Alrighty, let's turn to Hebrews
chapter 12 once again if you would. I want to begin, we've
looked at verses 1 and 2 considerably. And we looked a little bit last
week at verse 3 and 4. This morning, we're going to
consider verses 5 and 6, but we'll read verses just to take everything in context
with what we're looking at. But before we do that, I want
to quote from you from Brother Don Fortner. He wrote this. He
said, every wise and good father corrects their sons and daughters. Now, that's not just fathers. Mothers do as well. We just discipline
our children who correct their behavior. And our Heavenly Father
is a wise and good Father. As we read in Hebrews 12, verses
5-11, it tells us much about our Father's rod of correction. And this is important for us
to understand that His rod, His hand, is a hand of correction,
a hand of love. I'll bring this out again in
a moment, but right now I just need to make this very clear
to everyone listening. We're not talking about punishment. Folks, God has punished us in
our Savior. Christ went to the cross and
received our punishment for our sins. So when the Lord brings
us trouble, when He brings us something in this world, He brings
it to us to correct us. When we deal with the deep troubles
of the heart, whether it be the sin that's in us, or the things
that go on and come about that affect us in this world, it's
out of love that He gives these corrections. One greatest evidence
of our Father's love for us is His hand of chastisement, as
a matter of fact. His hand of correction. When
we are in trouble, when our hearts are heavy, I cannot think of
anything that would be more helpful to our souls than the realization
that His hand has brought this for our good. Our brother Cass. I had the pleasure,
the blessings of sitting with him around the first of the month. He was still very coherent. And
everything he said gave our Lord great glory. Just blessings of
the Lord. He said, I've lived 70 years,
70 good years the Lord has given me. And now He's taking me home. What a blessing. Those are the
words from a man who's about to die, a man who's about to
leave his family behind. Only God's children would look
at that as a promotion. Only God's children look at death
as being a time when we will be taken from this world and
put in the presence of God Almighty. To everybody else, it's just,
oh, it's a better place. It's not as if there's no more
sorrow. This world, folks, is full of
sin. And sorrow is everywhere. Everything we know eventually dies, doesn't it? All of the living things, including
the plants, including the animals, eventually will die. Nothing
lives forever. This world and the sin that's
in it is full of sorrow. All who live in this world suffer
the bitter things of it. Sorrows that are deep, sorrows
that leave scars, sometimes they never quite heal. The fact of
human suffering is something that baffles the mind. Try as
we may and poverty of this world, it
only seems to get worse, doesn't it? Here's a fact that men and women
in this world refuse to acknowledge, and that is that all sorrow,
all pain, all adversity is a result of sin. Because we live in a
sin-cursed world under the judgment of God, because our human race
is a race under the wrath of the Almighty, our world is a
world full of pain and woe. To the unbeliever, when the unbelievers of the world,
they have to face pain and sorrow, they look upon the hardships
either as a matter of luck or fate. Or as things which must
be blamed on someone if their child is born with a severe handicap
or one of the family is permanently injured in an accident of some
kind. It's bad luck. Oh, I've had such
bad luck. Oh, I've had such bad luck. In
the face of such things, they either become bitter or they
become cynical or they shrug their shoulder and they try to
escape. They try to blame it and cope with it with as much cheerfulness as
they can muster. Look with me, if you would, at
verses 5 through 11. And ye have forgotten the exhortation
which speaketh unto you as unto children, my son, despise not
ye. despise not thou the chastening
of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. That's in
Proverbs 3.11. Verse 6, from whom the Lord loveth,
he chasteneth and scourges every son whom he receiveth. If ye
endure chastening, God dealeth with you as a son. For what son is he whom the Father
chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement,
wherefore are were of all our partakers, then are ye bastards,
and not sons? Furthermore, we had fathers of
our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall
we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of the spirits,
and live? For they verily for a few days
chastened us after their own pleasure, but he, for our profit,
that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening
for the present seemeth bejoyous, but grievous nevertheless. Afterward
yieldeth a peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which
are exercised thereby." To a believer, the sorrows of this world, the
things of this world, we look at a little differently. We trust
God who is Almighty in all that comes our way. Our Heavenly Father
who works all things after the counsel of His will. We know
that God is love and that He loves us with a peculiar distinguishing
love. He has adopted us as His sons
and daughters. He is our Father and we are His
children. We do not feel the pain any less than others. In
some ways we feel it even more. When a child of God looks into
the face of a deformed baby, or sees his teenage boy or girl
maimed by an accident of some kind, he holds the weak hand
of a dying white baby? As he thinks about the whole
human suffering and misery, we cry out from the depth of our
tortured soul, Why, Lord, why? Why do the righteous suffer?
