In Hebrews 12, the Apostle Paul writes that God is a Father who corrects His children. “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” (verses 5-6).
Correction is a gift from God. If we receive correction, God is preparing us for sonship in His Family!
The Father loves His sons deeply. He does correct us, even harshly when we need it, because He loves us. We all have a lot of growing to do to achieve our potential and fulfill our calling. We all must receive correction. His correction is aimed at helping us see where we are off track so we can grow in righteousness.
Considering how sinful mankind is, doesn’t it make sense God would need to correct us at times to prepare us to be born into His Family?
“But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons” (verse 8). Are you receiving correction from God? If we are not, we are not even considered His children!
Our greatest curse is when our Father no longer corrects us. Then we are no longer a part of His Family! God ceases to be our Father.
Our greatest blessing is being corrected by our Father! He is doing everything He can to help us make it into His eternal Family. That means He must correct us.
What is your natural response to correction?
Most people immediately get defensive. We begin to justify ourselves. We think the critic doesn’t have the whole story. We reason why what we did was not that bad or was actually correct. We defend our actions. We answer back.
The Bible repeatedly warns against that response. Yet the Bible also shows that most of God’s people in this end time have the wrong impression of correction. They reject it or reason around it.
If that describes you, then you are in danger of losing your salvation!
God tells us we need correction and reproof. We must learn to listen and heed. In fact, we should want correction.
God gives us a lot of reproof and correction in His Word, but we have to take it to receive its benefits. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
The question is, will you take that personally and put it to use in your life? It is not easy. Very few people are willing.
‘Most of You Don’t Get It’
The late Herbert W. Armstrong was willing to give correction to the people in God’s Church when it was needed. He often thundered strong correction in the Worldwide Church of God. This reflected God’s love. It was really God reaching out, reminding us of His love. But most refused this correction.
The last Pentecost Mr. Armstrong kept was on May 26, 1985. In his sermon he spoke on the subject of “Why the Firstfruits?” He said, “… I think that most of you don’t understand that at all. … And I perceive that even our ministers, when they preach, take it for granted that the whole goal is to get us into the Kingdom of God; and that’s all we are called for now. … I fear that most of you just don’t get it. … Why? Why are we the firstfruits? I am going to try to make it plain this afternoon, and still I think you won’t get it” (emphasis mine).
That was a mournful plea from God’s end-time Elijah! He was teaching us the most inspiring message in the Bible—yet many people didn’t care, or they refused to comprehend it.
Dealing with that kind of spiritual folly has been routine for so many of God’s prophets and apostles through the ages.
Mr. Armstrong said, “Most of you don’t get it.” Many people thought, and some even said, Oh no, Mr. Armstrong, surely that can’t be! Surely most of us get it. But the reality was even worse than he thought! Look what happened in God’s Church after he died, only seven months after his warning: 95 percent of God’s people turned away from the truth he taught them from their own Bible!
How is it that most of God’s people refused this correction? How did they fail to get on their knees in repentance? Why is it that so many of those members today, if they attend church at all, don’t have ministers who preach God’s corrective words?
‘In What Way Have You Loved Me?’
The book of Malachi is directed at God’s end-time Church. This is the biblical book God revealed to start the Philadelphia Church of God in 1989 to expose what was happening in the Laodicean Church. (Request a free copy of the first book I wrote, Malachi’s Message to God’s Church Today.) Through the Prophet Malachi, God is rebuking His people strongly, pointing out and correcting their sins.
But throughout the book, you see that God’s people will not accept God’s rebuke! They continually answer back, rationalizing and justifying themselves.
It begins in Malachi 1:2: “‘I have loved you,’ says the Lord. ‘Yet you say, “In what way have You loved us?”’ …” (New King James Version). They don’t see God’s love! He has shown His love and blessed them abundantly in so many ways. Even His rebuke is love! But they disagree.
Several commentaries say “I have loved you” is covenant language, pointing back to Deuteronomy 7:6-11, where God says He set His love upon them to keep His covenant with Abraham. God says, I have loved you, or, I kept my covenant. He tells His chosen, called-out people, His end-time Church, that He loves them! He greatly desires that each one of us fulfills our calling.
