Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Hebrews chapter 12, and reading
for our text part of verse 7. Verse 7, God dealeth with you
as with sons. The whole verse reads, if ye
endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons, for what
son is he whom the father chasteneth not? Hebrews 12 and verse 7, and specifically
this word, God dealeth with you as with sons. It is a great, great blessing,
the greatest blessing that ever one could have to be a son of
God, a child of God, born into the living family of God. We think of what was said when
our Lord Jesus Christ came into the world and began his ministry. We have in the Gospel according
to John in the first chapter, the words, he came unto his own,
but his own received him not. But as many as received him,
To them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name, which were born not of blood, nor of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Sons born again. not by the will of their parents
or the church, but by the will of God. And when John then writes
his epistles, the general epistles, 1 John and chapter 3, he begins
that chapter, Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the
world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now
are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like
him. or we shall see Him as He is. And there is, of course, that
direct comparison or correlation between our Lord Jesus Christ
as the eternal Son of God, and between His children, His sons,
by adoption, and by spiritual birth. And we have Paul writing
to the Philippians, and in the second chapter he says, that
ye may be blameless, this is verse 15, and harmless, the sons
of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse
nation among whom ye shine as lights. in the world. And the people of God then are
known as the sons of God, known as those that are part of a living
family. And God marks them out by how
he deals with them. If you and I are a son, a child,
a daughter of God, then the Lord will deal with us as sons according
to that relationship. Those of us that have been called
by grace, he has already dealt with us and he will be dealing
with us and he will yet deal with us as sons. Our text states, so clearly God
dealeth with you as with sons, and it doesn't just apply to
the context of our text. It applies in many other ways
that are shown to us throughout the Word of God. Those things
that the Lord does to us and for us and deals with us for
the very reason because we are part of his living family. And my prayer, my desire is for
this evening that you, that I, might have those fresh tokens
of being a son of God in that living family. And those who
may be tempted that they're not might have a fresh token for
good and be able to see more clearly whose they are and whom
they serve. and where they shall be eternally. And so I want to look at 7.7
places throughout the Word of God where the people of God are
called sons and the Lord deals with them. The first I'll mention
is that which is referred to in the prophet Hosea. And he says there that he called
his people out of Egypt. In Hosea chapter 11 and verse
1, when Israel was a child, then I loved him and called my son
out of Egypt. One of the things that Moses
was the instrument to tell Pharaoh at that last great sign of the
Passover, let my son go. If thou does not let my son go,
then I will slay thy son. And all the firstborn of Egypt
were slain. And Israel was set free and brought
up out of Egypt. And truly this is one of the
great marks of sonship. The Lord begins with his people. He passes by them when they're
in their blood and bids them live. He owns them as his own. You know, the Lord looked upon
the children of Israel in Egypt and he had respect unto them. He recognised them. He owned
them. that they were his people, they
were the children of promise, they were Abraham's seed. They
were those that had an interest in that promise, that thy seed
shall be in a strange land, and that they shall be brought out
in the fourth generation, and brought out with great power.
And the Lord was to do that, and that applies to every one
of his blood-bought families. They are brought out, they are
separated, they are called out ones, sanctified ones from the
world. They are not of the world, even
as the Lord Jesus Christ was not of the world. He says, I
have sent you into the world. I have given unto them thy word,
and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world.
And so there's this mark, of Israel, which were a people that
were loved, not for anything in them. It's very evident afterwards
in all their ill manners in the wilderness, that there was nothing
in them. And we think of the tribes of
Israel, the sons of Jacob, what they did, their lies and how
they dealt with Joseph, how they dealt with their father. And
yet from them came the nation of Israel. Truly we are reminded,
there is nothing in you, nothing in me, why the Lord would ever
call us, why he would ever implant divine life in our souls, why
he would ever separate us unto himself and begin dealing with
us as with sons, doing those things in our lives, in our hearts,
in providence and in grace, all because that we are sons. When we think of a natural family
and the parents have feeding, clothing, watching over, providing
for the welfare, the teaching, the schooling of their children. Why don't they do it to the next
door neighbours? Why don't they do it to all of
the street? Because they are not their sons,
not their daughters. But those that are, whether by
birth or adoption, they are treated. as part of that family and receive
all of the benefits and blessings that belong to a child. And so, here is the first thing
I bring before you, where the Lord has begun a good work and
called and separated you to seek Him, to desire Him, to be given
eternal life, That is a mark of sonship, the
Lord dealing with you as with sons. But then we have the word
of our text. How that when the Lord then calls
his people, when they do sin, he won't cast them away. He won't disown them. but He
will correct them. And that is where our text is.
