and the Father's Day greeting to all of you.
And it's good to see our friends the Mercs here.
We're delighted you've come to worship with us
this morning. In honor of Father's Day, I thought
I would tell you a story about Paul when he was
a little child. This is as true as all the stories
he's told about me. Just want you to know that.
When he was a little boy, he was acting up in
church. Now, it's hard to believe that Paul was
being disobedient in church, and so as he was...
They were, as a family, heading home. They decided
on the punishment. It would be that Paul had
to sit by himself at the noon dinner. And so
they got the table all prepared for the family,
and then they had a little table where they prepared
a meal for Paul, where he was to sit by himself.
And his father bowed to give thanks for the food.
And as he was about to finish, Paul interrupted,
and he said, and Lord, we thank you. for preparing
a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
Do you ever feel that way that as a parent you've
become an enemy? There are seasons of life where
so it seems to be. There is no responsibility
that is more awesome to a parent than that of
disciplining the child. When we train our children
what we're really doing, you know, is training
them how to train their children. That's a scary
thought. Because you see, we set in motion good
or ill for coming generations. And that's what
our text today in Jeremiah 32 touches on. I invite
you to open your Bible to this Old Testament
prophet, where we continue looking at the prayer
that Jeremiah offered to God. which reveals the
mightiness of God. I'm going to pick up the theme
at the very beginning of the prayer in verse
17, Jeremiah 32, where it says, who show us loving
kindness to thousands. That's what we looked
at last week and seen that God is mighty in His
grace. But Jeremiah goes on to say, but, repay
us the iniquity of fathers into the bosom of
their children after them, O great and mighty
God. Like us, Jeremiah lived in turbulent times.
The fabric of the nation of Judah was coming
apart. It was on the brink of destruction because
the people had disobeyed the voice of the Lord.
They had followed false idols and gods. The impending
doom had to be no surprise to them. They as a
nation had been amply warned by God. It is good
for us to remember that just as families are
disciplined, so are nations. God disciplines
and judges the nations of the world. Let me give
you three biblical examples of this idea. Examples
that could number probably into the hundreds
from the Bible. The first example of God disciplining
the nations is found in the book of Jeremiah.
For near the end of the book, in chapters 46
through 51, we find recorded the words of Jeremiah
to the surrounding nations of Judah. He speaks
to Egypt. He speaks to Edom, Ammon and Moab,
the Philistines and Syria. And to each of these
nations, Jeremiah, the prophet of God, pronounces
doom and judgment upon them because of their
ungodliness and because of their treatment of
his people. And so we see one example within
the book of Jeremiah. There is another example
that is found in the book of Daniel. Daniel was
a contemporary of Jeremiah. He had been carried
off to Babylon. in the first invasion of the
Babylonians. But he lived in the same time period
as Jeremiah. They may have known each other.
And in Babylon, Daniel received a tremendous
insight from God. You may recall the story in
Daniel chapter 2, how the Nebuchadnezzar had
a nightmare, a dream, and he was so terrified
by it that he wanted his wise men, his astrologers,
to give him the interpretation. but to test them.
He said, I also want you to tell me what the
dream was. And of course, none of them could
do it, except Daniel. God gave to Daniel the
insight to know what Nebuchadnezzar had dreamed
and what it meant. And so he told him. Nebuchadnezzar
had a dream of a large image. and it was made
of various kinds of metal. And he, Nebuchadnezzar,
and his kingdom of Babylon was represented in
the gold head, the great and awesome empire,
Babylon. And then moving down the statue, you
come to the next portion of the statue, which
represented the Medes and the Persians that would
arise after Babylon. They would destroy Babylon.
