We'll be looking in Hebrews,
Hebrews chapter 12. The scripture says that, as the
rivers of water, so turneth the Lord the heart
of the king to do whatsoever he wills. And so as we think
on those things that Brother Al had shared with us this morning,
and thinking about Saul, I couldn't help but think about that passage
of Scripture when the Scripture says that the Spirit of God came
upon him. Now we must understand that when
the Scripture speaks about the Spirit of God coming on someone,
it does not always mean that the Spirit of God comes on them
to give them illumination unto the light of Christ. Because
it appears that Saul was never a man who was a follower of the
Lord. He was pretty much a rebel his
whole life. You remember when he, the Lord
told him to go and kill all of the Ammonites, I believe it was,
or one of those tribes, and King Agag was the leader of. And when he came back, And Samuel
asked him, have you done what the Lord said? He said, well,
sure I have. And he said, well, what meaneth
then this bleeding of sheep in mine ears? Because what he had
done was he had brought the sheep back. He said, well, I figured
that I'd give these things as an offering unto the Lord. And as men naturally do, They
think that they can offer something to the Lord that he has not told
them to offer to the Lord. The Lord never told Saul to offer
anything to him, but Saul figured that he would, just like Cain
figured he would. And so men by nature think that
they can approach unto God however they get ready to come. Because
surely, you know, God wouldn't reject them. I mean, you know,
everybody figures that God is in their corner. You've all heard
it said, well the Lord knows my heart. And as I've said many
times, if anything ought to bring fear to a man's heart, it is
the consideration that the Lord knows our heart. Because the
scripture says that the heart of man is desperately wicked.
And the Lord does know that. He knows what we are by nature.
But so we see Saul as an illustration of the Lord using him as he saw
fit to use him. He raised him up as the king,
he anointed him. And he put his spirit upon him
from time to time to perform those things that he would have
him to perform. Apart from the saving grace of
God come upon a man, it does not matter what a man performs
or what he does, or how successful he might be. It's only by the
power of God and the illumination of God. See Saul was a man who
was moved by God, but he was not enlightened by God. Paul
said, God has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And it does
not matter what else a man might know. he can know all the doctrines
that are in this book from front to the back and uh... he can stand with the greatest
of scholars and and uh... you know he can argue points
of doctrine with men until he's blue in the face but unless God
is pleased to give a man the illumination in his heart of
who Jesus Christ is as more than just a figure but as the true
savior that one who is he sees as the light of the world and
his hope, then that man will perish. May the Lord give us
such light today, because he's the only one that can give us
that light. And so we're looking here in
Hebrews chapter 12, and we have looked at part of
this, first few verses there. I want to begin reading in verse
five. It says, and ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh
unto you as unto 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, and scourgeth every
son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God
dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the father
chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore, we have 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 spirits, and live? For they verily
for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, or after
their own understanding. But he for our profit that we
might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless afterward it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby. Wherefore, lift up the hands
which hang down and the feeble knees, and make straight paths
for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the
way, but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men and
holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Looking diligently,
lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness
springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled. Lest there be any fornicator
or profane person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his
birthright. For ye know how that afterward,
when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected,
for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully
with tears. And we're gonna stop there. I
don't know if we'll get through all of that or not, but maybe
we will. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against
sin. As we read in the verse before
I began reading there, as we are told to consider our Savior,
the one who went before us, and looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. That's where our vision is to
be. We're not looking to one another
because we'll fail one another. If you trust in me long enough,
I'll let you down at some point in time. But we don't look unto
one another, we look unto Jesus, who is the author and the finisher
of our faith. And we ought to consider him
who resisted sin unto blood. And so when we get into a situation
of trouble, and we want to excuse ourselves from striving against
sin, Because we are, remember he said about the sin that doth
so easily beset us. He said, let us lay aside every
weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, it does easily
beset us. But we're never to give up striving
against it. Now we can't do that, apart from
the grace of God. We're not trying to stir you
up. to do it, but we're trying, by
the grace of God, to stir you up, call upon the one who can,
because it's looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith, that we have strength. Reckon ye yourselves dead, indeed
unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Now, some people look at that as like that's make-believe.
