I'd like to give you all a warm
welcome here in the chapel and those gathering with us online.
Let us come before the Lord in prayer. Let's ask his blessing
in prayer. Lord God of heaven and of earth,
we ask thy blessing upon our worship here this morning. Thy
presence, according to thy promise, might be known and felt. Help
us to sing thy worthy praise with our hearts and with our
understanding also. Lord, do send that help from
the sanctuary and strength out of Zion. We ask through our Lord
Jesus Christ. Amen. Hymn: 1105, Tune: 423 Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God, two portions this morning. Firstly, Psalm
94. Psalm 94, if you're joining with
one of our free Bibles, the Bible Box Bibles, That is page 591. Psalm 94. O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth,
O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, show thyself. Lift up thyself,
thou judge of the earth, render a reward to the proud. Lord,
how long shall the wicked triumph? How long shall they utter and
speak hard things, and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves? They break in pieces thy people,
O Lord, and afflict thine heritage. They slay the widow and the stranger,
and murder the fatherless. Yet they say, the Lord shall
not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard him. Understand,
ye brutish among the people, and ye fools, when will ye be
wise? He that planted the ear, shall
he not hear? He that form the eye, shall he
not see? He that chastiseth the heathen,
shall not he correct? He that teacheth man knowledge,
shall not he know? The Lord knoweth the thoughts
of man, that they are vanity. Blessed is the man whom thou
chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law, that thou
mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the
pit be digged for the wicked. For the Lord will not cast off
his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance, but judgment
shall return unto righteousness. and all the upright in heart
shall follow it. Who will rise up for me against
the evildoers? Or who will stand up for me against
the workers of iniquity? Unless the Lord had been my help,
my soul had almost dwelt in silence. When I said my foot slippeth,
thy mercy, O Lord, held me up. In the multitude of my thoughts
within me, thy comforts delight my soul. Shall the throne of
iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief
by law? They gather themselves together
against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood. But the Lord is my defence, and
my God is the rock of my refuge. He shall bring upon them their
own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness.
Yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off. And secondly, let us
turn to the epistle to the Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 12. I'll read
the first 13 verses, page 1119 in the Ruby Bibles. Hebrews chapter 12, and reading
from verse 1 to verse 13. Wherefore, seeing we also are
compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us
lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset
us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who,
for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising
the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne
of God. For consider him that endured
such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied
and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto
blood, striving against sin, 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
of all our 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, 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. Thus far the reading
of God's holy word. May he bless it to us and help
us in prayer. Let us bow our heads in prayer.
Let us pray. O Lord God of heaven and of earth,
we come to Thee, our Heavenly Father, through Thy beloved Son,
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and we plead that precious blood
that was shed on Calvary. We plead that name, which is
a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
should bow. Lord, we read that God is greatly
to be feared in the assembly of the saints, to be had in reverence
of all them that are about him. And Lord, we do thank thee for
thy promise that where two or three are gathered together in
my name, there am I in the midst, that thy presence in the midst
is promised. And Lord, do grant us that additional
token, that we might fear thy great and thy holy name, that
thy spirit might remain with us, that thy blessing might attend
the reading of thy word, the preaching of the gospel. O Lord,
do be pleased to grant Thy blessing in our souls, that we might be
renewed as we come from the world and being in it, that we might
