Lesson 5: As Many As I Love

Hey, everybody. Welcome to Lesson 5 on A Heart Ablaze. I hope you have been growing. I know that this took a long time for God to really open up to me, and I hope that I'm sharing it in a way that it's opening up your eyes, and as a result of your eyes being opened up, you're going to be conformed to the image of Jesus, which means you are able to come into His glorious presence. I want to reiterate this point. God's desire has always been to dwell in us and among us. This is His passion, and that is where He's bringing all of us eventually to. This desire has not changed. He said it to the children of Israel. He's saying to us now. He's a Father. He wants us to be able to enjoy His full, glorious presence. Now, here's the reality, and this is just going to put it simple. The Bible says, Beloved, now, not later, now are we the sons and daughters of God, and it doesn't yet appear what we will be like, but we know when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. Now, here's the reality. If we're going to be like Jesus when He returns, that means one of us is going to have to change, and it's not going to be Him. That means it's got to be us, which means we are a people that are in need of the Father's correction and discipline, and that's what we're going to be talking about here. We see this in the church of Laodicea. This is a church that Jesus writes to specifically through the Apostle John. This church, unfortunately, was not hot. Their hearts weren't ablaze for God. They were not cold. They weren't like somebody who didn't even know about God. They were lukewarm, and because of it, Jesus comes in with a very strong corrective word to protect them, and so He makes this statement. He said, hey, you've got to buy from me gold refined in fire. In other words, the heat of trials is going to purify you. He said, you need to buy from me white garments, which is getting active in His service and being passionate about it, and eyesalves so that your eyes can see. After He brings this correction and tells them what to do, He then makes this statement in verse 19 of Revelation 3. He says, as many as I love, stop right there, as many as I love, not as many as I hate, as many as I love. He's speaking to His children, His church. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent. Please do not look at repentance as a negative word. I said it earlier. It's simply, this has been our wisdom, our way, and the wisdom of God comes, and we go, I'm leaving my stupid way, and I'm embracing His wisdom. Okay, that's repentance. All right? Now, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Let's talk about the

word rebuke. It is the Greek word, aletio, which means to convict. This is the exact definition from the Greek lexicon dictionary. To correct, to prove one in the wrong, and thus to shame him. That's the word rebuke. The word chasten, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. The Greek word here is palladio, which means to punish. Listen to this. To punish for the purpose of improved behavior. So, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Rebuke, again, means to convict, to prove one in the wrong, and thus shame him. And chasten means to punish with the purpose of improved behavior. Again, I cannot stress it enough. Jesus chastens those He loves, not those He hates. Okay? So allow, as a believer, allow God's discipline in your life to be a sign that, number one, you're His child. Number two, He loves you. So let's dive deeper into this. We go to Hebrews chapter 12, verses five and six, and this is going to be so powerful. In verse five, we read, and have you forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as sons or daughters? My son or daughter, do not despise. Now there's a reason for saying, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him. For whom the Lord loves, He chastens and scourges every son or daughter whom He receives. Now, we're going to say again, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, same Greek word that Jesus used over in Revelation. It means to punish for purpose of improved behavior. Then he says, nor be discouraged when you're rebuked by him. Again, same word, to convict, to prove one in the wrong, and thus to shame him. Now, scourges, because we read up here, and he scourges every son whom he receives. Scourges is the Greek word mestigo, which actually means this, to physically scourge with a whip. Okay, now I've just said a whole mouthful here, and please don't turn this off until you hear me talk it through, because we have to address this.

This is in scripture. It's not just an isolated place. It's all over scripture. Our father certainly does not use a whip to punish us. Please understand that, but it will feel like we've been brought to the woodshed when he does have to do it. There is a three-step process that God will use on every one of his sons and daughters to bring them to the place of correction, okay? The first way that he attempts to correct us is through his word and conviction, all right? If you look at 1 John 3, verse 20, it says, even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything. In other words, if your heart is condemning you, your heart is convicting you, God is greater, and that is actually him trying to get your attention to the world of sin. Now, I'll tell you, I was so glad that I was going to read this. I was so glad that I was going to read this. A lot of times this will happen to me as I'm reading scripture. I remember I made a very stupid move last year. It didn't seem stupid when I made the move, but the next morning, I was in 2 Peter, reading chapter three, and I went, I just put a really stupid post up on Instagram yesterday. Now, there was nothing wrong with that post,

