The Lord Disciplines Those He Loves (Hebrews Sermon 63)

I. Our Struggle Against Sin

“Behold what manner of love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are.” How deep the Father’s love for us, how vast beyond all measure. And my purpose today is to give you a deeper appreciation and understanding of God’s fatherly love for you, as you run this race that’s marked out in front of you, as you are called on as we’ve already seen in Hebrews 12, to lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily entangles you and run with endurance this race marked out in front of you. That you would realize that there is a father shepherd, that’s with you every step of the way, who will not give you over to the destruction of your own natural heart, and he will fight the sin within you and do whatever it takes to get you to Heaven, holy and blameless in his sight, that you would celebrate that love and embrace it and understand it as a mature, as a godly son or daughter of the living God, that you would understand your inheritance, the fact that you are a child of God by grace.

And that you would understand this doctrine of the Lord’s discipline for our sin. That’s my purpose today, the context right in verse 4, it says, “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” The author is speaking to Christians, and it’s telling Christians that they have a struggle with sin. They knew it anyway, don’t you know it? We have a struggle with sin, it’s a very strong word here in the Greek, we are in warfare against our sin, we have a struggle with sin. And it’s a bitter fight friends, and you know that you need all the help you can get. And you also need to know that all the help you need is fully provided for you in your father’s love for you. And you have a struggle for sin, struggle against sin, specifically because God has chosen to save you in stages. He has sovereign power over you completely, and when you die, instantaneously he will make you glorious and perfect in every way. He has chosen however, not to do that right away, but to separate out justification and glorification and give us this Christian race that we are to run. And it’s a warfare against sin because God has chosen to leave you in mortal bodies that are well trained in sin.

Habitual sin, you’ve been training yourselves in sin from the moment you understood right and wrong. So you have a bitter struggle. And it’s of the essence of the Christian life to fight that good fight. There’s a scripture reading that Eric had us do in Romans 8. It says, “If you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds, the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the spirit of God, those are the children of God.” Putting it together, if the Spirit is everyday leading you into battle against your own flesh, then you’re a child of God. And if he is not then you are not. So you have a struggle with sin, that’s what the author is stating here and he’s saying, “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted…” This is of the essence of our struggle with sin, we are to resist. It’s a very strong word, we are to take our stand against sin, we are to take our stand as David’s mighty man did in a field of lentils and he fought until his hand froze to the sword. He just took his stand and he would not yield. We are to resist sin as our Lord and savior did perfectly throughout His whole life. What a warrior He was!

Remember how the night before He was crucified Jesus said, “The prince of darkness comes and he has nothing on me, he has no accusation he can make, he never succeeded. I resisted him at every turn in the road”, not just out in the desert now, but remember how at the end of that account it says the devil left Him until in a opportune time. Oh he kept assaulting our Lord, but not once did Jesus give in. He resisted even to the point of shedding His blood. He would rather die than sin, that’s Jesus. He wrestled in Gethsemane until great drops of blood were coming out, that was His determination to not yield to sin. And then His actual blood came out through the floggings and the crown of thorns and through the wounds of the cross, and through the lance, poured out His blood. He would rather shed His blood than to sin.

And the author is saying here “You oh Hebrew Christians assaulted though you are persecuted and tempted and tried, though you are, though you are in the midst of a struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” So your commitment to holiness is less than that of Jesus, and it’s not been called on you yet to be a martyr for the faith. So, he’s urging them to stand firm, they have a struggle for sin.

Now, that’s the context of this sermon today. That’s the issue we have in dwelling sin, Romans 7 describes it better than any other place in the Bible, the apostle Paul called by God to be an apostle, a holy man, who was writing in the midst of writing Romans the book of Romans, filled with the Holy Spirit said this truth about himself. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. And what I hate I do. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it but it is sin living in me that does it, oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death, thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. That’s your struggle if you’re a child of God, if you are a Christian, that is your struggle.

And it’s not going to end until you are delivered from the body of death. You’re going to have to fight every step of the way. And so, this topic, the Lord’s discipline, His loving discipline for His children is essential to you finishing your journey. You must have it because without this you will succumb to sin, you’ll lose. And so the Lord must get active.

II. What Is the Lord’s Discipline?

And so this is a passage on discipline, it’s all over the passage. Some passage you have to wonder what is the unifying theme here? You don’t have to wonder with this one. Over and over it mentions, it uses the word again and again. Verse 5 and following, it says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline and do not lose heart when he rebukes you because the Lord disciplines those he loves and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son. Endure hardship as discipline. God is treating you as sons, for what son is not disciplined by his father. If you are not disciplined, and everyone undergoes discipline, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them, for it how much more should we submit to the father of our spirits and live. Our father’s disciplined us for a little while as they thought best but God disciplines us for our good that we may share in His holiness.”

