We'll turn back to Hebrews chapter
12 and I want to look with you this morning at the verses 5
to 13 on the subject of the chastisement of the Lord for his people. It's not a subject that is easy
to preach on. You know, I love to preach on
the gospel, the heart of the gospel, substitutionary atonement,
the precious blood of Christ, the sin debt being paid, and
all of the consequences of that. But the scriptures are full of
things like this, and we have to address them when they come
up. The subject of chastisement. And it isn't just thrown in as
a kind of, oh, he's writing a letter and he's thinking of odd things
to write to them about, and so now he thinks about chastisement,
oh, I'll put in a few sentences about chastisement. No, it's
all part of the total flow of the epistle from start to finish.
Hebrews is about knowing God. It's about the true spiritual
experience of salvation in this world of sin. You know how alone
you can feel, how we feel in this world? Nobody's interested
in salvation. Nobody's interested in the mark
to which Paul was pressing, the goal that was set before him.
Nobody's interested in it. They don't care. So long as they
have fun and they gather lots of possessions now, they're not
in the slightest bit bothered about eternity. You know, it's
appointed to man to die once, and after this, to judgment.
And then what? Then where will you be in that
situation? We have immortal souls. You are immortal. You have an
immortal soul that will never die. And when you die, you must
face the God of the universe. And, like it or not, the God
of the universe is holy. and his law is unchangeable and
he's absolutely pure in morality in a way that we cannot comprehend
he's so much higher than we are and he cannot tolerate sin the
god of the universe cannot abide sin he's a purer eyes than to
behold iniquity he must punish sin the soul that sins it shall
die and that doesn't just mean die this physical death it means
an eternal death It means that justice must stand. He's the unchangeable God. He
cannot change his mind about these things. He cannot sweep
our sins under the carpet and say, oh, it didn't really matter.
I was just making a fuss to try and make you behave in this life.
No. God is holy. God is a judge. God is going
to judge all sin. It is all judged. All of it. What Hebrews is about is salvation
from sin and judgment in the Lord Jesus Christ. What Hebrews
is about is knowing the peace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. What Hebrews is about is knowing
that my sins are forgiven for Christ has come and borne them
and paid them and the fire of the wrath of God has fallen on
him and burnt up that ground so that, so that The judgment
is not to fall on me as his child. I'm standing on burnt ground
in the Lord Jesus Christ. The fire of the wrath of God
has already passed through. There's nothing left to burn
up. For Christ has borne it all. This is the gospel that Hebrews
is about. It's about gospel truth. in the
Lord Jesus Christ, who has come, you know, all the middle of the
epistle, all about the Old Testament laws and sacrifices and priesthood
and all of those things, Christ has come and accomplished that
which, as we saw several weeks ago now, was a blueprint for
the gospel. pattern of the gospel. It was
the design of the gospel. Before Christ came in the flesh,
all of those things, the animal sacrifices, the temple, the priest,
every aspect of it, the Ark of the Covenant, were all symbolical
of that which Christ would accomplish in really saving his people. And those, as we've seen, this
great cloud of witnesses, all of them looked forward to Christ.
All of them did. You know that the patriarchs
were all before that mosaic regime was brought in. It was only for
a short time, relatively speaking, in the context of biblical history.
They were all looking forward to Christ, the faith of Abraham.
He believed God, and therefore God accounted it to him for righteousness.
