The Purpose of God's Perfect Discipline, Part 2 (Heb 12:9-10) | Worship Service

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March 27, 2023

The Purpose of God's Perfect Discipline, Part 2 (Heb 12:9-10) | Worship Service This stream is created with #PRISMLiveStudio

Angels and End Times Part 3 | Adult Sunday School

12:33: Good morning. We welcome you to Kootenai Church. We're glad you're here today. We're going to sing the song we just heard.
12:39: Come Christians, join to sing. Would you please stand as we get started this morning? Come Christians, join to sing.
12:56: Alleluia, Amen. Loud praise to Christ our
13:02: King. Alleluia, Amen. Let all with heart and voice before His throne rejoice.
13:13: Praise is His gracious choice. Alleluia, Amen.
13:24: Come lift your hearts on high. Alleluia, Amen.
13:31: Let praises fill the sky. Alleluia, Amen.
13:38: He is our guide and friend. To us He'll condescend.
13:45: His love shall never end. Alleluia, Amen.
13:55: Praise yet our Christ again. Alleluia, Amen.
14:03: Life shall not end the strain. Alleluia, Amen.
14:10: On heaven's blissful shore His goodness we'll adore.
14:16: Singing forevermore, Alleluia, Amen.
14:36: Immortal, invisible, God only wise. Enlightened, accessible, hid from our eyes.
14:46: Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days. Almighty, victorious,
14:53: Thy great name we praise. Unresting, unhastening, and silent as light.
15:02: Not wanting or wasting, You rule us in light. Your justice like mountains, high soaring above.
15:12: Your clouds which are fountains of goodness and love.
15:18: Most holy, most glorious, the
15:23: Ancient of Days. Almighty, victorious,
15:31: Your great name we praise. All life comes from You, Lord, to both great and small.
15:48: In all life You live, Lord, the true life of all. We blossom and flourish, but quickly grow frail.
15:58: We wither and perish, but You never fail.
16:04: Great Father of glory, pure Father of light. Your angels adore
16:11: You, unveiling their sight. All praise we will render,
16:16: O Father of grace, till one day in splendor we see face to face.
16:24: Most holy, most glorious, the
16:29: Ancient of Days. Almighty, victorious,
16:37: Your great name we praise. Most holy, most glorious, the
16:45: Ancient of Days. Almighty, victorious,
16:52: Your great name we praise. O Lord, You alone are praise,
17:32: O most holy Lord. With all of my heart
17:40: I sing. Great are
17:46: You, Lord, worthy of praise.
17:55: Holy and true. Great are You, Lord, most holy
18:04: Lord. Most holy
18:11: Lord, You alone are worthy praise.
18:18: O holy Lord, most holy Lord. With all of my heart
18:27: I sing. Great are
18:33: You, Lord, worthy of praise.
18:44: Holy and true. Great are You, Lord, most holy
18:52: Lord. You may be seated. Alright, just a few announcements.
19:08: Just a few announcements. Any moment now. There we go. Just a few announcements. First of all, a couple of time -sensitive ones.
19:15: There is a resurrection Sunday morning breakfast that is two weeks from today. There will be no Sunday school on that Sunday.
19:21: Instead, you are invited to join us for breakfast that morning. So two things to do if you want to join us for that.
19:28: First, you will need to sign up for the breakfast out on the welcome table. Make sure you put your name on that list as well as the number of people coming from your family so that we can adequately plan for the food.
19:39: And second, if you are a man here and you, or young man, and you want to help out with cooking and preparing and serving for that breakfast, then please contact
19:49: Thomas Leo and let him know that you're willing to do that. Second is the women's conference coming up in a couple of weeks.
19:58: You will need to have, in three weeks I think it is, you will need to sign up and register for that. And today is the last day, next week is the last week for that.
20:07: And so you can do that at the table out there. And not only that registration, but also the equipping conference that we have in June with Kosti Hinn.
20:14: You can register for that and the discount codes are in your bulletin. For those of you who are here at the church, you can use those to get a discount off your registration.
20:23: And we're a little later in the year getting that up and going this year. So make sure that you don't delay and you take advantage of that.
20:30: There's a free book, God, Greed, and the Prosperity Gospel that Kosti is in. We're giving away that book with every registration that we receive.
20:37: And that is in June. So you've got a little bit more time than with the women's conference or the Sunday morning
20:43: Easter breakfast, but please don't hesitate. And then two other things, also this week, and sorry, next week is the last week you'll have an opportunity to put something in the care packages for the college students if you would like.
20:55: And then there is a choir practice today after church. We have all these things going on. There's a lot to announce and that I think is it.
21:02: Please turn your Bibles to the book of Titus, to chapter 2, the book of Titus chapter 2. We're going to read there two passages, one from Titus 2 and one from Titus chapter 3.
21:27: Titus chapter 2, we're going to read verses 11 through verse 15. And then in chapter 3, we're going to read verses 3 down through the end of verse 7.
21:37: Titus chapter 2, beginning at verse 11, for the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great
21:58: God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds.
22:11: These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority, but no one can disregard you.
22:17: Chapter 3, verse 3, for we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.
22:31: But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the
22:44: Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace, we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
22:55: Will you stand with me as we pray? Let's bow our heads.
23:03: Our Father, we have just read of your great, merciful plan of salvation for those who are yours, for the redeemed.
23:11: We are so thankful that by your grace you have included us in the number of your elect, and you have brought us together into the family of God, that you have redeemed us and made us heirs of the great hope of eternal life and the kingdom and the new heavens and the new earth.