does not make believe it's the truth. We are dead unto sin. Brother Al read that verse a
moment ago. For there is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. And we're not
under the law of sin and death, for the law of the spirit of
life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and
death. So it is indeed, brethren, we are not slaves to sin. Now,
Ed and I were talking about this in our travels yesterday about
how the Lord, the Spirit of God works in us in the perception
that we have. And as the Spirit of God teaches
us to perceive who we are in Christ, there is indeed victory
in our lives over the sin that doth so easily beset us. Because
we look unto Christ, and we know that our victory is that which
he enrolled. It's not us. It's not our ability. It's not our stick-to-it-iveness.
It's not our power, but it's his. and who we are in Christ. We are the children of God if
we be in Christ. And if we be in Christ, who can
stand against us? That's what Paul said in the
book of Romans. If God be for us, who can be
against us? We are indeed overcomers in this
life as we look unto Jesus. Now, we begin reading here Says,
and ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as 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 and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Now most
people, I believe, have a false concept of what this chastening
of God is. Now he goes down here in verse
10, speaking about how our fathers, our natural fathers, chastened
us. He said, furthermore, we have
had fathers of our flesh which corrected us. Now that's a good
thing. It's a bad thing when a father
does not correct his children. I mean, that's what we are put
here as parents to do, is to correct our children. Now, the
correcting of children is not just pointing out what they have
done, or not just coming down on them when they've done something
wrong, but it's teaching them what the right thing is. See,
that's correction is involved. You can correct something before
it occurs, can you not? And that's what sound teaching
does, is it corrects us before things take place. But to contrast
what true biblical chastening is, I believe is pointed out
by what he says here about our fathers. He said, for they verily
for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, or after
their own understanding. Now the way that a father, an
earthly father, chastens his son is that he reacts to what
the son has done. You know, I mean, if the father
says to the son, be quiet, and he's not quiet, then he chastens
him for doing that. But that's not how the Lord chastens
his people. Because you see, the Lord doesn't
react to what his people do. I said that in the wrong tense,
didn't I? But our fathers, that's the only
thing they could understand. That's the only thing they could
see is they could see us when we did something wrong and they
chastened us. But the chasing of the Lord is
not a reaction to what we have done. See when David, well let's
use the illustration of Peter. The Lord didn't chasten Peter
because he denied knowing him. But the chasing of Peter began
long before that because the denial of Peter of the Lord was
part of the chasing of the Lord. Because Peter boasted, did he
not? He said, I'll never leave you,
Lord. I mean, I know all these other
guys. I can't trust them. I hadn't trusted them from the
beginning, but you can count on me. Because if everything
hits the fan, I mean, I'm gonna stand there right with you. I'm
gonna be with you, Lord, to the end. And the Lord loved him. And he said, Simon, Simon, Satan
hath desired to have thee, to sift thee as wheat, but I have
prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. Now what Simon did
not understand is that the chastening hand of God was upon him when
he first began to follow the Lord. And the Lord was chastening
him every day because you see, teaching him, that's how the
Lord chastens his people, is teaching them. And what did he
teach Peter? Did he come down hard on Peter
because of what he did? And he said, now Peter, I'm gonna
send you to the woodshed, I'm gonna whip you for doing this.
No. See, the Lord taught him, did
he not? Because the Lord spoke to him and he said, Peter, you
are going to deny me three times. And Peter didn't believe it.
What'd the Lord do? The Lord taught him that he would.
