God Disciplines His Children

Turn with me, please, in your Bibles to Hebrews, chapter 12.

Hebrews, chapter 12.

Once again, as we open God's Word,.

We will take a moment to ask him to be with us and to bless us with his Spirit.

Our Heavenly Father, once again, as we open your Word,.

We would ask that you would gather with your people,.

That you would give us enlightenment and understanding that what we do during this time would not be merely out of tradition or rote, but instead, because your Spirit comes and blesses your Word, you would change us.

You would help us to understand. You would give us desire to be obedient to what we hear. Lord, may you be honored and glorified in all that takes place during this time.

We pray in Christ's name. Amen.

It has been quite some time since we were in the book of Hebrews. I actually had to go back and through the same means that has been used by the people of God for many, many generations, find out where we were.

I went to Sermonatio and looked it up, and lo and behold, it was November of last year that we were last in our study in Hebrews. And so, even I had to take the time to listen to the sermons to go, okay, where were we?

And if the person who preached them had to do that, then I think we probably need to do a little bit of review to get back up to speed. We are going to complete this study of the book of Hebrews. Lord willing, and I survived long enough to do that, we are going to press through to finish this book.

I think it has been an incredible study. At least we have certainly struggled with a number of issues. And this text, no less. We are in Hebrews chapter 12, and so to once again get our bearings, we are beginning with verse 4, Hebrews chapter 12, verse 4.

God’s Discipline and the Call to Strive Against Sin

You have not yet resisted the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin, and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons. My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him.

For those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and he scourges every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children, and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shall we not much rather be subject to the Father's spirits and live?

For they disciplined us for a short time, as seemed best to them. But he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful but sorrowful.

Yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Well, here again we have these words, and we certainly remember, at least having looked at these before, a little bit of the context.

We recognize, of course, once again trying to make sure we follow the flow of thought here in the book of Hebrews, that we have this exhortation to the people of God. There's tremendous pressure upon them to go back to the old ways.

And we've had all the theology laid out for us already in the book of Hebrews as to why there's nothing to go back to. There is nothing to go back to. The exhortation of the family members of these individuals who might be telling them to come back and offer sacrifice.

Well, we've now seen that all those sacrifices pointed toward the finished work of Jesus Christ. And so now we're entering into the exhortation phase, the last two chapters of this tremendous sermon delivered to the Hebrew Christians.

And you may recall that we've already looked at verses 4 and 5 somewhat briefly. But I want to make sure that we catch the element that this introduction gives to us. You have not yet resisted the point of shedding blood and you're striving against sin.

And you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons. And then we go to Proverbs chapter 3. And the last time we talked a little bit about what this text said to us. But I want us to keep something in mind.

These words, especially beginning in verse 5, are very well known to most of us who have been Christians for any period of time. When we talk about the Lord's discipline, when we talk about the Lord's chastisement, when we talk about issues regarding difficulties coming into our lives, very often this text will be brought forward as an exhortation.

An exhortation to what? Well, just to patiently bear these things, somewhat. But in reality, this should be a positive section. It should be a section of Scripture that gives to us an idea of exactly how we should cultivate an attitude that should result in our encouragement and our joy.

Now, we just read it and you're going, well, but it says that enduring discipline at the time doesn't seem very joyous. It seems painful. And it doesn't strike me as the most positive, uplifting section of Scripture.

But in reality, when we consider what it is really saying, we have here a laid out for us, I hate to use the term recipe because that's so often used in such a trite fashion, but it really is a recipe for how a Christian should cultivate an attitude that would allow them to experience abiding joy even in the most difficult of situations.

I think one of the reasons, though, that even though we are familiar with the text, that it does not always function this way for us is because very often we separate verse 4 out from what follows afterwards.

You have not yet resisted the point of shedding blood and you're striving against sin. Now, it's interesting to me that we have this kind of language. You've probably heard me mention more than once the term that's used in the book of Jude when we are told to epagonizamai, to contend earnestly for the once for all delivered to the saints faith.