23:27: Every good thing that you have intended for your people will be brought to pass, will come to fruition and completion.
23:34: We're just grateful for that. We thank you that you have done everything that is necessary to reconcile guilty sinners to yourself.
23:43: You have paid the price for our sin debt. You have sent your Son to be the sacrifice and the substitute for guilty sinners, for us, and we did not deserve that.
23:55: We have done nothing to merit the righteousness that you impute to us. We have done nothing to earn your favor or your forgiveness.
24:03: In fact, while we were your enemies, you sent your Son to die in our stead. And so we thank you for that great sacrifice, for the great substitute of the
24:11: Lord Jesus Christ in the stead of guilty sinners, and we thank you for the sovereign wooing of your
24:18: Spirit and the work of your Spirit, which has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
24:25: And we thank you for your precious work of salvation in our hearts. And now as we reflect upon these great truths, we pray that you would open our eyes, our hearts, our minds and our mouths to sing praise to you, our great
24:38: God, for all that you have done, that our worship may be pleasing to you, and that our response to your
24:44: Word may be pleasing to you and glorifying to you in your sight. Give us strength, we pray, to worship as we should, and grace to obey your
24:53: Word as we should, that you would be glorified through us, your redeemed people, we pray in Christ's name. Amen.
25:10: When I fear my faith will fail, Christ will hold me fast.
25:19: When the tempter would prevail, He will hold me fast.
25:26: I could never keep my hold through life's fearful path, for my love is often cold.
25:38: He must hold me fast. He will hold me fast.
25:48: He will hold me fast. For my Savior loves me so,
25:55: He will hold me fast. Those He saves are
26:08: His delight. Christ will hold me fast.
26:14: Precious in His holy sight, He will hold me fast.
26:21: He'll not let my soul be lost. His promises shall last, bought by Him at such a cost.
26:32: He will hold me fast. He will hold me fast.
26:41: He will hold me fast. For my Savior loves me so,
26:49: He will hold me fast. For my life
27:01: He bled and died, Christ will hold me fast.
27:07: Justice has been satisfied, He will hold me fast.
27:14: Raised with Him to endless life, He will hold me fast.
27:21: Till our faith is turned to spite, when He comes at last.
27:32: He will hold me fast. He will hold me fast.
27:38: For my Savior loves me so, He will hold me fast.
27:49: He will hold me fast. He will hold me fast.
27:56: For my Savior loves me so, He will hold me fast.
28:08: The psalmist says in Psalm 51, Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
28:18: Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit.
28:29: Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will be converted to You.
28:35: We're going to end our music service this morning and sing, O Great God. O Great God of highest heav 'n,
28:56: Occupy my lowly heart. Home it all and reign supreme,
29:06: Conquer every rebel power. Let no vice or sin remain
29:15: That resists Your holy war. You have loved and purchased me,
29:25: Make me Yours forevermore. I was blinded by my sin,
29:40: Had no ears to hear Your voice. Did not know
29:46: Your love within, Had no taste for heaven's joys.
29:54: Then Your Spirit gave me life, Opened up Your Word to me.
30:04: Through the gospel of Your Son, Gave me endless hope and peace.
30:15: Help me now to live a life
30:36: That's dependent on Your grace. Keep my heart and guard my soul
30:45: From the evils that I face. You are worthy to be praised
30:54: With my every thought and deed. O Great God of highest heav 'n,
31:04: Glorify Your name through me. You are worthy to be praised
31:12: With my every thought and deed. O Great God of highest heav 'n,
31:22: Glorify Your name through me. You may be seated.
31:43: Turn now if you will please to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12.
32:02: We'll begin reading together at verse 7. Hebrews chapter 12. It is for discipline that you endure.
32:10: God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
32:16: But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
32:23: Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them. Shall we not much rather be subject to the
32:29: Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time, as seemed best to them. But He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share
32:37: 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.
32:47: Let's pray together. Our great Father, we ask now that You would open up our eyes and our hearts to Your Word, and that You would give us grace to humble ourselves and to submit to Your Word.
33:00: We pray that You would create in us a hunger and a love for Your Word, for Your truth, and a taste and a hunger for Your holiness.
33:09: We thank You that by Your grace You have worked in our lives, so as not only to bring us to faith in Christ, but that You continue to work through discipline, through trials and afflictions, through tribulations.
33:21: You continue to work for our good, bringing about Your every purpose and accomplishing
33:26: Your desire for us. We thank You that through all of that You have purposed that we may share
33:32: Your holiness and enjoy the peaceful fruits of righteousness. And so we ask as Your people that You would accomplish that in us today, and that You would comfort us and encourage us through Your Word, and be delighted in our meditations and in the attitude and affections of our hearts.
33:50: For the glory of Christ, we pray this. Amen. Romans 8, two familiar verses that I'll begin with.
33:59: Verse 31 and 32, What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
34:05: He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will
34:11: He not also with Him freely give us all things? Now that is a profound promise, because it is an argument from the greater to the lesser, describing
34:22: God's intention to give to His people, His elect, for whom He has nothing but unlimited and infinite redeeming love and grace,
34:31: God's intention to give to them everything less than Christ that is for their good.
34:38: Everything less than Christ that is for our good, God will lavish that gift upon us. Now what things are less than Christ?
34:46: That's everything. And that's Paul's point. If God did not spare His own Son, but instead delivered up for us the highest and the greatest and the best thing that God could give to us, and if that is for our good, and it is, it's for our redemption and our salvation, for our sanctification and eternal life, the glories of the kingdom and the new age to come, all of that is all ours because of what
35:09: God has done in giving up Christ for us. If God has lavished upon us the greatest blessing that can be given, then does it not logically follow that anything else that is for our good, that is less than Christ, that He will lavish that upon us as well?