If ye be without chastisement, we're of all our partakers, then
are ye bastards and not sons. How do we do it? When we chasten
our children, when they do something wrong, first we tell them, first
we warn them. Sometimes it might be a severe
warning. And if they heed that word, it
is still chastening in that sense that they are rebuked, that they
are warned, that they are told off. But as yet there's been
no rod, no pain, no banishment. We need to remember that. Because
if we are given an obedient spirit, and we hearken to the Lord's
rebukes, then that's as far as it will go. Listening to his
word, thou shalt hear word behind thee. When thou turnest to the
right hand, or when thou turnest to the left, what shall it say?
This is the way, walk ye in it, and it shall be directed by the
word. The Lord says that I will instruct
thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide
thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horses, the
mule, which hath no understanding, whose mouth must be held in by
bit and bridle. And the way the Lord guides his
people is by his word, directing them. But if they don't hearken
to that word, then the chastening takes the form, Hear ye the rod
and who hath appointed it. Then it comes with things that
are brought in providence, or in health, or men raising up
against us like they did with Solomon. If ye endure chastening, in other
words not fainting, not being discouraged, not thinking you're
not a child, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son
is he whom the Father chasteneth not? And there is a time factor
in this as well, because we read that no chastening, verse 11,
for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous, nevertheless
afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them
which are exercised thereby. There's one way the Lord chastens
his people that He can never chasten any other. It is a way that he can only
chasten a son, a daughter. And that is by hiding his face,
withdrawing his word, and taking away the sweet blessings and
favours that he has bestowed before. You can't take away what
you have not got. In the world that has never known
the Lord, They may have sicknesses. They do. And things go wrong
and providence against them. It doesn't lead them to the Lord.
They don't acknowledge the Lord's hand in it. But God's children
can have things like that as well. David had the sword that
was not to depart from his house. Solomon had those rise up against
him. But when the Lord is silent,
When the Lord says, I'll return to my place until I acknowledge
their iniquities. When he says, when he did with
the golden calf, I will not go with you to Egypt, but I'll send
an angel. And they mourn because of those
sad tidings. When the Lord leaves us and we
feel so hard and cold and far off, And then we trace back and
we think of where we were foolish, where we looked at this what
we shouldn't and listened to this that we shouldn't, where
we put the things of the world first instead of the things of
God first, where we were but short fleeting in prayer, couldn't
abide his word. The Lord knows how to bring our
sin to remembrance. bring to remembrance where we
began to lose that sweet savour, that love of God, the blessings
of a tender conscience, a teachable spirit, and we feel so hard and
cold and far off, and then mourn, mourn that condition. Only a
son, only a daughter could feel such a chastening, such a rot. Not the world. God dealeth with
you as with sons, touching what is the most precious, touching
what is so valued, the visits and blessings of our best friend,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And maybe this evening, some
of you know what it is to have the Lord's chastening in these
ways. Maybe you haven't viewed it as
the Lord dealing with you as with sons. But the Word of God declares
that it is so. And are you exercised with it?
Do thoughts go over your mind? Does it affect your prayers?