So then what’s Hebrews 12:4-11 about. Is it really a mystery? This is about the Lord’s discipline for His children concerning sin. So what is it, what is the Lord’s discipline? Well, here we come into God’s sovereign, His providential control of every aspect of your life. God is sovereignly ruling over the universe and controls every aspect of your life. Jesus said, not even a sparrow falls to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. The book of Proverbs says, “The lots is cast into the lap but it’s every decision is from the Lord.” God sovereignly controls all things, He rules over all things, and He is ruling actively over all things to bring about for you, His ultimate purpose in your life. Romans 8:28-29, teaches that, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose for… “

Alright, so what is his purpose? God’s sovereignly working, He’s orchestrating events, he’s in charge of everything, making it all happen. Alright, what’s His purpose? “For those whom God foreknew He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son,” That’s God’s purpose for you, if you’re a child of God, His desire is to conform you to Christ, to make you just like Jesus. The very thing at the end of this message when it says that God disciplines us for our good that we may share in His holiness. We’ll get to that again at the end of the message, but that is God’s purpose. And so God is sovereignly orchestrating events to bring about His end in your life, and His end is that you would be completely conformed to Jesus. And so God rules over all things and he uses His rule, His sovereign rulership over all things to shape you and mold you and make you like Jesus. And specifically in this context, He does it as a response to your sin, when He feels it’s necessary. When He looks at your life, at the trajectory of your life as He looks at your heart, your motives and He looks at your behavior, there are times that He gets involved, directly involved in brings adverse circumstances, hardships into your life because He is giving you a divine spanking.

He is chastising you for your sin and that’s what this passage is about, He is spanking you. He is orchestrating some event in your life to bring adverse circumstances, so that you will learn the lesson He wants you to learn. And the lesson He wants you to learn is that sin is evil, and you should stop doing it. That’s the central lesson, He wants you to hate it like He does, and so He orchestrates things. So this brings me to the question of what’s fair game for discipline? What is God allowed to do in your life? See once I say it like that, you know where I’m heading. What’s God allowed to do in your life to make you holy? Answer, anything. And let’s make it quite simple. Anything you value in this world, in this world is fair game, anything. Starts to bring chills up your spine when you think about it. One of the outcomes of this message is the fear of the Lord that brings wisdom. I think we should fear the Lord’s discipline. If there’s anything you value in this world, it’s fair game for discipline, as God thinks it’s best.

So what I mean? Let’s get specific. How about your health, your physical health? Yes, it’s fair game, when David committed adultery with Bathsheba, Psalm 32 describes his physical maladies. “Day and night your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.” God was pressing on David physically. Sickness for him personally.

How about the physical health of those you love? Yes, especially if you’re in a position of authority or leadership. As David was remember when he committed a sinful census, and God asked him to choose his penalty, remember. And he ended up choosing a plague to come on the people, because God’s mercies were great, he knew God and that was the right choice but when other people started dying for David’s sin how did that make David feel? He cried out and said, “Let it be on me and on my family. Not on them, they’re just sheep what did they do?” God’s hand was heavy on David by means of people he cared about. And so people you love that can be fair game.

Anything material, any of your material possessions, your house, your car, your clothes, your money, your bank accounts, your credit cards, your savings, your pension, anything like that is fair game. God can touch it, He can get to it, don’t think He can’t get to it. If the federal government can do it, friends. God can garnish your wages. God Has the power to garnish your wages. God Has the power to have you put your money in a purse with holes in it. And then all of a sudden, you find that you’re having to do repairs. Boy, one thing that bothers me as a car owner, and as a home owner, is having to pay a lot of money to get back where I was a week ago. Just money for status quo. I don’t have any better car, I don’t have a better house. I just now have a new well pump. I had a well pump before I was happy with my well pump, it was fine. Anything is fair game, anything you may want for the future, any ambition, anything you’ve set your hopes on something you may want to achieve, maybe you’re applying for a job, and you have good hopes of getting it. But it doesn’t come through, anything.

And maybe in some ways the most subtle of all and I think the most frequent of all that God may simply just withdraw from your life for a while. He’s just not there when you go to pray. And you start sounding like the psalmist in Psalm 13 saying, “How long long must I wrestle with my thoughts?” Where are you, oh Lord? Where are you? Have you ever felt that? Could it be that you’re under discipline for sin, at those times. And that God is being far off to cause you to come back to him and to cry out for him and to yearn for him, again?

So those are the disciplines that God can bring. What do I mean by sin? Well, any violation of your conscience, any violation of the laws of God, again. And we know the scripture says, Our sins are more numerous than the hairs of our head. We have many sins. God doesn’t always discipline in every case for every sin, it doesn’t work that way, God is so wise in how he does it, but it could be an ongoing pattern of gossip or slander, it could be a lust pattern, an issue with internet pornography, it could be an issue of bickering and arguing between spouses. It could be a matter in terms of your parenting, how you’re parenting, your relationship with people in church, it could be an issue of forgiveness or lack of it. You’re not forgiving somebody. Anything God chooses in which He mobilizes Himself and moves out. So that’s what we’re talking about, when I’m talking about the Lord’s discipline.

III. Two Wrong Reactions to Discipline

Now, there are two wrong reactions to discipline in the text.

