Hebrews 12:3-17 | The Discipline of God

Hebrews 12 and the Discipline of God

All right, if you would open your Bibles with me to the book of Hebrews, chapter 12. We will consider verses 3 through 17. Our Father in God, Lord, once again we come to you at this moment when we open up your word and I attempt to correctly articulate it.

Please, in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, use me this day, I pray in his name, amen. So our theme for this Lord's Day is not a popular title, right? Like this is something like if you were skipping around trying to find something to preach, this is not it.

Our theme is the discipline of God. Because we are committed to expository preaching, we do not skip over verses. We preach the books of the Bible verse by verse, trying to explain what God's word has to say to us.

What I aim to show you today is that the discipline of God is of his grace and of his love. That's what I attempt to show you today, that his discipline for his children is in his grace, it's in his love.

That the discipline of God can come in many forms and if you will allow me your time, that is what I intend to show you. In our outline today, we will see the reasons behind God's discipline. So point number one, why we need discipline.

Point number two, the means by which God uses for discipline. And point number three, the purpose for discipline. So why we need discipline, the means by which God uses for discipline and the purpose for.

Discipline.

Running the Race by Looking to Christ

And as we transition into that, last week we saw that living by faith is indeed a race,.

Right?

That's what we walked through last week. We saw that it was a race, that we had this great cloud of witnesses and their life that they lived was witnessed against the recipients of this letter as well as you and I today.

And it's not a race to where you and I are competing against one another to see who is doing better in their Christian walk, right? We're not competing against one another, but instead we are running this race to where we want one another to be with us in this race, this race that we're running, looking to Jesus Christ.

And I gave an analogy of a dog race, the greyhounds that race, that right before the greyhounds take off in this race that a robotic mechanical propel, a rabbit pops up and it's propelled in front of them and they let the dogs go and the dogs are running, trying to catch.

The rabbit.

The whole time that they're running, their eyes are focused on this mechanical rabbit. They're not looking at the lines, they're not looking at the other dogs, not even worried about what place they're in.

They're not concerned about things like that. They're not even looking at the crowd of people and the cameras around them. They're focused on the rabbit. And I said that this race, this Christian race, that's what it's like for you and I.

We're not to be focused on the outside world, what people have to say. We are to be focusing on one another in the sense that we want each other to be in this race, but our gaze, our focus is to be on Christ.

Like those greyhounds and they focus on that rabbit, we are to focus on Christ. And so now we're going to see what happens when we stop looking at Christ. Point number one, why we need discipline. So this is taken from Hebrews chapter 12 verses 3 and 4.

Hebrews chapter 12 verses 3 and 4. Verse 3 says, consider him, speaking of Jesus, who endured from sinners such hostility against himself so that you may not grow weary or faint hearted in your struggle against sin.

You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. So the question is, is why do we need discipline? And the answer is because we sin. Last week, one of the let us statements that we saw. So there's seven let us statements in the book of Hebrews.

And one of the let us statements is in the context of where we're at, where the writer included himself. It's verse one, section B of verse one. And he says, let us also lay aside every weight in sin, which clings so closely.

The writer seems to be drawing a drawing out the hitting and confess sins, the sins that we have not repented of, and he is calling them weight. He gives them this visual saying, let us also lay aside every weight.

The visual of sin here is weight. And I gave you that analogy of back when I used to run all the time, you know, three to five miles a day, and sometimes I would have a weighted vest, man, I could hardly move in that thing.

But once I took that vest off, I could fly, right? Like force, I, you know, I ran like the wind. But while that vest was on me, I was unable to do so. I was weighed down. The Bible gives us clear definition of this because like whenever we have, you know, while I have this vest on, I cannot run at my full potential.

I cannot run the race at full speed. And so while we're in this Christian walk, while we're supposed to be looking to Christ running this race, if we are carrying sins with us, we are not going to be able to run at our full potential at full speed.