That's a quotation from Dave. in the Psalms. Why do the righteous,
if I'm righteous, why do I suffer? Often our sorrows are aggravated
by the apparent indifference of our God, our Heavenly Father. How often heavens seem silent
and empty. I remember a dear brother who
was going through a great stress in his life. He
had spent many years building a garden. A garden to live in. And the time had come when he
was no longer able to care for that garden, and he had to leave. Now we may not understand the
stress that that would bring to somebody, but this has been
this man's life. And the tremendous stress that
came upon him through this ordeal was more than he could bear at
times. And he said to me personally, he said, I know all the things
that we're supposed to know, John. I know the Scriptures.
I know what they say. I know the comfort that we're
supposed to have in these Scriptures, but I just don't feel that the
Lord hears me. I don't feel. But the Lord is
close. Folks, we feel the pain just
as the world do. We cry out, oh Lord, why, why
do the righteous suffer? Often our sorrows are aggravated
with that very point. How often, how often do the heavens
seem silent and empty? We cry out in despair as David
did in Psalms 10, verse 1. Why standest thou far off, O
Lord? Why hidest thou thyself in times
of trouble? These are questions that need
to be answered, but they can only be answered by God Himself.
And He answers that very thing with us here in Hebrews 12, verses
5-11. He gives us consolation here. The exhortation, the Word of
God, you could put it this way, as it is written. Do you remember
how it's written? Which speaketh unto you as the
children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord,
nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth,
he chasteneth. are for our good, including whatever
trouble is coming into our life. Now, you folks have seen some
very troubling points in your life. I don't know if anybody
else has joined us, but I know that the two ladies on the internet
and our dear brother Roger have all lost loved ones, have all
lost dear, dear loved ones. And you've all been in this very righteousness, I know that you
have no righteousness. So when you claim your righteousness,
your righteousness you're claiming is the righteousness of Christ.
If He's paid it all, why do we suffer? Do not forget the exhortation
which speaketh in Proverbs 3.11. Do not forget that despise not
the chasing of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of
him for whom the Lord that he even received it." What
a consolation. The opening words that we read
here in Hebrews 12 verse 5 could be better translated as a question
referring to Proverbs 3.11. See, it's not a statement, it's
a question as to, do you remember? Have you forgotten? Paul being very clear and stating
that you have forgotten. But it would be better to say,
have you. Exhortation would be better translated.
Consolation. Brother Don believes the opening
line in 12 verse 5 would be more accurately translated if we read
it this way. And have ye forgotten the consolation,
the peace, The comfort which speaketh unto
you as of children. It's not intended to be an accusation,
but a challenge. Do you remember? The passage
Paul is quoting here is from Proverbs 3, verses 11-12. Let me read that for you, if
I could. It goes like this. It says, My son, despise not
the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction. For whom the Lord loveth, he
correcteth. even as the Father, the Son,
in whom he delighteth." What a blessed word of consolation
that is. What a blessed word that we often
need to hear. In fact, it's often given in
the book of God. Let's look at a couple of them,
shall we? We've got a minute or two, and I'm almost done.