And it wasn't his believing, but what he believed in. It was
what Christ had done that was accounted to him, credited to
him for righteousness. And this gives us solid hope
of glory. This is the goal that is set
before us. We have this solid hope in this world where it seems
that so few want to know anything of it. We hope a good number
gather together next weekend. We hope we're encouraged and
meet people and friends that we've met sometimes a year apart,
sometimes further than that. We hope we get together and in
the blessing of God that we have a good time together thinking
on the things of Christ and speaking on those things but generally
we're in a world where we seem so few and far between who believe
the gospel who look to that hope of heaven and here we are now
in this flesh in this fallen, sinful world, in the experience
of the flesh, knowing things of sublime glory, of sublime,
sinless glory. These are the things that we
know in the Gospel, and yet, in our experience, constantly
rubbing shoulders with the world, knowing the depravity of our
own hearts, knowing, you know, think of the contrast that is
in you and in me. You know, knowing things which
are sublime, in eternity, and yet knowing the vileness of our
own hearts in the judgment and justice of God. We're here for
a while, and it's all in the plan and purpose of God. It's
not an accident. It's not a mistake. It's all
in his purpose. Jesus prayed to his father before
he went to the cross, John 17. He said, I don't pray that you
take them out of the world. Leave them here in the world
for a while, it's a time of proving. For some, it's a very short time.
We think of that biblical example of the thief on the cross, one
of the thieves on the cross, who there in his dying moment,
Lord, remember me. And Jesus said, this day, verily,
verily, this day, this day, you shall, you know, you're not going
to walk this earth and get sanctified and do the things that prepare
you for heaven. You're nailed to a cross. He's hanging there
on a cross. This day, because of what Christ
was doing on that cross next to him this day you shall be
with me in paradise this day Christ was bearing the sins that
would condemn that man for all eternity he was bearing them
in his own body on that tree next to him and on the grounds
of that as that crimson precious blood of Christ paid that man's
sin debt Christ could say to him this day you shall be with
me in paradise. But here and now, most of us
have a while to go. We have a number of years to
live in this flesh, with the sin of our own flesh, with the
sin and corruption that is all around us, but with our hearts
and minds and eyes set on an eternal goal. for a while we're
here when in Revelation chapter 12 when the dragon comes to try
and devour the child that is born of the woman, it's a picture
of the church and Christ coming from the church to save his people
and Satan seeking to have him destroyed when Herod destroyed
those children and then we read immediately after that that the
woman, the church goes off into the wilderness for a while for
a time and there God protects her and feeds her. Where is she? She's in a wilderness. Wildernesses
are not pleasant places. But never mind, God's feeding
her there and God is protecting her there for a season. And this
is it. And the great cloud of witnesses
that we've seen in chapter 11, all this great cloud of witnesses
that has gone before, of which, how many did I say? I can't remember.
17, wasn't it, were named, or implied named, and then lots
of others beyond that. But this great cloud of witnesses
that's gone before to glory, they all experienced trials in
the flesh. Every one of them. Think just
one example, Joseph. Think of Joseph. Think of the
trials in the flesh that he suffered. And he said to his brothers at
the end of it all, when he was revealed to them, and they thought
he was going to bring down his, Joseph, ruler of Egypt's retribution
against them for what they'd done, he said, you intended it
for evil, but, what did he say? God intended it for good. Because all of these things,
in all things, God causes all things to work together for good.
to those that love God, who are the called according to his purpose. Those he calls. Things happen,
but they're all in the plan and purpose of God. And this great
cloud of witnesses had experienced these things. Difficulties, sometimes
painful, sometimes very, very hard to bear, almost crushing.
And he's saying, follow their example. What did they do? The just shall live by faith. That's how they lived. The just
shall live by that belief, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of their faith. And that's what we should do.
Look to Him. In your difficulties, in those things that come along,
all in the plan and purpose of God, look to Jesus. Consider
Him. Consider what He endured. Consider
how far He endured. He endured unto blood, he was
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, the shameful
death of the cross. Why? For the joy that was set
before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, bearing
the shame. and he sat down at the right
hand of God. He's accomplished his purpose.