We know that term, agonizamai. We know that the term agonize is just a, we don't really actually translate the term. We transliterate it. And agony, obviously, is a term that we use of great pain, but also it can be the agony of trying so hard to do something.

And in Jude, we are to contend earnestly. We are to put out a 100 effort to attempt to accomplish something. Well, a very similar term is used here. Agonizamai is here, but here it's antagonizamai. And it is to strive against something.

To fight against something. You can think of the recently completed Olympic Games. And I didn't see much of them. Most of them were going on while I was in Ukraine, and nobody in Ukraine was paying much attention to the Olympic Games.

But I did see, before I left, I remember seeing a particular competition. It was that one where you ski around with a gun on your back, which really wouldn't go over well at most of our ski resorts. And then you have to stop and you have to lay down and you have to do target shooting.

Which, if you've ever done target shooting, you know that skiing real hard, or running real hard, or any type of other physical activity right beforehand, makes it extremely difficult to hit the broad side of a barn, let alone a little target out there, which is what they're doing.

And that's the whole point of it, is the ability to work so hard. And at the end, you see them, and they're bracing each other, and they're just antagonizing each other. You can see them right next to each other, and they're sort of looking at each other, and when they finally cross the line, what normally happens?

They just fall over.

They gave the last drop, the last bit. They've gone, for those of you who do these types of things, completely anaerobic,.

And they've got nothing left.

They just fall over and lay there in the snow. I've always thought, well, you need to go far enough that the guys behind you don't run over you with the skis as they come through, but that's what they do.

And we've all seen that kind of athletic competition, where someone just gives their absolute all, and there's just absolutely nothing left in them. Well, that's really what we are being exhorted to do here.

And, unfortunately, and I'll just speak for myself here. I won't try to speak for anybody else. If that is the description at the beginning of this section, then I would suggest to you that, really, the promises of this section, the promise of this section is, if you are a true son or daughter of God, then no matter what comes into your life, you have the promise that God has a perfect purpose in why it's happening.

And that you can be joyous even in the midst of your suffering. I mean, what we have here is an extended version of what we like a little bit more in Romans 8. Because God works all things. He makes all things work together for the good.

Well, here we have a greater discussion of that. But it starts off with a description. A description that I look at myself, and I just have to ask myself, as I go through my life each week, as I go through my life each day, and if I were to honestly sit down and say, well, how would I describe myself?

Where are my priorities? Would I be described as a person who is striving against sin? Not just trying to stay out of its way. But this is actually describing an active mindset of striving against sin.

I mean, obviously, the writer here well knows what our experience in life is really like. And the writer knows that there is that remaining sin, and knows that we need to have an advocate before the Father in the person of Jesus Christ.

And yet, for some reason, God has decreed that we will continue to strive, even though we are a new creature in Christ, we've been given a new heart, and we desire to do what is good, we know, every one of us knows, as we look back over this past week, there have been times when we've fallen short, there have been times when we have sinned and sinned purposefully, knowingly.

And we know that there are those temptations that we fall into, and we know what the result's going to be, and yet we're still there, and we expose ourselves. How many of us, if we were to sit down and just honestly answer the question, am I known as a person who strives against sin?

A lot of us could go, well, yeah, you know, there are times. But that's not what the description here really is. Yeah, there are times I put out some real effort, but this is much more of a discipline.

It's much more of a settled mindset. I would suggest it really is descriptive of a person who hates. Let me give you an example. I don't know where it came from, and I bet you there's a few people here in this room that are going to go, I'm just like, I hate to throw up.

I've always hated. And even though I know in my mind that if you just get it over with, you're going to feel a whole lot better a whole lot faster, I will lay there in that bed, and I will do everything in my power to keep from going through that experience.

I hate it.

I just, oh, I would rather die. Once it's over with, it's sort of like, oh, but I just, and I know in my mind this is really dumb.

Just go and get it over with.

