When Correction Comes
FOUNDATION STATEMENT: Because of what’s on the line where repenting and perishing is
concerned this moment “When correction comes” is a very big moment in your life
I.
What do you do when
correction comes? – Hebrews 12:5
A. Don’t faint when you are
corrected or rebuked
1.
Would
the Lord rebuke you? And might he use somebody in authority over to rebuke you?
a. Rebuke-Tell or show one his fault, Convict, Bring to the light,
Expose, Correct, Reprehend severely
2.
Do
not faint when you are rebuked of him (Faint-Despond,
Become faint-hearted; Depressed, dejected in mind, sinking or dejection of
spirit)
a. Many people when
correction comes they pout, they feel sorry for themselves, and they take on
the mentality of victim as if something bad has happened to them
b. If every time you get
corrected you go into the tank and feel sorry for yourself and play the victim
and the martyr you are not repenting
3.
God
doesn’t correct you to depress you; he corrects you because he loves you
a. God correcting you is God
loving you
b. When you’re rebuked it’s
not time to be depressed it’s time to repent
c. EX: “But I’ve
been doing it that way for 20 years and I just feel so bad.” – It’s not
time for that
4.
When
you get corrected you should be happy not depressed because if you receive it
and repent there is some destruction that you just missed that you otherwise
wouldn’t have missed had you not be corrected (EX: Thank you sir for correcting
me)
B. Why is correction coming?
It’s coming because God loves you and doesn’t want to see you perish
1.
Correction is a
manifestation of love (When God’s correcting us He is loving us and if we could
keep that in our thinking it would help us tremendously)
a. The enemy tries to twist it into something else; that if
you’re being corrected that whoever is correcting you doesn’t love you and
doesn’t care for you and the person that just let’s you go on in error and
never corrects is the one who really loves you – WRONG
2.
It
takes greater love to correct somebody than it does to not correct somebody
a. When somebody corrects
you they run the risk of you being mad at them, getting offended, or upset at them;
It’s probably going to be uncomfortable and tense; But they love you so much
that they are willing to have all those things happen and endure it because
they love you
3.
It’s a lot easier on you to
just let people go and not deal with things; but it will be much harder on them
and their destruction will be by you-2 Corinthians 7:9
a. Correction might not be fun for him, but it’s necessary for
them-2 Corinthians 2:4
1)
Do
you love them enough to go through what you have to go through to correct them?
2)
You
don’t want them to get hurt and you know that if they don’t correct this they
could be hurt
b. It is not love to see somebody headed towards destruction and
not say anything because you don’t want to hurt their feelings
C. Don’t despise God’s
correction or instruction
1.
Despise-to care little for, regard
lightly, make small account; treat it like it’s not that big of deal
a. Some people God corrects
and they regard it lightly and one of the biggest ways you can tell that it
doesn’t mean much to them is that they don’t change
b. If you get the
correction, but don’t repent you regarded it lightly; to you it wasn’t that big
of deal so that’s why you didn’t change
c. People aren’t changing
because when God corrects them it’s not a big deal to them
2.
If
God corrects is that a light thing and does it really matter that much?
a. What would be on the line
if He corrected you, but you regarded it lightly and didn’t change? On some
level and in some area and in some way you would perish, you would be destroyed
b. Is your preservation and protection a light thing? Then nor
is his correction a light thing
3.
Why
would God be correcting in the first place? Because he doesn’t want you to
perish
a. Correction is for sorrow
to repentance, repentance to salvation-2 Corinthians 7:6-10
b. God corrects to protect you (not just because he likes
correcting people)
4.
His
correction should carry so much weight in your life and it should be heavy to
you and you should hold it in high regard and when it comes it should be your
highest priority to repent and change
a. Those who despise correction (regard it lightly) will see
destruction
D. The correction of the
Lord – How does it come?
1.
Isaiah
53:5-The chastisement of our peace fell on him so now God can correct me with
His word, His spirit, His ministry gifts (2 Timothy 3:16, John 14:26, Ephesians
4:11-12)
2.