A covenant is an agreement between twoparties—and if we keep our part of the covenant, the blessings will shower down on us. God made this covenant of love with the Laodiceans. But they didn’t keep their end of the bargain.
“I have loved you,” God says—but their answer is, How have you loved us? They reject God’s message of love. They want to be left alone. Dad, just leave me alone! a son might say as he gets to be a teenager. Dads who don’t love their sons just leave them alone. If you really love your son, you will not leave him alone.
God says, I have loved you! Notice, it says, “I have loved you, saith the Lord.” Do you know where God is saying that today? Can you clearly see all the ways God shows His love for you? Even in the correction He gives and the trials He allows? When He says, “I have loved you,” our response should be, Oh yes, Father! Thank you so much! How you have loved me beyond anything I could ask for!
What a terrible lack of perspective it is to say, In what way have you loved me? Sadly, that is what many of God’s own sons are saying today!
Talking Back to God
“‘A son honors his father, And a servant his master. If then I am the Father, Where is My honour? And if I am a Master, Where is My reverence? Says the Lord of hosts To you priests who despise My name. Yet you say, “In what way have we despised Your name?” You offer defiled food on My altar, But say, “In what way have we defiled You?”’ … You have wearied the Lord with your words; Yet you say, ‘In what way have we wearied Him?’ …” (Malachi 1:6-7; 2:17; nkjv).
It is hard to imagine God’s people talking back to God so brazenly, but this is God’s view. How are they guilty of such rebellion? By rejecting what the Philadelphia Church of God (pcg) delivers to them from God! I personally could turn away from God, and His words would still be true. God has spoken through Malachi’s Message and other pcg literature.
And realize: Though this appalling attitude is expressed dramatically in these verses, we can be a lot more subtle in how we talk back to God. We communicate the same attitude by not listening to His correction, or refusing to repent and change.
Do you really want to know what God thinks of you? Do you want His evaluation of your spiritual state? Do you want the truth?
We should always be actively seeking God’s view. Don’t make excuses.
“Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?” (Malachi 3:7).
What a marvelous promise from God: Return to me, and I’ll return to you! Anyone who has gotten away from obeying God and His commands needs to return to the way they once knew. We shouldn’t let anything stand in the way of running back to God! He is pleading for His people to return to Him!
Isn’t it heartbreaking and shameful to think of people answering back: What do you mean, God? How can I return? I never went away!
“Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?” (verse 13). How could anyone argue with God like that? Their words are “stout,” or presumptuous, impudent and defiant. How could anyone be so deceived?
Well, the truth is, self-deceit is much easier and much more common than most people realize.
We are all prone to it. We all need to examine ourselves for it and be vigilant against it. We all need to ask God to help us overcome it. Accepting correction from God is the only way we stand a chance of avoiding self-deceit.
Self-Deceit
The Bible warns us repeatedly against deceiving ourselves. Our human nature wants to believe we are doing just fine spiritually. Our deceitful heart produces self-justification, pride and spiritual blindness. We fool ourselves and don’t even realize it.
Read what Jesus Christ says to the Church of the Laodiceans: “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17). This is the way Christ describes His own Church during this era we now live in! Most of God’s people are convinced of their spiritual richness and self-sufficiency—and are shamefully unaware of their true wretched, impoverished spiritual state!
Yet Christ has not given up on them. He tells them to “anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see” (verse 18). He wants all of us to rid ourselves of deception, to remove the scales from our eyes and see reality, to see ourselves as we really are.
Christ is standing at their door and knocking, hoping they will answer and let Him in (verse 20). They still have a chance to change their lives!
Since Christ is so blunt about His own people deceiving themselves, surely we should examine ourselves deeply for where we are falling into this trap.
Our Deceitful Heart
Think carefully on this verse: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).
Most people do not believe what God says here. They think the human heart is basically good. They could not be more wrong!
The truth is, there is nothing more deceitful than a human heart!
That is why people think they are good. We like to think of ourselves as good even when we are doing things we know are wrong! We justify and flatter ourselves; we explain away our sins; we downplay our guilt.
The phrase “desperately wicked” should read “dangerously sick,” “incurably sick” or “sick unto death.” Can you see this in your own heart? We cannot trust our thinking. That is eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—the tree of death.