but there were some hurting people in the United States, there was a phone call to my wife by a national leader, and the national leader said, John, we use your books. We really love you, but your post you made yesterday really is hurting some people. It's really not necessary. And I remember on that phone call saying, well, I took it down 10 minutes ago, and she got really quiet. She said, are you kidding? I said, yeah, God really dealt with me. He chastened me while I was reading his word, and I realized there was no good motive for me making that post yesterday. And she was relieved, I was relieved, because to be honest with you, if she would have said it to me and I hadn't taken it down, I didn't spend time in the word of God, and he hadn't corrected me, I would have had to, out of shame, say, you know what, you're right, I need to take it down. The second way God corrects us is by sending somebody to us. So that's what would have happened had I not taken that down. Now, let me use another example. Years ago, this was a decade ago or more, our board saw that Lisa and I were very committed to each other in our marriage, but we were talking in a way to each other that just wasn't healthy. And I remember our board said,

we want you to go to this pastor, and we want you to spend two days with him, and we want you to sharpen up your marriage. Well, let me tell you, that first day with that pastor, by the spirit of God, he literally ripped out my soul and put it back in healed. I mean, he literally used the word of God to expose motives, intentions, the way I operated to me. And I remember I was at the end of the day feeling like a wet rag. I'd feel like I'd just gone to the whipping post, and I had. But do you know that my wife has looked at me several times since that encounter? She said, you're my favorite version of my husband I've ever been married to. What happened was God brought correction to me. And I mean, it was painful. When that man was speaking to me and addressing my behavior, and I was actually manifesting the behavior right in front of him and Lisa while we were talking, he was like, John, can I talk to you about this? Da, da, da. Then he'd point out the word of God, and I went, oh my gosh, you're right. Well, the third way, if we don't listen to his word, we don't listen to the person he sends us, then number three is he corrects us by punishment. Yes, you heard me correctly. Psalm 119, 67, David made this statement.

Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word. In other words, I had gone astray. The word of God wasn't bringing me the correction I needed. I was afflicted, punished physically, and now I keep your word. All right, now you say, whoa, whoa, whoa. I'm gonna give you an example. This is a story that actually happened, and I will back everything I'm saying up with scripture. So please stay with me and listen to me. Back in the early 1990s, I was asked to do a youth camp of one of the largest churches in the United States. It was a massive thing. They did it once a year. It was. It's a four-day event, I spoke four evenings. And I remember the first night, there was so much irreverence among the youth in that youth cramp. There was hundreds of those youth and there was irreverence, there was apathy, there was lukewarmness, and the Lord had me address it quite strongly. And I remember I gave a call, I said, you're watching pornography, you're in sexual immorality, and you're willing to repent. And I dealt with other things. I come down, and I mean, a bunch of kids came down, weeping, crying, and it was a beautiful evening.

Second night, very similar thing. It was like God went deeper, dealt with more kids, they came down weeping and crying. Third night, same way. So I remember the fourth day, I'm in prayer, and Texas had been in a drought. And all of a sudden, while I'm in prayer in one of the cabins of this youth camp, a gusher of rain came, and I mean, a big one, to where the roof is pounding so loud you can barely hear yourself think. And the Holy Spirit spoke to me, and He said, that's what's gonna happen tonight. I'm going to rain righteousness on this group of young people. And I was so happy. I thought, gosh, all this repentance that's gone on the last three nights, all these kids that have bored their hearts, I can just sense it. We're on the verge of a move of God's Spirit. Well, I walked into that fourth and final night. And I remember after worship, I got up, and I thought, wait a minute, something's still wrong. And in my head, I went, no. And the Holy Spirit spoke to me, and He said, son, there's one more person I still want to reach before I pour out my Spirit tonight. And I remember I gave the call. I got a lot more specific.