But I just hate it. And so I try to avoid going through that experience. I remember once, I think it was Brother Warren, I think it was Brother Warren, a couple years ago, ate some bad chicken. Didn't you, Brother Warren?

Oh, yeah.

And I didn't eat chicken at a fast food restaurant for quite some time. I forget which restaurant it was, but I sort of avoided it because I saw what happened to Warren. I did not want to experience that.

I hate that doing, going through that experience.

I really, really do.

Well, when you really have a loathing for something, it's amazing the amount of effort you'll put into avoiding it. And so it really makes me wonder at times how much I really loathe or hate sin when I ask myself the question, how much effort do I really put into avoiding the temptations that I know will trip me up, will get me in trouble?

How is it that I can loathe vomiting more than I loathe certain sins? Ask ourselves that question. I can't look into your heart. I can't look into your mind. But if your experience is like mine, you're sitting there right now thinking about certain things and recognizing, I don't know if I can say I loathe that.

Or what's more, we often pray, Lord, by your Spirit, show us those aspects of our lives, our behavior, our speech, the way we think, the way we interact with the people around us that are displeasing before you.

I mean, really, if our greatest and highest desire is to be pleasing toward God, then our desire should be to know what's displeasing to Him and to avoid that. So this striving against sin is just simply the backside of the positive desiring to be pleasing to God.

And yet, isn't it so much easier for us to just sort of take the middle road? And, well, you know, I avoid the big sins. And once in a while I really try to do something that's pleasing to God. All the time?

It's a little exhausting, isn't it? Isn't that a little on the extreme side?

The text leaves us with really no question. I mean, there needs to be not a once in a while striving, not a once in a while effort. The whole point of this text is going to be what? Notice what it says.

Specifically, verse 7. It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with sons. It is for discipline. Discipline is not something that you can develop without great effort and regularity.

Sunday morning and Sunday night is not enough. This is descriptive of our daily routine, our daily mindset. Now, some of you are not going to be overly shocked that when I think about these things, and there are others of you who are like me, I have certain athletic disciplines.

Yesterday I did not feel like it. But I got up and I got on my bike. I had work to do. I had work to do. You go, what do you mean? Well, as you know, I do a lot of my studying on the back of the bike.

And Bart Ehrman has put out another book. And so when the heretics put out attacks on the faith, part of my job is I get to read them. And lo and behold, some good guys put out a response to this book at the very same time.

So you put it all together. I forget how many hours it was, but I had a lot of reading to do. And you go on your bike. Yes, don't worry. I'm listening. I don't tape the book to the handlebars. I'm not quite that crazy.

But I rode 93 miles yesterday. Now, I didn't want to do that, but I did because I had to get through. I had a certain amount of reading I had to do. So I just figured, well, if I go out to Rio Verde and then I go over to here and I do this type of thing,.

I'll get it all done.

Now, the only reason I can do that is because I did that Monday.

I did 60 miles. And Wednesday I did 80 miles.

And then I did 90 on Saturday. And you see, if I just tried to go out and I didn't regularly do this, 93 miles would probably kill me. But because it's something I do regularly.

Don't always enjoy it. Let me tell you something.

July and August here in Phoenix, it is not fun. I mean, I've mentioned to you, Kelly and I sometimes will get up at 1 .30 in the morning. We're on our bikes by 2. We ride between 2 and 3. And then she goes to work and I get to watch sunrise.

And the point is, I don't necessarily enjoy that. But because I've been doing it, then I can do it and enjoy it and experience it. There's a discipline involved. But discipline is not something you just do once a week.

I've seen Brother George lift some huge amounts of weight. But he doesn't lift once a year. If he did it once a year and he tried to lift his maximum, everything would explode. There would be body parts going every which direction.

Right?

Pretty much. You've got to be regular. It has to be a discipline. And it's not always fun. It's not always enjoyable. That's what we're being told here. What we're being told is this Christian life is not something you just do on one day a week.

Or maybe if you're super spiritual, twice on one day and then even once during midweek. That's super spiritual. This is every day.