And Peter did. And the Lord said, when thou
art converted, strengthen the brethren. Because you see, the
Lord had a purpose in all of that, just as he did in the case
of David and Bathsheba. Now, we never attribute the accountability of the sin
of men unto God. The scripture says, God tempteth
no man, but men are tempted of their own lust. And so anytime
when you look at a man who sins, if you look at Peter, why did
Peter deny the Lord? Did the Lord make Peter deny
him? No, Peter denied him because that was what was in Peter's
heart. Peter didn't know it. He didn't think it was there.
He thought he was strong, did he not? But the Lord showed him
what he was. And you see, this whole account
of David, David's chastening began when he started up those
stairs. To get up on the rooftop, because
the Lord would teach David something. He'd teach him what repentance
was. Now David was a man after God's own heart. He was a man
whom the Lord loved. But David was an imperfect man.
Just like all of us. I mean, we've got a long ways
to go. And so the Lord, because He loves
His children, He will chasten us. He won't wait till we did
something wrong, but He'll show us by the things that we do what
we are. See, that's a needful thing for
a man to come to, is to know what he is. A lot of people think
they're doing pretty good. Hey, you know, I'm a Christian.
I pray, and I go to church, and I tithe, and I do all these things
that people are supposed to do that are Christian, so they tell
us. And I'm doing all those things,
and I'm doing all right. But only as the Spirit of God
teaches us what we are by nature, and He'll do that. See, I don't
have any doubt. that the Lord will teach His
children that they're sinners. Because that's what the work
of the Spirit is. The Spirit of God is sent into the world
to convince the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
And He'll do that. And if He doesn't do that, then
what did He say here? If ye be without chastisement,
Whereof all are partakers, that is all of the children of God
are partakers of that instruction from the Lord. That showing us. And we can get along sometimes
and we get on a high horse maybe and we go a little ways and the
Lord brings us to the place where he says, whoa. He teaches us, see. He shows
us what we are. And so it is, whom the Lord loveth,
he chasteneth, and he scourges every son whom he receives. You
know, it's a, it's a, as we said a week or
so ago, that this is not a sprint, this is a marathon. And it's
a difficult, there's much difficulty in this world. We don't think
about it. And fortunately, we're not supposed to dwell on what
the difficulty is, that's not the point. You know, to say,
oh, woe is me, that's exactly not the point. But the point
is that we're brought these places, we should rejoice when the Lord
shows us what we are. Not that we rejoice that we are
that. I mean, sin does indeed grieve
the heart of God's people as he shows it to his people. And
sometimes we're dull of hearing and it takes a while for us to
see it. But the Lord doesn't give up.
Children, they have to be taught to be quiet. You know, a child,
he's not, he's not quiet by nature, is he? I mean, you know, a child,
he's going to run. He can't understand why he can't
talk all the time. You know, regardless of the situation,
he has to be taught. He's chastened, he's corrected,
he's shown. And that's the work of God with
his people, a constant work. Chastening is not a reaction
of God to what men do. But chastening is the work of
God in the people of God. And he works in us both the will
and to do of his good pleasures, what scripture tells us. What
a glorious thing it is. Furthermore, we've had fathers
which did that and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much
rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits and live?
What a glorious thing it is to have a heavenly father that does
correct us. And if we give reverence to our
fathers and we're thankful that they correct us. Now, when I
was a kid, I didn't think much of that. I mean, I was seldom
thankful that my father had chastened me, but now that I'm grown, I
thank God for parents that did correct me. Because I see evidence
today, when I see a lot of kids in this world today, that they
never have had any correction. I mean, jails are full of people.
that never had chastening. They were never corrected and
they thought they could do whatever they wanted to do without any
repercussions. So how much rather are we to
be in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live? For they
verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure,
but he for our profit. And we know that all things work
together for good to them who are the children of God, them
who are the called according to his purpose. He's constantly
working all things to that end. Now no chastening, for the present
seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth
the principle fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby. Now, as the Lord brought this chastening upon Peter and
he looked at Peter and Peter realized what he'd done and he
realized what the Lord had told him. That was a awful, awful
time in Peter's life. I mean Peter had never experienced
any grief like the grief that he experienced when the Lord
looked upon him. And he was reminded of what the
Lord said. And he was reminded of what he
said. Well, you see, his boast rang in his ear. And the Lord
caused it to ring in his ear. And no chastening for the present
time seemeth to be joyous. When the Lord, oft times as the
Lord teaches us things, it's not pleasant. Because when you have a tumor growing in your
body, it's not a pleasant thing when they have to cut it out.