It says, “Do not make light of the Lord’s discipline and do not lose heart when he rebukes you.” quoting Proverbs 3:11. Get back to that in a minute. But these are two wrong reactions when the Lord disciplines you. The first wrong reaction that he mentions here is to make light of it. To make light of the Lord’s discipline is to blow it off in one way or another. Well, how do we blow it off? Well, first you may just not agree with the doctrine of this message, say, “God doesn’t do that.” You may have some health and wealth and prosperity gospel tendencies in which you think God only ever brings blessings the way people define them in this world. And He would never take away any of your earthly blessings that’s something only Satan will do. Friends don’t be deceived that is not true, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, He has that power. And He can use Satan to do it. Satan is just God’s lackey in so many of these things, but it’s God that’s doing it. And Job knew that, didn’t he. Job knew that it was God who was doing it. Did you ever noticed how Satan just drops out of the story after chapter whatever chapter two? He’s gone, it’s Job and God and that’s right. Because he was the one he was dealing with.

And so do not make light of it, do not blow it off, but take it to heart, believe first and foremost, that God can do this kind of thing. That God actually frequently does this kind of thing, that God does discipline us for our sins. In one sense, you could just forget about it, just like the author says they’re doing, you’ve forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons, etcetera. You forgot that God did this, did you forget? Have you ever had a bunch of adverse things happen in your life? A bunch of things, and you may be actually fulfilling this very warning here, at this point. You have forgotten God, and all that you forgotten the sovereignty of God, you’ve forgotten the providence of God, that everything that happens to you comes through God’s hands. And so you’ve become in one sense, a practical deist. Those who are those philosopher/theologian types. The thought that God created the universe and wounded up it like a clock and just set it running and just stays out of it.

Do you know how many times we Christians behave as practical deists, things happen when it just never occurs to us, to go back to God and say, Oh God. Are you doing this to me, is this something that you’re doing, is there a reason, is there a purpose, is something going on in my life? So we become practical deist, by making light of it. Another way you may make light of this is by acknowledging that you may have sinned et cetera, but dealing quickly and lightly, with your sin as the false prophets did in Jeremiah’s day, these people treat the wound of my… These prophets treat the wound of my people as though it were light, not serious. They say Peace, peace, and there is no peace, and so sometimes we make light of the Lord’s discipline by not standing under it for a while. And by trying to get out of it quickly back to happy times are here again. Hallelujah. When God may actually want you to stay under it for a while and humble yourself and grieve, and mourn, and wail, and change your laughter in the morning, in your joy to gloom. James Chapter 4, part of the Christian life. There’s a time to do that, where you just humble yourself under God, and you don’t make light of it, you take it seriously.

God, what are you doing in my life? And you listen, and then you deal honestly with the sins that the Holy Spirit brings to your mind. So that’s one error is making light of the Lord’s discipline.

Then there’s an opposite error mentioned here, and that is to lose heart when He rebukes you. These are different kinds of people. The first people are just hard-headed. Just plowing through it all, or they think they’re just having bad luck or a bad day. No, but these people, they know it has to do with God, but they read the wrong thing out of it, they become depressed, they’re crushed by it, they lose heart, that’s biblical language for become depressed. And as these hard things happen, they don’t go back to God appropriately, they just say things like this, “God has forsaken me, God doesn’t love me anymore, if God really loved me, these kinds of things wouldn’t be happening to me.” And so they get depressed, and they get discouraged and their arms grow weak and their knees grow weak and they can’t continue in the Christian life, and they get crushed and discouraged by it. And they come to the shockingly wrong conclusion, based on this text, “I can’t be a child of God, if he’s doing this to me.” It’s exactly the wrong conclusion, but they say it and they’re so depressed, and so that’s the opposite error.

Two wrong reactions to discipline. At that point, a person has forgotten the doctrine of justification by faith apart from works, has forgotten that all of Christ’s righteousness has been imputed to them. They’re perfectly righteous in God’s sight, apart from any works of the law. They’ve forgotten these things and now they’re in the depths of despair and murky, forgetting that they’re going to heaven when they die. That they’re children of God. And that they’re more than conquerors. God’s just giving them a spanking because of their sin. And that’s actually, frankly a great encouragement. This is the encouragement of discipline. How He says in Verse 5, “And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons.” You’ve forgotten that. Oh, how beautiful is that?

IV. The Encouragement of Discipline

The whole epistle is called to be, in Hebrews 13, a word of encouragement, paraklesis. The Paraclete is the comfort of the counselor, the one called alongside to help. This letter is like that. It comes alongside us and it comforts us, it counsels us, it rebukes us, it warns us. All of that’s paraklesis, that’s what the word means here. And you’ve forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons. And speaks to as sons. Then He quotes Proverbs. It’s marvelous, it’s marvelous. Book of Proverbs is a series of brief statements written by, most of them by King Solomon, much of the form of the language is of a father addressing a son. So you could imagine at the human level maybe it was Solomon talking to Rehoboam, trying to get him ready for his reign.

But it’s in the cannon, it’s in the scripture and therefore, ultimately, as the author does here, he says, “You know, this is ultimately about God talking to you, addressing you as sons and daughters of the living God.” And notice the tense of the verb here, this Proverbs 3:11 is presently addressing you, right now, as sons. It’s talking to you and it’s calling you His son, my son, God’s speaking to you like that because He loves you, He cherishes you, you’re one of His adopted children. And so these hardships that God’s bringing into your life, it’s not that He doesn’t love you, it’s that He does love you. That’s exactly why He’s doing it, it’s because of His. Deep love for you and His knowledge, that sin is a deadly poison, and it’s hurting you, and it’s destroying your life in many ways, and He wants you to be free of it.