not be of it, and that whereas the world would only seek to
cast Thee down from Thine excellency, that we might as we come into
Thy house, where every one doth speak of Thy glory, that we might
have renewed unto us that Thou art the God that made heaven
and earth and all things that are therein. Thou art He in whom
we live and move and have our being. Thou art He that before
we must stand at the last judgment day. To grant unto us then to
know Thee here below, to have that blessed token of knowing
Thee and knowing Thy voice and following Thee. to grant us also
the token of which we have ran, the token of being chastened,
corrected, dealt with as sons and daughters of the Most High. that Thou hast grant us at last
to be partakers of Thy holiness, to be a prepared people for a
prepared place. O Lord, we seek a true spirit
of worship then, and that we might know Thee, for Thou hast
said, He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he
is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. We seek Lord then that
thou would remember us and do grant us thy blessing as we gather
in thy house to remember those unable to gather We pray for
those in bereavement today, to grant their comfort and help
for them to be with their dear friend in Holland. We do commit
her unto thee and seek, Lord, that help might be given today
and tomorrow, especially for the funeral. We do seek, Lord,
that help and journey mercies for all that travel on that occasion. O Lord, do we please remember
those in affliction, and knowest the path of each one, to grant
thy kind healing hand. O Lord, support whether mentally
afflicted or physically, and do grant that strength equal
to the day. O Lord, we do pray for those
in this land and those of our churches in Australia, in America
and Canada, to grant thy blessing upon them each, where thy word
has already been attended to in Australia, we commend the
churches there unto thee. We do seek, Lord, that thou hast
remembered thy church throughout the world. We thank thee that
thou hast the people in every nation kindred and tongue. And, O Lord, do bless the churches
represented here this morning. And, O Lord, those who shall
gather later on, we do pray for thy blessing on each assembly
of thy people today. O Lord, we think of thee, world,
and as the time goes on, that those in Australia and in New
Zealand worshipping before us, finishing their day, and then
we here and then those in America later on. And I, Lord, do grant
that as the time moves on, that their praise might be to Thee
right throughout Thy day and day by day, as each morning and
each evening comes in each country, that there might be that continuous
praise and prayer and glory unto Thy name throughout the earth.
So may we be amongst those that put the crown upon thy head,
that are able to sing, as we have sung in our first hymn,
that they could from all things parted be, but never, never lord
from thee. Grant that we might know thee
more, cleave closer to thee, be delivered from our sins that
grieve us and separate and do deliver us from that worldly
spirit that grieves thy spirit and do grant that we might be
separated unto thee and to seek thy face to be amongst those
that one day shall be partners with thy throne in heaven. We
do thank thee where thou hast brought thy dear people safely
to their journey's end. Many prayers put up during their
lives and during their last illness and for those who have cared
for them and now thou hast brought them safely to be with thee and
we thank thee for this the realization of thy promise that he that endureth
unto the end shall be saved We pray as we see, one after another,
that those we've walked with here below go over the Jordan
of death, that we also might endure, we might be kept by thy
power unto salvation, we might be kept through faith, that thou
hast keep us day by day, O save us from an empty profession of
religion, and do grant, Lord, that close walk with thee. We
do seek thy blessing upon us as a church and people. Be pleased
to build us up and strengthen us here. Do bless the people
of Cranbrook, bless those who have received Bibles through
the Bible boxes. May there be many that are blessed
through seeing the Scripture texts and be brought to a knowledge
of themselves and thee. We pray for our neighbours and
those round about us. We seek, Lord, that thou fill
this house of prayer with hungering, thirsting souls. Lord, do grant
a real spiritual revival in this land, and do begin with us, and
begin with the house of God. O Lord, do hear prayer for those
in authority over us. Lord, do give them wisdom, direction,
and restraint of thy hand upon them. And pray for our king and
queen, preserve and keep them, and bless them with thy grace.