Affect how you speak one to another? What encouragement is here? Wherefore
lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees. The Lord directs the way, not
to cast away our hope, our faith, but to be encouraged. This is
one of the Lord's dealings with his people, as with sons. But then we read the portion
in the Gospel according to Luke, where we have the account of
the prodigal son. And there are many ways you might
say that we could view this, one returning after chastening,
or the picture of the Church of God, where one One has never
gone away. They've been brought up under
the sound of the truth. They have always attended the
means of grace. They've never been a trouble
to their parents, natural parents. And there's another child that
has gone away, that has rebelled, that has left the chapels, that
has gone into all manner of sin and wickedness even. And then
the Lord has dealt with them. And they've realized what they've
done. They've been brought to repentance. They've been brought
to sorrow. They return, not just to their
natural parent, but return to the church of God. And the church
receives them. And they are pleased, they are
glad, they receive their testimony, They're baptised, they're received
into the church, they come to the Lord's table, and the other
one that has never left the church, they haven't professed faith,
they haven't been baptised, they're not round the Lord's table, and
they see this one that has caused such grief and such trouble,
preferred before them, and in the church, and they're upset
and they're grieved about it. And this is the picture of Luke
chapter 15, the prodigal son. And you know, the father, he
dealt with them both. The one that had gone away, as
soon as he began to return, the father saw him afar off. Beautiful
picture of our heavenly father. As soon as there is a return,
what an encouragement. As soon as we realize our sin,
as soon as we fall under it, as soon as we acknowledge it,
You think of his language, I am no longer worthy to be called
thy son. I will arise, go to my father. I have sinned against heaven
and before thee. And the father sees him afar
off and he runs to him and embraces him. There's joy over him. All of the parables end. In this
chapter they speak to the same, that joy over one sinner that
repenteth and ninety and nine just persons that have no need,
that is in their own eyes, of repentance. But here is the father
also dealing with the elder one and whether or not he was a converted
character or not. sometimes you can have it that
there are those that are truly sons, they're truly converted,
they're in the Church of God, but they cannot understand, because
they have not fallen, because they have not gone away, they
cannot understand the great joy of those that are brought back. The Lord spoke to that end. Those
that are forgiven much, they love are forgiven little. They love little. And in the
Church of God there's many different characters. Some are like the
Apostle Paul who says, I'm not worthy to be an apostle because
I persecuted the Church of God. And others maybe have never done
any injury to the Church of God or walked openly contrary at
all. The Lord dealeth with you as
sons, receiving, repenting sinners, sorrowful sinners. Has that been
your experience? Has it been mine? To know what
it is to really be humbled and to have to retrace our steps
and come confessing our sin, and we met not with rebuke, not
with casting away, but with a blessing. With the Lord's sweet presence
and visits, the best robe and a ring. The Lord dealeth with
you as with sons. But then we think of Abraham. Abraham in Genesis 18. when God
said that he would destroy Sodom, and he said to him, will I withhold
from Abraham the thing that I do? For I know him, that he will
command his children after him. And of course this was one of
the things that the children of Israel were told to do again
and again in the ordinance of the Passover, they were to teach
it to their children. And when their children was to
ask them, what meaneth this ordinance? Then they were to tell them that
we were in bondage in Egypt and Pharaoh would not let us go.
And the blood was shed and the Lord brought us powerfully out
of Egypt. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. And it had to be passed down
from generation to generation. When they came through Jordan
as well, they had to put the stones in the middle of Jordan
and on the other side. And again, it was to provoke
the children to ask, what meaneth these stones? Why were they there? And it had to be told that the
Lord parted Jordan and he brought them safely through. They were
to have in the ark, they were to have the pot of manna to remember
that man had eaten angel's food. They had to have those things
that stirred them up to tell to the generation following the
wonderful works of God. And one mark of Abraham was that
he would command his children after him. And we know the promise,
all thy children shall be taught of the Lord, great shall be the
peace of thy children. Shall Abraham, shall God's children,
shall Israel teach their children of the things that have happened
and instruct them and our Heavenly Father does not teach? Of course
not. One mark then, where the Lord
dealeth with us as sons, in that he teaches us. We sung in our
first hymn, "'Tis Jesus can teach the way ye should go." And certainly
that was a real mark of the pilgrimage journey, wasn't it? The fiery,
cloudy pillar that went before them all their journey through
was to teach them the way that they should go. Do you, do I
know that mark of sonship to be taught? You might say, we
haven't. We have teachers at school and we have other people
that teach us as well. There's some things that is left
to the parents and the family to teach. It doesn't belong to
the school or anyone else. Those things that belong to the
things of God, especially And they shouldn't be delegated,
oh, we've got a Sunday school. Sunday school teaches about them.
