All right, if you'll take your
Bibles and turn with me to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. We'll be looking at verse 11
through verse 14. And the title of the message
is, The Exercise of Chastisement. The Exercise of Chastisement. The Scripture says in verse 11
now, No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth
a peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby." The Apostle has been discussing and talking to us,
to these Hebrews, who were tempted and tried and pressed out beyond
measure by their own kin, by their own people, to go back
to the old law. They were tempted to forsake
the gospel of Christ and to go back to the old law of Moses. And they suffered great things,
but the apostle gives them comfort in their chastisement, because
all this is the chastening hand of God upon His people. Take
comfort if you are chastened of God. Have you been chastened
of the Lord? Has the Lord rebuked you? Has the Lord spoken to your heart
and convicted us of our sin, of righteousness, of judgment?
These are spiritual things that only God deals with us who are
His sons. Scripture says, if you be without
chastisement, then are you bastards and not sons. We were talking about being thankful
on Wednesday evening. Well, to be chastened is a thankfulness
that we should have toward God. We should be thankful that He
has chastened us, because everyone He chastened, He loved. as a
father would love and discipline his children, even so the Father
loves us and chastens us who are His sons. Now, this chastening,
the Scripture says, is not that the present joyous. Nobody is
excited about chastisement. Nobody is leaping and jumping
and praising God during chastisement. When we read of the apostles
being beaten for Christ, it wasn't until after they were beaten.
I'm sure it hurt when they were being beaten. I'm sure that they
weren't singing when they were being beaten. I'm sure they were
screaming. But yet after, after the chastisement, then it yields
a peaceable fruit of righteousness. As we are exercised by the chastening
hand of God, And we are stripped. We are stripped of all our strength
and made to know our weakness. That's what this word exercise
means. It means as one who is striving
for mastery as in an athletic competition. One who would strive
and use all of his force and strength and endurance until
he couldn't even hold up his arms or his legs. When God chastens
His children, we are pressed so much in the spirit that we
are weak. That we are sapped of all of
our strength. And we learn more this understanding
of our weakness. We begin to see more that we're
not as strong as we think we are. We're not as strong as we
think we are. Do you remember when Jacob wrestled
with the Lord? Before he was going to meet his
brother Esau, he had sent everybody up ahead of him. He was scared.
And he wrestled with the Lord that night. And he wrestled all
night with the Lord. And you remember when it was
day, he had wrestled, and the Lord says, let me go. It's about
daybreak. I'm going. And he said, I will
not let you go until you bless me. Remember, all he had had
to do is reach down his hand, he touched his hip, and his sinew
shrank up. He had no strength. He had no
strength left. And he sought for a blessing
of the Lord in his weakness. Notice the patience of God in
wrestling with Jacob. You know, he didn't have to wrestle
all night with Jacob, did he? As a matter of fact, Jacob the
next day said, you know, I have wrestled with the Lord and lived!
He finally realized who it was he was wrestling with. God could
have any time just smote him on his letting go. You know,
it wouldn't have been any contest. It wasn't a contest as though
Jacob were going to master God in his striving. But the patience
of God is shown in this, that he actually wrestled with Jacob.
That he actually contended with Jacob. Now, you know, it's like contending
with an ant. You know, you play with him. You can kind of box
him in. But Jacob, it shows the patience
of God and long-suffering of God. And even so, does our Lord
wrestle with us, His children. He strives with us. He contends
with us in patience. But this is necessary so that
He might break our hip. This is necessary so that He
does not kill us, but yet wound us. He wounds us. This is necessary that we be
pressed until we are without strength and fall before him
seeking a blessing. And what was the blessing God
gave Jacob? What was the blessing the Lord
Jesus gave Jacob? He asked him this question. What is thy name?
Do you imagine that that's an all important question? He's
not just asking for information. He's asking to the name of Jacob
because his name has meaning. Jacob means trickster or supplanter. It means someone who is going
to trip somebody. Wicked man trips somebody up. You know, my children are running
and one of the kids stick out their foot. Well, that's mean.
That's just horribly mean to do that. And they know it's mean. But this is his name. This is
who he is. He's sinner. What's your name? What's your name? This is where
God brings us in His chastening hand. What's your name? My name
is Sinner. And what's the blessing of this?
What's the blessing in bringing down God's people? Why does He
do this? Is He being mean? No, God brings
down His people so that we would see who we are. We're exercised
and brought down without strength to see who we really are, sinners. And what's the blessing? He said,
your name's not Jacob anymore. Your name is Israel, Prince.
Your name is Prince. You are a king, not a trickster. That's a blessing. But He was
made to confess His name. And when we're chastened of the
Lord, we confess our name. We confess that we are sinners
in need of great mercy. Now, as you think of being exercised
or chastened by the Lord, think of one who is a professional
athlete who puts himself out to the limits of his body and
mind for a specific goal. I was reminded today, I didn't
even cross my mind until he said it. Today is the Super Bowl.
I don't even know who's playing. That's how important it is to
me. I don't care. I know this, when those men go
out there, they're going to put forth their effort. And the ones
who put forth that effort as a team, they're going to win.