and each of the royal family. O Lord, do grant that again righteousness
might exalt this nation. We confess our many sins, our
godlessness, our casting of thee behind our backs, our making
laws contrary to thy laws. O Lord, do turn again, help us
to be true witnesses and to faithfully set forth thy word. And Lord,
do grant that we might not be left that Thou art a peer for
us. Do help us now, do grant Thy
blessing, as we turn to Thy sacred word. Do open it up to us and
bless it to us. We thank Thee for our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ. We thank Thee for him from whom
all blessings flow, from the blood shed at Calvary, the debt
paid, and that reconciliation made for Thy people. O Lord,
we do thank Thee for that recorded in Thy Word of Thy finished work. O Lord, do grant us to truly
know it in our own souls that it is Christ that died, yea,
rather, risen again, that sitteth on the right hand of the throne
of God on high. Hear prayer for each of thy people,
those in trial, temptation, tribulation. Lord, do be with them and help
them. Remember those that know thee
not. Be pleased to quicken them into divine life. Pass by them
and bid them live. Leave them not ignorant of themselves
or of thee, but, Lord, do be pleased to quicken into divine
life those that are yet dead in trespasses and sins. Do bless
then thy word before us and help us this morning. We ask thee
these things through our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen. The announcements, God willing,
I'm expected to preach here this evening at 6.30 p.m. on Thursday at seven o'clock
and next Lord's Day at 11 a.m. and 6.30 p.m. Lambethurst are
holding their special services, Thanksgiving services on Friday
the 6th, that's this coming Friday, at 3.30 and 6.30 when Mr. Timothy Parrish is expected to
preach. Details are on our chapel notice
boards. Hymn: 335, Tune: Mathers 44 I direct your prayerful attention
to Hebrews chapter 12 and reading from our text verses 5 and 6. 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 him the Lord loveth, he chasteneth,
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Hebrews 12, verses
5 and 6. Prizing the Lord's correction,
it being a mark of being the Lord's. We are told very clearly
in this passage that the Lord chastens every one, or corrects
or disciplines every son whom he receiveth. There are several things that
are joined to our text. If we look at the beginning of
this chapter, we have, first of all, the people have gone.
The chapter begins with a reference to the cloud of witnesses, a
great cloud of witnesses that are listed in the previous chapter. but also around us as well. Whenever we come to the Word
of God and the doctrines of the Word of God, you may be sure
they can be seen in the lives of God's people. We can see the
chastening of the Lord's hand in those who have gone before
us, those in the Word of God. And we can also see it in the
lives of those round about us. In fact, every one of the doctrines
of truth, really the experience of the truth is what we preach
and what we live out in our lives. So it is known and read of all
men, especially think of the children of Israel, that when
the Lord chastened them, the other nations were looking on,
they could see what the Lord was doing then. It wasn't a hidden
thing. So that is the first thing that
is joined with our subject this morning. The idea, the remembrance
that we are compassed about, surrounded with many witnesses
that will bear testimony to these truths that are before us here. The second thing is our Lord
Jesus Christ. He is set forth before us as
the author and finisher of our faith. He it is that begins a
good work in us and brings us into the fold and brings us under
the rod and to be corrected, openly the Lord's people. But also set before us his own
sufferings, his enduring the cross, his despising the shame,
what the Lord did at Calvary. And we always remember when we're
speaking of chastening, we are not speaking of punishment. The punishment for the sins of
the people of God were laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He bore
them away. He endured the wrath of God.
That was punishment. What we have is correction, discipline,
It is not punishment. May we remember that and may
we be pointed to the Lord that is set before us here in the
lead up to our text. The third thing that we have
here is sin. In verse four, just before our
text, you have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin. May we remember that our Lord
Jesus Christ was made manifest to save his people from their
sins, and that he suffered for our sins upon Calvary's tree. Sin shall remain with us here
below, and yet sin is not to have the mastery over us, but
as called, as quickened, we are to be those as set before us
here in verse 4, that resist sin. And the resistance here
is spoken of as being a very strong resistance. You have not
yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. You might say then,
if a people are striving against sin, why do they need chastening? Why do they need correcting?