And He will make you free by His sovereign power when you die, but He wants you to learn to fight now and to stand up and be strong and take up the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit and learn how to fight and be like Him and hate sin the way He does. He wants to train you. But it’s not at all that you’re not one of the sons and daughters of God, because these things are happening to you, not at all. He loves you, and He’s addressing you. The Word of God is living and active. It’s sharper than any double-headed sword, it’s able to penetrate to the dividing of soul and spirit, joint and marrow, it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. And so God is speaking to you. “My son, do not make light of my discipline and do not lose heart when I rebuke you.” He’s talking to you directly by the Scripture.

And so this is greatly encouraging. And so He says in Verse 6, “The Lord disciplines those He loves and He punishes everyone He accepts as a son.” That’s a very strong word. It’s the same word used in reference to Jesus’ scourging. He scourges, so He can bring some very hard, hard things in your life. I was talking to somebody recently, and saying there’s two statements we commonly make that are… I think never true. Okay. Isn’t that good, there are things you come to church to learn. Two things, statements, you commonly make and they’re never true. I think pretty much never true. Okay, number one, “I did the best I could.” And number two, “I can’t take much more of this.” God knows how much you can take and you can take more than this. He is carefully measuring out these disciplines and He knows what you can take. And he will not crush you beyond what you can bear, but he brings this discipline, because you must have it. Verse 7 and following, “Endure hardship as discipline.” Anything difficult, anything hard, anything that opposes, endure it as discipline. “God is treating you as sons.” The word treating is a very strong word, God is dishing it out to you, God is measuring out this discipline to you in a very wise and loving way.

Never forget the super natural gentleness of Jesus as He says in Matthew 12, “A bruised reed, He will not break, and a smoldering wick, He will not snuff out.” We were talking about this at men’s Bible study a bruised reed is a reed that’s just hanging by a few green threads. Reeds are weak anyway, aren’t they? What did you go out into the desert to see? Speaking of John the Baptist, a reed swayed by the wind. No, John the Baptist was no reed swayed by the wind. So reed is a picture of weakness. What then is a bruised reed but a picture of supreme weakness, and Jesus is able to bind that up and to heal it, and strengthen. He knows how to do that, he is gentle in His discipline, but he’s effective, he’s effective.

I remember one time, we used to use… I don’t even know if I should tell this story, well we used to use Tabasco sauce to train for verbal sins. Alright. Verbal sins. You know what they might be. Not that my kids ever committed any but actually they kind of have to for this story, but anyway, and we were giving them this and at one point, one of my kids said, “Dad, yes, we all like it.” “We like it.” It’s not effective. I don’t think they said those words, but that was the message, and I appreciated the thoughtfulness of letting me know.

God must bring you hardship, it must be something difficult or it isn’t discipline, it’s got to be something that hurts. All I’m saying is God isn’t going to break you with it. So the Lord disciplines every one of His children, the text says it very plainly, “If you are one of God’s children, you have been disciplined and you will continue to be disciplined.” The choices of God saints, the heroes of church history, all of them have been disciplined by God. We don’t teach perfectionism here. Everybody needs discipline.

And the most mediocre and even below average Christians, God disciplines them too, everyone that is His child, He disciplines, all of them. Conversely God disciplines no one who is not His child. This is a very, very sober thought. God does not discipline those who are not His children, says, “If you do not undergo discipline and everyone undergoes discipline then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. So this is as serious and as sober-minded things, I can ever say to you.

The most terrifying thing that God can do to anybody in this world, in this present world age, the most terrifying thing God can do to anyone is to give you over to your sins. There is nothing worse that God can do. “My spirit will not strive with man forever.” He said, before the flood. “I’m not going to fight with you forever.” And so three times in Romans 1, Romans 1:24, “God gave them over… to sexual immorality, for the degrading of their bodies.” Romans 1:26, “God gave them over to shameful lusts.” Romans 1:28, “God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.” It’s a dreadful, judicial hardening that God brings on and is the fulfillment of Romans 9:18, “God has mercy on those He wills to have mercy, and He hardens those whom He wills to harden.”

And so it is a great mercy to be a child of God and God not give you over. God is saying, “I will never give up this fight for you because I love you too much and I’m going to keep disciplining you, I’m going to keep training you, I’m never going to give you over to your sin, you may be so stubborn, you may be so hard-headed, you may have a stiff neck, but I’m going to win in the end. And I’m going to just keep loving you and I’m going to keep discipling you, and if you just make it harder for yourself, well you’re just going to make it harder for yourself, but I’m never going to give you over to your sin.”

But here I just must warn you, if you are outside of Christ right now, if you are here today, you were invited by a friend perhaps. Maybe you’re here for the jobs for life graduation and praise God that you’re here. But especially for this moment, that you may hear that you are in grave danger. And that there is a way to escape condemnation because God giving you over to your sin is not the worst thing he can do to you, the worst thing he can do to you is send you to hell forever and ever.