And they would become the great power in that
part of the world. And following the Medes and
the Persians would come another empire that we
know now to have been the Greek empire, Alexander
the Great. But that wasn't the final move. There
was yet another empire to come upon the world,
and that was the Roman Empire. And you know if
you are aware of that image that its feet were
made out of... of iron and clay indicating that
it was part of the Roman Empire and yet it was
different. And our understanding of that is that
the feet of that image have never yet been fulfilled,
that there is yet coming upon the world an empire
that will be a form of the ancient Roman Empire
and in fact will be the kingdom of the Antichrist
in the last days of this age. And so Daniel is
given this information to understand how the
nations of the world would arise over a period
of hundreds of years in world history. And then
Daniel prays, and that's what I want you to notice
in Daniel chapter 2, is what he says to the Lord.
He removes kings and establishes kings. And he
goes on to praise God for his wisdom and power.
Daniel says it is God who causes nations to rise
and it is God who puts them down when their purpose
has been accomplished. God disciplines nations.
He does it in a variety of ways. He does it through
wars. and defeat in wars. He does it through
disease and famine. He does it through economic
ruin. He does it through moral collapse from
within the empires happened with Rome. And I'm
sure there were people who lived in various times
during those empires I've mentioned who felt
that nothing could ever destroy Babylon. It was
too great. Its army's too awesome. Nothing could
ever destroy Babylon. But God did, by raising
up the Medes and the Persians, and doing it in
the most amazing way, the story from Daniel.
And the Persian Empire, in all of its glory,
who could possibly destroy it? God did, when
its time was done. God brought it into judgment.
And you know, there are people who live in the
United States of America who say, who could possibly
ever imagine America not being the superpower
of the world? We who are believers in the God
of the Bible had better be able to imagine that,
friend. Because just as God was able to discipline
those nations, He's able to discipline America,
and America is overdue. God disciplines the nations
of the world. There's another example I want
to point out in the prophet Joel. He foresees
a day at the end of time when God is going to
gather the nations of the world into what he
terms the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And there God
will judge the nations. So understand this, that
just as we have discipline in families, so there
is discipline among the nations of the world,
and God is the one who disciplines. And I tell
you, if Boris Yeltsin is re -elected in Russia
today, as seems to be the case, the way the polls
are indicating, it is the goodness of God. It
is the purpose of God, because it could have
been otherwise very, very easily. And when it
comes to our own elections in this country this
fall, God may well allow the electorate of this
nation to choose what it wants, and allow us
to bring judgment on ourselves. And that doesn't
necessarily mean the same administration being
in power the next four years. There are no magic
formulas for either political party or for ones
that are trying to arise. Unless this nation
turns back to God, it's under the judgment of
God. And it doesn't make any difference who's
elected this law in that regard. God will deal
with this nation. Now I'm not saying it doesn't
make any difference, therefore be apathetic.
I'm not saying that. But what I'm saying is God
is the one who disciplines. And what I want you
to see this morning in this message is that this
God who is mighty in His loving kindness to thousands
of generations is a God who is also mighty in
His discipline. Mighty in His discipline. During
this summer, we want to get to know God better
and understand more about God. Jeremiah said,
if anyone is going to glory or is going to boast,
let him boast in this, that he understands and
knows God. That God is the one who exercises
loving -kindness and justice and righteousness
in the earth. And so our goal this summer is
to know what God is really like, to understand
Him from the Bible. And this morning, we're going
to see that God, who is mighty in grace, is mighty
in justice. He is mighty in discipline. And along
the way, I hope that we'll pick up some principles
that will help us, who are earthly parents, earthly
fathers on this Father's Day, in our discipline
of our families. So stick with me. The first
thing I want you to notice this morning is that
God disciplines His people for disobedience.
That seems very obvious, doesn't it? But don't
overlook it as being too simple. Because we think
today, because this is the mindset of our culture,
that somehow God either doesn't exist or God
is overlooking the evil of our culture. That
somehow God's not involved in it because it's
gone on from generation to generation And nothing's
happened We need to understand the very beginning
the simple point that God disciplines his people
for disobedience Notice here in Jeremiah 32 what
it said In verse 21 as Jeremiah continues to
pray he says Lord you brought your people Israel
out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders
the strong hand and an outstretched arm in great
terrors. And you gave them this land which you
swore to their forefathers to give them, a land
flowing with milk and honey. And they came in
and took possession of it. So he recounts the
Pentateuch up through the book of Joshua. For
God gave the people the land, but, he says, they
did not obey thy voice, or walk in thy law. So
now Jeremiah is bringing us up to date. He says,
God, you did all of these things and yet your
people did not obey. And so he says, verse 24,
Behold the siege mounds have reached the city
to take it. Remember, the city of Jerusalem is
under siege. The Babylonian armies have surrounded
it. They are building mounds of dirt toward the
city walls. which they will ultimately destroy.