And so the writer is calling it weight, telling us to shed this weight. The Bible gives a clear definition of what sin is. And we've looked at it several times, and we'll look at it again today. First John chapter three, verse four tells you what sin is.

I use this verse quite often as I witness to people. Verse four, everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin right here is lawlessness. Sin is breaking God's law. God has given a law.

When we break it, whether we're lying, whether we're stealing, not obedient to our parents, not worshiping God the way we ought to, we are sinning. Breaking God's law is sinning. When you and I are unrepentant living, when you and I have unrepentant sin, what we are doing is that we are living, not just that we have broken it, but we are living our lives in lawlessness, total rebellion against God.

And as believers, as followers of Jesus, we are to confess our sins. We see this in chapter one of first John, verse nine. Chapter one, verse nine. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

So this will be in the context of John. John deals with two sins. One is hating the brothers. You have the Jews that were not receiving their Gentile brothers in the church. And then you had the idea that some people, some Jews, did not believe that Jesus was the Christ, whether it be he was not the Christ or that the Christ did not come in the flesh.

And so these are the sin that first John is dealing with. But specifically here in verse nine, it's them hating their brother. So they were not welcoming to their brother. And he said, if we confess our sins, if we confess that we're not welcoming to our brother, repent of these things.

Christ is faithful to forgive us of all sins. Confession of sins and forsaken of sins is in fact what Christians are to do. If you're a Christian, this is what you are to do. Listen to verses five through seven, and you'll kind of see that that context come out clearly.

John writes, and this is the message that we have heard from him speaking of Jesus. So verses one through four right here is talking about how he was an eyewitness of seeing Jesus, the Christ in the flesh, right, that he actually did come in the flesh.

He says, and this is the message that we have heard from him and proclaim to you that God is light. And in him, there is no darkness at all. Verse six, if we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

Verse seven, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, Jew and Gentile, with one another, and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. Now listen to verse eight, and we'll skip nine and tackle ten.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Look at verse ten. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. We are called to walk in the light, and we are called not to walk in darkness.

And yet we see that the Bible tells us not to sin, but it says that when you do sin, confess your sins and never say that you don't sin. Every one of us sin, but the one who lives in lawlessness walks in darkness, while the one who confesses his sins is forgiven of his sins.

You see the difference? There's a difference between committing a sin, confessing it to God, to your brother, whatever, you know, keep me accountable, I'm struggling with this, help keep me accountable, confessing it to the Lord, versus someone who is sinning outright and does not recognize their sin.

That person is walking in darkness, the scripture says. They don't care what anyone thinks, they're going to do what they want to do. The scripture says they're walking in darkness. They're claiming to be Christians, but they're walking in darkness.

In the case of the context, it would have been them hating their brother, not receiving the Gentile as their brother. And in our text today, Hebrews, it's still in the context of looking to Jesus as the founder and the perfecter of our faith.

Last week, we looked at the word perfecter, which is the Greek word teliout, which means finisher. And in the Greek, it combines a statement, a sentence, if you will. And I read this to you last week as well, of what it means.

A perfecter who has in his own person raised faith to its perfection and has set before us the highest example of faith. That these great cloud of witnesses that we read about in chapter 11, who lived their life by faith, that is not the greatest example of faith, but the greatest example of faith was Jesus Christ.

Living the life that we could not live and taking upon himself our punishment, being crucified, buried for three days and rising from the grave. This is the greatest act of faith. That's why we are to look to him as we're running this race.

We're not to look at the great cloud of witnesses, but we're to focus on Jesus Christ. Now, with that in mind, let's read again our text. Just the first two words, verse three of chapter 12, consider him.

Speaking of Jesus, pointing to the founder and the perfecter of our faith. Right here it tells you, verse two, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despised the shame, and is seated at the right hand of God.

It says to consider him who endured from sinners such hostility. What hostility? Right here in verse two. He endured the cross, despised the shame. He endured from sinners such hostility against himself so that, right here, you, them, you and I today, may not grow weary or fainthearted.