See, we're being operated on constantly by the Lord. And so all this business you
hear about, oh, you know, we're just having, we're joyous and
just jumping around and happy every day. I mean, I meet these
people, oh, you know, everything's just great and all that. And
that's good. I'm not opposed to people being
that, but to act in that way. But brethren, the reality of
the fact is that as we go through life, every day there's a time
to rejoice and there's a time to weep. And when we consider
our sin, it's a time to weep. But then when we consider Christ,
it's a time to rejoice. And so our life is both of those
things. And you can't have one without
the other, because the man that never weeps over his sin will
never rejoice in Christ. Because it's absolute necessity
for a man to be brought to the end of himself, to see what he
is by nature, before he can rejoice in Christ. I mean, Christ doesn't
mean anything to those that don't believe themselves to be sinners.
But a man that knows himself to be a sinner, I mean, you think
about blind Bartimaeus. I mean, he was blind. He needed some healing. He knew
he was blind. And he knew the only one that
could help him was this one who was passing by. And he began
to cry out to him. Now, I imagine there was other
blind men in the city. Might have been some blind men
along that way. I mean, he probably wasn't the
only beggar along that route. But he was the only one that
began to cry out because he knew himself to be in a situation
that only the Lord could solve. And so he called out. It didn't
make any difference that people wanted him shut up. He kept on,
did he not? Until the Lord heard him. So
no chastening for the present seemed to be joyous, but grievous
nevertheless. Afterward, it yielded the peaceable
fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised. Thereby,
to those which are trained thereby, is what that word exercise means.
In other words, it works in them. That's what happened with Peter.
The Lord worked in Peter. In pain, in suffering. Think about David. David was
doing pretty good, wasn't he? He thought he was, because he
thought, you know, man, I've got, I've did all this that I
know I shouldn't have done, but I kind of got things smoothed
out now. I mean, you rise dead, so that's
not coming back to haunt me or anything, and I'm going along
all right. Until the Lord sent the prophet
to him. And he described to David the scenario, and David said,
let this man be killed. I mean, bring him in here and
let's execute him. Any man that would do that. And
the prophet looked at him and he said, you're the one. Ooh. You know, when the Lord sends
a prophet and he speaks to you and he says, you're the one,
that's pretty serious business, is it not? That was when David's
pain really began. And at some point in time, he
wrote the 51st Psalm. And he absolved God of all blame. See, a lot of people spend a
lot of time in their life blaming God for this, that, or the other. Now we believe without a shadow
of a doubt that God is the first cause of all events. That all
things are absolutely predestined according to his sovereign will.
And nothing can change that, nothing will change it. But at
the same time, we absolutely believe that every man is absolutely
accountable for every action that he has ever undertaken.
And he can't blame anybody else for anything that he has done.
