can amen that or you can just be mad at me, but I'm just telling you doesn't listen That is what God said you do not let a child raise themselves Now let me balance this out Job 5, verse 17, Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth. Therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty, for he maketh sore and he bindeth up, he woundeth and his hands make whole. And I'm going to tell a story this morning that happened to me before we left the house. One of my children, I won't say which one, you can take a guess, he got unruly, and he really got unruly, and I laid it to him. And he don't handle that well. I mean, he squalls and cries and screams. And I mean, just goes on like somebody shot him three or four times. I mean, it's just, that's just how he is. That's just his nature. And it's hard to listen to. You have to kind of turn it off every now and then. But it was getting about time to get ready to go to church. And I was, I mean, I'll tell you why I was mad at him. But it was getting about time to get ready to go to church and he needed to eat breakfast and he'd get dressed and everything like that. And God said, Mike, remember the message now. Yeah, I remember God. And so this same child that I just, I just, man, I laid it to him. I walked back in his room. He was laying there on the floor and I remember sticking my hand out to him. And instantly I got this image of God. Now, this is the exact same hand. And I reached down and I picked him up. And I didn't go, block it up! I picked him up and I physically picked him up. You know it's not Matthew. And I picked him up and I set him up on the top bunk. And I drew him in real close. And immediately he started quieting down. And I could feel his heart rate slowing down. And his breathing had slowed down. And I was loving him. And I said, I love you son. And are you ready to go eat now? Yeah? Yeah. You ready to go get dressed and let's go to church?" Yeah. And I just laid there and I held him. And I told him I loved him. And instantly his whole demeanor changed. I want to balance this out. Somebody ought to take you and whoop the fire out of you if you are a dad or a mom. that will only show judgment to your children and never comfort. Somebody ought to take you and wear you out. And I mean it. And I've seen daddies, I've seen daddies in this church house do exactly that. I've seen mamas do it too, do exactly that. You ought to get out on your knees and repent if you have ever treated your child that way, you scoundrel. The Bible says, provoke not your children to wrath. And I will tell you something, there's a bunch of rebellious kids out there that are probably grown adults now that wouldn't give you a dime for a church because their mom and daddy went to church and they were provoked to wrath in their home and never loved the right way. And you ought to have stripes laid to your back. The same father, The same father that spent four or five days tearing me inside and out. When he was all done, he took that same hand, it's the right hand, and he wrapped it around his son and he said, son, I love you. And of course, I'll never stop forgiving you and I'll never stop loving you and you'll always be my son. And I want you to receive comfort from your father by my rod. He woundeth and he bindeth up. That's my father. If you don't want a daddy like that, let me read Hebrews 12 and then I'm done. Hebrews 12 verse 5. You have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as children. My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou are rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth, and chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." Now I want to listen to you. Would you listen to me? I think we've got us a pretty good church going here. Can I hear you say amen? Now we're not busting the walls out, but God's blessing us, and I mean, I'm getting, listen, I don't want to keep, I don't want to sound like I'm bragging, because I'm not, but God is just taking what's going on here, and He is literally spreading it out to the four corners of the world. It's just blowing my mind away. And God doesn't need 400 people in this church to do it. He needs some people that'll be obedient to Him. Are you listening to me? Because I've been in church a long time, and I've seen people who were supposedly pillars of the church that were rebellious, disobedient, hard-hearted, and everything else in the world. And that leads me to believe that they're not saved. Because nobody, listen to me, I don't care if you've been here 40 years or been here a year, nobody is above being chastened. Nobody is. Not the deacons, not the elders, not the Sunday school teachers, not the preacher. Not the big tithers. No one is above being chastened. And I want to tell you what this preacher's seen in this church over the years. People who get rebellious against God and they'll start, they'll start, instead of coming under the chastening of God and being corrected, they'll rebel against it. And I want to tell you something. Just so that you're not thinking that, I don't know if it's here or not. Yeah, in verse nine, but if you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then you're bastards. You know what that means? He's not your dad. He is not your father, which means that you have no claim to the inheritance. How many of you want to go to heaven? then when God starts taking you with a message that I preach, and I'm not perfect, and I don't preach the Bible 100% perfect, I don't think I do that. And I'm not the measuring stick. Remember the rod is, the Bible always is. But if God in a message sometimes pulls out his old rod and says, now I'm going to start dealing with you, and if you ever turn your back on that thing, you ought to be real careful about your attitude. I don't care if you're hearing somebody else preach it. I don't care if we have visiting evangelist comes in and they're preaching it or you're just reading the Bible or the Holy Ghost is just dealing with you on your way to work one day. If God begins to deal with you and you see God pull, I mean, my kids know, they know that sound. That belt's coming up. It's hitting every one of them belt loops coming off. They know that sound. And I want to tell you something. You can tell when God pulls his rod out, can't you? You ever turn your back on God and say, no, I ain't taking that no more. You