But that’s in the next world. And the one leads to the other. But there is a savior, there is a savior praise God and all you need to do is call on the name of Jesus, and He will forgive you of all your sins and all of His perfect righteousness will be imputed to you by simple faith. And your sins credited to him, He died on the cross in your place and you have eternal life, and you’ll be adopted into the family of God, and then he’ll start disciplining you for your sins when needed.

But come to Christ don’t leave this building without knowing Jesus as your Lord and Savior. It’s the most important thing. Our earthly fathers did it, it says the author here, we had Verse 9, “Human fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them for it.” We understood why they did it. I know that there are abusive fathers in this world. I know that that happens. But a good father, a loving father will discipline his children. Will do it with tenderness, will do it with wisdom, with restraint, with consistency he will do it.

But this is a how much more argument, if the earthly father did it for a little while as he thought best, as seemed best to him, it’s not perfect, just as he thought best. How much more then should we submit to the father of our spirits, our Heavenly Father and live. That’s what he’s saying.

V. The Purpose of Discipline

So what ultimately is the purpose of discipline? Look at Verse 10, “God disciplines us for our good that we may share in his holiness.” Again verse 11, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful later on however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” The purpose of discipline is to train you to hate evil as he does to turn away from it in genuine repentance, and to live a new kind of life.

He wants you to remember the harshness of the discipline, remember and stop doing that sin, that’s the purpose of it. He wants you to share in His holiness, He wants you to be conformed to Christ and be righteous like He is, to be holy like He is. Hebrews 1:8, speaking of Christ says, “You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.” God wants us to do that too, and so He trains us. And He trains us because some things are just too hard for us to handle on our own, we prove that consistently, we prove it.

And so when we can’t get ahold of something, and we stubbornly go on in a certain way, God intervenes, He interferes, He gets involved and He disciplines us, so that we may be holy.

VI. The Proper Response to Discipline

So what then is the proper response to discipline? Well, first don’t fall into those opposite errors, don’t make light of it. Don’t be a practical deist. If you’re going through some hard things in your life, go to God privately in your prayer closet, get on your knees and say, “God, these following things have happened to me this week. These are hard for me. It’s what’s going on right now. It’s hard financially, it’s hard physically, or this is going on in my family, this is happening at work. This is what happened with my car, and I’m finding this hard. God, are you disciplining me for sin.”

And then just get quiet. So I did a couple of weeks ago, you just get quiet and you say, “Search me, O God, search me and know my heart and show me if there’s anything in me that’s offensive to you.” And then whatever the Lord the Holy Spirit brings to light, He wants you as I said two weeks ago, to lay it aside these nets that are entangling you, so that you can run this race with endurance. This is a private discipline, something you do on your own.

He commands you here to submit to your Heavenly Father, so humble yourself under, don’t try to rush out from under the discipline say, “Lord you’re bringing this discipline I’m going to stand under it, I’m not going to murmur against you, I’m not going to complain, I’m not going to rail against you or act like you’re treating me unfairly, where is God in all of this? I’m not going to do that, I’m going to quiet myself, I’m going to be quiet under this discipline, I’m going to let it have its full impact on me. I want to be holy, like Jesus is holy. I want you to do your work in me. So it says, “How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live.” And be trained by this discipline, the harvest of righteousness is what you want, seek and yearn for a harvest of righteousness in your life and say, “Okay God it’s going to be a hard road to get there, but I want it and whatever it takes to make me holy please do it, and I’m seeking this now and I’m not afraid to pray this, “Oh Lord bring whatever hardship in my life, you need to bring, so that I’ll be holy like You are.”

Pray that honestly and fear the Lord’s discipline, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with this. I think the Lord means for us to learn from discipline and not want it to happen again. Doesn’t that make sense? And so we go through certain things and we should fear the Lord’s holiness and his discipline. So you know these things are precious to me and I want to protect them. I can’t give myself into sin here, I’m endangering my family, I’m endangering my possession, I’m endangering my health here, I can’t give in to this sin. Fear the Lord, He’s going to bring the rod on me, and I don’t want that to happen, I know He’ll do it out of love, but if I judge myself He won’t need to do it. And so I’m going to submit to that, but ultimately realized God does this for our good, He does it cause He loves us, He does it with gentleness and wisdom and walk in confidence that your father will get you to Heaven, close with me in prayer.

These are only preliminary, unedited outlines and may differ from Andy’s final message.

I.   Our Struggle Against Sin

A.   The “Struggle” is a Bitter Warfare

1.   Two Greek words give a sense of this bitter warfare with sin

2.   “Struggle” = Greek word from which we get “antagonist”…powerful word, a struggle to the death

John Owen, the great Puritan theologian, likened it to a wrestling match with a poisonous snake… imagine wrestling with a King Cobra, and the snake is long and powerful and hissing and snapping at you… it wants to kill you

Owen: “Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you!!”

3.   Other word “resist” = to take one’s stand against; picture the Alamo, or Gandalf on the bridge of Kazad-Dum saying to the demonic Balrog, “You shall not pass!” The French slogan at Verdun in WWI: “None shall pass!!”