I said, look, we've been talking about this every night, but there's in particularly one person you have not responded, and God, because He loves you so much, has given you another chance. Well, there was a few more kids that came down, and they had tears in their eyes. And I remember I said, Lord, I'm not the person that I'm after. And the Holy Spirit spoke to me, and He said, it's not the person. And I was like, okay. And He said, say some more. So I said some more things. A few more kids came down. He said, it's not the person that I'm after. And I remember going, Lord, what do we do? I mean, are we at a standstill? And the Lord said, tell this person that if they don't come down, that they will encounter the punishment of the Lord. A few more people came down. The Lord said, it's still not the person. And then He said to me, son, I want you to tell this person what that punishment is going to be. And all of a sudden, out of my mouth, without me even premeditating or thinking about it, I said, you will be in a head-on car collision accident. And all of a sudden, my head kicked in,

and I thought, what did I just say? But I knew it was the Lord. And I remember a few more people came down, and I knew it wasn't them, but the Lord released me, and it just lifted off of me. And I remember that night, the outpouring of God's Spirit. I have been in ministry now, preaching, actually traveling and preaching over 35 years. I have not, to this day, can I remember few situations where the Spirit of God was poured out in such a powerful, profound way. I mean, the miracles that occurred, the power that was demonstrated of the Spirit that night was actually mind-blowing. I can still close my eyes and see some of the great things God did. I remember now, four months later, this thing, this youth camp was well over, it was like four months, and the youth pastor calls me. Now, when he called me, I thought for sure he was gonna say, John, I've had so much problems with my youth group, ever since you said head-on car collision accident, nothing happened. It's not helped us at all. And I was like all braced for him just letting me have it. And the youth pastor called me and he said, John, he said, that night when you said that person hadn't responded, he said, I knew exactly who it was. He said, there is a girl that was creating more problems

in my youth group. And he said, she was impossible to deal with. And he said, she sat there the whole time while you gave the call, one after another, after another on that last night. He said, I was praying for her, but she didn't budge. He said, what you don't know, John, is three weeks later, she was in a head-on car collision accident. And I went, oh no. And he said, John, she was in intensive care. She survived the accident, but he said, she turned her heart around. And he said, I have watched the last month. She is one of the most on fire girls in our entire youth group. And the last report I've heard of her is she's still absolutely on fire. Now you say, wait a minute. Where is this in scripture? I'm gonna read it to you. First Corinthians chapter 11, Paul is writing to this very carnal church. And he said, for if you eat the. bread and drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ. Now, let me say something. He is specifically talking about taking communion. What these people were doing is coming in, they would have what's called the Lord's Supper. They were wealthy, they were well off, but they were eating all the food

and leaving the scraps for the poor believers who came in later, and they had nothing to eat. And so Paul was rebuking them, and he was saying, here you are taking communion, you are eating the partaking of the Lord's body and you're doing it in an unworthy manner. Now, I wanna say this, there's a lot more to dishonoring the body of Christ than just eating bread and drinking grape juice. He is talking about when you sin against the body of Christ and the body of Christ is his church, his bride. He said, if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God's judgment on yourselves. That is why, listen to this, that is why many of you, not some of you, many of you are weak, you are sick, and some have even died. Okay, wait a minute, what? Yes, he just said, this is why many of you, now, notice he doesn't say, this is why everybody that is sick is sick, okay? Remember, there was a guy that was blind and the disciples asked Jesus, who sinned, his dad and mom or him that caused him to be born blind? And Jesus said, neither one, it's so that the glory of God could be revealed. So you have to understand, there are times in which people,

they get sick, they die prematurely or something, it wasn't because they sinned. Let me make this clear, clear, clear, clear, okay? It's why many of you, he is saying, all right? So please, don't you ever put yourself in a position to look at another believer and think, oh, they're sick because they're sinning against God. You know what? You don't even need to go there. The father corrects the children, the brothers and sisters don't correct each other like that. That's the father's job. But Paul said, this is why many of you are weak, sick, and some even died. Now, next verse, verse 31. For if we would judge ourselves, in other words, if we would be zealous and repent, like Jesus said to the church of Laodicea, if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened, there's that word chastened, to punish for the purpose of improved behavior, same Greek word, we are chastened by the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world. Now, I wanna make this point really, really clear. God did not cause that girl to get in a car wreck. What happened was he lifted his hand. If you look in the book of Isaiah, you will find a scripture that says, I created the blacksmith who blows the coals.