He did this for us. Right here it says, in your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. This could have definitely two meanings. One would be that you have not been martyred, persecuted.

Another one could mean that their blood cannot forgive sins, right? The writer here is given a comparison, and this time it's not Jesus versus Moses as we see in chapter three. It's not Jesus versus the great cloud of witnesses as we see in chapter 11, but it's Jesus versus them and versus you and me.

Jesus is the one who shed his own blood for our sins. We have not yet shed it blood. Again, like I kind of alluded to, I believe the writer is reminding them of the once and for all sacrifice that we saw from chapters eight to chapter seven to chapter nine that was made by Jesus Christ.

That you and I have not shed it blood, meaning that we cannot forgive sins. That the blood atonement had to be by one who was perfect, spotless. The spotless lamb of God, John the Baptist sees Jesus and he says, behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

The Church and the Means of Discipline

Now as we transition, this is not about punishment. The discipline of God is not about punishment, but rather about discipline. There's a difference that I hope to hash out. Romans 5, 8 tells us this.

It says, but God shows his love for us, and while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He took our punishment. Christ took our punishment. Christ took our punishment, but because there's remaining sins in our life, we need discipline.

And that leads us to point number two. So point number one, why we need discipline? Because of our sins, our remaining sins. Point number two, the means by which God disciplines. And so I have two subheadings.

The first is the church, and the second is sickness and death. Again, you're gonna see why this is not such a popular message if you're just cruising the Bible trying to find something to preach. This is one of those texts where you just, yeah, I'm gonna skip that one.

I'm not gonna worry about that one. So the first subheading, the church. And I don't know who was all sitting with us, but during our lunch last week, a few of us were speaking about church discipline.

I know Robert was with me, I believe Shelby was there, and Dawson. I don't remember who all was around us, but the conversation came up about church discipline. The fact that God has given to the church the power to execute discipline.

Church discipline is not for those who confess and forsake their sins. But it's for those who live in lawlessness, those who walk in darkness. Notice it's not the discipline of God directly, but for the church to actually come down and remove a member from something.

Robert pointed out last week, I don't know if he said it, but he could have said it different than how I wrote it down, so I'm not doing an exact quote. So please forgive me, Robert, if I misquote you.

But he mentioned that it's a built-in mechanism to root out unbelievers. The church having God using the church for discipline is a built-in mechanism to root out unbelievers.

You say, well, why is that?

Because no one wants to be disciplined, right? It's hard to accept discipline, right? I mean, discipline is good, but it's hard to receive it. Again, I remember me being a child. And listen, I was not such a great child, especially in my teen years.

I did a lot of bad things, and receiving discipline was not something easy for me to receive. But I wanna show you in the scriptures God's clear direction for church discipline. And a lot of y 'all, y 'all know this, but we're just gonna look over it and maybe open some minds real quick.

So in Matthew chapter 18, there's a portion up here, verse 15 through 20, that we will examine real quick. And we'll do this, we'll look at verse 15, then we'll look at verses 16 and 17, and then verses 18 and 19.

So verse 15, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. I'll read that again. If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.

Not between everybody else, this is not gossip, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. Verse 15 is a clear indication of spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity is when you approach your brother or sister about their sin, and they agree with you.

And they turn to God in repentance. Spiritual maturity, verses 16 and 17. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you. Still not gossip, you're taking other people along with you to settle the matter.

But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church.

And if he refuses to listen to even the church, let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector. Verses 16 and 17 give a clear indicator of spiritual immaturity. Spiritual immaturity or even a sign that the person was never truly a Christian.

When one is unwilling to repent of open sin, even when confronted by the church, if you are. So this means that you didn't gain your brother, right? You have come to him by yourself. You refused to listen.