35:29: Why would God give us the very best thing and say, no, but the lesser things that are also for your good, those things
35:36: I will withhold from you. Those things I'm going to be stingy and not give those things to you, even though He has already given to us the very best that He has.
35:45: That's Paul's argument. If God, who has not withheld from us His only Son, how will He withhold from us anything else that is lesser that is for our good?
35:54: Ultimately, God's purpose is to give us every good thing. God has no ill intentions whatsoever towards any of His elect.
36:02: Everything He does is for our ultimate good. Everything He does is for our glory. He will withhold from His own no good thing.
36:11: He will accomplish what is best for us, and God's eye is not just on this life and what transpires in this life, but God's eye is on eternity.
36:20: He is looking forward to the life that is to come, and He is accomplishing in this world through all of our afflictions and all of our suffering everything that is necessary for our ultimate good and our ultimate enjoyment.
36:34: God is looking forward to the future, caring not only for us here in this life with an infinite and familial love, but He is working everything in this life to accomplish our ultimate and eternal good.
36:47: Not just our good in this life, as if the things in this life are all going to work out for good, and we get to the end of this life and say,
36:53: You know what? Yeah, my wife left me. Yeah, my child died. Yeah, I lost that job. But ultimately, it was for good.
37:00: That's not the point. The point is that everything in this life is preparing us and directing us for that ultimate good, so that when we stand in His presence, we will look back at this life and say,
37:12: God took everything that happened in this life and worked it for my ultimate joy and betterment.
37:19: How will He, if He has given us His Son, not after giving us
37:24: His Son not give us everything? So that didn't make any sense. How will He, after giving us
37:29: His Son, not afterwards give us every good thing to accomplish our ultimate good?
37:38: Don't answer this out loud, because this is a trick question. Some of them I warn you about. Some of them I don't.
37:43: I'm warning you about this one. Don't answer this one out loud, but this is an easy one. This is true or false. True or false to this statement?
37:51: God is not interested in your happiness. He is interested in your holiness. True or false?
37:58: Just think about it. God is not interested in your happiness. He is interested in your holiness. In other words,
38:03: God is accomplishing in this world not the things that will necessarily make you happy, but the things that will necessarily make you holy.
38:10: Is that a true statement or a false statement? Some of you would probably say true to that. Some of you would probably say false to that, depending on what
38:18: I mean by happiness. Because really that's at the heart of that issue. What do we mean by happiness?
38:25: If by happiness what I mean is that God will give me everything that my flesh desires, everything that I in my sinful, earthbound, created, fallen creature state think is ultimately make me happy in this life, then that is true.
38:44: God is not interested in that happiness, but instead He is pursuing my holiness. Because God is not interested in appeasing our sinfulness or placating our temporary comforts or making us happy in this life.
38:58: That is not His ultimate goal or His aim. If by happy we mean what my flesh desires.
39:06: God is not interested in providing those things. But if by happiness we mean our ultimate and highest delight and joy.
39:15: If by happiness we mean the perfect state of soul in which we enjoy all that is truly good, truly beautiful, truly lovely, and truly glorious.
39:28: And we enjoy it to the fullest. If that's what we mean by happiness, then yes.
39:35: Sorry, what was the question? If that's what we mean by happiness, then no,
39:41: God is not pursuing my holiness over my happiness. Here's the answer to the trick question.
39:49: I forget what even the question was now. Here's the answer to the trick question. God does not have to choose between holiness and happiness for us.
39:57: Because here's the key, Christian. Your ultimate happiness is the result of God making you holy.
40:05: He makes us happy through holiness. Not in opposition to holiness. And He doesn't make us holy without making us happy.
40:13: Because ultimately you and I are created for enjoying and sharing in God's holiness for all of eternity.
40:20: And God is going to give us then our ultimate happiness, what is truly best for us.
40:26: And that is intimately connected to our holiness. So God doesn't choose between your happiness and your holiness.
40:33: He makes you happy by making you holy. Furthermore, He makes you happy by causing you to love holiness and then to share in His holiness and to delight in His holiness.
40:45: That is true happiness. And when you pursue happiness at the sacrifice of holiness, you're pursuing a mirage.
40:52: That is the devil's decoy that gets us pursuing and chasing after things that can give us no true happiness at all.
41:00: We think we have to sacrifice and give up holiness in order to be happy, to pursue happiness. And we mistakenly and sinfully and unbelievingly think that if we pursue holiness, we have to sacrifice happiness on that altar.
41:14: And we don't have to choose between those two. God accomplishes both of those things for us, for His people.
41:21: Happiness without holiness is a cheap imitation. He is working to make us eternally happy, infinitely happy, joyfully happy.
41:30: And in this life, we get a little bit of that happiness, but that happiness is tied to God progressing us in holiness so that we may share
41:37: His holiness. Charles Spurgeon said this, I would sooner be holy than happy if the two things could be divorced.
41:47: Let's stop there for just a second. He's saying, I would rather, if I had to choose between holiness and happiness, as if Spurgeon said you could just cut them and divorce them one from another, if I had to choose between holiness and happiness, if the two things could be divorced,
42:04: I would sooner be holy than happy. That's what he's saying. Now listen, start over the quote. Here it is.