When will we learn how deceitful our own minds are? Understanding this profound verse is more important than any education in this world.
This verse is describing all human hearts. But God is speaking primarily here to His own people—especially the end-time Laodiceans. So many have followed their incurably sick minds into unparalleled deceit!
Even God’s Laodicean Church doesn’t believe this verse! If they did, they wouldn’t have been deceived so easily. They look to themselves and other men to understand their own minds—not God! Trusting in the human heart destroyed God’s own Church.
Deceitful and sick hearts should not be trusted. Yet astoundingly, the human heart is the foundation of this world’s education and government. Our educators and leaders believe man is fundamentally good and trustworthy. They trust in evil human reasoning.
Look at the sickness in this world, and you see evidence everywhere of men trusting in sick human minds. Terrifying problems are mounting all around us—and still men trust in their own minds. It seems nothing can convince them we are off track. Deceitful, desperately wicked human hearts are leading this world to the point where, if Christ didn’t intervene, we would annihilate ourselves! (Matthew 24:21-22).
The number one problem of humanity today is that people don’t see their own terminal sickness. That is profound self-deceit.
This is what happens when people will not listen to God!
So God is forcing mankind, and even His own people, to face the truth. Soon this world will be engulfed in a nuclear holocaust created by sick human minds. Only the worst time of suffering in history will get them to acknowledge the real problem! They will no longer be able to deny the fruits of their human reasoning. Then God can begin to teach them.
If you really understand the fundamental truth of Jeremiah 17:9, you will cry out to God every day to save you! You won’t let a day pass without intensely praying and studying for the help to overcome your fatally sick heart!
God ends verse 9 with the question, “Who can know it?” Only God knows the human heart. Only God can explain the mind and emotions of man. Our greatest need is to let God reveal our own sickness and heal it.
Until we learn this lesson, we are living under a curse (verse 5). We will remain deceived as long as we continue to look to men—and that includes trusting in our own reasoning.
“I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings” (verse 10). Look at the terrible, devastating fruits of our ways and our doings! Following our hearts is causing all the world’s problems and leading to nuclear war!
There is no hope in man. There is endless hope in God.
Vanity of Vanities
Human nature is naturally vain. “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2; 12:8). It is easy to get an inflated view of ourselves. We are all prone to self-righteousness, which includes thinking too highly of our works, relying on our own deeds, our own righteousness.
That is a powerful form of self-deceit. “For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself” (Galatians 6:3). Pride, vanity, self-righteousness, overestimating ourselves—all are self-deception that we need to examine ourselves for and rid ourselves of.
Such self-deceit and self-righteousness push God right out of the picture. They blind us to God. We can’t even see Him! Our thoughts become too filled with self and leave too little room for God. We break the First Commandment by placing self ahead of God! God passionately hates that because He is a jealous God who loves us.
Look at the example of Job. He was quite a righteous man. But when he did good deeds, he would take the credit. He liked to be seen as good by other people (e.g. Job 29:14). He gave his charity to show what a terrific guy he was—rather than what a terrific God we serve! His motive was to exalt himself, not God (Job 32:1-2).
God helped Job overcome this problem by putting him through some excruciating trials. That brought Job’s sins right to the surface: self-justification, self-exaltation, self-righteousness. God then gave Job an awe-inspiring glimpse into His own immense and fearsome power, the vast scale of His creation, His command of the elements, His provision for all creatures, His majesty and rulership (Job 38-41).
Once Job realized his own insignificance next to God’s all-encompassing greatness, he could see God! “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5-6).
The more clearly we see God—in all His power, judgment, love, mercy and excellence—the less impressed with ourselves we will be. And the more open we will be to listening to God and accepting His correction.
See Your Sin
Romans 3:23 says that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” The sharper your picture of God in all His glory, the better you will see how far short of the glory of God you fall!
Sin is the transgression of God’s law (1 John 3:4). God’s law is holy, just and good (Romans 7:12). It is “perfect, converting the soul,” more desirable than fine gold, sweeter than honey (Psalm 19:7, 10). God gave us His commandments, statutes and judgments to help us see where we are not thinking like Him, where we need to change. “Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward” (verse 11).
