I would like to challenge myself and all of us to confront sin in our own lives so that we might be more faithful to the Lord and bring more glory to His name. Today’s a lesson that I hope serves to challenge us all.

Chasten defined: correct, reprimand, punish, chastise

Life situations show us that slow chastening does not work. If we do not act quickly our children will not understand not to touch a hot oven. A little while back, poncho, our border collie, was with a couple of very large dogs, and he tried to do what he likes to do to everything and that is try to herd them. One of the dogs did not understand or like what Poncho was doing and started to fight him and then Poncho was in a battle against two very large dogs. He was fortunate that he only ended up with a bloody ear as it could have been a lot worse. Chastening is for a purpose. We try to teach Poncho to control his impulses and urges for his own good.

Those we love we chasten. God is the same (Job 5:17, Hebrews 12:3-11, Revelation 3:19). Those He loves he chastens. Sometimes the chastening of the Lord comes from:

1. Our own self-examination (Matthew 7:1-5, 2 Corinthians 13:5) with God’s Word (James 1:21-25). The Law of Liberty = Our standard for self-examination.
2. From a loving brother or sister (Galatians 6:1-10). Again this involves self-examination.
3. From our congregation of loving brothers and sisters (Matthew 18:17, 1 Thessalonians 3:6, 14-15, 2 Corinthians 2:6-8). 

No chastening of sin is effective if it is delayed. Delay may cost their souls (Matthew 16:24-28).

We humans tend to put things off (great procrastinators) that we do not want to deal with. Sin is one of those things. We put off examining ourselves because we may be afraid of what we see. Then we put off helping others because we may feel “who am I to judge him or her, when I do not want to judge myself.” But God’s Word teaches us that we are to deal with sin quickly (Acts 2:40-41). Notice the urgency! One sermon, one day, and 3,000 souls were saved from their sins!

Rather than being afraid to confront our sins we need to focus on our love for God, our love for our soul, and our love for the souls of others (1 John 3:16, 4:7-11, 17-19). John teaches us that our love for brethren is to be such that we are willing to lay down our lives for them. If love is to be that strong, then surely we should love them enough to help them when they are in sin!

For me, if I have sinned I would ask that do not wait a day, a month, or a year to point it out to me. Please tell me as soon as possible. I believe we should all have this attitude about sins; whether private sins, brother to brother sins, or sins the congregation is aware of. Sins need quick action because the salvation of souls is at stake!

God will provide help for those who have fallen away and He does not want anyone to perish. But how does he reach those people who have fallen away, wandered from Christ, or have been marked for their sins? By using us; Christians! Our motivation is always to be out of sincere love for their souls (Jude 22-23, James 5:19-20). 

If we do not take sin seriously, the devil will take us away and our loved ones away, because he never ceases trying to devour us (1 Peter 5:8-9).

How about you? Do you take sin in your life seriously? Do you hurry to deal with your sin? Do you quickly help others when they are in sin? God’s Word tells us that sin is serious and we need to be quick to deal with it. This is not easy, but it may save our soul and the souls of others. Notice what Paul tells Timothy (1 Timothy 4:12-16). Saving souls is the bottom line.

If you are not a Christian today and you understand how God feels about your situation, do not leave this building this morning before you deal with your sins! They are serious and the time to deal with them is now. Repent of those sins and be baptized to wash them away. That is how someone who was lost becomes a saved child of God. Let us know if we can help you as we stand and sing.