WWUTT 1882 He Disciplines Whom He Loves (Hebrews 12:4-11)

The Call to Pay Attention to God’s Discipline

When you were a child, you were probably disciplined by your parents, right? Well, even as children of God, we are disciplined by God. And we need to pay attention to that discipline so we would turn from sin to Christ, when we understand the text.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. We're back to our study of Hebrews 12, and I'm going to pick up where I left off yesterday. So starting here in verse 4, and we'll read through verse 11 out of the Legacy Standard Bible.

Hear the word of the Lord. You have not yet resisted to 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 flogs 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 to discipline us, and we respected them. Shall we not much more rather be subject to the Father of spirits and live?

For they disciplined us for a short time, as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our benefit, so that we may share His holiness. And all discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful, but to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Enduring Discipline in the Struggle Against Sin

So what are we reading about here? We're reading about being spiritually disciplined by the Lord. This first verse in this section that I've read here, verse 4, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin.

Now this is meant to be compared with the statement that was in verse 3, for consider Him, referring to Jesus, consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself so that you will not grow weary, fainting in heart.

Consider what Jesus went through, even unto His death at the hands of sinners, but you have not resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin. Now that's a different statement than what's being said in verse 3.

Consider verse 3 again, He endured such hostility by sinners against Himself. Verse 3 is not saying that because Jesus suffered, we'll also suffer at the hands of sinners. He suffered at the hands of sinners, so we're also going to suffer by those who hated Him.

They're going to hate us too. That's not what's being said between verses 3 and 4. But because He suffered, we must be willing to suffer in our strivings against sin. He shed His blood by enduring the hostility of sinners.

We have not yet shed our blood in our strivings against sin. So therefore, we're not going through something as difficult as Jesus went through, but we must be willing to put to death what is earthly in us, as said in Colossians 3 .5.

Put to death what is earthly in you. Mortify the sin, as John Owen put it. We would not live in these sins any longer, but we would live unto Christ. So again, the preacher here is saying, you've not yet resisted.

You haven't resisted those temptations that have come upon you. Now I'm already jumping right into the application as though I'm talking to you, but of course the preacher is talking to his Hebrew audience.

You've not yet resisted the temptations of sin to the point of shedding blood in your strivings against sin. You've not yet gotten to that point. But of course the aim here, the direction that he's going, is to be disciplined.

The Father is disciplining you. You need to be receptive of that discipline and put to death what is earthly in you. Verse 5, you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons. So there's a sense here in which the preacher is addressing his audience as weak.

They need to be strengthened and they need to grow up. And how is that going to happen? Through discipline. Receiving the discipline of their heavenly Father. So again, you've forgotten the exhortation.

You've forgotten what was said to you. You who have heard the gospel and believed in it and have set your course in the direction of Christ, yet you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons.

And now here's this Old Testament reference. This comes from the book of Proverbs. 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 flogs every son whom he receives.

So do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord. Have you ever had a situation where somebody was correcting you of something and you felt pretty broken down? And almost like when you're receiving that connection, it's like you tune out.

Okay, this person's just being critical of me. That's all this is and I'm done with this conversation. I'm ready to be done with this. I'm ready to move on. So you're not willing to receive the correction.

You just want to get mad about the fact that you're being corrected. And maybe you start to reason or rationalize in your mind, what this person's correcting me of is really not that bad, or they just don't understand.

This is not the thing that they think it is. They think they're correcting me of something, but I really haven't done the thing that they say that I've done. You just start to reason it in your mind as, well, they're looking at something that is not really the case.

I don't need to change anything because they don't actually understand the circumstance. Have you ever done this spiritually? Have you ever heard the preacher preaching something? You're sitting in church.

The pastor at the pulpit is preaching something from scripture. It's convicting your heart. You hear him saying this and you're going, oh my goodness, this is talking about me. Or maybe you've even approached your pastor after church before and said, were you speaking to me?

Was that about me? You were in my living room this past week. Or maybe you even go as far as saying that thing we talked about, you put it in your sermon, didn't you? And you think that he's specifically targeting you.

Well, you should feel convicted over what is being said in the message by the Holy Spirit who is wanting to work out these earthly things, work these earthly things out of you so that you would become more Christ-like.

We should want to feel convicted by the words that are being preached. None of us should be sitting in church hearing a message preached and go, well, that's for that guy today. That's not for me, but I sure hope that guy over there or that lady is listening to what the preacher is saying because this really pertains to them.

And when we all sing amazing grace, it's amazing grace for them. They're the wretch that needs the amazing grace, but not me. How many of us have had that kind of approach to the Sunday service before?

We will even rationalize in our minds how this applies to somebody else, but it doesn't apply to me. Now, that scripture, nah, it's not the same circumstance. My thing that I'm going through, that scripture doesn't speak into my circumstance.

No, no, no, Holy Spirit, you don't have this right. Maybe you just don't understand. We probably don't say those words, but we're rationalizing it in our minds in the same way. And if that's your approach whenever you feel convicted by something that is being spoken to you from the word of God, then you are regarding lightly the discipline of the Lord, and you are getting faint when being reproved by him.