He saved his people from their sins. Follow his example. Look
to Jesus. Walk in his footsteps as much
as in you is with God helping you. Aim to emulate him. Look
to him. Realize that you're going through
trials and difficult circumstances because it's all training on
that road to glory. Whilst we're here in this flesh
for a while, whilst we're here in this wilderness for a time,
as God trains us, as God feeds us with his word, with his truth,
with the gospel of his grace. So in all those situations look
to him. Now Hebrews chapter 12 verses
5 to 13, those verses tell us how we should view our current
experience of trials and difficulties. Yes, you're having trials and
difficulties. Don't think, you Hebrews, about going back to
Old Testament. That was the blueprint. The Old
Testament worship was the blueprint of the gospel of grace. The reality
has come. The experience of God is a spiritual
experience. It isn't in physical things,
physical symbols, physical icons. It's not in any of that. It's
spiritual. That's what Jesus said to the
woman at the well in Samaria. Those who worship God must worship
him in spirit and truth. We are the true circumcision,
said Paul to the Philippians, who worship God in the spirit.
Not in temples, not in physical things, worship God in the spirit.
How do you do that? We rejoice in Christ Jesus. Well,
which mountain do you go? No, we have no confidence in
the flesh whatsoever. That's how we come to God. This
is how we should view our experiences in this life as believers who
suffer difficulties and trials. And so what I want to do as we
look at these verses is to compare the unbelievers' view of trials
and difficulties with the believers' perspective on trials and difficulties. You see how it fits in to the
context of the epistle overall. It's not just plucked out of
the air as yet another different subject to think about. That's
how I used to be taught it, you know, just like it just came
out of nowhere. No, it's all part and parcel of the message
of the epistle to the Hebrews. First of all, the unbelievers'
perspective on trouble and suffering. The fact, it is a fact, isn't
it? You don't need to look very far
to know that trouble and suffering is a fact of the world in which
we live. It's something to which we're all subject at various
times to varying degrees. everything that is painful that
happens in this world is a result of can be traced back to sin
not necessarily to your personal sin though we're sinners because
we live in this sinful world and we're sinners and we sin
because we're sinners, but not necessarily to your personal
sin, but to the sin of Adam and humanity cursing the whole of
creation. Remember the disciples when they
were with Jesus, they saw somebody who was badly maimed, I can't
remember the details off the top of my head, but they said,
Lord, who was it that sinned? Was it this man or his parents
that caused him to be born blind? I think it was, wasn't it? And
Jesus says, no, no, that's not the way it works. It wasn't this
man or his parents, but that the glory of God might be shown
in this situation. Yes, he's blind because of sin.
This is a sin-cursed creation, a sin-cursed world in which we
live. We read in Romans 8 about the whole creation groaning and
straining under the curse of God. you know, looking forward
to the end of times when things will be restored, when there'll
be a new earth and a new heavens. That's what the scriptures speak
about. No, it's not personal sin, but the sin of humanity,
the sin that comes from Adam's fall in the first place. And
people around us refuse to believe it. You know, I'm not a sinner. Definitely not. They'll point
to certain criminals, they'll point to certain people who've
done dreadful things and they'll think, I hope there's a hell
for them to go to. But not me, I'm alright. I'm
not a sinner. Oh no, don't you go calling me
a sinner. You know, people get incredibly offended when you
say what the scriptures say. The scriptures say this, all
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. You know, it's
utterly indiscriminate. That's you, that's me. All means
all. All. In the context, it's specifically
talking about the people of God. Every one of God's children for
whom Christ died has sinned and fallen short of the glory of
God. There is no hope outside of the Lord Jesus Christ for
those people. But no, people refuse to believe
that they're sinners. And they think the things that
happen in this world are grossly unfair. don't you notice that
generally speaking everybody living in this world wants to
ignore God all of the time I don't want anything to do with God
leave me alone to enjoy things the way I like them to do the
things I want to do to live exactly as I want to live just just make
things go right for me and leave me alone i don't want god in
my life i don't want anything to do with it and you know they
have this expression about somebody that is a believer he's a god-botherer
and they have this view that uh... you know that religious