This is every hour.

There aren't vacations.

There aren't holidays.

This is what it means to be involved in spiritual warfare into being a Christian. Because once you have pledged your oath, the side of light, the forces of darkness, are never going to leave you alone.

Discipline is something that only comes with regular, purposeful activity. Not just, you know, it's sort of like the diet thing. I think for this meal I'm going to diet. Well, if the next meal you're at Baskin Robbins, that's really not going to accomplish anything for you.

There has to be a purpose. There has to be regularity. There has to be intention. Like an idiot, I have just recently taken up my third sport. Cycling, rowing, now I'm running. Some of you are going, you're nuts.

Maybe.

But I'm going to tell you something.

I've gone at this with a lot of thought. Because I've realized in my mind it's very dangerous.

Why?

Well, because I'm a good cyclist.

I've been doing that for years.

85 ,000 miles on the bike now. Okay, my cycling muscles are ready to go.

My running muscles, not so much.

The problem is you use some of them for one thing and others not. And so I knew if I could just go out and, I mean, aerobically, I can just go out and run and run and run. And about halfway through my knees will explode and that will be the end of that.

So I've had to think and I've had to go, okay, you've got to go, you know, little increments, you've got to do this. I've had to think through it. I've had to be disciplined in how I've even approached trying to get into this.

I've had to put thought into it. And every one of us has to do that. Every one of us recognizes that if there are things in life we really want, we have to think, we have to plan. How much do we want to strive against Him?

How much do we want to experience the discipline of the Lord so as to honor and glorify Him? We don't live in an age where discipline is something that is highly valued. In fact, just the opposite is the case, is it not?

I mean, we look at the people of the world and throwing off all restraint is what is glorified. That's what our young people are given the example of. But the idea of self-sacrifice and limitation and discipline and being focused upon an accomplishment of a particular goal, no, no, we don't do that.

How much do we want to be known as people who strive against sin? There is a direct connection between how much I want to please God and how much I want to strive against sin. So I wanted to emphasize the fact that the people being addressed in this beautiful text, the talk about you're the sons and daughters of God, you're being disciplined by God, God is doing this for your good, He does this with every son.

And in fact, the glorious takeaway at the end of this text is that no matter where you are, no matter what you experience, in the hospital room, at the graveside, wherever it is, the child of God has the promise that His discipline is always right, it's always just, it's always for our good and His glory, and it is the absolute evidence that we are His sons and daughters no matter what the world around us says.

But to truly gain that kind of a confidence, to truly in the midst of those darkest hours, to really be able to grasp that in such a way that the people around you see how you respond differently to trial and tribulation and suffering, especially when it's in your own experience, it's in your own body, to truly be able to have that kind of settled, faithful confidence, we have to recognize who these words are addressed to, and they're addressed to people who are striving against it.

Now, notice, verse 5 says, You've forgotten the exhortation which addressed you as sons. We're not talking about sinless perfectionism here. We're not talking about a people who, you know, I said this is 24 -7, every day, no vacations.

And some people take that to mean, oh, great. Well, you know, I certainly have fallen short of that. I mean, wow, just this past week, and you just shut everything else off. Some of these folks were complaining.

Some of these folks were looking at the difficulties they were experiencing, and they weren't interpreting those difficulties in the light of what the writer here explains to them. They were basically starting to question God's goodness.

And they were starting to wonder, well, if everything that we say is true, and we're following the very Messiah himself, and we've got forgiveness of sins and all the rest of these things, then why are we experiencing so much difficulty in our lives?

And they were becoming discouraged. And the descriptions could go on to talk about people with, you know, their arms are sort of hanging down, and their knees become weak. I think of a few times I've watched the Iron Man triathlon in Hawaii.

Actually, there's lots of Iron Man triathlons, but the big one in Hawaii. And I've watched these people.

They've bonked.

It's a technical term, believe it or not, bonk. It means you've used up all the glycogen in your body. It's gone. It's history. I have bonked a few times in my life on the bike, and it's a horrible feeling.