Turn with me over to Deuteronomy chapter 8. Turn over to Deuteronomy
chapter 8, that's right after Leviticus, or Numbers. Deuteronomy. And look with me, chapter 8,
verse 5. Thou shalt also consider in thine
heart, that as a man chasteneth his son, Chasteneth thee. If we had no
troubles in this world, we might have some concern. If we had no chastening in this
world, we might have some concern after reading those words. Let's
look at another one. Turn to the right. Job. Go over to Job. Job is right before the Psalms. Go over to Job chapter 5. Look at verse 17. Behold, happy
is the man whom God correcteth. That's the same word as chastening,
correcteth. Therefore despise not thou the chastening of the
Almighty. Behold, happy is the man whom
God corrected. Therefore despise not the chastening
of the Almighty. Another one, if you would, over
in Psalms 94, again to the right, go to the Psalms, the 94th Psalm.
And look with me there, if you would, at verse 12. Psalm 94,
at verse 12. Blessed is the man whom thou
chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law. Blessed is the man whom the Lord
chastens, whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out
of thy law. Another one, if you would, let's
turn over to the New Testament, James chapter 1. James chapter
1. It's right after the book of
Hebrews. James chapter 1. Look with a
couple of verses with me there if you would. Verses 2 and 3.
James chapter 1, beginning at verse 2. My brethren, count it
all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that
the trying of your faith worketh patience. That's the same there
as correction. Chastening. Another one, if you
would, verse 12. Look at verse 12. Blessed is
the man. This is James chapter 1, verse
12. Blessed is the man that endureth
temptation, for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of
life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Now, one last one, if you would.
Turn over to the book of Revelation chapter 3. Revelation chapter
3. And in Revelation chapter 3,
we read these words in verse 19. As many as I love, I rebuke,
correct, and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. If we see the hand of God in
all that comes our way, then we see our troubles as being
for our good, just as all things are. Paul gloried in his trials
and his tribulations. Why? Not because of anything
that was of him. He gloried that these were things
that God brought upon him. The Lord acts out of love. He
does not act out of wrath upon His people. We must never look
upon our Father's chastisement as an act of anger or vengeance
or wrath. He's not punishing us for our
sins as a judge, executing the sentence of law upon us. That
could never be. The Lord God punished our sins
to the full satisfaction of His law. of His law's infinite justice
and wrath in our substitute, the Lord Jesus. Keep that ever
before you. Remember what it said back here
in verse 2, looking unto Jesus. Even in our chastisements, even
in our troubles, even in our trials, look to Jesus. When we're
in our weakest points and we wonder, how can I be saved? Lord, how can I be saved when
I do these kinds of things? When I think these kinds of thoughts?
How can I be saved? Look to Jesus, that's how. I'm
preaching to me. John, listen. Look to Christ. Look to Christ. Our Lord's rod is the rod of
our Heavenly Father's love, not the rod of divine justice. We
must take care that we despise not the chastenings of the Lord.
God Almighty corrects His children in love as our Father. The very
word chastening implies this, instructions. Instructing. I wish I knew this more. When
my children were growing up, I was probably the worst. Well,
I can't say I was the worst of fathers. My real father was the
worst of fathers. But I can tell you this, I came
up pretty short in raising my children. If I would have raised them out
of love and chastened them out of love like my father, God Almighty,
does for me, Oh, what a person, what a different person those
two might have come out to be. Our Lord's chastening, His correctioning
are corrections of love. It's called the chastening of
the Lord because every chastening, every afflictive providence is
appointed by God Himself and is to be seen by you and I as
His work. It is ordained by Him, governed
by Him, limited by Him, overruled by Him for our good and His glory. When we understand that, we'll
cease to look upon our trials and our hardships as things to
be hated, and begin to esteem them as wonders of mercy. Mysterious,
yes, but still wonders of mercy. Whatever my pain is, my Heavenly
Father sent it my way, and if He has sent it, it will do me
good by it, according to His Word. Amen.