Many
believe God uses physical perishing to train and teach, but it’s not his will
that any perish-2Pet3:9
a. If you ignore the instruction and correction of the Lord
you’ll perish, but that’ not his will and you might learn something, but that
wasn’t his will that you learn it that way
E. ***A culture where
correction is not commonplace is one in which destruction will be
prevalent (Correction should be a
part of the culture)
1.
8-One
of the main jobs of a Father is to correct and correction is a main staple in
the Kingdom
a. There are some believers
who because they’ve rejected correction so much, although they are saved and
are children of God, in their lives it’s like they have no Father
2.
10-Correction is for your
profit
3.
11-When
nobody is getting corrected everybody is happy, but the affliction, pain, and
sorrow is coming
a. It seems to be joyous
because it’s not joyous
b. No correction is Grievous-Sorrow, pain, grief,
affliction, annoyance, mourning, heaviness
II.
When correction comes you
can do one two things: Either we will harden ourselves and resist it or we will
humble ourselves and receive it
A. Proverbs 29:1-If you
harden yourself to correction you authorize your own destruction
1.
People
don’t perish because God corrects them one time and they didn’t repent; This
guy was corrected often (frequently)
a. GNT-If
you get more stubborn every time you are corrected, one day you will be crushed
and never recover.
b. CEV-If
you keep being stubborn after many warnings, you will suddenly discover you have gone too far.
c. ERV-Some
people refuse to bend when someone corrects them. Eventually they will break,
and there will be no one to repair the damage
d. MSG-For
people who hate discipline and only get more stubborn, there’ll come a day when
life tumbles in and they break, but by
then it’ll be too late to help them.
e. NLV-A
man who does not listen after many strong words are spoken to him will be
destroyed all at once and without help.
f.
VOICE-The one who remains defiant after repeated
reprimands will suddenly be shattered, and there will be no
remedy for him.
2.
When
the correction came his response was a stiffening of the neck and hardening of
the heart
a. Harden-To show stubbornness, to make hard, to make stiff, Obstinacy-stubbornly
refusing to change one's opinion or chosen course of action, despite attempts
to persuade one to do so
b. Rather
than having a neck that’s lose and bowed in godly sorrow, it’s stiff, it won’t
acknowledge the truth and repent
3.
What happens to the person
who when corrections comes they harden themselves? They are suddenly destroyed
(in an instant)
a. The
destruction didn’t come in an instant because they had many opportunities to
repent
b. Why suddenly? Because he
was given time to repent while he was being often reproved
c. This
guy is perishing because he will not repent
4.
There’s no cure for
destruction that comes because of an unwillingness to repent
a. The remedy to this destruction was to repent, but he won’t
repent so there is no remedy
1)
The
remedy was to change but he wouldn’t change
b. Can we pray this
destruction off of this guy? NO
1)
You can’t live a
unrepentant life and then try to pray the perishing and destruction off that
came because you wouldn’t repent
2)
They
way out of destruction for that person is repentance-2 Timothy 2:24
B. 1 Samuel 15-This is the
wrong thing to do when correction comes
1.
3-Course
correction-Because usually when you defeat an enemy you spare the king and keep
the spoils
a. When you marched back in
with the opposing king captured and all the spoil of the enemy taken there
would be a great celebration and the victorious king and his army would be
acknowledge, seen, celebrated by the people (This time if they win they are going
to come back with nothing)
b. Wanting to be seen and
noticed is a manifestation of pride and Saul has a pride problem
2.
8-9-He
regarded this course correction, this direction as a light thing
3.
11-This
correction and rebuke is no fun for Samuel
a. 10-Saul didn’t the
opposite of repenting; he’s turning away from God not to God
4.
12-15-WHEN correction comes
a. 12-HE set up a trophy for
HIS victory (He wants to be seen and noticed and celebrated)
b. 14-This was his first
opportunity to repent
c. 15-What the Lord said to
him meant nothing to him
1)
He
knows he did the wrong thing, but to him it wasn’t that big of deal
2)
EX:
People in authority over others will tell them what to do, but it means nothing
to the people and then when the leader corrects them they stiffen up and harden
themselves
d. 16-Sameul had to tell
Saul to relax, be quiet, withdraw; Saul’s getting worked up because he’s
getting corrected
1)
There’s
some defiance in this “Say on” response
5.
