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(I consider this one of the top five most-important articles for
practical application on this website. It is NOT what you think. ---Harry
Bethel) THE CONDEMNATION OF ADAM AND SALVATION OF EVE AIDING AND ABETTING YOUR PASTOR ARE ALL CHRISTIANS AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST? THE ART OF ALMOST SAYING SOMETHING BOOKS READ AND CHURCHES VISITED THE LAST WORD ON BURIAL AND CREMATION A CHALLENGE TO ALL PASTORS ON PLANET EARTH SHOULD CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS IT'S TIME TO COME OUT OF THE CHURCHES THE SO-CALLED GREAT COMMISSION SHOULD CHRISTIANS BORROW MONEY? DEMOCRACY --- A SCRIPTURAL PERSPECTIVE THE CHURCH IS LOSING DISCERNMENT WHAT IS FAITH? --- MOST CHRISTIANS DON'T KNOW IS RITUALISTIC FOOTWASHING SCRIPTURAL? GOSPEL MESSAGE IN MANY LANGUAGES WHAT IS GRACE? --- MOST CHRISTIANS DON'T KNOW THE HOLOCAUST--- PERSECUTION OR GOD'S JUDGMENT? SHOULD CHRISTIANS BUY INSURANCE? THE JEWS ARE NOT GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE OCCUPATIONS SUITABLE FOR CHRISTIANS THE LONELINESS OF THE CHRISTIAN THE MENACE OF THE RELIGIOUS MOVIE THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES ALL THE NEW TESTAMENT COMMANDMENTS PERSECUTION AND MARTYRDOM --- THE NEW TESTAMENT NORM THE GREAT POSTPONEMENTTHE PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE HOAX HARDLY ANY CHRISTIANS WILL BE RAPTURED! REPENTANCE --- A FORGOTTEN DOCTRINE ETERNAL REWARDS --- RECEIVING AND LOSING SHOULD CHRISTIANS KEEP THE SABBATH? THE SUBJECTION AND SILENCE OF WOMEN SHOULD CHRISTIANS KEEP THE TEN COMMANDMENTS? ARE YOU A TRUE-CHRISTIAN APOSTATE? SHOULD CHRISTIANS WATCH TELEVISION? GOD'S ULTIMATE WARNING TO CHRISTIANS UNITY OF THE SPIRIT OR THE SPIRIT OF UNITY?
THE CHASTENING OF THE LORD Harry Bethel One day several years ago I saw a man fall off the top of a wall while framing a house. I hurried over to him to see if I could be of any help. Apparently all the air was knocked out of his lungs. He wanted to get up and I told him to lie down. He was pressing his hands against his chest and uttering an awful sounding moan. I didn't know if he had any broken bones or not. He was out of work for several days afterward and incurred some medical bills associated with the fall. But the thing that was most significant about the entire incident was that after a few minutes when he was able to talk, he told me the first thing that came to his mind when he fell was that the Lord chastens those He loves. It is a good thing to know that God chastens us when we sin, when we get out of His will and don't repent. The psalmist wrote, "Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord" (Psalm 94:12). Sometimes God's people will not obey His Word until they are severely dealt with by Him. "Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word" (Psalm 119:67). But those who are chastened by Him should remember to "despise not the chastening of the Lord: neither be weary of his correction: for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth" (Proverbs 3:11-12). One of the things that troubles me about the chastening of the Lord is that in some church settings hardly anything is mentioned about it. In fact some groups virtually ignore this truth. For example, over a period of months a chapter-by-chapter teaching of the Book of Hebrews was given in a certain church group. A major theme of Hebrews chapter 12 deals with the chastening of the Lord. But when the brother taught from this chapter not a single word was mentioned about God's chastening! Some Christians will not admit that God chastens them. When they go through many hardships and turmoil they attribute it to ordinary troubles that are common to man. It is true that even the greatest saints experience trials and tribulations that have nothing to do with personal sin. But to deliberately ignore the truth that God chastens those of His who knowingly get out of His will reveals the sin of pride. How can you know whether you are suffering under the chastening hand of a loving God or whether you are suffering for righteousness' sake? First, you must be totally honest with yourself. Has the Holy Spirit been convicting you of sin in your life? Has someone confronted you with areas of compromise of God's Word and you rejected it? Have you been resisting the gentle promptings of the Spirit? You don't have to be guilty of some gross sin. "Whatsoever is not of faith is sin" (Romans 14:23b) and "To one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin" (James 4:17 NASB). Our loving God chastens us in different ways. First, we lose that innermost peace in our spirit, and we don't have a perfectly clear conscience. That price should be high enough to pay, but when Christians ignore the whispers of the Lord, then He speaks to us in other ways. One way that God really gets the attention of His saints is to touch our pocketbooks. Financial losses and setbacks are used by our sovereign God to get our attention concerning sin in our lives. In addition to this, many things just don't work out in an orderly way. God is a God of order. "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way" (Psalm 37:23). Another way that God chastens His people is to touch our health, or the health of a son or daughter. Many times during the chastening of the Lord, if we do not repent after financial hardships or losses, He sends physical maladies to us. Of course, their is no set way in which order God works. Sometimes we may suffer an illness at the hand of our loving Father without any significant financial loss. Another way that God works to bring His people to repentance for being out of His will (for example, rejecting truth revealed to us) is by Him allowing demonic assaults on those under our authority. Perhaps a man will not repent until he sees those for whom he is responsible suffer at the hands of the enemy. This can be innocent children or his wife, for example. Or, God does not allow serious problems that we experience directly, but through loved ones close to us whom God strikes in some way. In a case like this, God wants us to see that the reason for our loved one's suffering is because of our continuing in sin, and refusing to repent. This could happen in the case of a rebellious wife who refuses to obey her husband, (which is as serious as the sin of witchcraft). Another reason God chastens His people is if they do harm to one of His prophets whom He sends as His mouthpiece to the saints. God very clearly warns people to "touch not My anointed, do my prophets no harm." This is probably one of the most disregarded warnings about how serious it is to harm one of His prophets. This writer has seen God very seriously chasten saints who touched His anointed ones (prophets). The severity of the chastening usually has to do with the spiritual maturity of the Christian being chastened. A Christian who has a good grasp of the Scriptures, and knows what God says about a particular sin, and who refuses to repent and get back into the will of God, can expect some severe chastening. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:31). The chastening could even be a serious affliction that could last the rest of the Christian's life (financial problems, a limping leg, blinded eye, severely burned face or other body parts, or a hundred other permanent problems). God loves His people enough to chastise them enough to keep them from committing the same or similar sin again. Beloved brother, let us make sure that the suffering we experience is for "righteousness' sake" (1 Peter 3:14). "For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God" (1 Peter 2:20). "For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well-doing, than for evil-doing" (1 Peter 3:17). "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" (Hebrews 12:5-6). It is far better to see the error of our ways and repent, than to delay true repentance and suffer serious chastening from our loving God, usually very soon, rather than later. |