Sons And Discipline - [Hebrews 12:3-11]

i don't know if you remember the runner jim fix member jim fix he was overweight at thirty five uh...

smoker and he began to run uh... he was a writer he was uh... uh...

in the mensa club for high iq people and he had all kinds of books about puzzles and games and things like that and then he started to run uh...

he'd been through a divorce and he began to run outside jogging and uh...

wrote a book about how to run and i remember getting that book before i was training for a marathon and just whatever he said to do i wanted to do jim fix this runner one day july twentieth nineteen eighty four at fifty two years old he was running on vermont vermont route fifteen and hardwick and what happened he fell over dead of a heart attack and uh...

the autopsy wasn't because he ran a lot but because he was just genetically predisposed had all kinds of coronary artery issues blockages and he fell over dead well why do i use that as an illustration well i was thinking today about running running with endurance training trying to make sure that you can run a twenty six mile race with endurance today i want to talk to you about a spiritual race that every christian is in and so if you take your bibles and turn to hebrews chapter twelve we're gonna look at the author of another book who lost his life during a race but it's not from a heart attack we know the lord jesus died of crucifixion for his people out of love for the father we're gonna look at hebrews chapter twelve today how to run the christian life when things are difficult i guess that sounds apropos for today doesn't it sound kind of relevant that's a great part about god's word it is trans it is trans chronological i guess it's trans chronological too it is everything from authoritative to sufficient and we will look at hebrews chapter twelve today so we can see how god has ordained through his messenger probably paul but the writer of uh...

hebrews so that we can run with many pains many trials many hardships many difficulties through the end god's word gives us instruction on how you can finish your life well how you can run with endurance in spite of troubles that might tempt you to go back to your old ways of life uh...

hebrews twelve uh... is going to be a great instruction we're gonna look at hebrews chapter twelve essentially today with some review verse one through verse eleven and it's gonna be very very simple outline how does a christian run their life when there's difficulties one you look to who jesus is two you accept discipline from a loving father super simple instead of saying you know what i'll look to myself i'll look to other people i'll look to politicians i'll look at economics i'll look at the internet i'll look at the other things no number one keep your eyes fixed on jesus and number two accept discipline instead of saying to yourself you know what uh...

god must not love me because i'm in this trial uh... god must not care for me why god can't you see i'm your child and why would you do this to me put me through this trial today we're gonna see simple instructions keep your eyes on who jesus is and accept a trial from a loving heavenly father who wants to conform you to the image of his son verses one through four talk about looking to jesus when we're in this race therefore since we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us christian you have to strive to run you must uh...

sweat to run you must try to run uh... once in a while my nebraska background comes out and my dad would probably say something like this this is no time for lollygagging remember that phrase to lollygag i think that's how kids maybe sometimes clean the house or sometimes how i might mow or trim the yard with a lollygagging kind of fashion no no, he is sane, christian uh...

in light of what god has done remember for the first eleven chapters this high priest has been painted before you that he would be worthy to serve it'd be an honor to run a race for him if he were to have you uh...

be his emissary you'd say for him i would do anything and so now the response section of hebrews comes up and the response is not just laying back and letting god or kind of coasting you are in a race so act like you're in a race and he gives encouragement here because he knows it's not easy so he says take off any kind of weight that you have right you don't want to run in a a tuxedo or a wedding dress or formal attire you need to strip down to the basics and so for us probably today it'd be tennis shoes and some light shorts and a light tank top or something here he says i want you to get rid of things that maybe aren't sinful notice the text every weight and things that are sinful the sin that clings so closely sometimes people could get so absorbed with the christian liberty maybe it's gardening maybe it's hiking maybe it's whatever that would be good but it consumes their walk with the lord jesus and he says you know what get rid of that weight incidentally that word weight is where we get our word oncology because oncologists deal with tumors that have weight get rid of every kind of weight that would drag you down you watch runners and they actually try to make sure they don't have any weight in their arms they try to stay as thin as possible because they know they're in a long distance race an old christian brethren author said is what you're doing a weight or a wing but not only christian liberty do you have to make sure doesn't consume your life so that you are running properly but also sin the sin which clings so closely from pornography to pride to self -righteousness to covetousness wanting to make a name for yourself every kind of sin you can just hear first peter chapter two you're like a newborn baby longing for the pure milk of the word but before you come to that word you put away all guile and deceitfulness run the christian life well by getting rid of every kind of weight and sin john owens said let not that man think that he makes any progress in true holiness who does not walk over the bellies of his lusts and as you're running it says verse two don't forget that this is one complete sentence verses one and two as you're running you're looking to jesus human name for jesus he really ran this race and how well did he run what did he do when he ran he's called the founder and perfecter of our faith isn't that great he's the founder he's the one that leads uh...

i like war stories i'm glad i never had to go into war but i i've met people who have been in the jungles of vietnam in world uh...