19-God
is giving him time and another opportunity to repent – This is the mercy
of God
a. It’s time to repent, to
own it, to humble yourself and to be a man and not try to justify it and cover
it
6.
It’s
not the disobedience that is the big thing here; it’s that he want repent
a. 20-21-He’s defiant and
blaming an defensive and trying to justify his wrong behavior
b. 23-Rebellion insinuates
you knew what was right and did wrong anyway
1)
This
whole time he knows what was right and that he did wrong
2)
20-21-He
knows something wasn’t done right because he blames the people for the wrong and
says some stuff, SHOULD HAVE BEEN destroyed
c. 23-Stuborness-Push,
Insolent, Arrogance, Presumption
1)
Never push back on the
correction of the Lord
2)
Some
when they get corrected they get brash and arrogant and push back and Saul did
this
7.
24-He
didn’t want to repent, until it cost him something (until he got caught)
a. It wasn’t important
enough to him, until HE was going to lose something
1)
He’s
ready to repent after he knows he’s going to lose his kingdom, but he wasn’t
ready before
b. He was sorry he lost his
kingdom, but he never truly repented
1)
30-He
still wants to be acknowledge and recognized in front of the people
2)
His
wasn’t ready to change his heart, he just didn’t want to lose his Kingdom
8.
This
was not the plan of God for his life; He perished
a. He’s hardening himself,
he tries to kill David, and he ends up killing himself in battle
b. The problem was not just
that he took the spoil and spared the king, the problem was he would not repent
C. God is gracious and he is
merciful and he will give you time to repent; That being said I don’t want to
be one who He needs to give a lot of time to; I want to be quick to repent-John
13:8
1.
Be
quick to repent; Stop fussing with right; don’t argue with right; Wrong is
wrong
2.
Quick to repent will lead
to quicker victories
D. If you will learn what to
do when correction comes you never have to perish
1.
If you hear it and don’t
repent, but rather harden yourself you’re going to miss out on your Victory
a. Matthew 21:28-32-Seeing it and not repenting is a dangerous
thing; they saw it and didn’t repent
2.
Acts
5:1-When correction comes if you do the wrong thing you will perish
a. A powerful move of God is
happening where people are liquidating there things and giving it to the
Kingdom and people who are doing it are being recognized and talked about and
in their pride Ananias and Sapphira want to be seen
b. There was time for them
to repent & when Peter starts talking to them like this it’s time to do
it-3,8,9
1)
3-Peter
asked Ananias a question, but he didn’t answer
2)
The
both stood there tight lipped, stiff-necked, hard hearted
c. They didn’t perish
because they lied, they perished because they wouldn’t repent and it was not
the will of God for their lives-1 Peter 3:9 --- Did they have to perish?
1)
They
wanted to be seen for doing something good and how embarrassing it would be for
them to be seen for doing something bad
3.
Acts
8-When corrections comes if you humble yourself and receive it and repent, you
can miss the destruction and be restored
a. 9-He’s got the same
problem doesn’t he; he wants to be seen and noticed
b. 19-He wants to be used
like they are being used and he offers them money
c. 21-Can you be saved and
have a wrong heart?
d. 23-He’s not being seen
and recognized like he was and like they are and he is bitter
e. 24-He repents
III.
To properly handle
correction it requires humility and faith
A. Humility to receive the
correction
1.
To
receive correction it requires you humility because correction deals with
reality; Correction shines the light on reality and it takes humility to deal
with, to face, to acknowledge reality
2.
Pride
creates a false reality because it doesn’t want to deal with the true reality
a. Obadiah 3-Pride deceives
you into believing something false
3.
Humility
will deal with and face reality head on; humility will own it
a. 2 Corinthians 12:6-Rather
than engaging pride he’s going to deal with reality
b. Humility comes under the
subjection of correction
c. Humility wants to get it
right so it loves the light even though the light might shine on a reality that
humility doesn’t like all that much
d. Examples: 1 Samuel 15,
Acts 5-They don’t want to deal with reality and the reality was they lied
because they wanted to be noticed and acknowledged and seen
4.