folks like us a bothering god we're knocking on his door all
the time and making ourselves a nuisance to him and their view
of life is i'm not going to bother him and i hope he doesn't bother
me except when disaster strikes If there's a God, why has he
done this to me? You know, you, and the finger
of accusation comes against those who are believers. Where's your
God now? I don't know if you've heard
this story before, but Henry Mahan, his oldest son, Danny,
went off to the Vietnam War. We're talking a lot of years
ago now. And Danny, I think this is right, I don't think he was
even killed in action. He was killed in an accident
in the transport from the aeroplane to the site of battle. Danny
was killed in a tragic accident. And on the morning they got the
news, one of the fellow pastors in Ashland, Kentucky, phoned
Henry up, because he hated Henry, for Henry preaching the true
gospel of sovereign grace, whereas this was a man who preached sovereign
man in salvation. And this man said to Henry, where's
your God now? Can you imagine the bitterness
and the hardness of heart of that man? On the morning the
news has come back from Vietnam, that as a son, they all say,
we never knew him, they all say that as a son, Danny Mahan was
an absolute, he was the apple of his father's eye, the delight
of his father in every respect, and he was killed. And this man
phones Henry and says, where is your God now? And Henry's
reaction was, he's exactly where he's always been, sitting on
the throne of his glory, ordering things according to the counsel
of his will. And so be it. This is what he's
ordered for me right now. You know? But people hate that. They think it's so unfair, especially
if it happens to them. I want to ignore God, except
when something bad comes along, and then I'll blame him for it.
You know? Why on earth, why did God, I
told you about my cousin being killed in that car accident,
just short of his retirement, just about to retire and relax,
and he's going to work, and somebody selfishly comes screaming around
a corner in a car early in the morning in the other direction,
hits him, gets off with a few injuries, and my cousin is dead,
and leaves a widow, and leaves his grandchildren, and all those
things. And what do people think? Oh, if there was a God, he never
would have let that happen. How can you believe in a God
when your God goes and does things like that to decent people? He
never would have hurt anybody. He never would have done anybody
any harm. They think that everything that happens is a result of luck,
good luck or bad luck. The disasters that happen in
the world, the tsunami, the accidents, the earthquakes, the malicious,
selfish activity by criminals. whatever it might be, of violence
and of stealing property and of whatever else it is. The selfish
carelessness, as I just mentioned about that driver, charging round
the corner on the wrong side of the road, thinking that he
could just assume nobody would be coming the other way. Those
who pursue riches out of greed. And in a moment of a chemical
disaster, an entire town and area is poisoned and thousands
and thousands are killed because they didn't do the right thing
and make the plant safe, but they let it be unsafe. And in
their pursuit of riches and out of greed, they cut corners. It's
all as a result of sin. And they all seem to strike indiscriminately,
but it's because this world is cursed with sin. A child is born
deformed. An illness strikes somebody that
we know in the prime of life. Why does that happen to them?
What a dreadful thing to happen. An accident in a moment. And
some without God bear it with remarkable fortitude. You have
to admit that some who make no claim to any belief in God, let
alone belief of the true gospel of grace, they seem to bear it
with remarkable fortitude. they really do and others with
bitterness to God who should have prevented it because that's
all he's there for leave me alone to live as I want but prevent
anything bad from happening to me because I'll accuse you as
a God not worth believing in if you do let something bad happen
to me see constantly Our society tries to make sorrow and suffering
and death, how often have you heard this expression, a thing
that can never happen again. Let's have an inquiry into the
baby Peter case so that it can never happen again. Let's have
an inquiry into that earthquake or that tsunami so that it can
never happen again, that all of these things that go wrong.
Constantly, our society, in its godlessness, is trying to build
its own Tower of Babel. Remember, after the flood, what
they did, they didn't want God. didn't take many generations
for the world to be filled again with people who didn't want God
in their lives but what they did want to do was live forever
they didn't want death to curse them so they built, well let's
build a tower, whatever it was Whatever it was in reality, you
know, we have this sort of simple idea of a primitive culture.
I don't know what it was, but think about it metaphorically.