in uh... in world war two in the vietnam war and they have machetes and they're chopping through the jungle and the foliage and you're the guy behind that leader that's the kind of idea here jesus has gone through he's went ahead he's your the forerunner and you follow him you keep your eyes on him remember when peter saw jesus walking on the water and he he he didn't know what was going on and jesus said take heart it is i do not be afraid and peter answered him lord if it's you command me to come to you on the water and jesus said come so peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to jesus now what happened next think about running think about not looking at the right person but when he saw the wind he was afraid and beginning to sink he cried out lord save me jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him saying oh you of little faith why do you doubt you're running you keep your eyes on jesus it's so easy to be distracted it's almost like the writer is saying you know what why don't you have those blinders you know you put the blinders on the horse so they can't get scared seeing to the left or to the right run looking to jesus the author this trailblazer and not only that the perfecter our finisher how many times people don't finish uh...

i i can tell you this that uh... while i love to read uh... i don't finish books very well why because i just keep starting new ones over and over and over i think i'm literally reading fifty books now that there's probably a marker in there someplace and it's not finished the bad news is i don't finish really any book uh...

except all at once you finish all fifty at once you kind of think oh wow i got all that done is there anybody that could finish the christian race is there somebody that won't get to the very end and just kind of drop the ball well here's the lord jesus he's the author and perfecter follow him all the way moses drops the baton abraham drops the baton david drops the baton isn't there anybody who's going to race all the way to the end because if i start looking at these other men of faith and women of faith they drop the baton they fumbled but no here the lord jesus perfected finished and what did jesus run for the joy that was set before him you can just imagine the father's pleasure well done son great race you became obedient to the point of death even death on the cross and therefore i will highly exalt you race well run looking to jesus so it's not just a matter of i have to get rid of sin in my life i get rid of sin in my life as i look to jesus looking to jesus by the way if you're an unbeliever the advice is still the same look to jesus believe in him i remember the story about charles spurgeon the great baptist preacher how did he get converted it was a snowy night the pastor wasn't there for whatever reason he stumbles into this little chapel and there's only about twelve people there ten or twelve people he sits up in the balcony well they had a replacement for the preacher and uh...

i think it was a deacon if i remember rightly and he didn't really have much preaching experience so what did he do he just went to a passage and just kept repeating the passage over and over and over again as young spurgeon sat up in the balcony this was his passage look unto me all the ends of the earth and be ye saved look unto me all the ends of the earth and be ye saved the account says that he looked up to spurgeon the preacher in the middle of the sermon and said you look miserable i only have let's see one two three four about six or seven people here today i'll try not to do it to you you look miserable spurgeon he didn't know his name look unto jesus and spurgeon said that was it converted through a frail preacher talking about looking to the savior the lord jesus christ dear friends when we come from hebrews chapter eleven into twelve looking to jesus every one of these people listed in hebrews eleven that's what they were doing now jesus hadn't arrived yet but they knew about the messianic promises and so david was looking for the messiah to come abraham's looking for the messiah to come they're running the race they all are not in this chapter eleven because they're so faithful but they're looking to jesus and of course when you do that then the response is a faithful life and certainly god had them do faithful things some are shown here but it stems from faith in jesus they're looking to jesus and since they had less about jesus to look to new covenant people have more to if they could run the race why can't we in addition if you ever preach hebrews eleven and you just say be like david be like sarah without saying david is only to be looked at because he's looking to the greater david you've dropped otherwise we just turn into moralism what if i preach to you something like this are your sacrifices acceptable to god like abel's did you do you are you walking with god like enoch have you been faithful for a hundred twenty years like noah do you imitate abraham because wherever god calls you you go are you like sarah trusting in the impossible that's the wrong way to preach we don't preach dare to be a daniel we preach that daniel had a great object of his faith the lord jesus christ even though he didn't know his name was jesus yet the son of god exalted how do you endure the christian life keep looking to jesus he says in verse three something similar consider him think about it reflect calculate get your notepad out take time to consider him who endured from sinners you're supposed to endure i'm supposed to endure keep your eye on the one who endured and he endured from sinners a lot more than what i'm gonna go through such hostility against him for what purpose did he do this as a trailblazer he did it in this particular guard so that you dear christian might not grow weary are faint -hearted i can't take this anymore i'm throwing in the towel i quit i'd just gonna have to coast i'm gonna go back to what my old religion used to be i brought up in some kind of religion where it is so much easier just to take communion every week and uh...

just have the mass every week and do this every week of the golf course every week i can't take it anymore you're looking at the wrong place for consider him what did jesus have to go through and we won't submit to do something lesser he says i want you to think about it because christ has triumphed one writer said we can conquer his cross is the sign of victory it's almost like you know when you're running uh...