It is the thief that comes to kill, to steal, to destroy. Jesus said, I've come that you might have life and have it more abundantly. So God will actually just say, okay, I'm gonna lift my hand of protection. And now all of a sudden, you're in the hands of the wrong person. Now, don't get me wrong. Just like he said with Job, don't you dare take his life. He said to the enemy, don't you dare touch that girl's physical life. Don't you take that girl's physical life. But God lifted his hand of protection. And now all of a sudden, she finds herself in a head-on car collision. What happened? The word of the Lord came true. She realized, oh my gosh, God was talking to me that night. And now the last I heard, she is absolutely on fire for Jesus. So please, once again, I can't reiterate this enough. Number one, this is not the reason everyone is sick, weak and dies prematurely. Number two, it is the reason many, Paul said, among this very carnal church, that many of you are sick and die prematurely. So even, I wanna say this, even the most dedicated of God's children need correction. Look, I just got corrected by the Lord in the last couple of weeks.

And I'm gonna tell you what, it was painful, painful. Let me, when you disappoint the heart of your father, you, let me tell you, there's absolutely nothing more painful. So God may allow others to go on in their error of sin uncorrected, but he'll not allow his sons and daughters to do so. So just as a wise and good father would not overlook the faults in his own children, as he might with other people, other people's children, the Lord will not allow his children to continue in what would ruin them. So let's go back to Hebrews and we'll keep reading. The writer of Hebrews says in verse seven, he says, as you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Whoever heard of a child who never is disciplined by its father? Unfortunately, we live in a day and an hour where this is true. This is why we have so many people in lawlessness. We have so many people that are in jail. So many people that are suffering dearly in their adult life is they weren't disciplined. by godly parents, all right? If God doesn't discipline you as he does all of his children, I'm reading from verse eight, it means that you are illegitimate and not really his children at all. Huh, did you hear that?

So if you're not getting disciplined, it means you're illegitimate. So you can take comfort. When that discipline comes, whether it's directly through his word, whether it's something he sends somebody to you, whether it's before I was afflicted, I went astray, it's because God loves you and he wants you to grow into the image and likeness and the character of Christ. So it says in verse nine, since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn't we submit even more to the discipline of the father of our spirits and live forever? So notice again, I said, if you're not disciplined by the Lord, you're illegitimate. I'm gonna tell you a true story. I went into a church and the church had 2000 people on this particular Sunday morning service. Actually, it ended up erupting, this is back in the 1990s, into a full week of revival meetings. It was absolutely magnificent, but this was Sunday morning. And I remember I was preaching that Sunday morning and it was like a firestorm. It was so bold and so strong on repentance and holiness. And I remember when the service was over, the pastor and I got into his car and he made a statement to me. He said, John, now, I wanna say this

before I go to what happened then. While I was preaching, I noticed a very prominent woman who was just really dressed nice, who was sitting in the front row, and I could tell she was getting hit really hard by the message. I noticed her daughter sitting next to her, I assumed it was her daughter, and her daughter was rolling her eyes while I was preaching. So we get, now go to the end of the service, we get in the car and the pastor looks at me, he said, John, I can take you to a restaurant. Or he said, we have a woman who's Italian and she's a widow and her husband left her well off. And she is like the most phenomenal Italian cook. Would you like to go to her house for dinner or go to the restaurant? I said, shoot, bring me to the Italian cooks. I'll take that any day over a restaurant. And so we go to the house and when we go to the house, lo and behold, it is that woman that was sitting in the front row. And I'm like, oh my gosh, I actually noticed you while I was preaching this morning. And she could not stop talking. John, God was dealing with me about my behavior in this and I need to change this. And I was just, I was so getting ministered to and corrected while you were speaking. And then she looked at me and she says something.

She said, but my daughter? She said, she just looked at me about three quarters of the way through and said, when is this guy gonna shut up? And you know, it's interesting, her daughter came home about 30 minutes later. And I could tell her daughter had absolutely no fear of God, no respect. I hope she does today. But I could see here's the mother getting corrected. Here's the daughter listening to the same message who's rolling her eyes and going, when is this man gonna be quiet? The mother was a legitimate child. The daughter thought she was a child, but she was illegitimate. She wasn't truly a child of God. I pray that today as a result of her mother raising her in the ways of God, she is on fire and committed to Jesus. But at that time, it's interesting, same message, same Holy Spirit. One woman's getting convicted. She's absolutely talking about how she was making the changes that God was dealing with her about. And here's the same, the other woman, her daughter, who is absolutely rolling her eyes and couldn't wait till the service was over. Now, if you listen to the rest of Hebrews, this will make sense.