They wanted to build a tower up to God so that they could
reach to heaven. Isn't our society constantly building towers up
to heaven to get there by itself? Nothing to do with the God who
rules the universe. No. It's a failure to admit and
bow to this. that this universe is God's universe
and the God of the universe is holy and the God of the universe
must if he's to be God he must reward sin with it's just retribution
in this world now in everything that happens and in the world
to come in the judgment the unbelievers view it's all unfair what about
the believers view things happen difficulties happen Pain, emotional
pain, physical suffering. Believers are not immune to any
of these things, they all happen. What's the believer's perspective
on trouble and suffering? It should all be formulated by
scripture. What does it say in Psalm 105,
no sorry, 119 verse 105? Your word is a light to my path
and a lamp to my feet. It guides everything that we
do. It shows us the way. listen to what the scripture
says about the trouble and suffering that as a believer you believe
if you're a believer you believe you're a child of God if you're
a believer you believe that God loves you and is determined to
take you to glory to be with him when this life is over you
believe these things Well what does he say to you? Deuteronomy
8 verse 5, Thou shalt also consider in thine heart that as a man
chasteneth, and do you know what chastening is? It's It's punishment
and restraint from what we in our waywardness would want to
do. It's the drawing of a boundary and whether the crossing of that
boundary is rewarded with the stripes of physical punishment
or with other restraint in whatever way. It's restraint. It's ordering
events in order to correct. As a man chasteneth his son,
so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. Until a few years ago, it went
without saying that loving parents chastened their children, drew
lines, wouldn't allow them to cross those lines, were absolutely
rigid. And why did they do it? For love
of those children. To train them. As Proverbs says,
train up a child in the way in which he should go and when he
is old he shall not depart from it. The rod of correction, spare
not the rod and spoil the child. All of those things are what
the Word of God says. And it says that like any loving
parent, God chastens his children. Consider this in your heart,
that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth
thee. Job chapter 5 and verse 17, behold, listen, happy is
the man. whom God correcteth. But this
hurts. Happy is the man whom God correcteth. Why should you
be happy? Because God loves me enough to
correct me. I'm full of sin in this flesh
as I walk as his child through this world. He corrects me. He
restrains me. He puts barriers in my way. I
don't like them. He gives me illness. He causes
me There was somebody, I think it was somebody Luther wrote
about, who was covered with a horrible disease, and that man's view
of those diseases was that these things were God's jewels that
he had bedecked his child with, and he regarded them as worth
more than anything that this world would regard as valuable
jewels. Why? Because it was a token that
God loved him and cared for him. Behold, happy is the man whom
God correcteth. Therefore, despise not thou the
chastening of the Almighty. Psalm 94 verse 12, blessed is
the man, blessed truly in a heavenly way, happy, truly happy, is the
man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of the law.
Blessed, truly happy is the man who is spanked by God, if I can
put it that way, physically restrained, you know, caused pain in order
to correct. Proverbs 3 verses 11 and 12,
which is exactly what verses 5 and 6 of Hebrews 12 say, My
son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary
of his correction, for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, even
as a father the son in whom he delighteth. James chapter 1 verses
2 and 3, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse
temptations. That means difficulties, trials.
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
And then in verse 12 of James 1, blessed is the man that endureth
temptation, trials. For when he is tried, he shall
receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to them
that love him. Revelation 3 verse 19, God says this to the churches,
as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Yes, believers suffer
in this life. They suffer sickness and pain
and bereavement, natural disasters. We're not immune from any of
these things. Persecution, loss, emotional pain, etc, etc. All of these things. And when
it happens, we ask why? We ask why. If we believe that
Christ has justified us, we wonder why does he subject us to such
pain. We read what the psalmist said,
Psalm 10 verse 1. Why standest thou afar off, O
Lord? Why hidest thou thyself in times
of trouble? Because that's how it appears
so often. This is a painful time. Where
is God in this? This is what the psalmist cried.