42:09: I would sooner be holy than happy if the two things could be divorced. Were it possible for a man always to sorrow and yet to be pure,
42:19: I would choose the sorrow if I might win the purity. For to be free from the power of sin and to be made to love holiness is true happiness.
42:32: To be free from the power of sin and to be made to love holiness is true happiness.
42:40: See, we cannot separate those two things. If true happiness then and holiness cannot be separated, and if the goal of all of God's workings with us is to create in us holiness, to share in the words of verse 10 of Hebrews chapter 12,
42:55: His holiness with us, if that is God's design, then ultimately all of His discipline is designed to make you happy.
43:02: Do you follow the reasoning? If God is pursuing your ultimate holiness, and if He is disciplining you to create in you holiness, because His ultimate aim is to make you happy through that holiness, then all of God's discipline is intended for your happiness.
43:19: Now you say, that's not what verse 11 says. It says, all the discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful. That's right, for the moment.
43:27: But see, we live in the moment. What we do not understand is how God is using the discipline to create in us holiness for our ultimate happiness.
43:37: And it is a happiness that you and I can enjoy when we are made to love holiness in this life, and it is a happiness that we will get to enjoy for all of our lives.
43:46: We are created in Christ Jesus for holiness. We are sanctified to be made holy. When we see
43:52: Christ, we will be made perfectly holy, just as He is perfectly holy. We will be separate from sin, and we will share in His holiness, and that is our ultimate happiness.
44:02: It is impossible that you and I could enjoy God's highest good and not be happy.
44:09: It is impossible that you and I could enjoy God's highest good and not be happy. Well, if God's highest good is our holiness, then holiness and happiness must go together.
44:22: He will share with us His holiness. We will be made to love holiness. We will be made holy, and then we will be happy.
44:30: And we are happy when we are made to love holiness. Now we're looking at the purpose of God's discipline in Hebrews 12, and I have been arguing that we are obligated to respectfully submit to God's discipline since He disciplines us in a far better way, for a far better purpose, and with far better wisdom than any of our earthly fathers ever disciplined us.
44:50: There is an intentional contrast in verses 9 and 10, as He is describing for us the ultimate purpose of God's discipline, which is, at the end of verse 10, so that we may share
45:01: His holiness. There is a contrast in verses 9 and 10 between the discipline that our earthly fathers gave us and the discipline that our heavenly
45:08: Father does for us. He, our heavenly Father, is the Father of spirits. That's verse 9.
45:15: And He is working for us discipline. He is disciplining us, not just so that He may train our outward conduct.
45:22: He is not after merely outward conformity to some standard, but instead, God is after our soul.
45:29: He is shaping our soul and conforming us into the image of Christ, making us just like His Son, which, in effect, is the way in which
45:36: He shares His holiness with us. So God's ultimate purpose is so that we may share His holiness, and this is a higher and better end for His discipline than anything that our earthly fathers and mothers ever did for us.
45:50: They could not create in us holy conduct through physical discipline. It's impossible.
45:56: And as much as our earthly parents, if you had godly parents who disciplined you well, as much as they might have wanted to produce in you a hunger and a love for holiness, no amount of earthly discipline by an earthly parent can accomplish that.
46:09: All they can do is give you a hatred for the pain that disobedience is attended with.
46:16: They can give you that, but they can't create in you a hunger for holiness. I wish it were possible for us as earthly parents to do that, but we can't.
46:24: God's ultimate purpose is so that we may share His holiness. Now, we are obligated, since that is
46:29: God's ultimate purpose, sharing His holiness, and since that holiness is the path to our happiness, ultimate and full happiness, then you and I are obligated as obedient children to submit respectfully to His loving discipline.
46:43: Notice in verse 9, this is just a couple sentence recap of what we looked at last week. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them.
46:52: Shall we not much rather be subject to the Father's spirits and live? There is this contrast between earthly parents and their discipline, our heavenly
47:00: Father and His discipline. And if earthly parents, in spite of their limitations and their inequities and their failings in discipline, if we respected them, how much more should we respect a father who disciplines us perfectly, always perfectly, and has our ultimate good in mind?
47:15: That's the contrast he's making. So now in verse 10, we're going to look at a couple of the contrasts between earthly parents' discipline and our heavenly
47:23: Father's discipline. There are a number of imperfections that are mentioned here.
47:29: Notice, first of all, in verse 10, for they, that is our earthly parents, disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them.
47:36: But, now notice the contrast, but our heavenly Father, He disciplines us for our good so that we may share
47:43: His holiness. There's the contrast. Notice the first limitation of earthly parents. They discipline us for a short time.
47:50: That refers to the relatively short period of time of the earthly discipline that earthly parents give to their children.
47:56: It is a short time. Now when you are the parent of a newborn, it doesn't seem like it's a short time.
48:04: You think 15 years. I can't even imagine what 10, 12, 15 years is going to be like.
48:10: And if I have, that's your first kid, and if you have kids after that, then you're looking even further down the road, and you think, that's a long time away, isn't it?
48:18: 15 years is such a long time away. And then when they turn 15, you're like, wow, that went by like that.
48:27: It's such a short period of time. And I say 15 because in the ancient cultures, they had to adopt adult responsibilities and adult status far earlier than we do in our culture.
48:37: In our culture, you can have a prolonged adolescence that goes on until your early late 20s, early 30s, where you're living in mommy's basement, still playing video games and living off the family checkbook.
48:48: And they think that this is okay. This is somehow agreeable and reasonable and acceptable when it's not.