you think okay what do i have to do so at mile twenty of the boston marathon i don't bonk under that term bonk we just kind of like all the glycogen stores are out of your liver and muscle by the way for those people who think bonking are hitting the wall came about because of running or some kind of mixed martial arts or something like that no no no bonking came out of bicycling british transport films in the mid nineteen fifties realized when cyclists didn't rest or eat they would hit the wall and bonk and they said it was a feeling similar to getting head hit on the head bonked on the head so you're running and you kind of bonk out what do you do what causes spiritual bonking i can tell you morbid introspection looking at self morbidly looking at others thinking about what they do what they don't do morbidly looking at the world and it's seen without thinking about the sovereign god behind without focused on who jesus is that's why he has to tell us what to do because we need the command consider meditate think about who jesus is careful estimations smurgeon said he carried his heavy cross but we only carry a sliver or two of it he drank his cup to the dregs and we sip a drop or two at the very most consider how he suffered more than you can ever suffer and how he is now crowned with glory and honor and you are to be like him not just in descending into agony but also exaltation he's the forerunner he's the perfecter and he suffered and was exalted christian you're gonna suffer but you will be exalted so don't grow weary don't grow fatigued don't be discouraged this is the cure for a weary heart the lord jesus now i have some notes that i don't know if i wrote or somebody else wrote them but i i think they'll touch your soul consider christ who was your substitute he died in your place christ the substitute bore your punishment that was rightly do you your guilt was credited to him in such a way that he representatively bore your punishment dear christian consider christ he redeemed you you were in the slave market of sin and he purchased you with his own life with his own blood from the marketplace of sin you were enslaved and held in prison and by virtue of a payment of another the lord jesus you have been released and all the satisfaction that god requires on law keeping jesus did in your place the purchase price for your freedom and the release from your sins was the death of jesus you now christian belong to christ you're christ alone you've been bought with a terrible cost out of love consider christ who's reconciled you to god you know christian god made peace the sun made peace with the father for you you were god's enemy and god of the sun brought you into communion with god by the power of the holy spirit at the direction of the father there's this awful sin barrier between you and the father and you were hostile toward god and what was worse than that is god was hostile toward you but through christ that enmity and the wrath of god was removed for you you couldn't do it he did it all for you did you know that jesus christ satisfied the wrath of god for you god is so holy god is so righteous he can't overlook any sin including yours not just one not even one he was so angry with your sin but so loving that he provided propitiation satisfaction by punishing his son in your place dear christian did you know jesus forgave you all the charges on the ledger against you god removed your debts were nailed to the cross and christ atonement was freely given to you for the forgiveness of sins you'll never be judged for your sins again it's that kind of thinking where you think if he did that for me well i need to keep running i might stumble a little bit but lord i'm gonna just keep running because i've considered christ well not only that it says in verse four in your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood he's writing to the original recipients and they had been thrown in jail but they haven't been martyred yet but even up to the point of martyrdom which could come that shows you the extent of what you should do in this race in this struggle we move from running to war running to fighting and i think probably some christians don't even think they're in a battle some don't think they're in a race some don't think they're in a battle you can imagine i don't know what your favorite world war two story is a bunch of soldiers standing around bastone smoking cigarettes not even thinking that there's people shooting at them because they don't think they're in a war this is a battle striving against sin to what degree up until death shedding blood galvin said for christ will have no discharged soldiers but only those who have conquered death how do you endure this race number one look to jesus number two training from your heavenly father discipline your heavenly father who loves you verses five through eleven now i'm gonna read verses five through eleven and i want you to ask yourself the question are there repeated words one of the best ways you can find out the meaning of a passage is to look for the repetition of certain words and there's two words that are repeated a lot and i will give them emphasis as i read and then you'll know what this whole section is about hebrews twelve five to eleven and have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons my son do not regard lightly the discipline of the lord nor be wearied when reproved by him for the lord disciplines the one he loves and chastens every son whom he receives it is for discipline that you have to endure god is treating you as sons for what son is there whom his father does not discipline if you are left without discipline in which all have participated then you are illegitimate children and not besides this we all had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them shall we not much more be subject to the father of spirits and live for they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them but he disciplines us for our own 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 you don't have to be a bible scholar to go to this passage and say i think i know what it's about it's about what discipline and about sons sons get disciplined by the way the word discipline contains the word child in it so we can almost weave all these things together discipline that's the key word discipline of sons why does a dad discipline his sons that's a good question that kind of can unlock all what's going on here in this passage and it's not to harm but it's because he loves his son and i said it earlier and i want to say it again if you're falling into the trap right now i'm going to this trial i've lost a loved one because of the virus i've lost my job i've lost my hope our families aren't getting along because we're all under one roof and this that and the other and what about the economy what about this it could be a thousand different things and you say to yourself you christians say to yourself god doesn't love me anymore he doesn't love me well then you ought to think differently you ought to repent because that's not the point of discipline you say well my dad used to discipline me out of anger and see i just i just transport that and project it all on who god is i mean my dad's six four two forty golden glove boxer and we didn't mess with dad and uh...