It says in verse 10 and 11, for they indeed for a few days chasing us, it seems best to them. But he, for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. So the reason God corrects us, he disciplines us, is because he wants us to be partakers of his holiness. Why? Because he wants us to come to the mountain. He wants us to be in his presence because that's where we're changed. Now, no chastening, this is verse 11, seems to be joyful for the present, but painful. Did you hear the word? Painful. Nevertheless, afterward, after the chastening, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness by those who have been trained by it. You know what? Don't kick your foot against the goads like the Holy Spirit said to Saul, or like Jesus said to Saul. Allow yourself to be trained by the discipline of the Lord. Purpose in your heart, I'm gonna be corrected. I'm gonna repent where I need to repent, and I'm going to embrace the wisdom of God. So if you look at Hebrews, he continues the writer of Hebrews in verse 14, or actually he says in verse 12 and 13 first, therefore strengthen the hands which hang down,

the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that which is lame may not be dislocated. So in other words, you're already walking. but his correction is going to strengthen your hands. It's going to strengthen your knees. It's gonna strengthen your feet. Hands speak of our service and our labor in the kingdom. Knees and feet speaks of our walk or the way we're living. And the chastening and the discipline of the Lord strengthens our service with God. Then the writer of Hebrews says, pursue peace with all people and holiness. Pursue, chase after with the intent to apprehend holiness because without it, no man's gonna see the Lord. In other words, without holiness, you're not going to the mountain of God. Now, let me make this abundantly clear. The writer of Hebrews then goes on to verse 18 and 19 and says, you have not come to the mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire to the darkness, gloom and storm. He's talking about the children of Israel back in Exodus. Verse 19, to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them. He's talking about Exodus when they said, Moses, we can't stand this. We can't stand the presence of God. You go near and tell us everything he says.

Verse 22 of Hebrews, back to the New Testament. But you have come to Mount Zion. You've come to another mountain. This mountain's not called Sinai, it's called Zion. It's the city of God. Do you know that the heavenly city of God rests on a mountain? And you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to innumerable company of angels. And he goes on to say, in verse 25, see that you do not refuse him who speaks. He's talking correction here. This whole chapter is about God's discipline. For if they did not escape, who refused him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him who still speaks from heaven. They refused to listen to his voice. They didn't get their character changed. They're sitting there creating a Jehovah who's giving them what their flesh wanted. Today, we can sit there and say, I serve Jesus. But if we shun the discipline of the Lord, if we kick against the discipline of the Lord, we're not gonna be partakers of his holiness. And if we're not partakers of his holiness, we can't come to the mountain. And if we don't come to the mountain, we don't change. We don't see him.

We don't behold him. The Bible says we're changed from glory to glory as we behold him in 2 Corinthians 3, 18. So God spoke on earth from Sinai. He still speaks today from his heavenly mountain called Zion. The children of Israel did not want to hear his words from Sinai, words which would have brought the training and correction they needed to dwell in his presence. How much more severe will it be for those of us who refuse his correction today? Now, I wanna bring it all together. I'm gonna give you two Psalms. Then these Psalms are gonna make so much sense. Psalm 24, verses three through six, listen to this. Who may climb the mountain of the Lord? He's asking a question. Who's the person that can climb the mountain of God? Who may stand in his holy place? Only those whose hands and hearts are pure and who do not worship idols and never tell lies. These are the people that haven't created a different Jesus, but they spend time in his presence, in his word, and they see the real Jesus seated at the right hand of the Father. As they behold him, they've climbed his mountain and they are being changed from glory to glory. It says in verse five, they will receive the Lord's blessing and have right relationship with God as their savior.

Such people may seek you and worship in your presence. They are allowed to come right into your presence. The Psalmist says again in Psalm 115, verse one, Lord who may abide in your tabernacle, who may enter your presence on your holy hill, your holy mountain called Zion. Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts. Those who refuse to gossip or harm their neighbors or speak evil of their friends. Those who despise flagrant sinners and honor the faithful followers of the Lord and keep their promises even when it hurts. In other words, they have integrity. Those who lend money without charging interest and those who cannot be bribed to lie about the innocent. Such people will stand firm forever. Let me tell you something, the chastening of the Lord is not something to despise, it's something to be grateful for. I hope you got something out of this and in the very next lesson, we're gonna look at the things that keep us from receiving God's correction and thus forfeiting our transformation and we'll dive into the most outstanding attribute of God and how the revelation of this changes us forever. You don't wanna miss lesson six. Thanks for watching!