He chastises us because of his love. You must get this. It's
because of his love. It's not his wrath. You know,
in general, those outside of Christ suffer disasters and all
of these things because of the wrath of God against sin. But
if you're in Christ, that wrath is already poured out on the
Lord Jesus Christ. And chastisement is not the wrath
of God against your sin. It's the loving correction of
a heavenly father. If he didn't love you, he would
leave you to your own plans and the consequences of those plans.
And think how disastrous that would be so often. If God had
not restrained my steps, just think of what I might have got
into. Just think of the foolish things I might have done. I don't
rate myself as having a great deal of wisdom now, but in years
gone by I had considerably less. And just think of the things
I could have got into if, looking back now, the Lord God hadn't
constrained me in whatever way. Maybe he prevented. me from having
lots of money. Why? Because of what I would
have done foolishly with that money. Maybe he prevented me
from having the things that I thought were exactly what I wanted at
that time. Maybe he gave me trials and difficulties. Why? Because he knew it was for
my good and for my correction and for my training. Verse 4
of chapter 12 says, You have not resisted unto blood, striving
against sin. You've not resisted unto blood.
It speaks of this striving against sin. What sin? Could it be the
sin of cursing God for what has happened in the difficulties
that come along? Job's wife encouraged him when
he was covered in sores and in terrible suffering, curse God
and die. But Job answered this, though
he slay me, yet will I praise him. How could he say that? What
was it that made him say that? What is it that makes the believer
say, whatever he does to me, yet will I praise him? What is
it? Look at verse 5. And ye have forgotten the exhortation
which speaketh unto you as unto children. That could equally
well be translated, have you forgotten the consolation that
speaks to you as children? In your striving against sin,
you haven't strived very far, you've certainly not striven
unto blood, resisting that temptation to curse God in the situation. Have you forgotten the consolation
which speaks to you as sons? And what is the consolation?
It's what Proverbs 3 says. Don't despise the chastening
of the Lord. Don't faint. Don't give up. Don't
be tempted to throw the towel in when you are rebuked of him.
Why? Because it's not the anger of
the Lord that's causing this, it's the love of the Lord for
his children. Verse 6, For whom the Lord loveth,
he chasteneth, and scourgeth. Scourging isn't pleasant. The
picture is scourging, it's painful. Painful. Scourgeth every son
whom he receiveth. So believers suffer all of this.
And Job must have remembered the consolation that speaks to
God's children, that God is our father. We are his adopted children. He loves his people. How far
does he love his people? Think of this, how far does God
love his people? He sent his only begotten son,
his well-beloved son, to die. You think, oh, well, that really
is no great thing, because he knew he would raise him from
the dead. I don't know, I don't know whether even in eternity
we'll ever fully understand the depth of that separation of the
father. When the father turned his face
away, on the son who has made sin his people's sin that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him that's how much
he loved us to send his son to die for us God commends his love
to us in that this is Romans 5 verse 8 in that while we were
yet sinners Christ died for us he died for the ungodly to bring
us to God and all things that come all things the seemingly
good and the seemingly bad. All things, all things work together
for good to his people. Everything. Oh, if only we could
get that. If only we could get that, that
the trials and difficulties we go through show us that God loves
us, and He's training us, and restraining us. Remember Job's
suffering, what he went through in chastisement, we can see,
read the whole chapter, all 42 chapters of it, read there, see
what it teaches us about how God deals with the children He
loves, and some of it is very painful. Woe is me, cried Job,
I hate the day I was born, oh that I'd never been born, oh
how I'd He was in deep, deep sorrow and suffering, but it
was all for a purpose, that he who thought he was righteous
on the basis of his own efforts learned that he was nothing,
and that everything was in Christ, in his Redeemer. It was in him
that he was accepted by God. Now it's like bitter medicine.
