The Chastening Complex

I. "BLESSED IS THE MAN WHO THOU CHASTENEST, O LORD, AND TEACHEST HIM OUT OF THE LAW"

A. This is one of the great Bible truths:

1. That the natural man does not relish because it involves unpleasant experiences

2. It matters not who we are and what our claims may be toward God, chastisement comes hard to us

B. Yet, the Psalmist considers chastisement a blessing:

1. Deeper consideration of the reason for chastisement will prove the Psalmist correct

2. This may explain some of our experiences in our daily life

II. CHASTISEMENT

A. What it means:

1. To chastise is to subject to pain, hardship, and trials

2. To purify, refine and ennoble, to bring out the higher qualities of life

3. To remove from life the laments that mar or injure our life

B. When chastisement is viewed in the light:

1. Of the refining of our character; that makes such chastisement desirable

2. "For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receives" - Heb 12:6

3. "But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons" - Heb 12:8

C. Chastisement is absolutely necessary:

1. To remove out of our lives the things that will keep us out of the Kingdom of Heaven unless we are made free from them

2. There are certain diseases that will have to be removed by the use of the surgeons knife

3. We know that our God is the most skillful surgeon in the universe, and when He uses the knife it is because there is no other way for Him to help us

4. It is one or the other-if we wish to be in the Kingdom of God, we must be willing to have God remove out of our lives the things that He cannot accept to enter His kingdom

5. These are facts that the flesh does not want but we know and God knows that they are our only salvation

III. THE BLESSEDNESS OF CHASTISEMENT

A. Let us consider the divine motive of chastisement:

1. Love is God's motive in chastening His children

2. "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten" - Rev 3:19

3. "Lord, in trouble have they visited Thee, they poured out a prayer when Thy chastening was upon them" - Is 26:16

B. None of God's children are exempt from chastisement:

1. Not even the Son of man was free from chastisement - Is 53:5. Think of the pain and agony our Lord passed through beginning in the Garden of Gethsemane to Golgotha

2. Those Bible characters that stand out in history as the bright stars were men and women that were severely chastened by the Lord. Examples: Moses got his measure of chastisement; so did Joseph, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Daniel and all the prophets. We think of the apostles and what they went through in life.

3. Take Job, that man of God, of whom God had testified that he was upright and eschewed evil. How severely he was chastised and yet he became an example of loyalty to God and patience for the saints in all ages to follow.