was because they do fall and because they get weary of that
constant fight and striving and resisting of sin. And so the
correction, the discipline is a help to that. We think of children
naturally that need that chastening and correction and that help
to bring them to walk in the right ways. We'd always remember
that whenever the Lord chastens and corrects, especially with
the rod, it will always be first preceded by the word of God,
so that the people know why they are being corrected, why the
rod is upon them, and they will have had the word and direction
first. But while we are here below,
while we are in the body, while we are still sinners, we need
that correction. And this is the blessing that
the Lord has given to the people of God, that they do endure unto
the end, that they are saved, that sin does not have the mastery
over us at all. And yet we do need the word that
is then before us. And so following concerning striving
against sin, we have the words of our text. 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. This morning I wish with the
Lord's help to speak to you from three headings. Firstly, forget
not. And what we are not to forget
is the exhortation. And then secondly, despise not. And what we are to not despise
is the chastening. And then thirdly, there's faint
not. And that is when rebuked of him. So we have three nots, forget
not, despise not, and faint not. Firstly then, there is the forget
not. And forget not, the exhortation. What is being referred to? Well, the word here goes right
back to Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 3. And we read these almost exact
same words in Proverbs 3 verse 11, My son, despise not the chastening
of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction. For whom the
Lord loveth, he correcteth, even as a father the son in whom he
delighteth. And so the writer of Hebrews,
some thousand years after The Proverbs were written. It's pointing
right back to what was written there, and the exhortation is
that it still applies. It still applies as much today
as what it did when Hebrews was written, that that word is settled
in heaven forever, and we are not to forget the word. And it's
a good thing for us to be reminded that the Old Testament exhortations,
the Old Testament direction and teaching, much applies to us. Now it's interesting here, being
set forth in Hebrews, because most of Hebrews is to teach the
Hebrews that they can let go of the Old Testament types and
shadows, sacrifices, and what was the gospel in their day,
the ceremonial law, and that they were to trust solely unto
Christ who has fulfilled all of these things. So, in a sense,
what we have here is those things that are to be laid aside, those
things that belong to the Old Testament, though they are beautiful
types and shadows and we still should look at them and see Christ
more fully in them, Yet there are those words that we should
not forget that they apply today, the exhortations today, the teaching
today. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable, is improfitable for instruction
in righteousness, that the man of God might be throughly prepared
unto all good works. And so, This is why it's so vital
for us to remember that which has been written. We read in
Psalm 94, the same blessing that we have here. He that chastiseth
the heathen, shall he not correct? He that teacheth man knowledge,
shall he not know? Blessed is the man whom thou
chastenest, O Lord, and teacheth him out of thy law. The law doesn't
change. The man was blessed then, he
is blessed now, when the Lord still teaches now and still corrects
now. The Lord's people from the beginning
of time have had the same God, the same faith, the same teacher,
the same instructor. And so this word is to remind
us to keep that which has gone before. I've often been struck
by the case of King Solomon, where the Lord appeared unto
him twice, and it was that he should not join with the wicked,
he should not worship idols, and he forgot that. He joined
with idols. He had so many wives, and he
followed their gods. And so the Lord reproved him,
and the Lord chastened him for that. But even though the Lord
only appeared to him twice in that very remarkable ways, yet
he was to remember those times. We are to remember where the
Lord has appeared for us, where he's blessed the word to us,
where he's spoken to us, where he's warned us, where he's reproved
us. We are not to forget these things. If we go back to the Proverbs,
where this word is quoted from, in the first part, in the first
12 verses or so of Proverbs 3, we have several things that are
to be remembered. And the very chapter, it begins
with, my son, forget not my law. How many times through the word
of God we are exhorted to remember and remember the ordinance of
the Lord's Supper is this, do ye in remembrance of me. The Lord gives that ordinance
to remind the Church of God constantly, not only of the Lord, but of
his sufferings and of his death. And so in Proverbs 3, there's
the exhortation not to forget the law of God, But let thine