48:54: When the ancient world, you got to be 13, 14, 15 years old, and you adopted sometimes the family name, family responsibilities, family business, you were reckoned an adult much earlier in that culture than we are today.
49:07: I'm not entirely opposed to putting those kinds of responsibilities on people so long as they think that they can handle it and so long as they can handle it.
49:15: But when you're a parent and you've got 10 or 15 years to discipline your child, on the front end of that, that might seem like a long time.
49:22: When you get to the end of that, it's not a long time. It's a very brief period of time. And then there comes a point in disciplining your children where the discipline changes and the relationship changes, begins to change, and those children become more equals in some sense than they were when they were much younger.
49:42: That period of time that you have to shape and mold their soul and to teach them truth is very brief.
49:50: That's the author's point. They discipline us for a very short period of time. It's just a few years.
49:58: And so woe to the parent who neglects this or delays in it. Because you say, I'll put that off. I'll teach them that later.
50:04: Now's not the time. I'm too tired. I'm too busy. I'm too occupied. I have other things. And then your child is going to grow older and get to be a certain age.
50:13: And you're going to realize that you missed a lot of opportunities to shape their soul and to teach them truth.
50:20: And those missed opportunities never, ever come back in the same way that you had when they were younger. So if we submit and respect earthly parents who are only disciplining us for a short period of time, how much more then should we respect our
50:35: Heavenly Father who never puts down the rod of love, who is always watching over us from the moment that we become
50:43: His till the time that He takes us home. He is always watching over us, always shaping our soul, always doing what is best for us, always conforming us to the image of Christ.
50:53: He never puts down the rod. He never ignores us. He never does what is in His own self -interest.
50:59: He always pursues us. So if the brief discipline that is exercised by our earthly parents is worthy of respect, then how much more a
51:07: God whose holy interest and familial and redeeming love for our good never leaves us and never stops.
51:15: Our earthly parents just get us for a little bit and yet that little bit of discipline, that little window that shows us that they love us, they care for us, they're shaping us, they want us to know the truth, that little bit creates in us a respect.
51:27: How much more a God who from the moment we become His till the moment He takes us home, He is never off of us.
51:33: His gaze never comes away from us. His love is never removed from us. His rod is always there. His interest,
51:39: His pursuit of our holiness is always actively in our lives and forming us and shaping us and molding us into the person of Christ.
51:46: He deserves a lot of respect, doesn't He? And that we would submit to that discipline? That's the point. Notice the second limitation in verse 10.
51:54: They disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them. Now there's two ways you could take that or understand that phrase, as seemed best to them.
52:02: And translations are a little different. Some translations translate this according to one sense and some translations translate it according to another sense.
52:11: There are two ways that we could understand it. First, that parents operate on limited information and are often doing the very best they can, even though they don't necessarily know what is best.
52:22: They just disciplined us according to what seemed best to them in the moment. Parents are fumbling through this.
52:30: It appears to be best. They're doing what they can in the moment to try and do what they think they should do, but often parents are acting on limited information or they really don't know what the best approach to discipline is.
52:41: And yet they try their best. This is how the NASB translates it, as seemed best to them.
52:47: The NIV, likewise, as they thought best. That's the first sense. Parents don't always know what the best course of discipline is, do they?
52:56: If you're a new parent, you've been a new parent, you understand this. You don't always know. Sometimes you're going on poor information or scant information.
53:06: You're in the kitchen and you hear the screams coming from the bedroom upstairs and you run upstairs and the two kids are up there playing and here's little
53:13: Karen on the floor with her toys and her brother Shambly. Karen and Shambly completely, this is hypothetical.
53:25: So any similarities to persons living or dead is completely coincidental. But Karen and Shambly are sitting in the middle of the toys there and they're both red in the face and crying and for the last 30 seconds they have been throwing curses and calumnies at each other that would make your hair curl.
53:45: And you walk in, you have no idea what has happened. What has precipitated this? What caused it? Who is at fault?
53:51: Both of them are professing to be completely innocent in the matter. They are angels who in that moment could walk on water.
53:59: It is the other devil incarnate who has caused all of this chaos and both of them would swear before court that this is exactly what has unfolded according to their story.
54:10: And you walk into the midst of that and how do you handle it? You've got limited information, don't you? You don't know what has happened.
54:17: You don't know how long this has been going on. You don't know who is guilty. Both of them could be guilty. It could be just an innocent misunderstanding,
54:25: I doubt it, that escalated. That escalated. But you have no idea what has caused it and you have no idea who the real perpetrator is.
54:37: One of them is the perpetrator and one of them might be innocent or they both might be guilty. You don't know.
54:42: How do you discipline in that moment? In that moment, you've only got to go with limited information and do what seems best in the moment.
54:52: I mean, if you do nothing and somebody has got away with a crime against humanity, if you do something to both of them, then one of them is getting punished too severely and probably the other one not severely enough.
55:05: And if you punish both of them, then maybe one of them is entirely innocent. You don't know.
55:13: Sometimes as parents, we are too lenient. We're lazy and tired and exasperated. We don't know how to fit the discipline to the sin or the situation.
55:21: We don't know how to make it right. We don't know how to right the wrong that has been done. Sometimes it's just too harsh.
55:28: We overcorrect and punish out of anger and bitterness and frustration and pent up resentment over these kids who are doing this yet again.
55:40: Sometimes we discipline the wrong child for the wrong thing or we start discipline too late in life or we discipline inconsistently.
55:49: All of these things exasperate children almost as much as it exasperates me to try and use the right words sometimes.