because you have done everything you've done in your life because
you wanted to do it. Even things you said you didn't
want to do. And you went ahead and did them anyway because you
did want to do it. You did do it. You might have,
if the circumstance had been different, done something else,
but you did what you did, and you're accountable. And so there's
no one to blame. And David came to that place
in the book, or in the 51st Psalm, as he wrote the 51st Psalm. And
he said, against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this
evil in thy sight. There's nothing that I can say,
Lord. Take not thy Holy Spirit from
me. You know, restore to me the joy of thy salvation. See, that
was the thing that he wanted. Why? Because he was given the
light of God to know. See, that was the whole purpose
of this scenario was to bring David to that place. There would
be no 51st Psalm if there hadn't have been David walking up those
stairs and to that rooftop. Now you can use that any way
you want to or think about it how you want to, but God brought
David to the place he would have him to be. Not in reaction to
what David did, but in purpose for doing what he did. According
to the good pleasure of God. I'm thankful that the Lord orders
our steps. It pains me to think that my
desire in my heart is to do evil. That's a painful thing to come
to that awareness. You know, we get thinking sometimes,
well, we don't want to do evil, but then we're confronted with
opportunities and we think on it, do we not? I mean, that's
the way it is. And so it yielded the peaceable
fruit of righteousness unto them which are trained by it, by the
chastening hand of the Lord. Wherefore, he says, now this
is a common thing. See, he's not talking about one
or two individuals. Well, you know, there's a few
people that have a problem with this. No, he's saying we're all
the same. See, all people are the same. I mean, there's not a lick of
difference in any of us. Who maketh us to differ from
another except the Lord? And so it is that by nature we're
all the children of wrath even as others. That's what he said. Now we're not appointed under
wrath if we be the children of God, but by nature we're not
any different than the children of wrath who are appointed under
wrath. But God, who's rich in mercy, whereby he loved us, he
chastens us and he brings us. I mean, how does a man come to
a place where he calls upon the Lord? The Lord chastens him. He corrects him. He teaches him.
He brings him where he wants him to be. And so since we're in this together,
he said, wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the
feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, lest that
which is lame be turned out of the way, but rather let it be
healed. Now what is he saying here? He's exhorting us to exhort one
another. He's exhorting us to help one
another. Because we're all in the same
boat. And we're in need of the chastening
of the Lord. And you know, sometimes it's
the work of God to work through the people of God in applying
the chastening of the Lord, because he would have the brethren to
rebuke us if we're going contrary to the way of God. I mean, if
we see a brother, isn't that what he wrote to the Corinthian
church? His brother was overtaken in
a great fault. He didn't say cast him off and
leave him by the roadside. He said restore such a one in
the spirit of meekness. So how does that happen? Because we have an understanding
that we ourselves are sinners. And we're not sent into the world
to condemn our brethren, but to help our brethren. and to
guide them, to correct them when necessary. As the Lord, as we
see fit. Now that doesn't mean we go out
and look at everybody's, you know, we've been self-appointed
corrector of everybody. That's not what I mean. But I
mean, when a brother's overtaken in a fault, and he can't see
it, sometimes a, a word from another brother can help him
on the way. I remember Brother Al sharing
the testimony of how that he had gotten kind of into a situation
in his own life years ago, and the Lord sent a brother into
his presence, and the brother rebuked him, and it caused him
to think. And so the Lord does indeed,
he sends messengers to us. That's the whole purpose why
we gather together, brethren, is to build one another up in
the most holy faith, to strengthen and help one another. Because
we're weak, and I need your strength, and you need mine. I mean, that's
why we've come together. That song we sang a moment ago,
that each can bear a brother's tears. Bear one another's burdens
and so fulfill the law of Christ. That's what we're called to do.
Because Christ is borne our load, is he not? Are we not to bear
the load of our brethren even as he did ours? because he would
have us to recognize that we have no strength except that
which he gives, and the place that he gives his people strength
is in the assembling together of God's people. That's why he
goes on to say in the next chapter, forsaking not the assembling
of yourselves together as the manner of some is, but so much
the more as you see the day approaching. We are our brother's helper,
our brother's keeper, And so may the Lord give us grace. We
lift up the hands which hang down. When a brother is discouraged,
what are we to do? To remind him that these things
come from the hand of God. Discouragements come from the
hand of God as much as encouragements do. And so we're to point our
brethren to Christ, looking unto Jesus, author and finisher of
our faith. The hands that hang down, the
feeble knees. I got feeble knees sometimes.