heart keep my commandments. And then joined with them for
length of days and long life and peace shall they add to thee. These things apply as much to
us as they did then. Let not mercy and peace forsake
them. So first one is the law. Then
there's mercy. Bind them upon thy neck. Write
them upon the table of thine heart. So shalt thou find favour
and good understanding in the sight of God and man. And there's a joining together
with these things to remember, to do, to walk in with a blessing
that is joined to them. In verse 5, there's to trust.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, lean not unto thine own
understanding. In verse 6, there's acknowledging
the Lord in all of our ways and he shall direct thy paths. Verse
7 warns about being not wise, in thine own eyes fear the Lord
and depart from evil. And when we come to verse 9,
to honour the Lord with thy substance and with the firstfruits of all
thine inquiries, so shall thy barns be filled with plenty. So right through this first part
of Proverbs at which our text then comes, my son despised not
the chastening of the Lord, there are those things that we also
are to remember. So the beginning of our text
is a principle, it is a direction to us that the word of God is
full of exhortations, it's full of things to Remember, especially
when we come into palms. So in the context here, when
we come into chastening, when the Lord is beginning to deal
with us, when things happen in our lives, when his hand is upon
us, that is a specific time where to remember the teaching, the
exhortations regarding that. What if we were to come into
trouble? Well, the word we are to remember is in Psalm 50, call
upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee, thou shalt
glorify me. And so as we walk these paths,
as we come into these paths, it unlocks part of the word for
us. It teaches us the need that we
have of that word. Our proneness then here in our
first point is to forget the word of God. May we always think,
when we come into things that are new for us, we have not walked
this path heretofore, those things that are troubling, those things
that are trials, what does the Lord's Word, what does God's
Word say to us concerning this very thing? What is this that
He, in His providence, has brought me into to unlock parts of the
Word of God? Is there something that I have
read already that addresses this point, that actually now I am
forgetting and so walking contrary to the word of exhortation? So
our first point then is to forget not. The Lord has given us the
Holy Spirit, the Remembrancer, to bring to our remembrance all
things whatsoever I have said unto you. And so may we have
that reminded even this morning through this portion, that which
we are to remember and not forget. He hath forgotten the exhortation
which speaketh unto you as unto children. I want to look then
secondly at despise, not. If we despise something, we make
little of it and we don't have any thoughts towards it. We pass
over it as not being of any consequence, of any use. We despise it. If we were given a gift and we
didn't realize that was a good gift, so we were given a watch,
and we looked at the watch, and it didn't look very significant,
and we thought, well, that's a pretty poor present, and we
despised it, and yet didn't realize that actually the watch was gold,
and solid gold, and it was worth a tremendous, a lot of money.
And so if we'd only knew that, then we wouldn't despise it.
And so here, with the chastening, if we knew what it meant and
what was actually bound up with it, then we wouldn't just pass
over it and despise it and think that it was some small thing.
So I want to, under this heading, look at several points. Firstly,
chastening, the correction or discipline. What is it? How does the Lord actually do
it? I want to use just some of the
examples from the Word of God We think of the children of Israel
as going through the wilderness. Two years after they left Egypt,
they came to the Promised Land. They sent out the spies. They
brought back an evil report. And God sent them back into the
wilderness. And for 40 years, they wandered
in the wilderness, the Lord's chasing hand upon them. He didn't destroy them as a nation,
but he dealt with their sins and their sinners. Also Moses,
at the waters of strife, he did not sanctify the Lord. When the
Lord told him to speak unto the rock and it bring forth water,
he smote it twice. He said, must I bring you water
out of this rock, ye rebels. And the rock had already been
smitten once in their journeys. And of course, it sets forth
the Lord Jesus Christ who was the smitten rock, only to be
smitten once, not more than once. And the Lord doesn't begrudgingly
give blessings and mercy in the water of life to his people. He doesn't say, must I bring
you the gospel? Must I bless you, you rebels,
you sinners? Must I die on Calvary's tree
for you? No, it is love what the Lord
has done for his people. He does not begrudge the blessings
that he gives them, especially what he did for them at Calvary.