And they will enter the city and carry off its
people captives. And Jeremiah said, it's because
they did not obey thy voice or walk in thy law.
God disciplines his people for disobedience.
So Babylon carried them off, and they were in
captivity for 70 years. But why did God say 70
years? Well, it's again because of disobedience.
When they entered the land, God had given them
a law called the sabbatical rest law. Every seven
years, the land was to lie fallow. And for 490
years, the people were in the land up to this
point. they had never obeyed that law from God
to let the land be at rest every seven years.
So if you know your math, you take seven into
490 and you come up with 70. And so God is now
catching up and is going to allow the land to
be idle for 70 years while his people are in
captivity in Babylon. That's the reason it's
70 years. Now when God disciplines, it's not
because he hates Israel. In fact, God loves his
people desperately. God's discipline does not
arise out of hatred, but out of love. In Proverbs,
again in Hebrews 12, it says, for whom the Lord
loves, he what? He chastens. He disciplines.
Do we parents? Discipline our children because
we hate them? They think so sometimes. We're
told so sometimes. But we take the time, we exert
the energy to discipline them because we love
them. And we know that if they continue doing
the things they're doing, they're going to end
up in trouble. They're going to hurt themselves.
They're going to bring their lives into ruin.
And so out of love for them, we discipline. And
why does God discipline Israel? Because He loves
Israel. He doesn't want them as a people to be
under the bondage of idols. He doesn't want to
see them destroy themselves in serving false
gods. He loves them so much that He wants them
to love Him so that He can bless them. And so
He disciplines them. God disciplines His people
for disobedience, and He does it out of love.
The second thing I want you to notice is that
God's discipline is preceded by patient warning.
God had established the rules, so to speak, very
early on. God says here's what I expect and if
you obey I will bless you and if you disobey
I will discipline you And in chapter 32 again
and in verse 33 Jeremiah acknowledges that God
had warned them He says they have turned their
back to me. This is God now speaking to Jeremiah.
They have turned their back to me not their face
in other words Just as your parents say, you
look at me when I'm talking to you. God is saying
they did not look at me. They turned their back
to me in rebellion. Though I taught them, teaching
them again and again, they would not listen and
receive instruction. And so what we have here
is a nation that had been warned over and over
and over and over again that discipline was coming.
And it would not listen to God. We see examples
of this warning in Jeremiah 26. If you want to
turn back there just real quickly. In Jeremiah
26. We find the general time period when this
prophecy came to Jeremiah. It's the reign of
Jehoiakim. And here's what the Lord said to Jeremiah.