You're having that attitude even spiritually of going, eh, this doesn't apply to me, or you're just being critical. I'm going to go, I'm going to turn my Bible to another section, and maybe I'll be more comforted by that.

Let's get to the comforting parts. Don't grow faint when you are reproved by him. If you feel convicted over sin or attitude or behavior or something like that that's going on in your life, something you know you've got to repent from, and you need to have more of a Christ-mindedness about this thing, whatever it is.

And I'm not saying that you're complaining about your circumstance isn't sin. It very well could be sin. But I'm just saying whatever it is, whether you're talking about a sin of the flesh or an attitude of the mind or a disposition of the heart, whatever it is, and you feel convicted because you heard from the word of Christ that your attitude, your behavior is sin, and you know that you need to correct something, receive that with joy.

We should be convicted over those things. Repent. Turn to Christ so that you would become more Christ-like. Remember that Jesus turned to Peter at one point and said, Get behind me, Satan. Because Peter wanted to prevent Jesus from going to the cross.

If Peter had had his way, none of us would be saved. He tried to prevent Jesus from having to go to his death. Jesus says to him, Get behind me, Satan. Why? For you are thinking with the mind of a man and not with the mind of God.

We would have heard Peter's plea, his defense of Jesus as being heartfelt and genuine. He just loves his Lord. He doesn't want him to go to his death. But he was thinking with the mind of a man. His emotionalism was human.

It was not being conformed to the mind of God. For otherwise he would have known the scriptures. He would have known Jesus had to go to the cross. And Peter would have submitted to that will as Christ was submitting to that will.

But desiring to have his own way or do this thing his own way, he tried to prevent Jesus from going to the cross. And Jesus said, You're thinking with the mind of a man and not with the mind of God. We must be more Christ-like in our thinking.

Conform to the image of the Son, as it says in Romans 8 .29. So those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines. That's verse 6. And he flogs every son whom he receives. That's spanking. That's a biblical spanking right there.

Yes, spanking is in the Bible, Old Testament and New. God flogs us when we do wrong. That we may be convicted over our sin and repent and return to him. Jesus said to the church at Laodicea in Revelation 3, Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline.

So be zealous and repent. Be passionate for Christ, for holiness, for obeying the word of God. Turn from those sins back to the path of righteousness as designated in his word. Those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines.

Don't regard that discipline lightly. Don't try to suppress it. Don't try to change the subject. Turn to something else that makes me feel a little bit better. Recognize the sin. Mortify the sin. And repent that you would not repeat in these things or live in these dead, dirty works, which will kill you if we continue in them.

God does not take sin lightly. And so, my friends, we should not take sin lightly. Nor should we regard lightly the discipline of the Lord when it comes. Verse 7, 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? And you could insert in here son or daughter. That's okay. If you are male or female, you are a son or daughter of God.

We've been adopted into the family of God through faith in Jesus Christ. We are his sons and daughters. God is not convicting the hearts. He is not disciplining the hearts of those who are not his children.

Now, there are certainly people out there who are unbelievers and will never become believers. They are the reprobate. And they will never listen to the discipline and the instruction of the Lord. They may feel conviction in their hearts over something wrong that they have done.

I've seen this before. I've seen wicked people, godless people who do not love the Lord. I've seen them be convicted over sinful things. I've even seen them be tremendously confused over sinful behavior.

I've watched this happen in the lives of friends before. Like they wander off into some kind of sexual immorality. And I've seen the torment that overtakes their mind and their heart. They recognize, I'm doing something wrong.

And they'll even juggle with it. Is this wrong? Should I be doing it? I know I shouldn't be doing this. I should stop. I've seen that kind of battle of the mind happen, that conflict within a person's own conscience, when they start giving themselves over to some kind of a fleshly appetite.

But they don't listen to the conviction. What they try to do is continue in the sin. And the more I do this sin, the more normal it becomes. And I will not feel convicted over it anymore. And I've watched that happen.

I've seen that happen up close and personal in the lives of friends of mine. That eventually they just become soft to the sin. They're not even convicted over it anymore. And what happens, according to Romans 1, is they are turned over to their own depraved mind.

Suppressing the truth with unrighteousness. And so God gives them over to their passions. To the point that they don't even feel guilty about it anymore. So a person who is not a Christian can be convicted over the wrong that they do.

But as Paul talks about this in 2 Corinthians, that conviction, that mourning, that weight, that grief, that they feel over their sin is a worldly grief. That will eventually lead to death. Godly grief produces repentance.

They would mourn over their sin so that they would turn from their sin back to Christ. And then continue onward from there in holiness. That is a godly grief that leads to repentance. A worldly sorrow, a worldly grief over someone's wrong does not lead to that.

Now it could be that it leads to a depression that will persist for the rest of their lives. I've also seen this happen as well. A person gives themselves over to their sin. They convince themselves that this is okay.

And they're comfortable with it. But it causes in their lives depression. And they don't even know where this depression is coming from. They just think, I'm just generally depressed. Or the state of the world.