So Moses, in chastening of the Lord, was not allowed to go into
the promised land. He wanted to, he pleaded with
the Lord that he might, but he was not permitted to. When we
think of David, when he sinned in adultery and in murder, In
the case with Bathsheba and Uriah, then though the Lord forgave
him and his sins were blotted out, he should not die. Yet the
child that was born to Bathsheba, he died, and the sword was not
to depart from David's house. And all his days he was to know
that reminder of the chastening hand of the Lord, that sin has
consequences, that sin must be dealt with. We've already mentioned
Solomon. The Lord raised up several adversaries
to Solomon. Men, situations that, unless
the Lord had said, you wouldn't connect those adversaries that
were raised up against him with his sin. But God connects it
with his sin. And so with us, we can have those
things that come in our lives that are not direct. consequences
of our sin, but our conscience will tell us that they actually
are because of our sin. The Lord is doing it because
of the way that we are walking. Sometimes the Lord used famine
for the children of Israel. In the book of Amos, he sent
rain to one city and not on another city. In the book of Haggai,
when they were not building the temple, then he touched their
stores, he touched their money, their crops did not prosper.
And there can be other things, things that go wrong, things
that happen in our lives. Loss of peace, we can lose spiritual
blessings. David says in Psalm 51, restore
unto me the joy of thy salvation, the Lord had taken that joy of
his salvation back from him. You get Jehoshaphat that joined
himself with wicked Ahab and joined in sending ships to get
gold and the Lord caused that those ships were to be broken. And so you have ways that the
Lord uses, here thou the rod and who hath appointed it, and
the very way that is set before us here is now no chastening
for the present, is joyous but grievous. There is a pain to
the rod, it's meant to, God means it to hurt, means it to be a
trial, means it to be an affliction. Now we mentioned before that
all tribulation or all trouble is not chastening. Many of God's
children can be very troubled that they are not discerning
the chastening of the Lord, when in actual fact the Lord is not
chastening them at all. It is the tribulation. In the
world ye must have tribulation. It is true that some of that
tribulation is chastening. But where it is, there will always
be the conscience that will bear witness, because The Lord has
already spoken. A father would not take the rod
and administer physical punishment on his child without that child
first being warned, maybe more than once, and then at last the
rod would be put on. And so with us as well, whenever
something is chastening, the conscience will bear witness
that that is chastening that we have gone against the Lord,
we have not listened. And there's been several things
in my life where there's been very, very clear, very clearly
seen that I have not taken notice, I have not listened, and therefore
the Lord has brought those things into my life. We mentioned as
well before that chastening is not punishment. It is not that
which takes away our sin. There is no merit in it. We are
not paying penance. We are not suffering in that
way. The Lord Jesus Christ has suffered
for our sin. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth from all sin. And if we confess our sins, he
is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. Chastening here, and this is
a special reason why we are not to despise it, is that it is
a mark of sonship. God is dealing with us, not as
an enemy, not as those that are not his, We read in verse 6,
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? Then he goes on to point out
that every son, all are partakers, Well, it doesn't chasten some
and not another. He chastens them all. And so when we have a right understanding
of what chastening is, then it is that we are not to despise
it. We're not to think small of it. You know, the way that is set
before us here is very similar to what we have in the end of
Psalm 107. all of those changes through
that psalm, the troubles, the falling down, there was none
to help, then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble and
he saved them out of their distresses. At the end of it we read, who
so is wise and will observe these things even they shall understand
the loving kindness of the Lord. And this is to be understood
here as well, even with a child naturally, to be given a gift,
to be given things that are beautiful and nice, they could understand
that being as love. But when they're punished, when
they are dealt with in that way, it takes understanding to realise
that actually there's even more love in that than there is in
gifts. And so there is the word here
which has given us those reasons why Why we should not despise
it? We should not because God deals
with us as with sons. It's a mark of sonship. He puts us amongst all of the
other children of God, deals with us the same as them. We might think our lot is a hard
lot, a difficult lot, but the Lord says in this, no, I'm dealing
with all of my people the same. You imagine if you had a family
of six children and one child was continually getting chastened
and corrected and the other ones weren't, that child would say,
well, why am I being dealt with differently? It might be the
case that they're the only one that is doing things wrong. But when we think of in God's
sight, there's none that doeth good and sinneth not. All have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. And the Lord has