Proverbs
28:13-Pride will try to cover it, hide, justify it, explain it; anything to
avoid dealing with the reality
a. If correction comes and
you don’t own it and you try to cover it and hide it and justify it and make
excuses then you’re not humbling yourself and receiving, you’re resisting the
correction
b. If you cover your sins
and try to hide them and don’t deal in reality you won’t prosper; if you
confess them and deal in reality and acknowledge the truth you’ll get mercy
c. Proverbs 16:18-Pride goes
before the destruction because before you were destroyed you had chances to
repent, but in pride you wouldn’t
5.
The
reality is you don’t have it all, you don’t see it all and although you maybe
doing your best to follow the Lord, you need correction
a. Pride can’t see anyway
that it would be wrong; Pride won’t even take a honest look at itself to see if
it’s wrong; Pride thinks it’s doing everything right so there’s no need to even
look
b. Pride and arrogance and
stubbornness all flow together-1 Samuel 15:23, Proverbs 8:13
6.
2
Timothy 2:25-Acknowledging the truth and repenting go hand in hand
a. You have to acknowledge
that you are not doing it right if there’s ever going to be motivation to
repent (There will be no motivation to change what you believe is right)
b. Some people don’t want to
own up to it and don’t want to acknowledge that it is really wrong and if it’s
not really wrong then you don’t need to really repent
c. Repentance requires
humility because both repentance and humility deal with reality
B. Faith to make the changes
1.
You
got to believe that by God’s grace and help you can make the change, you can
get it right and do what you need to do
2.
It’s never too late to
repent or too hard to change
IV.
People act like, when somebody
misses it, that’s the biggest thing. It’s not the biggest thing? It’s what you
do after you miss it that is the biggest thing; will you repent? It’s not just
what you do, it’s what you do afterwards.
A. A Christian can sin and
be judged even though grace has already provided complete forgiveness and
cleansing and the reason is because people don’t repent; it’s not just making a
mistake or messing up, but rather it’s a refusal, to repent and that’s what will
get you judged and destroyed-Revelation 2:5,18-22
1.
5-They’re
going to lose something except them repent
2.
19-There
were some good things this church was doing, but they are being corrected about
this and they need to repent and they need to change
3.
21-God
will give you time to repent, but there comes a time when He knows that you
won’t repent and when that times comes judgment will be next
a. There is a window of time
where folks are allowed and that means that they are continuing to do their
evil stuff and yet they are not being judged and God knows it and they are not
going to get away with it forever, but He gives people time to repent
b. There will come a time if
you don’t repent that there will be destruction no matter who it is
c. God’s merciful, but it’s
not just forever and if you don’t judge yourself you will be judged
4.
22-Judgement
is barreling towards them and it can be avoided if they’ll repent
5.
Revelation
9:20-21-The world is coming down around their ears and their biggest problem is
not the plagues or the destruction or the economy or the storm; the biggest
problem is a refusal to repent
a. If you won’t repent it
can get to the a point that all that remains is judgment and destruction and
that’s never the perfect will of God for anybody
B. Revelation 16:7-11-Some
people will not repent no matter what God does
1.
God’s
their help and their answer and the only one who can fix this and they won’t
repent and they are not going to repent
2.
This
is why God is not in control of everything because He is not in control of
whether or not a person repents and you can see no matter what God does some
people won’t repent (Revelation 16:11)
V.
A willingness to change
is the attitude of repentance
A. This is so big in being
used of God-You’ve got to show some humility and you’ve got to be flexible and
know that you don’t know everything and you’re not right about
everything-Numbers 12:3, 1 Peter 5:5
1.
Moses
was the meekest man in his generation and he was the most used man in his
generation
2.
The
humble get the grace
B. An unwillingness to
change is a manifestation of pride (I don’t need to change because I’m already
doing everything right)
1.
To
be stuck in your ways is pride and it’s being slow to repent
2.
The
proud get no grace and are not used by God
3.
Maybe
God can’t use you because you won’t change
C. If you like not
perishing, then you should love repentance/change