The child may think the medicine bitter, but the loving parent
always administers it for the child's good. It says in one
of the Gospels, Jesus says, which loving parent gives their child
a stone in lieu of bread or a serpent in lieu of an egg? Because the
parent's objective is always the good of the child. And so
it is God's objective, the good of his children, his adopted
children. So don't resent what God sends. I feel that we're in a time when,
apart from smallness of numbers, we're so blessed in so many ways,
we're so free from trials and sorrows. I mean, you know, let's
beware that this, you know, we're not having it so easy that it's
a mark that you begin to wonder, are we really the children of
God? Let's not resent what God sends. The Lord gives and the
Lord takes away. The reaction to it Blessed be
the name of the Lord. That's what Job said. The Lord
gave. All of his riches, all of his family, the Lord gave
and the Lord took away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Don't faint under his rebuke. Don't give up. Don't stop trusting
him. Don't succumb to that besetting
sin that he's already mentioned in chapter 12 of unbelief. But
as Don Fortner says, you'll see the article on the bulletin,
as Don Fortner says about this, you know when you're feeling
The blows of the chastisement of God, do you know what the
best thing to do is? Not run from him. Snuggle up
close. Snuggle up close. I don't know
you parents that have ever chastised your children. You know, the
closer they get to you, the harder it is to get a good shot in.
And this is what he says. Snuggle up close. Snuggle up
close to God. In times of chastisement. Know
his presence. The blows will seem so much the
less. So verse six, whom the Lord loves,
he chasteneth and scourgeth every son. He sends his just judgment
and his retribution on sin and sinners outside of Christ. But
his children's sin he's already punished in Christ, but he chastises
and scourges his true children. And love is his motive. Verse
seven, If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with
sons. For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? Verse
eight, but if you be without chastisement, whereof all his
true children are partakers of chastisement, then are you bastards
and not sons. What's he saying there? You know,
it's using what we would regard in our sensitive times in one
way as the brutal language of so many hundred years ago. He's
talking about this. He's talking about the illegitimate
children, of the adulterous woman who is not faithful to her husband,
of the irresponsible father who has no thought for the consequences
or his responsibility towards the child he has fathered. That's
what it's speaking about. That is not our God. Our God
loves his children. Our God is perfect in everything
he does, in all his desires to his children. You know that you're
the children of loving parents when they take the trouble to
restrain and correct you, even if at the time you find it painful.
This is what Paul is telling us here. No chastisement, whatever
its nature, whatever its severity, is an indication that there's
no legitimate adoption. Because the father of the bastard
son doesn't take his responsibility seriously towards that son. He's
careless. The mother, who conceived that
child in an adulterous situation, doesn't take their responsibility
seriously. This is what it's saying, but
God does, and that's why chastisement comes. So verses 9 and 10, he
compares with respect for earthly parents. Loving discipline. In
some measure, you know, the best of us, we think there are situations
where it was for our own pleasure that discipline was administered,
to give us an easier time, because they're being a nuisance at the
moment. But he says, your heavenly father, it's always for the good
of his children. Verse 11. It's not pleasant to
endure. No chastening for the present
seems to be joyous but grievous. Nevertheless afterward, it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby. Because that is the objective. You know, it's like
the pruning of the tree. You know, it seems incredibly
harsh. But there are some things that the harder you prune them,
the more fruitful and vigorous they look when the spring starts.
You know, you cut them down and it looks like you're being cruel
and bitter to them. And then they bring forth their
fruit. This is what it's about. This is what this chastening
is about. Its objective is fruitfulness. So he says, don't be discouraged.
Verses 12 and 13. Lift up the hands which hang
down. Strengthen the feeble knees. Make straight paths for your
feet, lest that which is lame by doubt and unbelief be turned
out of the way, but let it rather be healed. Don't be discouraged.
Be consoled. Have you forgotten the consolation
which speaks to you as sons? Don't fall aside, but continue
submitting to his will, consoled and comforted that all of this
chastisement is for our eternal good. And if Paul hasn't yet
persuaded you in this passage about the father's loving chastisement
of his children, of you and me, then read the book of Job and
remind yourself there.