an aim, and he puts that before us here. He says the aim of fathers
is just for their own pleasure. It's a nice and happy family
if the children toe the line. But he says, for us, that is
for our good, our eternal good. And why is it given? that we
might be partakers of his holiness. The Lord has an end in view. We read in the Lamentations of
Jeremiah that the Lord does not crush underfoot the sons of men. He does not just delight in doing
it for no purpose or no reason. There is a reason. And because
of that, we shouldn't despise it. Think small of it. The Lord
is looking upon our lives, he's seeing there's need of a rod,
seeing need of correction, and he's applying it in the ways
that it will be heard, hear ye the rod and whoever pointed it,
and he's doing it with this end in view that one day we will
be partakers with his holiness. So may we, when we are under
the chastening hand of God, When we're in the path where things
are bitter, going against us in a trial, may we view it in
a right way. May we not despise it, but prize
it as a privilege of the people of God. I want to look then thirdly
at faint not. Faint not when rebuked of him. Why do we need such a warning
or an exhortation joined here? Nor faint when thou art rebuked
of him. One reason is that chastening
does hurt, and our flesh dislikes it, doesn't like it. And it is
easy to say, all these things are against me. And it is easy
to think that, well, I cannot endure, I cannot go on anymore. And so, we think of the Apostle
Paul, who had the thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan,
again, not chastening, but for a purpose, and the Lord didn't
take it away, but he gave him grace. And we may be sure of
this, that the Lord will give grace to those under his chastening
hand, so they do not faint, they are supported, And I notice there
very much with the chastening of the Lord, it will always be
balanced with mercies. There'll be some mercy in it.
If you were to have a car accident, and you might find that though
it's a great trial, that no one is injured, or perhaps the person
you've hit, they're not angry, or perhaps the car is still drivable,
And you see all of these things, that though it's a trial, there
are mercies, and you can see the mercies in it. One of the
hymns says, the lash is steeped, he on thee lays, yet softened
in his blood. And when we realize what we deserve,
and then we realize that what the Lord has dealt with us is
less than what we deserve. Another reason why we are told
to not faint and not be faint in our minds, and this is also
put in verse 3, is that we be brought to contemplate the Lord
Jesus Christ, to think of Him, to remember Him and what He has endured. These things that bring
us to, you might say, an extremity are to remember what he endured
to put away our sin. It's also a reminder for us to
view things in a scriptural way, not just a feeling way, but in
an understanding way. Another reason why we're to faint
not is that there is hope. Israel of old, when the Lord
dealt with them, they often said a most solemn thing. They said
there is no hope. And when they said there is no
hope, it led to them going on in their sin, continuing on in
their sin. And it is a temptation, and I've
known it very often, it's a temptation often to be battled with, that
when the Lord's hand is upon us, you think there's no hope.
If I reform, well, I've still got a wicked, evil heart. I'll
go back, I'll do the same. I'll still get the Lord's rod,
and you just give up. And yet the Lord has given us
hope. He's given us hope in repentance,
where he gives the rod, where he gives correction. There is
a call to repentance, so there is hope. In the Lord Jesus Christ,
he is exalted to give repentance and remission of sins unto Israel. And in John, we have his first
epistle, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. There's hope in the fact that
God is dealing with us as sons. He is also Answering our prayers,
I hope for holiness, that we pray that we might be holy, sanctified,
made like the Lord. And the way the Lord answers
it is sending the rod, sending correction, dealing with our
sins. And this is the end then in verse
10, that it is that we might be partakers with his holiness. Do we see in chastening the answer
to our prayers? Do we want spiritual reviving
and strengthening in the ways of the Lord? And when the Lord
brings that, when we first would begin to faint, rather to consider
and think, well, what have I been asking for? What have I been
praying for? How will the Lord deal with me
in this way? And is not this an answer to
my prayers? So then also we have that hope
in the mark of love that the Lord bestows upon us. When we
think of how those who've gone before us have reacted, we think
of Psalm 51 and David's repentance, his desiring of the Lord's blessing,
the restoring of his comforts and blessings. There is hope. We are not to faint. Rather,
it points us here to be exercised in the things of God. And where
it yields that peaceable fruit of righteousness, where that's
set before us, it's unto those that are exercised thereby. What will those exercises be? Be prayer to the Lord, be searching
the scriptures, searching our ways, let us search and try our
ways and turn unto the Lord. It'll be actually taking on board
these things, not just saying, oh, that was just a chance. That
happens to everybody. It's not the Lord. We'll just
go on our way. Or like those that we mentioned
in Amos, they hadn't got rain in their city, so they upped
sticks and they went to the other city where they got rain. It's
easy for us. Or you get something go wrong,
but we've got money in the bank. We can replace that lost thing.