Thus says the Lord, verse 2, stand in the court
of the Lord's house and speak to all the cities
of Judah who have come to worship in the Lord's
house. All the words that I've commanded you
to speak to them. Do not omit a word. Perhaps
they will listen. And everyone will turn from
his evil way, that I may repent of the calamity
which I am planning to do to them, because of
the evil of their deeds." To hear an example
of God's warning. Jeremiah, go down to the temple
in the courtyard and speak to the people and
tell them. Perhaps they will turn from their
wickedness, and then I can turn from what I'm
intending to do to them. Verse 5. He tells Israel,
You have not listened to the words of My servants
the prophets, who I have been sending to you
again and again. You have not listened." Then
later in the chapter we have a recounting of
some words from Micah the prophet, who lived
a hundred years before this, in the days of Hezekiah
the king. And Micah warned the nation a hundred
years before this. that God was going to judge
the nation and the city of Jerusalem. And the
chapter closes with another warning from God
through a man named Uriah. Uriah's prophecy was
strong and he fled for his life to Egypt. Jehoiakim
was so upset by what he said he sent people to
Egypt to bring the prophet back and he killed
him when he got him back in Jerusalem. And so
in this one chapter we have three examples. of
many, for God warned over and over of coming
discipline. But God's discipline is preceded
by patient warning. And we see that in our text
going back to chapter 32. Notice that it says,
God, you repay the iniquity of fathers into the
bosom of their children after them. Now the casual
reader would look at this and say, well, that's
unfair. Why did God punish the children for what
the fathers did? Now Jeremiah is not saying these
words in a vacuum. He has some reason for saying
them. He is pulling this thought out of the covenant
that God made with Israel. And we want to go
back into that covenant and just snip out but
Jeremiah is referring to. So to do that, turn
back to Exodus chapter 20. Here we have the Ten
Commandments given by God in Mount Sinai. And
in verse 4, God says, you shall not make for
yourself any idols. Verse 5, you shall not worship
them or serve them, for I, the Lord your God,
Am I jealous, God? Now, look at these words.
Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children,
on the third and fourth generations of those
who hate me, but showing loving kindness to thousands
of generations, to those who love me. What does
it mean to hate the Lord? It's the opposite of
loving. What does it mean to love the Lord, to
keep His commandments? What I hate the Lord is
to rebel against His commandments. And in the
context here, it means not only to rebel against
God, but to go into idolatry, to begin worshiping
false gods. And God says, those who choose to
do this will be disciplined. And I will visit
the iniquity of the fathers on the children,
even down to the great and great -great -grandchildren's
point. Now, if we look at this text, there are
some things we need to note. First of all, notice
the patience of God. Here's a generation that
hates the Lord. However God deals with that generation
is not the subject here. The point is that God
allows this attitude to continue. He is patient
with generations. When there is a father who
hates the Lord, most likely his sons will hate
the Lord. And when they become fathers, their
sons will hate the Lord. And through the succeeding
generations, God is patient. God warns. God waits.
God is long -suffering. God does not delight
in discipline. God patiently bears with sinners.
That's one thing to note. When it says that He
visits the iniquity of the fathers on the children,
it means that there is a time, however, when
God's patience is done. There is a point reached
when as it were the cup of sin is filled up and
it overflows. We have an example of this in Genesis
chapter 15 where God makes a covenant with Abraham.
You may remember that scene where Abraham and
God are alone and God tells Abraham to prepare
sacrifices and he divides them in half and lays
them out and then there's a terrible darkness
that comes upon the scene. and God is present,
and then God himself walks through these sacrifices
by a smoking lamp that becomes visible. And he
does this so that he can signify that this covenant
he is making with Abraham depends not upon the
two of them together, for if that were the case,
Abraham would have walked with him. But God says
this covenant depends only on me, Abraham. And
then he speaks to Abraham, and he says, your
descendants will come back. He says, first, they're
going to go down to Egypt. They're going to be
enslaved for 400 years. And then they're going
to come back, and I will give them this land.
And then he says, for the iniquity of the Amorites
is not yet complete. People of God is saying
there, the Amorites were the people who lived
in that part of Palestine. And God is saying,
they are wicked. They serve idols. They do detestable
things. But Abraham, I am patient with them.
And I'm going to allow them to live here for
four more generations. And during this time,
I will be patient with them. But when my time
comes, I will judge them. And Abraham, when that
happens, I will have brought your people out
of the land of Egypt here, and I will give them
the land that the Amorites now possess and will
possess for four more generations. God is patient.
And we must not think that God's patience with
the United States of America means that he is
overlooking our sins. We must not deceive ourselves
in the thinking that somehow, because some horrible
thing hasn't happened to America, we haven't
had some great collapse yet, that God has neglected,
that God has forgotten judgment. That is not
the case. God is patient. And over and over and
over again He has warned this nation. And someday,
and only God knows when, He will bring the discipline
that is needed and deserved. And it will be not
only the discipline that will fall on that generation
living at that time, but the accumulated discipline
of previous generations. I like the comments
of Tylen Delich, who wrote for another generation,
but who are very insightful into the Hebrew language.