You brought members from your church, particularly and probably an elder. Because in the context where it says we're two or three together, this has an elder routine here. You're going to him, you're speaking to him.

He does not see his sins or she does not see her sins. She does not receive this as discipline, but outright denies them. This is a sign of spiritual immaturity. Or a sign that they may have professed faith with their mouth, but they do not possess faith.

They have not been born again. Verses 18 through 20. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Now there's a lot of theological debate here.

We won't get into that today. And again I say to you, if two or three agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among you, them.

So verses 18 through 20, we see that wherever two or three persons come together as the church and agree concerning church discipline, it is honored by God. Says there I am among you. God has given to the church discipline.

And that the church can, and we'll look at it deeper here, remove someone from the table, the Lord's table. We have the right to remove someone from the fellowship. What we do not have the right to do is anything above that.

Right?

We do not have any civil magistrate ruling authority. And we'll see that in our next chapter. We'll look at 1 Corinthians. Please turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 5. 1 Corinthians chapter 5, I'll read verses 1 through 13 real quick.

Now there's gonna be a little bit of hard to hear language. Please forgive me. It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans. For a man has his father's wife.

And you are ignorant, ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. For though absent in body, I am present in spirit. And as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who has done such a thing.

When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present with you in the power of the Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump. As you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

Let us, therefore, celebrate the festival not with old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexual immoral people.

Not at all meaning that the sexual immoral of this world, so he's not saying don't associate with the sexual immoral of this world. Or the greedy or the swindlers or the adulterers, since then you would need to go out.

Since then, you would need to go out of the world. So if you're not allowed to associate with sexual immoral people outside the church, then you wouldn't be able to walk outside the church. You'd have to stay inside the church.

But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed. Or is an adulterer, reviler, drunker, swindler. Even, not even to eat with such a one.

Right here, verse 12. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges outside. Purge the evil person from among you. I think it's very clear.

We are, if my neighbor is committing adultery on his wife, I can't go and remove him from the church. He's not a part of the church. But if any one of you are sleeping around on your wife or you're sleeping around on your husband and I confront you with first me, then I bring someone else and you are unrepentant, you will be removed from the church.

I guess what the scriptures tell us to do. And if you ask me, that's a downfall in Christianity today. The revelation calls the church the lampstands. And then when you read the book of Revelation, Jesus gives warnings and talking about removing the lampstand from the church.

And there's so many churches that claim the name of Jesus. But let me tell you something. If they don't practice church discipline, they probably don't have the lampstand, Jesus walking among them. It's very important for the church to issue church discipline because God uses church discipline to bring the person back.

If you're not calling someone to repent, they're not going to repent. And so one of the sadness, one of the things that breaks my heart about the American church is that they don't have church discipline.

This is one of God's use for discipline. So heading number two, sickness and death. Now this one is really hard to hear. Think the first one was hard to hear. Let's look at 1 Corinthians chapter 11. This should be near to us since every week we take the Lord's Supper.

We'll look at verses 27 and 32. We'll just give it a quick read. Chapter 11, verses 27 through 32. Whoever therefore eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.

But a person examine himself then, let a person examine himself then, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. If anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself, this is why many of you are weak and ill.

And some have died. But if we judge ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. Even this illness, even death is a discipline so that we may not be condemned with the world.

The supper for us, I mean the supper, not just for us, but for all people, the supper is for the broken, right? It's not for the perfect, it's for the broken. But with that said, it's for the broken, those who confess their sins and turn from their sins, not for those who openly live in rebellion.

If you are walking in darkness, the supper can be used as a judgment upon you. And so he warns us, if you're walking in darkness, if you're living in rebellion, don't take the supper. If the church knows that you're walking in darkness and living in rebellion, they have to give a warning like we do before we have the Lord's Supper.

This supper is for those that are in Christ. And as we transition, let us not forget Ananias and Sapphira. Chapter five of Acts, they sold a piece of their property, they told the apostles that this is the amount of money that they received for the property, and they wanted to give them all the money that they received, knowing that they actually kept back money.