Or they'll find people to blame. Or circumstances from my childhood that were never resolved. Whatever it might happen to be. They become increasingly depressed. Not recognizing that their depression is because in their flesh and in their soul they desire worldly things instead of Christ.

There's no meaning or purpose in any of that. They know it's empty. And there's a sense in which they know, I deserve judgment for this. Romans 1 .32 says that. But again, as said in Romans 1 .18, they suppress the truth with unrighteousness.

So that they might continue on enjoying the fleshly pleasure of the sin without having to experience the torment that's going on in their own soul. So they don't listen to the conviction. That is indeed a spiritual conviction.

But it's not spiritual to the point that it leads them to repentance. It's not a godly grief. It is a worldly grief. That leads to depression and sorrow and eventually death. Because that's what Paul says that worldly grief will lead to.

Worldly grief leads to death. Whereas a godly grief will lead to repentance. The Lord flogs. The Lord disciplines his sons and his daughters. So that we would turn from sin and do the right thing. That's why we get disciplined by our parents in the world in which we live at the present.

So that we would stop doing the wrong thing. Our parents loving us enough to not let us continue in doing the wrong that is going to lead to serious consequences if we keep doing that wrong. So they bring us away from the wrong.

They discipline us. I think about at the youngest ages, what are you trying to do when you're a kid? You kick and scream because you don't get a graham cracker. Or because you try to stick your finger in a light socket and mom slaps your hand.

So you learn not to do that because it hurts. It could actually kill you if you succeed at doing the thing that you want to do just out of your own curiosity. And all these little things that we get disciplined for when we're really young children.

And then as we get older and we start to be tempted by other sins, we get disciplined for other things. So that we would learn there's consequences to wrong behavior. Our conscience gets shaped. And hopefully you have godly parents that are shaping your conscience according to godly disciplines.

Those things that are written down in scripture. So we come to recognize there's consequences for bad behavior. So we won't do the bad thing and we will do the right thing. This is why our parents discipline us.

And it's the kind of discipline that we receive from the lord as well. But unto something greater than what our parents mean for us. God has in store for us something even better than that. 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? Verse 8, but if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

So if we were not being disciplined by god, we would not be his children. Whose children would we be? Satan's. You're either children of god or you're children of the devil. Illegitimate children are those who are children of satan.

Sons of disobedience as they're talked about in Ephesians 2. Children of wrath like the rest of mankind. Illegitimate children. Orphans. Not a people. As talked about in 1 Peter 2. Hated by others and hating one another as talked about in Titus 3.

That's who we are if we're not the children of god. But being loved by god, he disciplines us. Verse 9, furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. Shall we not much more rather be subject to the father of spirits and live?

We should want to be disciplined by god. Knowing that the reward we get from that discipline is far greater than the reward and understanding that we get from the discipline that we receive from our fathers here on this earth.

It's kind of a natural example that the preacher is using here. Look at the kind of discipline that you've received in your life even when you were kids and your fathers disciplined you. It was to set you on the right path, right?

So that you would have a better future for yourself not doing the wrong thing and coming into, you know, judgment, jail, death, whatever it might happen to be. God means something even better for us. Verse 10, for they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them but he disciplines us for our benefit so that we may share his holiness.

Whatever reason your father had for disciplining you could have been a worldly reason. It could have been just to shape you into the person your father wants you to be or because you annoyed your dad and so that's why he disciplined you.

God disciplines us for our benefit so that we share in his holiness and all discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful but sorrowful but to those who have been trained by it afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Again, this is just like what Paul said to the Corinthians that godly grief produces repentance leading to holiness. We are being disciplined that we may share his holiness, living in holiness. And this comes back again to the statement that's really being said here of put to death what is earthly in you, put to death the sin so that you would walk in holiness and righteousness before him.

He convicts you of sin and leads you in holiness because he loves you. So endure in this. Continue to do the holy thing. Continue to do the righteous thing. If you are feeling convicted over sin, pay attention to that.

Root it out, put it to death and follow in the likeness of Christ. And if you need help with this, talk with your pastor, talk with a Christian brother or sister. Confess sin that you have and say to someone who can hold you accountable, I need to turn from this, I need holiness.

And as James 5 says, you'll be healed of your sickness when you do this. Let's conclude with prayer. I'll pray for you. Heavenly Father, I thank you for the goodness and kindness that you show to us and I pray for the listeners that they wouldn't be convicted over their sin, whatever sins they might happen to be going through.

Maybe it is a certain disposition of the mind, a certain attitude that they know is just not godly. It's not God honoring. Their attitudes are complaining against God because of circumstance. Maybe they have an actual sin that they are in the middle of like, you know, sexual immorality.

Lying, cheating, stealing, being spiteful to somebody else, bitterness that they're holding on to, grudges, whatever it might happen to be. Convict the heart so that a person would turn from the sin to Christ and be cleansed and walk in holiness.

May we walk in holiness before you all these days until we join you together in glory. Discipline us as sons and daughters of God so that we may be more Christ-like in our thinking, in our living. It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen.

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