Listen to what they say regarding the text in
Exodus. The human race is a living organism in
which not only sin and wickedness are transmitted,
but evil. as the curse of sin and the punishment
of wickedness. As children receive their nature
from their parents, so they also have to bear
an atone for their father's guilt. There reigns
in the world a righteous and gracious God who
not only restrains the course of his judgments,
as soon as the sinner is brought to reflection
by punishment, and hearkens to the voice of God,
but who also forgives sin and iniquity of those
who love him, keeping mercy to the thousandth
generation. They go on to say the words here
neither affirm that sinning fathers remain unpunished,
nor that the sins of the fathers are punished
in the children and grandchildren without any
fault of their own. They simply say nothing about
whether... and how the fathers themselves are
punished. And in order to show the dreadful severity
of the penal righteousness of God, these words
give prominence to the fact that punishment is
not omitted, that even when in the long suffering
of God it is deferred, it is not therefore neglected.
Listen to those words carefully, my friends.
For those are words that apply not only to ancient
Israel, but to every civilization that has ultimately
come under the judgment of God. In the long suffering
of God, that judgment may be deferred, and during
that time, God pleads, God warns. But because
God declares, doesn't mean that he neglects,
and judgment will come. In the hundred and twenty
years preceding the flood, God pled with the
world to the preaching of Noah, to no avail.
God's long -suffering waited, waited for the
human race to respond, and it would not end judgment
day. God's discipline is always preceded by patient
warning. And the final thing to note is this,
that God's discipline is not intended to be destructive,
but instructive. You see, God in His discipline
of His people wants us to learn to love Him and
to learn wisdom. That is for our own good. God's
heart is grieved when He sees us going the wrong
way, because He knows where that's going to lead
us. He knows the pain. He knows the sorrow. He
knows the loss. He knows the destruction that
awaits at the end of that path we're taking.
And so in His love, He brings discipline against
us. so that he might somehow turn us from our
way to walk on the right path. The missionary
was talking to me between service, and he said,
my people with Chimula in Mexico, and because
of that, you know, with Ken, some of you, he
said, they have a saying that says, God doesn't
know how to hurt us. As they have learned the
word from their culture, that's how they said,
God does not know how to hurt us. What that means
is that God may discipline us, but it is not
to our harm. It is not to our destruction. It
is so that we might learn, that we might be instructed
in his ways, and then turn and then be blessed
by God. That's what he wants. And so God's discipline
is not destructive, it's instructive. Now the
discipline may mean pain, it may mean loss, but
the point is that God through that is teaching
us to obey Him. Obviously there is some clear
application here to ourselves and not just to
Israel. When we disobey God, God will patiently
warn us. And if we will not listen to God, He
will discipline us, because He loves us too much
not to discipline us. He loves us too much not
to teach us what to do, so that we can experience
the best of His blessings. This morning there
are some of us that need to respond to God's
discipline in our lives by turning around. So
before we go I want to point out to you four
principles that arise to me out of what we've
talked about this morning to help me as a father
in my discipline. I hope that these principles
may give you who are parents some guidance in
disciplining your children. We can do no better
than to follow the example of our Heavenly Father
in discipling those that are in our care. Principle
number one, to discipline your child is to prove
that you love him. You will hear otherwise from
your child. But to discipline your child is to
only prove that you love him. Someone has said
allow a pig and a boy to have everything they
want and you'll end up with a good pig and a
bad boy. The reason that we discipline our children
is because we love them so much we know that
if they continue doing this it's going to lead
them into trouble. And so we interfere, we intervene
and out of love we discipline. Number two. Let
your expectations be clearly stated in advance,
and repeat warnings of discipline as appropriate.
Children shouldn't be surprised when they're
disciplined. They should know that it's coming
because of what's happened, what they've heard
before. Rearing children is like drafting blueprints.
