God's Gonna Whip You If You Don't Quit It

PROV. 3:11-12 “GOD’S GONNA WHIP YOU IF YOU DON’T QUIT IT!”

A) I want to say three things about myself as a Christian!

* First of all I am saved ... I am saved because I have repented of my sin, and by faith accepted the

Lord Jesus Christ, and received Him as my Lord.

* Furthermore, I am sure ... I know that I am saved and I know I am saved because God’s Word

says so ... Romans 10:13 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

B) But I am also secure! * Now, I don’t like the phrase, “once saved, always saved.”

* It is a dangerous phrase because you basically are teaching people that they have a license to sin,

and they will go out and live like they want to.

* There’s something wrong with people who have that philosophy, because when God saves you,

He changes your want to!

* A man said to Dwight L. Moody one time, “You must be miserable as a Christian.”

C) Moody said, “Why do you say that?”

* He said, “Because I get to sin all I want to and you don’t.”

* Moody said, “I get to sin all I want to.” * He said, “You do?”

* He said, “Yea, I just don’t want to.” * That is exactly what God does for His children!

D) But secondly, God won’t let you live like you want to and be happy!

* If you’re saved, then you remember this: “If you are bound to sin, you are bound to suffer.”

* A Christian is not someone who can’t sin ... A Christian is someone who can’t sin and enjoy it.

* Listen attentively as I preach on the subject, “God’s Gonna Whip You If You Don’t Quit It.”

E) I heard about a young boy that went off to one of these extremely expensive universities!

* The bills were coming in monthly to these parents, and they were struggling to keep their head

above water. * One day his mother received a letter from him that read like this:

* “Dear Mom: I’m writing to inform you that I have flunked all of my courses.”

* “I had an accident and totally wrecked my car, I owe the clothing store in town $2000 .......”

* “And I have been suspended for the next semester because of misconduct.”

* “I am coming home, prepare Dad!” * His mother wrote a one line letter back to him that just

said this: “Dear son: Dad is prepared, prepare yourself.”

F) God is prepared to deal with His children when they sin!

* There are three ways God could deal with us when we sin .......

G) First of all, God could condemn us!

* Even after a person is saved, the first time they sin God could just go ahead and send them to

hell. * But God won’t do that, for the Bible says in Rom.8:1 “There is therefore now no .......”

H) Secondly: God could condone us!

* God could just stick His head in the sand and ignore our sin and overlook it.

* But God cannot and will not do that because He is a holy, righteous, and just God that lets no sin

go unpunished! * God always has to deal with sin because of His character!

* But the third way that God could deal with us, and the way that He does deal with us is .......

I) He can correct us! * You see, if God condemned us after we sinned .......

* Then that would be pure legalism; that is, if you sin, you go to hell!

* If God condoned our sin, that would be liberalism, where God would just simply say that sin is

no big deal and let it go. * But the third way that God deals with us is in love!

* The Lord Himself said in Rev. 3:19 “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous .......”

J) Let’s look in the Book of Heb. 12:5-11 …….

* Here in this passage before us we have described for us divine discipline!

* We need to understand immediately that the purpose of discipline is not to discourage us, it is to

encourage us! * The word “exhortation” in v.5 literally means “encouragement.”

* Now how could the discipline of God possibly encourage His children?

* It confirms our identity - v.6-7 “For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth .......”

* One of the marks that you are a child of God, is the discipline of God on your life when you sin!

K) Now God whips His children, but God whips only His children!