4.   Biblically: David’s “Mighty Men”

2 Samuel 23:11-12 Next to him was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines banded together at a place where there was a field full of lentils, Israel’s troops fled from them. 12 But Shammah took his stand in the middle of the field. He defended it and struck the Philistines down, and the LORD brought about a great victory.

B.   The Enemy: SIN

1.   “In your struggle AGAINST SIN…”

2.   A Christian has come to recognize indwelling sin as the most bitter foe of our lives

3.   We actually have a TRIO of foes… the world, the flesh and the devil

a.   We are depicted in Scripture as having a fierce battle against all three

b.   Satan: the mastermind of the evil in the universe… we have a STRUGGLE against him… we are to RESIST him

c.   The world: Satan’s evil concoction… the alluring mix of enticements to sin and assaults on us so that we do not do righteousness

4.   The “sin” the Epistle has been addressing is APOSTASY from Christ… but the apostasy happens by the attacking and deceitful power of sin

Hebrews 3:13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

5.   The struggle of Romans 7

Romans 7:15-24   I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do– this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. 21 ¶ So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

C.   This “Struggle” Against Sin is Essential to the Christian Life

1.   Non-Christians are “slaves to sin”… they are totally under the sway of the Evil One

2.   Thus, while they have freedom to choose how they will sin, they have no power to stop sinning

3.   Christians have been liberated forever from the power of sin and never need to sin again

4.   BUT the “body of sin” or “body of death” constantly opposes us at every moment

5.   A genuine Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit who RELENTLESSLY fights the sin

6.   The Spirit DAILY leads the true Christian into battle with the deeds of the flesh

Romans 8:13-14 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

7.   If this warfare is NOT going on, the person is not indwelt by the Holy Spirit… the person is NOT a Christian

D.   Not Struggled or Opposed to the Point of Shedding Blood

1.   The Author is saying that these Hebrew Christians, despite the fact that they were struggling against sin… AND were being persecuted, were not yet MARTYRS for their faith

2.   Also, it points to the fact that our commitment not to sin is LESS THAN THAT OF JESUS

Philippians 2:8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death– even death on a cross!

3.   Jesus would RATHER DIE THAN SIN

a.   Gethsemane: Great drops of blood flowing down His face

Not my will but yours be done!

b.   Arrest:

How then would the Scripture be fulfilled that say IT MUST HAPPEN IN THIS WAY

4.   So also OUR COMMITMENT TO HOLINESS must increase!!

a.   The essence of the arduous Christian journey is this:

Luke 9:23-24 Then [Jesus] said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.

b.   So we must be trained that we would rather have our blood shed than to sin

II.   What Is the Lord’s Discipline?

Hebrews 12:5-6 “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”

Hebrews 12:7   Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons.

For what son is not disciplined by his father?

Hebrews 12:8   If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.

Hebrews 12:9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!

Hebrews 12:10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.

A.   Greek word: Paideia… also verb forms, “to train…”

1.   Powerful Greek word… well-known in classical Greek for the education given to the young to train them up and prepare them for adulthood

2.   It involved instruction and training, but also chastisements and punishments as needed to shape minds and bodies

3.   Overarching concept: God’s commitment to take you on, train you, shape you, mold you… do whatever is necessary to achieve His final goal for you

Illus. Like an Olympic athlete who hires the toughest coach in the world, one who has trained over twenty other Olympic gold medal winners; this coach is known to be extremely strict, sometimes almost brutal in his training techniques; but the results are obvious… Olympic champion after Olympic champion born from those tough training methods

Perhaps even better, is a DRILL INSTRUCTOR who whips a lax and defeated army into shape by extreme training methods… the legendary “Baron von Steuben” who was recruited by General George Washington to train his army at Valley Forge in the winter of 1778; he was a tough Prussian who helped train the undisciplined and green army into one that could face the British with a better chance of success

The fight that is coming requires the strongest possible training

4.   What is that goal??? TOTAL CONFORMITY TO CHRIST… which is to say LIKE HIMSELF… to be made LIKE GOD

Romans 8:28-29 28 ¶ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

5.   God’s ACTIVE DISCIPLINE of His children is a direct application of the “God causes everything to work together for good” verse… God is in active control of daily life to shape us into the IMAGE OF HIS SON

B.   Here: Not Merely Discipleship… But a Subset of It

1.   God is not merely teaching and encouraging and nurturing here as He does generally in discipleship

2.   This is speaking of God’s DISCIPLINE FOR SIN… harsh things God brings into your life to train you to HATE SIN and TURN AWAY FROM IT

C.   Strong Words

1.   Context: STRUGGLE AGAINST SIN… RESISTING IT

2.   Words used for discipline

a.   Vs. 5 Chastening: (paideia) already described

b.   Vs. 5: Rebuke: strong correction for sin… involves showing you your sin and proving that you’re guilty of it; related to the word used in Hebrews 11:1

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

c.   Vs.6: the Lord scourges/punishes/chastises: Greek word also refers to flogging or whipping… a very strong word, the same word used for what Pilate did to Jesus

God’s discipline for sin can be like that kind of a chastisement… it can be quite severe!!