And in discipline, God kills them dead because they lied to the Holy Spirit.

They fell dead.

Now you might say that's an extreme case, and yes it is, that's an extreme case. But too often when bad things end up happening to us, people seem to blame the devil and not their own evil actions. All the devil did it, the devil's coming on me, bad things are happening, the devil must be right in my back.

No, you need to repent, right? You need to repent, God is putting discipline upon you. People don't want to admit their own sinful behaviors. And when discipline comes, they blame it on the devil. Point number three, the purpose of discipline.

The Purpose of God’s Discipline: Sonship, Holiness, and Repentance

Hebrews chapter 12, verses 5 through 17, this is a large portion, but we'll get through it real quick. Now as I stated earlier, discipline is not punishment. Christ has taken our punishment. Discipline is for those who God considers to be a son.

Revelations chapter 3, verse 19, Jesus says these words to one of the churches. He says, to whom I love, I reprove and discipline. Let me say that again, to whom I love, this is Jesus, I reprove and discipline.

So, be zealous and repent. Turn from your sins, is what he is saying. You might be thinking to yourself, well, what about sickness and death? And with that, let me say, it could have been worse. He said, what's worse than sickness and death?

How about your body and soul thrown into hell? Death is not the worst thing that can happen to you. I was a citizen, Sunday school earlier, I mean, I was having that meeting, that if I die, trust, I'm dancing where angels tread.

If there was some way that you can come to me and say, hey, Jeff, you want to come back? I'd be like, no way. Because as good as this is, it's nothing on what we will experience in the presence of God.

There's worse things than death. Now, although this is a longer portion, but it has to do with the purpose of God's discipline. So, I had to put it all together, so we didn't do the purpose of God's discipline two weeks in a row.

He gives an analogy of a father and a son in Hebrews 12, I mean, chapter 12, verses 5 through 9, because it deals with sonship. But let's just read verses 5 and 6 to start with. Hebrews 12, verses 5 and 6, and you have, and have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastens every son whom he receives. Now, if you're going under discipline right now, you should be thanking God.

I can remember, and I've probably told you this before, I was outside, I probably looked like a wild man, God was disciplining me, and I saw someone doing something that I was being disciplined for. And I literally looked up and said, how can he do this and I can't?

And this verse came to my mind, and I began to weep and wail and just celebrate that God has received me as a son. Verses 5 and 6 is a quotation from Proverbs chapter 3, verses 11 and 12, and we'll quickly walk through the context, verses 1 through 12.

Proverbs chapter 3, 1 through 12, this is something that should be very familiar with you. It says, my son, do not forget my teachings, but let your heart keep my commandments. For the length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.

Let not steadfast love and faithlessness forsake you. Bind them around your neck and write them on the tablets of your heart. And we know under the new covenant that this is what Jesus has performed for us.

Jesus kept the law of God. We are in the new covenant by faith in him. He has written his law in our hearts. This is not something we do. We don't have to bind something and write it on ourselves. Jesus has done this for us through the new covenant.

Verse 4, so you will find favor and good success in God's sight and man. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make straight your path.

Be not wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord. Turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and a refreshment to your bones. Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the first fruit of all your produce.

Then your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will burst with wine. My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof. For the Lord reproves him whom he loves as a father, the son in whom he delights.

The book of Proverbs is teaching us to honor the Lord by keeping his commandments and by giving of our wealth. In 1 John, back to 1 John, 1 John 2, verse 3 tells us that this is how we know that we have come to know him.

So if you want to know how you've come to know him, it tells you right here is that we keep his commandments. Whoever says that he knows him, speaking of God, and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.

And a lot of false theology has been built around this. A lot of cults bring this up. When all you have to do is read, keep reading, keep reading, you come to 1 John chapter 3, verse 23, and it says, and this is his commandments.