55:58: All of these things exasperate children. When we are inconsistent, we say it's okay to jump all over the furniture at home but not at grandma's house or not at the neighbor's house.
56:07: It's okay to get up and run around the table during the meal at home but in a restaurant, that's unacceptable.
56:13: When you go to somebody else's house, that's unacceptable. Your four -year -old, your five -year -old does not understand that at all. It's okay to scream when you don't get the cereal you want at home but not okay in the cereal aisle at Walmart.
56:23: They don't understand that. So all of these inconsistencies in discipline, all of the harshness, the leniency, these are the things that exasperate.
56:32: These are the things that frustrate children and make life difficult for them, make them angry at parents and frustrate the entire home life.
56:41: We don't always do what we know to be best. Furthermore, we don't always even know what is best.
56:47: Such is not the case with God by the way. He knows perfectly and flawlessly exactly what you need and when you need it flawlessly.
57:00: Second, it's possible that this phrase as seemed best to them could be describing parents who discipline with the wrong motives and this is how the
57:08: RSV translates it. They disciplined at their pleasure or we might say for their good as seemed best to them.
57:18: In other words, they're disciplining us for their best interests.
57:24: This is another thing that sometimes parents do. We discipline for our good because we want the chaos to stop.
57:32: We want them, the child who has done this thing to never ever do this again because this will upset our idol or it will disrupt our peace or it will frustrate us or it will embarrass us or give us a bad reputation.
57:49: Those are polluted and sinful motives out of which to discipline and I wish it were true that as parents in the moment we could just sit down and in a split second decide what is the best motivation, what is my motivation in this, what is a pure and holy approach to discipline and what is the best thing to do to bring to bear on this situation to correct it, to train them and to remedy this situation.
58:12: I wish we could do that but oftentimes we can't. We sometimes go into a disciplined situation we don't even know what our motive is in that moment.
58:20: And we might be able to sense that yeah, there's something sinful going on here in my own heart but I've got to deal with this right now and because I have to deal with this right now
58:28: I don't have time to deal with what's going on in my own heart. So I'll discipline them then I'll deal with my corrupt motives later on and guess what never happens?
58:37: Dealing with my corrupt motives later on because we think okay, we've done what the Lord called us to do I've disciplined them therefore
58:42: I can just sort of calm down and maybe next time I'll take the time to analyze my own motives in it.
58:48: But then Karen and Shambly go at it again and in the heat of the moment you've got to come up with a whole new discipline plan.
58:57: Our earthly parents disciplined us as seemed best to or for them sometimes.
59:05: It's in their best interest to do this. And we fail as parents when we do not consider what is in the best interest of the soul of my child.
59:16: That's the question that needs to be asked in the heat of the moment. God suffers from none of these frailties.
59:23: He lacks no wisdom. He knows perfectly what we need. He knows perfectly how to accomplish what we need.
59:30: He knows how to sanctify us and make us holy. He knows our weaknesses and our strengths. He knows our blind spots.
59:36: He notices the things that escape our notice in our lives. And He does it for our good.
59:42: Not according to appearances. Not as if to satisfy something in Him. But He disciplines us for our good.
59:49: This is verse 10. He disciplines us for our good so that we may share His holiness.
59:55: Whereas as earthly parents we sometimes discipline according to a lack of knowledge. God never does. Whereas as earthly parents we sometimes discipline for our own good.
01:00:04: God never does. God is not in any way improved by disciplining us.
01:00:10: You realize that? We don't add to His holiness. His glory is not made anymore.
01:00:16: He is not morally improved. He doesn't become greater than He was before. God doesn't discipline us to satisfy anything in Himself.
01:00:25: He gets nothing from it because He needs nothing. He needs nothing that our discipline provides and He is not satisfied of some want that He has by bringing us affliction and suffering and teaching and training us.
01:00:38: His aim is our ultimate good. This is His purpose and this is His pleasure. Now does God accomplish all
01:00:43: His good pleasure? Yes, He does. Scripture says that. Does He do so accomplishing all of His good pleasure?
01:00:50: Does He do so infallibly? That means perfectly. He cannot err and He cannot fail.
01:00:56: That is what Scripture says. And if that is true, then He is working out for you through discipline your highest good and your greatest joy because that is what
01:01:07: He has purpose to do. What is that? It's at the end of verse 10 so that you may share His holiness. You may share
01:01:13: His holiness. Friends, the fact that that is even possible is stunningly profound.
01:01:21: And I don't want this to be lost on any of us what it means to share in His holiness. You and I are children of dust fallen in Adam once rebels to His will haters of God at war with Him we had in us no capacity or proper ability or affection no capacity for proper affections no ability to be holy no hunger for holiness or thirst for righteousness we had none of that in fact we were alienated from God estranged from Him enemies of God in our minds through wicked works at war with Him and hostile against Him unable and unwilling to submit ourselves to the law of God or to His righteousness unwilling and unable to bow before His holiness and we were under the just wrath of God a holy
01:02:08: God because of our sin and our crimes were more than we can count our guilt was more than we could fathom and the wrath that was due to us was more than we could ever bear our penalty was more than we could ever pay that was the condition in which we once were and now
01:02:25: God by His grace took those who had no ability or desire for holiness whatsoever and caused us to be born again through the redeeming and regenerating work of the
01:02:37: Holy Spirit regenerates us and creates within us holy affections holy desires and capacities that we never had before and then
01:02:47: He fills us with His Holy Spirit and gives us the ability to long for and taste and love holiness and then
01:02:55: He shares His holiness with those creatures who were once rebels to His will and under His just wrath that is a profound reality that you and I should not just breeze over quickly that He would share with us
01:03:09: His holiness what is holiness? it is a separateness an otherness a set apartness that's what holiness is
01:03:16: I'm going to describe to you what God's holiness is here in just a moment so you can kind of get some idea of what it is that He shares with us the word holy or holiness comes from a family of words that describes things set apart it's sometimes translated as saint or sanctified or sanctification it describes that which is holy or made holy or separate in their book
01:03:39: Biblical Doctrine John MacArthur and Richard Mayhew described holiness this way quote God's holiness is
01:03:45: His inherent and absolute greatness in which He is perfectly distinct above everything outside Himself and absolutely morally separate from sin
01:03:56: God is inherently great and resists all compromises of His character and therefore is transcendently distinct from all
01:04:05: His creatures in infinite majesty He is majestically unique those are four very lovely words
01:04:16: He is majestically unique that is His holiness nobody is more other than God is other you think that He is like you in what capacity?