Remember a few weeks ago, when I preached on the Lord’s Supper… the Corinthian church was disrespecting the Lord’s Supper, even to the point of getting DRUNK at it:

1 Corinthians 11:30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.

God actually put some of His children to sleep (death) to discipline the church for sin; others were physically WEAK or SICK

d.   Vs. 11: “painful” not “pleasant”:

ESV Hebrews 12:11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant

3.   Summing up: the Lord’s discipline

D.   God’s Providential Control Brought to Bear for Our Good

1.   God is sovereign over every single tiny detail of our lives

Matthew 10:29-30 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

Proverbs 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.

2.   Nothing is beyond His notice or power to do with as He sees fit

3.   Everything is “fair game”:

a.   Physical health: our own or our loved ones

Psalm 32:3-4 my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.

2 Samuel 24:15 So the LORD sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died.

b.   Material goods: our livelihood, our possessions: house, car, clothing, mementoes, electronic devices, luxury items

c.   Relationships: friendships, neighbors, co-workers

d.   Success: at church, on the job, in school, on the ballfields, in life…

e.   ANYTHING YOU PLACE VALUE ON IN THIS WORLD is

“fair game” for the Lord’s Discipline

4.   Consider the case of Jonah

a.   He tries to flee from the Lord’s command to preach to Nineveh

b.   God sovereignly controls the wind, the sea, the ship, the sailors, the lot that is cast identifying him, the large fish that swallowed him, the fact that he vomited him up, the plant that grew over him, the worm that chewed the plant, the east wind that scorched him

c.   GOD RULES OVER EVERYTHING… He is able to bring pressure to bear on us so that we will repent of sin

5.   Sometimes, the discipline may be as simple as His withdrawal from us relationally… He becomes silent, hard to find in prayer; the Christian loses peace and joy, struggles to experience Christ in daily life

Psalm 10:1 Why, O LORD, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

Psalm 13:1-2 How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?

Psalm 22:2   O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent.

E.   The Wisdom of God in Applying Discipline

1.   God is very wise… He does not overwhelm us as He trains us

2.   He is mindful of our weakness and of His purposes toward us

Psalm 103:13-14 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; 14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.

3.   Jesus is VERY GENTLE with His loved one

Matthew 12:20 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory.

4.   BUT… He will do whatever is necessary to make us HOLY

III.   Two Wrong Reactions to Discipline

A.   Making Light of It

1.   This means to “think little of it”, “blow it off”, scoff at the concept that the Lord disciplines sin

2.   At one level, it means that it never enters your mind… you HAVE FORGOTTEN this whole idea

Hebrews 12:5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons

3.   So, when hardship or adverse circumstances come into this person’s life, it doesn’t seem to enter their mind that they might be being disciplined for sin

4.   They are acting like practical DEISTS… thinking God has little to do with the ins and outs of every day life; or maybe it’s just “bad luck” or you’re having a “bad day”

5.   Or they think God would never do this kind of thing: HEALTH, WEALTH, PROSPERITY gospel people say God only means to give you blessings; if you have any trouble in your life, it is definitely SATAN who is doing it!!

6.   How else do we MAKE LIGHT of the Lord’s discipline?

a.   By being callous concerning it: you grit your teeth and plow your way through the hard times, not reflecting on any sins in your life that may be causing these adverse providences

b.   By complaining under it and criticizing God: you complain bitterly against the Lord and wonder why He’s not protecting you better or why He’s making your life so miserable these days; and you never stop to ask, “Lord, are you disciplining me for a sin?”

c.   By carelessness: you deal lightly with sin or not at all… your only desire is to get back to happy times again, so you deal lightly with your own sin

d.   Like the false prophets of Jeremiah’s days:

Jeremiah 6:14 They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.

e.   So, these people are disciplined for sin, but they deal quickly and lightly with it and move on

B.   Losing Heart Because of It

1.   On the other end of the spectrum, some people are CRUSHED IN THEIR SPIRITS by the Lord’s discipline

2.   They “lose heart”… they become DESPONDENT and DEPRESSED and think God has abandoned them

3.   They go too far in dealing with their sin so much so that they forget Jesus’ death and blood shed for them and that they are JUSTIFIED BY FAITH

4.   They feel God has cast them off because of the sin and can never forgive them again

5.   They give up all exertion in the Christian life; they have little energy and little hope; “God has forsaken me because of my sins” they may feel

6.   They question whether they really are God’s children; they say, “If I were God’s child, He would not be treating me like this, so I must not be God’s child”

7.   Ultimately, they give way to unbelief

IV.   The Encouragement of Discipline

A.   That “Word of Encouragement”

1.   The whole letter is called the same thing

Hebrews 13:22 ¶ Brothers, I urge you to bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written you only a short letter.