So in 1 chapter 2, where it talks about his commandments, this is what this is addressing in chapter 3, verse 23, and this is his commandments, that we believe in the name of the son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he has commanded us.

How do we fulfill the law of God? We believe in the name of the son and we love our neighbors as ourselves. We keep the commandments by believing in Jesus and loving our neighbors. How do we do this? Well, you hear the gospel, you put your faith in Jesus, you live your life as that, like that greyhound running the race, looking at that rabbit.

We live our lives as Christians, living our life, looking to Jesus Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith, and we love our neighbors as ourselves. God has given us the fruit of the spirit in order to be gracious to our neighbors, and he has commanded us to forgive our neighbors when our neighbors are not gracious to us.

We give of our wealth and our tithes and offerings to the church, me included, every one of us. It's what we're called to do. There's things that the church has to, we have to have money in order to, we have to pay rent, we have to pay for the light bills, like we want to be able to send money to missionaries overseas, we want to have money for missions in our own neighborhood, right?

So we give, so we can have these things, so we can minister to people, those near us and those far from us. We want to have a place where we can gather, we give money, we give of our wealth to the church.

We believe that God blesses that. And listen, if you are not doing these things, if you're not looking to Jesus Christ, if you're not loving your neighbors, if you're not giving of your wealth, and these things, this discipline comes upon you, be grateful, be grateful, because he only disciplines those whom he considers to be a son.

If you're not looking to Jesus, you're not loving your neighbors, and you're not giving to the church, and nothing's being done to you, fear, fear, because something worse than death can occur to you.

I hope y 'all see how this is such a, like this is something you just don't decide.

To preach, right?

But we are committed to the exposition of God's word. Verses 7 through 9, let's read that real quick. It's still in the idea of sonship. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons.

For what son is there whom the father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline in which you have participated, then you are an illegitimate child and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them.

Shall we not much more be subjected to the father of spirits and live? There were most likely at this time, as the writer is speaking this, there were most likely people, we know that they were going back to the temple, that they were committing sins that they were not supposed to be committing, but most likely there were people, these people that were doing these things, some of them were not being.

Disciplined.

Some of them were not being disciplined for going back and making sacrifices after Christ has made that once and for all sacrifice. Someone was probably able to live in some adulterous sin and not feel any kind of.

Discipline.

They were not looking to Jesus. They were not loving their neighbor. They were not giving of their wealth, and nothing was happening. The writer is saying, listen, ladies and gentlemen, this is not a good thing.

Stop looking at them thinking that they're lucky. This is not a good thing. They're illegitimate children. If you and I can name the name of Christ, like consciously, if you and I can name the name of Christ and our conscience allows us to live however we want, the writer is saying you are an illegitimate child because children are to be thankful, to be grateful for the discipline of God.

Hebrews 12, 10 -14 deals with our holiness, 10 -14. For they disciplined, speaking of our earthly fathers, for they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them. But he, God, disciplines us for our good that we may share in his holiness.

For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields a peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore, lift your droopy heads, strengthen your weak knees, and make straight the path of your feet so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather healed.

Strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see God. So the Lord's discipline is for our holiness. He disciplines us for our good that we might share in his holiness.

Notice the text says his holiness, verse 10, beam. But he disciplines us for our good that we may share in his holiness, not our holiness, that we may share in his holiness. And I got here written in my Bible, if the Lord does not discipline you, you will not share in his holiness.

Holiness comes from the discipline of God. And look at verse 14. Strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness that we receive in discipline. When we're being disciplined, we need to repent. It brings holiness, and without which no one will see the Lord.

Without this holiness that we get in discipline, no one will see the Lord. If you are not in this life sharing in the holiness of God, you will not see the Lord. The only part of God you will see is his judgment.

And verse 11 tells us what we gain from this discipline. It tells us that we gain peaceful fruit of righteousness. Read it with me. For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields a peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.