I really do in reality. I mean, every morning when I
wake up, I realize how feeble they are. But our spiritual knees
is what it's talking about. We're weak. Even the strongest
among us spiritually. is weak. And we need the help of one another.
Make straight paths for your feet. In other words, take the
lessons and apply them. See, if you don't run straight,
you're going to be crooked. That's what he's saying here.
Make straight paths for your feet. That's what we are doing
when we preach the gospel. to one another is we're making
straight paths because we want you to be looking to Christ.
We don't want you to be looking at your problems. But be as Job,
at least he had this understanding, did he not? He said, shall we
receive good and not evil from the Lord? I mean, all things
come from the Lord. Let's give him praise. I mean,
he's worthy to be praised. And why should we think that
we're gonna miss out on the troubles. We're not. But rather, let it
be healed. That's what the Lord, He is our
healer. And may we help one another.
Follow peace with all men, and holiness without which no man
shall see the Lord. Looking diligently, lest any
man fail, of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing
up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled, lest there be any fornicator, profane person, as
Esau, who for one morsel of bread sold his birthright. For you
know how afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing,
he was rejected, for he found no place of repentance, though
he sought it carefully with tears. Follow peace with all men and
holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. I'm gonna
stop there. I'm gonna make a comment on it, and then we'll look at
these other verses next week, but peace with all men. How are we gonna follow peace
with all men if we're not looking to the Prince of Peace? You know,
if he's not the one in our, oh, you can't have peace with me.
We'll find something to fall out about. There's not a one
of you in here that I can't make mad before the end of the day.
We can find a way to get under one another's skin. Husbands
and wives, they find that out. And they do that. But we're not to fall after such
a course as that. We're to follow peace. You know,
peace is a glorious thing. And holiness, without which no
man shall see the Lord. Now I believe a lot of people
go shipwreck on this birth. Because they want to define holiness
as something men do in the flesh. And they'll say, well here's
what holiness is. Holiness is not chewing tobacco.
Holiness is wearing your hair a certain way. Holiness is not
going to the picture show. Holiness is doing this and doing
that and all these things. Now, there's a lot of things
that God's people ought to avoid. A lot of things that God's people
have no business partaking of. But everything that man does
is tainted with sin. And when the scripture says for
us to follow Peace and holiness without which no man shall see
the Lord. There's not one thing that a man can do or not do that
will make him acceptable in the sight of God. Holiness is being
set apart unto God. And the only holiness that is
acceptable in the courts of heaven is the righteousness of Jesus
Christ. It's not in what we say and do
and all these things. And again, I caution you. There's many things we shouldn't
say, many things we shouldn't do, and all of these things,
but to avoid those things does not make us holy in the sight
of God. Christ alone is the holiness
of His people. He has set us apart. That's what
the word literally means, to purify, to set apart, to make
holy before God. And that which is holy before
God is in Christ. And again, Brother Ed and I talked
about this yesterday. There's a million ways that people
can think they can get themselves to God. Or not necessarily get
themselves to God, but cause him to have favor on them. And
we've all done it. I mean, we all think this way.
We think, well, now, Lord, if I do this, I'm gonna really try
to do this. I'm hoping you'll bless me if
I'll just do this. Men think of all those things.
And while there's a million ways that don't work, there's only
one way that does, and that's Jesus Christ and him crucified. He's the way, the truth, and
the life. He's the only hope we have. He's the only expectation
we have. And because He's our Savior,
He's also our chastener. He corrects us. He teaches us. He leads us. And He said, of
all that the Father hath given me, I shall lose nothing. He said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I'll know
why is cast out. Now, if he don't cast you out,
you're not gonna be cast out, because see, you can't cast yourself
out any more than Noah could get out of the ark once the Lord
sealed him in. He was in there. He didn't have
any way of escape. Dear brethren, by the grace of
God, we don't have a way of escape. But we do have a Savior who will
guide us and lead us and correct us on the way. Thanks be unto
God.