Do you really see the sin in your life? “Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults” (verse 12). Yes, because of our deceitful heart, it is very difficult to truly see our sins. In fact, it takes a miracle from God. We need God to show us our errors and to cleanse us from our hidden faults and those sins we can’t even recognize. God must open our eyes, because “[e]very way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts” (Proverbs 21:2).
Naturally we convince ourselves that our faults aren’t that serious. This is pure self-deception. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). There it is again! Don’t fall into the trap of such blindness. God commands us to continually repent in prayer for our sins so He can cleanse us (verse 9).
“Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression” (Psalm 19:13). Yes, when we break God’s law, sin has dominion over us—it rules us! Jesus Christ said, “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin” (John 8:34). Sin enslaves us in bondage (Romans 6:16; 2 Peter 2:19). Only God can free us from that bondage.
God’s law is a “perfect law of liberty” that leads to freedom! (James 1:25). Most religions are in bondage because they reject God’s law and call it freedom! Men routinely think bondage is freedom—intellectually and spiritually.
Only the truth will set us free (John 8:32). And God’s Word is truth (John 17:17).
One of the easiest ways to deceive ourselves is simply to hear God’s Word and fail to apply it. “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). You can read about this in Chapter 2 of my booklet How to Be an Overcomer, “Are You Deceiving Yourself?”
“If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain” (verse 26). A lot of religion is worthless because people aren’t controlling their tongues or their lives. They are deceiving their own hearts.
We may fool ourselves for a while, but in the end, the truth will come out. God will judge us according to our works. All pretense and hypocrisy will be exposed. “Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is” (1 Corinthians 3:13). How much better for us to learn now where we are off track than to wait until our sins are revealed by fire!
We must do all we can to avoid the common, deadly sin of deceiving ourselves. “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. … The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. Therefore let no man glory in men. …” (verses 18-21).
How different our human perspective is from God’s! And how crucial it is that we humble ourselves and seek God’s view.
God’s Perspective
Chapters 2 through 7 in the prophecy of Jeremiah are a crucial message from God to His lukewarm people today. This message is as bold and direct as anything you will read in the Bible.
This message applies to most of God’s people in this age. If only they would listen and heed! Sadly, most will not. But please consider God’s words honestly and humbly. I urge you to study these chapters with your eyes open to anything God has to say to you. I believe every one of us can take what God is saying here to heart.
It takes real work to open ourselves up to God’s correction, but we must do so if we are to become part of His eternal Family.
Notice first how often in these chapters God confronts self-delusion in His people. As in the book of Malachi, God is pointing out their sin—yet the people claim innocence, deny their wickedness, refuse to be ashamed, trust in false assurances, and presume that God’s anger has turned away.
The way God describes His people’s actions in these chapters is truly devastating. Jeremiah 2:33-34, for example, show them going out and looking for other spiritual lovers and causing terrible devastation! They are so deluded, they don’t see their sin: Yet “you say, ‘I am innocent; surely his anger has turned from me.’ Behold, I will bring you to judgment for saying, ‘I have not sinned’” (Jeremiah 2:35; Revised Standard Version).
These chapters in Jeremiah’s prophecy repeatedly expose this hypocrisy and spiritual blindness.
‘I Am Not Polluted’
In Jeremiah 2:21-22, God describes how His people have polluted themselves with sin. But they respond, “I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim” (verse 23). God is incredulous: How can you say this after all you have done? You’re like a restless young camel running here and there, a wild donkey in heat! (verses 23-24). God says His people are delusional, shamelessly denying their idolatry and spiritual adultery.
In Jeremiah 3:3 God says, “You refuse to be ashamed,” or, “You refuse to blush with shame” (nkjv and New International Version). They lack self-awareness of their guilt and feel no remorse (see also Jeremiah 6:15). Jeremiah 3:4-5 show that they continue to call God “my father” and presume that His anger is passed even while they carry on in their evil.
In Jeremiah 5:11, God condemns His people for their treachery against Him. How do they respond? “They have spoken falsely of the Lord, and have said, ‘He will do nothing; no evil will come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine’” (verse 12; rsv).