We've got a pastor, he'll teach us. A pastor should teach, it's
one of the qualifications. Have to teach. No Sunday school
to teach a young as well. But that doesn't take that responsibility
off a parent. Train up a child in the way that
he should go. When he's old, he will not depart
from it. And to be like Abraham, commanding
our children, to be like David with commanding Solomon, Solomon passing on in the Proverbs
that which he learned as well. It's a great blessing then to
realize that we have lessons that are taught us by our Heavenly
Father, instructed. and taught. You think of some
of the prophets, Jeremiah, go down, go down to the potter's
house and there learn the lesson of the potter. Other places they
had to go and they were taught. Thou shalt remember all the way
the Lord thy God hath led thee, his forty years in the wilderness
to try thee, to prove thee, To know what was in thine heart,
whether thou would serve the Lord or not, was teaching in
it all. But then we have in the fifth
place, a fellowship with Christ in learning obedience by the
things that he suffered. Going back to Hebrews, and Hebrews
chapter 5. We read there in verse 8, Though
he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which
he suffered. Now Lord Jesus Christ, you think
what? He having to learn and learn
obedience? We read in Philippians, how he
was obedient, even unto death, even the death of the cross,
wherefore God hath highly exalted him, given him a name which is
above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow. And when we go back and we look
then in what has been said of Christ as learning obedience
in all the things he went through, Shall not that be a mark not
only of the sonship of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, but
our sonship as well? He is our brother born for adversity,
an elder brother, and many of the things that we may view him
passing through will be dealt the same. as sons of God, joint
heirs with Christ. But then there is the fellowship
with the Lord in his sufferings. We read in the Gospel, according
to Luke and chapter 4, of our Lord being most severely tempted
by Satan. And the point of the temptation
was regarding his sonship. We read in verse 3, And the devil
said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone
that it be made bread. Command this stone that it may
be made bread. Jesus answered him, saying, It
is written that man shall not live by bread only, He prayed
alone, but by every word of God. And each time, the devil is tempting
on this point. The Lord did not have to prove
to the devil his sonship at all. But our Lord was tempted. And
so then we read when we come back to Hebrews, and we read
of the Outcome, you might say, of our Lord's temptations in
Hebrews 2, that it be wherefore behoved, in all things it behoved
Him, is chapter 2 verse 17, behoved Him to be made like unto His
brethren, made like unto the other sons. that he might be
a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to
God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in
that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to
succour them that are tempted." Thinking of Joseph, Joseph was
dealt with so hardly by his brothers, He was tempted, he was tried,
until his time came, we read in Psalm 105, the word of the
Lord tried him. And then when he made himself
known to his brothers, and they had been so convicted of their
sin, he listened to them how that they had gone over all what
had happened those many years before. and he was able to succour them.
He was able to comfort them. And when Jacob died and then
they thought that surely Joseph now would turn against them and
deal really hardly with them, he was able to comfort them,
assure them that he would not do that with them. He'd succour
them, he'd help them, he'd be with them, he'd provide for them
in the land of Goshen. And the Lord is the same to his
tempted and tried people. Joseph was brother to all of
his other brethren. And that one brother suckered
the other brothers. The one brother was next to Pharaoh. The one brother was in a position
to help all the other sons of Jacob. And this is the Lord Jesus
Christ and his position. If you and I are tempted this
evening and know what temptations are, our Lord Jesus Christ knew
as well. If you know what temptations
are concerning your interest in Christ, your sonship, your
part in his living family, the Lord Jesus Christ was tempted
on this point and he is able to succour his dear people. And
may it be this evening, through the ministry this evening, is
that succoring, that reassurance of an interest in the family
of God, because that God deals with us as with sons and as with
daughters. So we read in our seventh point
in Paul's epistle to the Romans in chapter 8, And we read there
that the people of God, that they are led by the Spirit of
God. It is those that are sons. For as many, in verse 14, for
as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of
God. For ye have not received the
spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit
of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit beareth
witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs,
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If so be that we
suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us. It's a blessed thing where
the Lord speaks of his people and He speaks of them as sons
and as children, and gives His Holy Spirit, taking of the things
of Jesus, leading them by the Spirit into the Word of God,
as the Good Shepherd in green pastures, leading them through
this world, leading them at last to glory and to be with Him forever. How can we, said the apostles
to our Lord, we know not whither thou goest, how can we know the
way? I am the way, the truth and the
life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me. The reason why we sung our middle
hymn, sons they are and only sons that are led in that way. They are they that the Lord Jesus
Christ owns and knows as his own and brings them to be from
the family of God here below to the family of God above. So dear friends, may the Lord
grant his blessing on this word. Bear witness with our spirit
that God does and has dealt with you, with me, as with sons. God dealeth with you as with
sons, and it may be, even in this present, may be a dark,
sorrowful, perplexing time that you're walking in, and this is
the interpretation, the answer to it. God dealeth with you as
with sons. And may that be a sweet answer
from the Lord, and that comfort that you need, that the Lord
is your God. He is your Heavenly Father and
He is your eternal home.