You feel like you're going to die. You are so depressed. It's a weird mindset you get into. Ten miles becomes 100 miles, and it's a horrible feeling. And I've watched these people. And the last thing you do in the thing is you run.

And so they're doing a marathon, and they've already swum two miles and ridden 112 or 16, I forget what it is, miles on a bike, and now they've run 26 miles. And they're coming in, and they're just, you know, normally you're like this, you know, and they're going different directions, and they can't keep going straight, but they've just got to get to that.

And they sort of fall across the line, and they're carried off to be rehydrated and everything else in a medical center or something like that. That's the picture later on. There are people who become tired.

And instead of having the arms up, you know, the arms are starting to drag, and the knees are becoming a little and once your knees become loose, then you can't really keep the right path. And so you vary, and now you're wasting more energy.

And you know it, and it's just this cycle that takes over. And so I'm not talking about sinless perfectionism. The writer recognizes we need to strengthen the shaky knees and the weak arms. We need to encourage one another.

So there are times when even the best saints experience that period. But the point is they experience that because they were striving against sin, not because they were taking a vacay. They were on holiday.

Oh, and I got in trouble while I was on holiday. Everyone come to my aid. Totally different situation. Totally different mindset. And so we mentioned last time the fact that this section from Proverbs, my son, Proverbs chapter 3, my son, do not regard lightly discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him.

For those whom the Lord loves, He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives. And we mentioned that the very way that the writer introduces this is to say that you and I should recognize, we should be such students of the Word, that we recognize that which is addressed to us, and we embrace it as our own, and that we really are students of all of the Word, because most of us do know something about Proverbs chapter 3, about trusting the Lord and committing your way to Him, but this isn't the most famous passage in Proverbs chapter 3, and yet the writer says, you've forgotten this.

This is addressed to you. If it is addressed to us, then my son, do not regard lightly, do not despise, do not think little of the discipline of the Lord. Well, may I suggest, that if we almost never think about the discipline of the Lord, that's treating it lightly.

When we look at our lives, when we look at the difficulties we're going through, and the only thought across our mind is,.

Oh, the Lord must not love me.

Are we not regarding lightly, despising the discipline of the Lord? Because, in essence, we are questioning what attitude He should have toward us. The picture that His love should present. Isn't it amazing, that one of the most popular perspectives out there today, is that if God loves you, He's just going to give you everything your little heart desires.

Oh, aren't there texts that say that we ask? Yeah, but those texts are also right in the middle of basically saying that we're talking about a will that has been completely changed. A will that's been purged of self-desire, and is focused solely upon the glory of God.

Not the name it and claim it type of stuff that is so popular in our day to day. In reality, what we have here, the discipline of the Lord should be something that is a regular part of our thinking, not just something we look to once in a while, when things get really, really bad, or some tragedy really hits.

We should recognize that that constant battle that is ours in striving against sin, and the attacks of unbelievers, and the unfair and unkind things they do and say, is all a part of the discipline of the Lord.

Now obviously, I'm not really sure how folks who don't believe in the sovereignty of God handle this text.

I don't know.

Because isn't that what stands behind all of this? Isn't it pretty obvious? I mean, if God isn't sovereign over what's going on in this world, if God doesn't have a decree he's working out, if he's just sort of reacting to men, then how can what I experience really be reflective of the discipline of the Lord, or being reproved by him?

We'd have to somehow limit what God is doing to only certain things, but then there's other stuff I experience God didn't have anything to do with that at all, and he's pretty bummed about it too. But I don't know how open theists and people like that answer these texts, but the reality is that behind this is the mindset that we can recognize the discipline of the Lord, and we can recognize when we are reproved by him.

For those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and he scourges every son whom he receives. Now again, we live in a day, shame is no longer a part, or is not supposed to be a part, of the modern vocabulary.