better be real careful. My friend, you may not be a child of God. And if you're not, this Bible says you're a bastard, which means you have no father. That is God. And you have no inheritance. It's the truth today. I know beyond any shadow of a doubt. I know beyond any doubt, any emotion, any feeling that I have. I know for a fact that I am accepted by God and that I am His son because God, I asked God to chasten me and He did. And I asked God to correct me, and He did. And I begged Him to stop. And when it was time, then He stopped. And then He started loving on me. And then He started blessing me. And then He started working on me. I know who my Father is. And I love Him for that. And I'm going to ask you today, do you know who your Father is? Don't despise His rod, people. Don't turn you back away from God. Please don't do that. Because if you do, you're not His son. And you're not going to inherit. I'm going to ask you to stand to your feet. I'm just gonna, I am, I'm just gonna act like this message was for me. And if you got a blessing out of it, then you tell God, thank you. But every now and then I'll do this just because I love you and I'm your pastor and I want to pray with you and I don't want to judge you. That's not what it is. And I'm not trying to judge how successful the message is. I don't care about that. God, God's the one that brings that, not me. But I want to ask you with every head bowed and every eye closed, number one, are you lost today? Do you know that you're saved? Do you know that you're born again? And, um, You have something inside of you that wants to be loved by God. And you know this. You really know this down deep in your heart and you're fighting it off real hard. Listen, there's somebody here right now that I know for a fact that you're just fighting it tooth and nail. And it's not that I know everything about you, it's just that God's just kind of leading me in that direction. And you're sitting in this church house this morning And I want to ask you this morning, would you like to have God just love on you and love on you and love on you so that you could be His child? Would you like that? And I want to give you the opportunity this morning. You can either come down now or see me after the service and let God deal with you. But if you're here this morning and maybe you're a little backslid on God, maybe you've gotten cold, And God pulled His rod out and you run away from it. No, I don't want that, God. I don't want that. I'm going to ask you this morning if you'd come down to one of these altars and get that right with God and turn it back around and do what I did. I mean seriously, do what I did and say, God, please. God, chasten me over this thing. God, correct me. I'm giving you permission to do it. God, would you please chasten me? And I want to tell you something, the greatest revival that you could ever have is the love revival when God's done chastening you. I mean, it is, it pales in comparison to anything we could have in this church house. The kind of revival that you could have in your life on the tail end of God chastening you, Now I know it's not fun to look forward to and Jesus facing the cross didn't want to go to the cross. But He did because He knew what was on the other side of it. And I'm telling you, the joys that await you on the other side of you coming to God, they're just, they're not to be compared. And I'm just going to ask you this morning, if you're here this morning and you're really under conviction and you just, I don't know, you may or may not make it down to the altar this morning, but you are under conviction. And you would like for me to pray for you without really knowing. I don't need to know everything that's going on and anything like that. But you just slip your hand up and say, Pastor Mike, God's dealing with me. Yes, I see that. I see that. I see that. I see that. Anybody else? Pastor Mike, God's just really dealing with me this morning. And I want that, but I'm afraid. Would you just raise your hand? There's about four or five of you so far. God bless you. I see that. I want us to have a time of prayer this morning. I want you to just spend a minute with God, like Brother Mike did. And you can just tell God, God, you decide whether or not my heart is right or not, but God, I am under conviction right now. And God, I want you to deal with me. I want you to deal with me and correct me so that I go to heaven and I can be your son. Our dear sweet Heavenly Father, Lord, I can't bring revival to a church. I don't know how. I can't bring real revival to a church. Only you can do that. And God, there's people all over this building this morning, God, that you're dealing with. Lord, there may be some others, Lord, that I don't know about. And that's fine, God. You know about it. And Lord God, we are so stubborn, we're rebellious, and we're unruly. We are wicked, we're foolish, God. We are just like little children. And I just pray, Heavenly Father, God, Lord, that you would just, I mean, Lord, you'd just bring it across our backside and straighten us out, God. Nobody is above this. Father, Lord, that you would reprove us, dear God, for our disobedience and our wickedness, God. And Lord, that you would just correct us and train us, God, Lord, so that the next time we're tempted, Lord, we just remember, Lord, what we went through. And we say, God, no, I don't want that anymore. God, Lord, that you would just take our sinfulness and sour it in our stomach, God, so, Lord, that it just makes us outright sick, Lord. God, would you please do that with these people that are here this morning? God, do it with this preacher, Lord. Lord, you're not finished with me. I'm not done. But Lord, Father, train me. Make me a better man. Make me a better husband, a better father, a better pastor, a better Christian, God. Just continue to make me better, dear God. And work with me, Lord, so that I get to be your son. Lord, blessed be your name and blessed be your word, Father, Lord, and just thank you, dear God, for preaching to me today. Lord, just bless the message and bless it in the hearts of these people that have heard it. Bless these, Lord, that have asked for prayer. Lord, just help them, God. Help them all, Father. We pray this in the name of Jesus, our Lord and our Savior. And all of God's people said, Amen. God bless you. You are dismissed. Thank you. I love you.