01:04:26: none He is like nothing in the created realm He is not like water
01:04:32: He is not like a three leaf clover He is not like an egg His nature is not in any of those things there is nothing to which we can liken
01:04:40: God to whom? to what will you liken me? there is nothing He is completely other completely distinct completely set apart not just from His creation transcendently existing above that but morally in all of His perfections in His righteousness and His purity
01:04:56: He does not compromise His character He is morally distinct and holy above all things
01:05:01: He is majestically unique that is His holiness there is this moral separation that God has from His creatures it is a purity a separate purity a separate distinctness that we get to taste and love and enjoy here in this world and we will for all of eternity now holiness is inherent that's the word that was used twice
01:05:25: I think in that definition holiness is inherently a characteristic of God because of who
01:05:31: He is He is majestically unique in a way that nothing else is unique everything else outside of God is created that means none of us are unique in that sense
01:05:40: God is uncreated which means He has capacities He has characteristics that nothing created shares
01:05:48: He is majestically unique and holiness is an inherent quality that God has because none other is more other than God is other infinite in all of His perfections
01:05:59: Isaiah 6 verse 3 do you remember what the angels cry out around the throne? Holy, holy, holy is the
01:06:07: Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of His glory the one who was and who is and who is to come uncreated
01:06:15: He was He exists, He is the I am and He always will be He is majestically unique He is holy everything else that is holy is a derived holiness so when
01:06:27: God said to Moses take off your shoes for the ground on which you walk is holy ground He didn't mean that there is this little patch out in the
01:06:34: Arabian Peninsula that was somehow set apart and unique and it was just a special place of creation no, it was made holy because God met with Moses there so that ground then becomes set apart sanctified it becomes holy in the sense that it is unique and separate for Moses and for that encounter in a way that no other piece of ground on the planet is it becomes holy or set apart or sanctified because it derives its holiness its uniqueness from the
01:06:57: God who gives it that uniqueness so when we become holy and we pursue holiness or God creates holiness in us it is not that we add our holiness to Him He is majestically unique but rather He shares that distinctness with us and communicates that moral separateness to those creatures with whom
01:07:18: He shares holiness God communicates His holiness to us as He has set us apart in Christ from before the foundation of the world that is a positional sanctification and as He continues to conform us to the image of Christ in time and that is progressive sanctification so we are made holy in two senses and I will cover these quickly two senses, first, we are made holy in that God has made us positionally holy and if you are in Christ you will never be more positionally holy than you are right now you can't grow in positional holiness
01:07:49: He has taken you out of the kingdom of darkness and put you into the kingdom of light He has taken you out of the family of Satan and placed you in the family of God He has taken one who was alienated from Him and has made you
01:08:00: His child and adopted you into His family you who were under His wrath are now only under His grace
01:08:05: He has taken you from the position and condition in which you once were and He has brought you near to Him so He has redeemed you as His own possession that's sanctification that's positional sanctification
01:08:18: He has made you His own that will never change you will never be less positionally
01:08:25: His or more positionally His you are positionally as sanctified as you will ever be and you can ever be you will never be more or less in the kingdom of darkness more or less
01:08:36: His child practical sanctification on the other hand now that's a whole different story isn't it because practical sanctification is the way in which you and I live out and pursue and express holiness in our own personal lives, that's the practical side of it that is the progressive sanctification that is described in scripture we are progressing toward ultimate holiness we'll never reach it in this life because we will always be shackled to these bodies of death our flesh has a memory and it will always put those things in our minds and cause our bodies to desire things that are inappropriate and illicit and so we will always struggle and battle against those things but we can have confidence as Paul says in Philippians 2 verse 13 that God who is at work in you both are willing to work for His good pleasure that God is continuing to accomplish
01:09:25: His sanctifying and holy making purposes in you and He will do so until the day of Christ Jesus Philippians 1 .6
01:09:32: says and God's goal in this life is to sanctify you to make you more holy through the discipline so 1
01:09:39: Peter chapter 1 verse 15 says like the holy one who called you be holy yourselves be holy set apart separate from sin sanctified practicing holiness in your life the moral purity and the righteousness that characterizes
01:09:58: God He communicates that to you and I by giving us the capacity to live holy lives here
01:10:03: Colossians 1 .22 He has reconciled you in His fleshly body through death in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach that's the goal we will stand before Him and we will be as He is when we see
01:10:16: Him as He is Philippians 1 .4 says God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be what holy and blameless before Him that's the goal of your election that is why
01:10:27: God chose you in Christ to make you holy that is why God sanctifies you and saves you in this life to make you holy that is why
01:10:34: God left you here instead of taking you to glory so that you would grow in holiness while you are here that is the point of your life here to grow in sanctification those whom
01:10:44: God foreknew He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son so God is shaping and molding you into the image of Christ Jude says now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless that's the goal that is what
01:10:58: God is pushing you toward 1 Peter 2 .5 says we are holy priesthood 1
01:11:04: Peter 2 .9 says we are a holy nation 2 Peter 1 .4 says by these He has granted to us
01:11:10: His precious and magnificent promises so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature you and I partake of the divine nature how does that happen?