If it is used, it is now used toward those of us that still have morals and ethics based upon something that's recognizable within humanity. Shame on you for thinking there's such a thing as marriage that can be defined.

Shame on you for thinking that husband and wife actually have a meaning. Shame on you for thinking that human sexuality is defined by our creator and not by our desires. That's the only time shame is used.

You can't shame anybody anymore. Well, maybe Bernie Madoff.

I suppose you can go,.

Shame on Bernie Madoff.

But there's really not much else you can utilize shame for anymore. Used to be, I'm old enough to remember this, I was certainly raised in the context, that when you saw kids who were clearly undisciplined, I saw it happen more than once.

I'd be in a grocery store with my mom, and there'd be some kids that were just tearing the place up. My mom would just look at them, and look at me and go, shame on those parents. Not just shame on the kids.

Shame on those parents.

There was a day when your children's behavior actually sort of reflected on you. Now, if you had told them right and wrong, you would consistently discipline them. That would be one thing, if they just throw that to the wind.

But you can sort of tell sometimes when there are kids, that just, parents just, eh, eh, eh, stop that, Johnny. And you know that they've never been raised with any discipline at all. It doesn't reflect well upon the parents when you see kids like that.

Now, maybe in our society, that's just going by the wayside. Though I don't think it ever really fully can. Because we're made in the image of God, we recognize these relationships, no matter how our society may seek.

To suppress them.

So how much more would it be true that our Heavenly Father will discipline us? That's the point that then is brought out. You see, it is for discipline that you endure. Now, that's an ongoing thing. It's one thing to endure something for a brief period of time.

It's another thing to endure.

Hour by hour, day by day,.

Week by week, month by month,.

Year by year.

It's one thing to experience a surgery,.

For example.

You know, a couple years ago, I had that cardiac ablation thing. I had to go in and, you know, they have to put those needles in your arm,.

And eh, you know.

And then the feeling afterwards, I hate the feeling coming out of anesthesia. You know, you're not really in control of things. And then, oh, that's a horrible feeling.

I don't like it.

But I had to do it to get the positive benefits from that. I could endure it for a period of time. I'm not sure that I could endure that for a long period of time. That gets difficult. Well, it is for discipline that you not endure briefly, but you endure on an ongoing basis.

Why? Because God deals with you as with, I think, the heart of the text. Given us salvation. He has redeemed us from sin. He has united us with Christ. We have a great heavenly high priest. He's laid the foundation, the author has, of all the wonderful theology we've been looking at.

But have you ever wondered,.

Well, then why does God leave us here? Once He's saved us, why not just take us on to heaven? Well, He has a purpose. He has a reason. In other texts, it's described as being conformed to the image of Christ.

Here, God deals with us as with sons. Sons and daughters of God. And that means He takes a personal interest in making us like Him. In forming His image within us. And if that's the case, then the author asks, for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

We might go, I can think of a number. I can think of all sorts of them. Isn't that the great tragedy today? That we have so many men. What's the term now? Baby daddy or something?

That's used to describe, you know,.

The male that got the process going, but who has no idea where he is now. That's not being a father, is it? That's not being a father. And so while we can, of course, point to all sorts of broken situations that would invalidate a general rule, the point is that a real father, as imperfect as he may be, as self-centered as he may be, wants the best for his children and recognizes that discipline is absolutely necessary for them.

And so what son is there whom his father does not discipline? It is an axiom of life that the father demonstrates love for son or daughter through discipline, which is not always a lot of fun. Kids, you may think that mom or dad live to follow you around and discipline you.

Someday you will discover.

That that is not the case.

And that in point of fact,.

It is a demonstration of love on the part of that parent. And it takes energy. It takes love and grace and mercy to discipline your children. It's a whole lot easier to give up. It's a whole lot easier just to let them do their thing.

But the result is going to be... Now, believe it or not, kids, you don't know everything yet. I know, I know, you think you do. But the reality is you don't. And I'm awful glad that at some point in my youth, very early on in my youth, I realized that my parents were not stupid.