Believers are God’s children. “Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry,
Abba, Father.
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” Romans 8:15-1715For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:15‑17).
And just as the relationship of parents and children never can be broken, neither can the relationship between God and His children.
If a servant misbehaves, the master can, and often does, send him about his business; but if the child misbehaves, will his father treat him in the same manner? Surely not. Neither will our Father.
Nor does He deal with His children as with the world.
Suppose, for instance, a boy in the street breaks a man’s window. Probably the man will go out and threaten him with the policeman, if not give him in charge. But suppose the same man’s child breaks the window from inside the house, how then? If the policeman comes to take him up, the father says, “No, I will deal with him.” And should the boy judge and confess his wrong, he will forgive him; should he be willful, careless about the wrong, or persist in it, a right-minded father would chasten him.
So is it with God. He threatens, and will judge the ungodly (Jude 1414And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, (Jude 14), 15). But if His own children sin (and surely it is worse in them than in others), instead of giving them over to the world’s judgment, He deals with them Himself (1 Cor. 11-31, 32).
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1: 9. But, if willful, He must and does chastise.