01:11:21: it happens when we are born again by the Holy Spirit and indwelt by the Holy Spirit and there is made new created within us a capacity that is not there before regeneration namely a capacity to partake and enjoy of God's holiness and His righteousness and to commune with Him and then
01:11:42: He begins to sanctify us by His truth as our truth is read and memorized and practiced and preached we are all sitting under the sanctifying influence of the
01:11:53: Word of God so that that ends up creating in us holiness and righteousness God then sends discipline into our lives that creates within us a longing for heaven a desire to be free from sin and suffering
01:12:06: He removes from us our taste for this world teaches us to rely upon Him and not upon our flesh it causes us to seek
01:12:16: God in prayer for relief and strength and endurance He gives us a taste for holiness
01:12:21: He draws us near to Himself He casts us upon His mercy makes us mindful of His sovereign purposes
01:12:28: He teaches us about Himself our sin and His goodness and He brings the
01:12:33: Word of God to bear upon our lives whereby we learn His Word and cherish
01:12:38: His Word and then He in the midst of all of the afflictions reminds us afresh of His promises and His purposes so that discipline ends up making us fix our eyes on Jesus who is the author and perfecter of our faith the hostility that we face in this world makes us consider
01:12:56: Him who endured such hostility against Himself by sinners so that we do not grow weary and lose heart and so that when we look with the eyes and the heart of faith in the face of Christ Paul says we are beholding as in a mirror the glory of the
01:13:13: Lord and we are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as the
01:13:20: Lord the Spirit the Spirit of God begins to shape us and mold us and we go from one degree of conformity to the image and likeness of Christ to the next and there is a slow progressive progress in sanctification in holiness through the course of our entire
01:13:35: Christian life and discipline does that work so what are you and I to do look at verse 14 of our passage we'll get to it in several weeks pursue peace with all men and the sanctification without which no one will see the
01:13:47: Lord pursue holiness you and I are to mortify sin to put it to death to put off the old man and to put on the new man which is created and renewed in Christ Jesus and as we do that and we pursue holiness you and I can have the confidence that God has created us to pursue holiness
01:14:09: He has caused us to pursue holiness He has given us the capacity to pursue holiness and when we pursue that because He is using discipline to teach us those things we pursue the end for which
01:14:20: God is driving us teaching us disciplining us the end for which He has saved us how confident do you think it is that you will enjoy that holiness pretty confident now you may say
01:14:34: Jim I can't do that I can't pursue holiness I don't have a taste for it
01:14:42: I don't think I have the capacity for it the only way that is true of you is if you are not in Jesus Christ if you are a believer then let me remind you you are chosen for holiness
01:14:55: He has destined you to holiness set you apart for that purpose positionally He gives you the capacity for it
01:15:01: He has caused you to be born again by the Holy Spirit and then sealed you with the Holy Spirit and then caused you to be indwelt by the
01:15:08: Holy Spirit and He commands you to be holy He has given you the capacity to be holy
01:15:14: He has shown you what holiness looks like in His word He has called you to it He will strengthen you for it
01:15:20: He is working it in you He is disciplining you for this purpose to make you holy He has given you
01:15:25: His holy word and He uses it by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit to produce holiness in His holy people so if you are a believer you are chosen to this destined to it and God is doing this in your life the whole time in between and therefore having commanded you to be holy and commanded you to pursue holiness and separateness you can pursue that with the confidence that you will taste and share and enjoy
01:15:54: His holiness F .F. Bruce says this the goal for which God is preparing
01:15:59: His people is their entire sanctification which consummated in their manifestation with glory in Christ that is the purpose that God is preparing you for He is preparing you for ultimate holiness happiness and joy and He commands you in this world pursue it see there is no discipline in heaven you realize that?
01:16:23: there is no discipline in heaven in fact there is no discipline in heaven or in hell there is no discipline in hell because God is not interested in the moral improvement of sinners in hell
01:16:34: He is not in any way pursuing their good He does not in any way intend to create in them holiness to make them more into the image of Christ so He is not disciplining them in hell
01:16:45: He is punishing them in hell but punishment and discipline are different remember we covered that punishment is there not discipline
01:16:52: God doesn't discipline sinners in hell He is not interested in their moral improvement or sharing
01:16:58: His holiness with them that is not His intention and there is no discipline in heaven because it is not needed there is no discipline in hell because there is no point there is no discipline in heaven because it is not needed when we are in heaven we will be fully holy and when we see
01:17:13: Him we will be made just like Him there will be no moral improvement in heaven there will be no ability to grow in our holiness in heaven because we will be perfected in it there will be nothing to improve and there will be nothing to resist of my sinful nature there will be no self there to say no to there will be no wicked thoughts to mortify to put to death there will be no desires that I need to deny there will be no self that I need to crucify there will be none of that so there is no discipline in hell and there is no discipline in heaven but while we are here
01:17:54: His every dealing with us flows from His love His every motive is our good His every stroke is necessary His every reproof is profitable and His ultimate goal is that we may share