2.   This is that great Greek word (paraklesis) from which the Counselor (the Holy Spirit) gets His name in John 14… “One called alongside to help”

a.   It means to “encourage” or to “exhort” or to “warn” or to “rebuke” or to “beg” or to “console”

b.   The idea is one of earnest love in a caring relationship… and words given to someone in dire need

B.   God is Addressed as Sons… and He’s Doing it NOW!!

1.   This “word of encouragement” comes from Proverbs 3:11

2.   Much of the wisdom of Proverbs is given as from a father to a son

3.   King Solomon wrote most of them… perhaps he was giving his advice to his son Rehoboam… but God the Holy Spirit inspired him and they were written down as Holy Scripture

4.   Scripture is ALIVE and SPEAKING NOW!!!!

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

5.   This word of encouragement from Proverbs then comes to us really from the LIVING GOD, our heavenly Father, to us as beloved SONS and DAUGHTERS

C.   Simply Put: The Discipline Proves We Are His Children

Hebrews 12:6 the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son

1.   The Lord’s wise discipline for our sins proves that he LOVES us and that he ACCEPTS us or RECEIVES US as His sons and daughters

2.   It is not a mark that He hates us, but rather that He loves us when He spanks us for our sins

3.   The author reasons at length along this same point

Hebrews 12:7-8 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.

a.   By the discipline and training that God gives us as sinners, he is actually showing his love for us

b.   Every true son and daughter is trained by his/her father

c.   God is proving that you actually are sons and daughters

i)   The word “treating” in verse 7 is a strong word…

ii)   God is bringing these things to bear upon you as sons of God

D.   The Lord Disciplines EVERY ONE of His Children

“everyone undergoes discipline”

Literally: everyone is a PARTAKER of discipline; God measures it out to each of His children as they need it

1.   This is a powerful concept… there is not a single child of God in all of redemptive history that has not been disciplined by God!!

2.   “Perfectionism” is completely false!!! We are ALWAYS under need of discipline for indwelling sin

3.   The choicest and godliest saints have been disciplined by God… and so also have been the average and below average child of God as well!

E.   The Lord Disciplines None of those who are Not His Children

Hebrews 12:8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.

1.   Everyone sins, and does so every single day

2.   When it comes to dealing with sin, the big difference between the children of God and those who are not is that God allows non- Christians to sin more and more and does not interfere but “GIVES THEM OVER” to their sin… in so doing, God is hardening their hearts and they are storing up wrath against themselves

a.   Three times in Romans 1, it says that God gave them over:

Romans 1:24 ¶ Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.

Romans 1:26 ¶ Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts.

Romans 1:28 ¶ Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.

b.   This is the WORST THING GOD CAN POSSIBLY DO to someone while they live on earth

c.   This is the judicial HARDENING of their hearts

Romans 9:18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.

d.   These people are constantly storing up wrath by their sins

Romans 2:5-6 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God “will give to each person according to what he has done.”

3.   If you are lost, the best thing to do is come to Christ… NOW!!!

4.   Conversely, the best thing God can do wrt our sins is to INTERFERE and STOP US from sinning!!

F.   Our Earthly Fathers Did This… How Much More Our Heavenly Father

Hebrews 12:9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!

Hebrews 12:10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best

G.   So… it is INCREDIBLY ENCOURAGING to us to be disciplined by God for sin

1 Corinthians 11:32 When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

V.   The Purpose of Discipline

Hebrews 12:10 God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.

Hebrews 12:11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.

Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

A.   Simply Put: God is Carrying out His Plan to Conform Us to Christ

1.   Our indwelling sin is the greatest enemy to this pattern

2.   God loves us too much to allow sin to run roughshod over our souls

3.   Indwelling sin wages war against our souls

4.   God desires for us to SHARE IN HIS HOLINESS

B.   God Is Training Us to Fight Our Sin by His Power

C.   God Gives us Time to Crush Sin by His Holy Spirit

1 Corinthians 9:27 I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

1 Corinthians 11:31 But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.

D.   God Knows Sometimes He Must Intervene and “Up the Ante”

E.   He Does this Very Wisely

VI.   The Proper Response to Discipline

A.   Don’t Fall into those Errors: Making Light of the Lord’s Discipline or Losing Heart

1.   Accept the doctrine that God disciplines every son and daughter

2.   Expect to be disciplined by God

3.   Don’t be a practical deist, thinking the events of your life happen only by chance

B.   Submit to Your Heavenly Father

Hebrews 12:9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!

1 Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.

C.   Be Trained by the Discipline

Hebrews 12:11 it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

1.   Allow the discipline to have its way with you… yield to God, submit to what He’s doing in your life

2.   When adverse circumstances come up in your life, ask God the hard questions:

3.   “Lord, are you disciplining me for sin?”

Psalm 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

4.   If anything comes up in your conscience, repent of that sin… confess it to the Lord

5.   Follow the steps of James 4:

James 4:6-10 “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double- minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

6.   Deal seriously with sin… KILL IT powerfully by the Spirit

D.   Seek the Harvest of Righteousness and Peace

1.   Look to the joy that comes from having that sin crushed and dealt with in your life

2.   Think of the peace that comes when you are no longer characterized by selfishness or bitterness or gossip or unforgiveness or lust or greed or idolatry in specific ways

3.   God’s discipline leads to a much more peaceful and blessed life

E.   Fear the Lord’s Loving Discipline

1.   This is a healthy fear of the Lord that develops

2.   His “rod and staff” comfort us… they enable us to walk in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake

3.   We should fear sin, and what repercussions there will be if we do sin

4.   We should trust the loving gentle patience of God… not walking in fear that God’s “gonna getcha” every time you mess up; He clearly doesn’t