We can fix that thing that's gone wrong. We can deal with
these things and get by them. But that's not humbling ourselves
before the Lord. It's not hearing the rod. It's
getting an easy way out. And we should be mindful that
that is not getting us the profit, the blessing that is set before
us here. We are not to faint, we are to
be encouraged. That's the latter, that's the
opposite way, to be encouraged in the Lord our God. This is
the Lord. And it's a blessed thing perhaps
when we have felt for a long period of time that the Lord
has not been close to us, he's not been hearing our prayers,
he's not been marking our sin, to have the Lord begin again
and start again. to dealing with us and to feel
it is a Father's hand and the blessing of the Lord is upon
us still. I remember some sacred times,
sometimes in the road, even driving the car in the midst of trial,
that has just dropped in and distilled upon my spirit that
the Lord is still with me and the Lord is dealing with me Not
as those are not his, but as his true sons. The chastening of the Lord, do
we know it? What a question that is for us.
If we are amongst the Lord's people, and it says here everyone
is chastened, have we known it? Do we recognise it? Are we those
that know something about what we have set before us here this
morning? Or is it that we are never mindful
of our sin? We're never mindful of the Lord's
dealing with us because of that. We're never mindful of a heart
that continually goes away from the Lord and provokes the Lord. May it be a concern for us that
one mark of being amongst his people might be ours. A true token, a token described
in these verses. That which I see not, teach thou
me. The need of the Lord dealing
with us as his children, as his people. We would not seek chastisement. We would not seek tribulation
and seek trouble. but we would see that the Lord
would deal with us as his sons. And you might say, in disciplining,
if we always heard the word of the Lord, if we were like a child
that never needed the rod, because just a look would be enough,
or just a word would be enough, just to be said, do not touch
that, or don't go there, that is reproof, that is discipline.
but it's not as painful as one that refuses to hear and then
at last is disciplined. So don't just think you're not
being chastened because you don't have very severe trials in your
life. But sometimes that severe trial
to one of the Lord's people, very tender in the fear of the
Lord, is when the Lord doesn't answer their prayers, or whether
he's silent through the preaching of the word, or whether they
feel just so far off from Him, then they have that as a bigger
trial than maybe even a physical trial to them. And it's something
the Lord could only chasten His children in that way. Those who
have never known Him, those who have never been blessed, they
can't be chastened by Him hiding His face from them. They've never
known this face. But if we have known the Lord
and have known that blessing, The Lord says, like he did with
the children of Israel, I will go and return unto my place. When they acknowledge their iniquity,
then I'll return. And he often used that method.
And so maybe be careful about writing ourselves out from being
chastised by just having one idea of what chastisement is. What is clear here, it does. need one to remember exhortations
in the Word. It does need us to not despise
what we're going through and it does have a need that we do
not faint under it. There's that which is unpleasant
and is hard to bear. So may the Lord be a blessing,
make this Word a blessing and bless it to us this morning.
Amen. Hymn: 871, Tune: Tudor 252 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit
be with you all now and evermore. Amen.