You have to know where to draw the lines. Children
need lines. Draw them clearly and warn them about
the lines. Let them know. And when they are crossed,
let the discipline come. Number three, temper
your discipline with mercy. Always keeping the
goal of training in view. Never allow your discipline
to go over the edge into destruction, for you
are destroying the child. God intends for us
to... to break the will, the stubbornness of
the child, but not to destroy the spirit of the
child. So temper your discipline with mercy,
keeping training before you. You don't have to
prove that you're bigger. You don't have to prove
that you're the boss. All you have to do is prepare
that child to live wisely in discipline. And
finally, remember that your discipline must begin,
must begin with your own example. Your children
are not only heirs of your possessions, your
children are heirs also of your values and your
character, and they will take those into life.
And so, remember that your discipline begins
with your own life. The character of your child
tomorrow is shaped by what He learned from you
today. Now we expect our children to obey us
and to learn from our discipline. Should God
have any less of an expectation? And so how are
you responding to God's loving discipline, His
instruction in your life? There are many tales
told about ships. that for one reason or another
lose their way in the channel and end up on the
rocks, broken, ruined. Sometimes it's because
the captain was asleep. Sometimes it's because
the compass was wrong or because of a malfunction.
Inevitably it's because the rudder was in the
wrong direction. Someone has said, he who will
not answer to the rudder must answer to the rocks.
The rudder of some of you here today is in the
wrong position, and it's leading you toward doom.
And God is putting pressure in your life. He
is trying to get that rudder to change and to
turn you away from the rock. Will you today turn?
Will you yield to the pressure God is bringing
into your life? Will you turn from the rock?
And let our loving Father embrace you and bless
you and fill your life with the good things that
now He can't give you. Let's pray. Let's pray.
Father, we are many here, fathers and parents.
We are all children. And most of us here are
children of yours. And we have much to learn
about you being mighty not only in grace, but
in discipline. Forgive us when we have thought
that because you've disciplined us, you've hated
us. Help us to see afresh this morning how deep
your love is. Oh, that only we could know the
love of Christ. We could only know it fully.
Thank you Lord Jesus for demonstrating your love
at the cross where you took the punishment of
all of our sin on yourself and died for us. From
that demonstration help us to see and to understand
and to feel today the depth of your love. Wherein
we are resisting your hand in our lives. We're
refusing to listen though again and again you've
spoken. I pray that there will be a significant
decision that we will make to yield. God help
that mother, that father, that young person,
that grandparent, to yield, to repent, to come
home. And today know the blessing of a father.
who loves them so desperately. I'm going to ask
you to stand with me and our heads bowed and
eyes closed. We're going to sing our commitment
and our prayer. In my life, Lord, be glorified.
And as we sing it, if you have particular needs,
and you need to come today because your heart
is heavy and you're broken, You're burdened.
You want a significant change. You want someone
to pray with you. I invite you to just look out
and come here to the front as we sing this chorus.
Don't wait. Don't hesitate. Just come right now
as we sing our prayer of commitment to the Lord.
Glorify today. Let's sing about our home as well.
You come with God as speaking to your heart.
In our home, Lord, be glorified. Lord, thank
you for meeting with us. Help us to know you
better through seeking you this summer. And may
this prayer of Jeremiah and your revelation of
yourself in this prayer help us to gain better
understanding and insight. And I pray that we
will be able to glory as these weeks pass, that
we understand and know you, the Lord. And I pray
that you will cause the result of this to filter
out in our lives as dads. God, I pray for the
fathers, especially in this congregation this
morning, to whom there is great responsibility
in child discipline. I pray for every parent.
God, that you will give us that wisdom and that
grace and that spirit that we need, that self
-control that will enable us to discipline our
children as you faithfully discipline us. We
commit ourselves to you and we pray that in deed
you will be glorified. God, we pray in closing
too for our nation, that our country, that the
people of this nation may repent of its wickedness
and turn to you and be spared the judgment that
is coming. In Jesus' name, Amen. Word is there.