The Bible has many prophecies about the coming sword and famine and other tragedies. He gives these warnings to help us avoid these nightmares! The world ignores them, even though prophecy makes up about one third of the Bible. Even most of God’s own people have come to have a very casual attitude about these prophecies. They deny God’s judgment, or they deceive themselves that if the Great Tribulation does come, they don’t need to worry about facing any consequences themselves.
They don’t realize it yet, but soon they will see: They are not going to be protected by God, because they denied God’s law and government!
Many of the Laodiceans and people in the world are interested in hearing God’s prophecies, but they reject God’s law. What will their knowledge of prophecy mean when they are in the Great Tribulation?
In Jeremiah 7:4 and 8, God warns them against trusting in deceptive words, assuming their religious practices will protect them from judgment.
The theme in all these verses is clear: God is trying to wake His people up from their delusions! They are taking their sins lightly and provoking His judgment. He repeatedly calls on them to see their guilt and repent.
How crucial for all of us to humbly ask God to show us where we are deceiving ourselves and to help us see reality!
A Broken Spirit
If we have godly wisdom, James 3:17 says we will be “easy to be intreated.” Think of King David. He committed adultery, caused a man’s murder, and lied about it! Major sins. Yet when the Prophet Nathan confronted him, what were his first words? “I have sinned against the Lord” (see 2 Samuel 12:7-13). He didn’t fight God. He accepted the correction and repented immediately.
What a beautiful attitude! Nathan responded, “The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die” (verse 13). David still faced some consequences, but his repentance saved his life.
David gives us the most powerful example of repentance in the Bible. Read Psalm 51, his psalm of repentance. You see he had “a broken and a contrite heart” (verse 17). We must be teachable and have a broken and contrite spirit for God to be able to lead us and use us. God wants to guide you as His son or daughter, but He cannot do it if you lack a broken spirit. You must allow God to convict you of your sins and teach you. This attitude was fundamental to David’s repentance, and it is a big reason why God considered Him “a man after mine own heart” (Acts 13:22).
David committed some terrible sins. That didn’t prevent God from loving him! But He did correct David severely.
Hebrews 4:12 says that “the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” God’s Word reveals our true thoughts and intents. It exposes what is going on in our mind. It helps us face the truth about our own heart and to see how we are ruled by human nature. It reveals where we are evil so we can change!
That is uncomfortable—but it is so necessary and beautiful. It leads to life!
“Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (Hebrews 12:11). When we accept correction, it produces wonderful fruit in our lives.
Accept Correction
Are you willing to be corrected?
“The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise. He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding” (Proverbs 15:31-32; see also Proverbs 13:18; 10:17). Proverbs 12:1 says if we refuse reproof, we are stupid.
How can Christ save us if we do not accept His correction? How can you start as a terrible, evil, ugly human being and expect to become a God being, perfect in character, without receiving some correction?
We will never qualify to enter God’s eternal Family, let alone be Jesus Christ’s Bride, without correction from our Father!
What happens if God shows us where we are wrong, and we don’t accept it? That is a deadly serious problem!
Proverbs 15:10 says, “Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: and he that hateth reproof shall die.” If you have received the Holy Spirit of God, your eternal life depends on loving and accepting God’s
reproof!
“He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy” (Proverbs 29:1). That is talking about eternal death. Nothing is more serious!
Yet so many of God’s people are making this mistake. They are truly off track, rebelling against God, and will not accept His correction.
When the Laodiceans are in the nuclear holocaust, they will no longer play games of self-deceit! God is going to allow the Great Tribulation to come upon this world in order to crush all hope man has in himself and turn him to hope in God.
You need to learn this lesson today—before that calamity.
History shows us that most eras of God’s Church eventually turned away from Him. That is why we must learn from God and His Word. We must measure every doctrine and every Word of God. Then we cannot be deceived.
Heed God’s warnings. Realize that self-deception is our natural inclination due to our deceitful heart, our pride and our failure to apply God’s truth. Avoid that snare. Ask God to search your heart (Psalm 139:23-24). Accept the loving rebuke and correction of your heavenly Father. Confess your sins honestly. And act on God’s Word.