They put forth that strength until they put all they have
into this one moment, this one time, this one game. And that's
what it is when we are chastened of the Lord. We struggle and
we rest until we're without strength. That's how God exercises us. You know, I've got a machine
back there, an exercise machine I bought. Goodwill. It's a nice
machine. You know what, if that machine
just sits there, and I don't exercise, I'm not going to get
any stronger. Unless I put out all I have into
it. Well, that's how God makes us
put out all we have into it. Because we wouldn't put out any
effort either, had He not wrestled with us, as He does in chasing
us. And when we are done, we are
exercised and then we are exhorted. Look at this in verse 12. Wherefore,
lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees. When you're
exercised, have you ever exercised so much that you just don't have
any strength to lift up your arms? I remember that's what
they did to me in the military. They had always pressed us so
much that we couldn't even raise our arms. And then they would
make us try to do something else. Even though we were weak, we
couldn't do anything. We were pressed out of measure. The strength that we need is
not physical. It's not even a change in our
circumstances that we need. That's what we think we need.
We think we need a change in circumstance so we can gain strength.
No, you don't need that to gain strength. Our strength doesn't
come from a change of circumstances. Usually when my circumstances
change, it's out of the frying pan into the fire. It doesn't
usually change for the better. It usually gets worse. So we
don't need that. We don't need to lose our troubles.
That's not going to give us strength. But it's a spiritual fruit of
righteousness that gives us strength. These are spiritual exercises.
These are spiritual things, not physical things. I just heard this yesterday.
So look over here. Look down in verse 26. The Scripture says, "...whose
voice then shook the earth, but now hath he promised, saying,
Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven." And this word, yet once more,
signified the removing of those things that are shaken as of
the things that are made, that those things which cannot be
shaken may remain. Do you realize that God is going
to shake this earth? and all the earthly things, and
anything that is based in time is going to be shaken off. There's
not going to be anything left. There's not going to be anything
left. He's going to shake everything
that was created. And the only thing that's going
to matter and the only thing that's going to be left is eternal things,
spiritual things. So we don't need physical strength,
we need spiritual strength. And this comes by the fruit of
righteousness when we are pressed out of measure. The peaceable fruit is manifest
in our souls so that we are strengthened in faith, in hope and love toward
the eternal, toward Jesus Christ. This is the purpose of chastisement. To make us stop looking at things
in time and start pointing us again to Christ. To Christ. To Christ. He's the only thing
that matters. There's nothing else in this
world that matters but Him. He's it. At these times of our exercise,
of the exercise of God's chastening hand, we are able then to see
more clearly The immutable truth that Jesus Christ is all. Jesus Christ is all. Philip Henry,
Matthew Henry's father, wrote this. He wrote that Christ's righteousness
will do us well three times. The righteousness of Jesus Christ
will do us well three times. It will do us well when we do
something awful. To know the righteousness of Christ will
do us well when we do something awful. When's that? When have you not done something
awful? We have always sinned. I'll tell you what, the righteousness
of Christ, that peaceable fruit of His righteousness will give
us strength when we do something awful. Secondly, it'll do us
good when we do something we think is good. The right way to do us well is
to remember the righteousness of Christ when we think we have
done something good. So that we would not trust in
anything we have done. We trust only in the righteousness
of Christ. And the righteousness of Christ
will do us well at the moment of our death. At the moment of
our death. When we go to face God, who is
a most holy God, the thrice holy God, the God in whose eyes the
heavens are uncleared. who cannot behold evil. All I want is to be found in
the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Is there anything else you're
going to think about or you're going to desire at the moment
of your death? Well, you think about, man, I
didn't get those things done. I didn't have all those things
I was going to get done, but, you know, here I am. I'm dying.
Maybe I should think about it. Maybe I should spend more time
at the last moment thinking about all these earthly things in my
family and all these troubles they're having. What good are
you going to do? What good am I going to do at
the moment of our death for their troubles? Nothing. The only thing
I want to do is I want to be found in the righteousness of
Jesus Christ alone. That's it. The righteousness
of Christ do us good in our death when we do something good and
when we do something bad. So it helps us at all times. It
gives us strength. And when we are pressed out,
when we are cast down and chastened of God, it's grievous and we
must look toward the peaceable fruit of the righteousness of
Christ for our strength. And that always comes by the
chastening hand. Let us ask our hearts to judge
which is better. Which is better? To be accepted
and enjoy the pleasures of this world? What if everything went
smooth for you? Would that concern you? That'd
concern me. That would concern me. Because
then I would be without chastisement and a bastard and not a son.
If everything goes well with you, something's wrong. Something's
wrong. Our Lord chastens us whom He
loves. I would rather be despised of
this world and hated by men than to be accepted of this world
and enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. I would rather
be found in Christ. I would rather be found where
he is. Look at Hebrews 13 and verse 9. He says, Be not carried about
with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the
heart be established with grace, not with meats. which have not
profited them that have been occupied therein. We have an
altar whereof they have no right to eat, which serve the tabernacle.
For the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the
sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned." Where? Where are they burned? Where's
the body of these beasts burned for sin? They're burned without
the camp. Outside. Wherefore, Jesus also,
that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered
without the gate, let us go therefore unto Him without the camp bearing
His reproach." Where's He? He's outside the camp. That's
where they crucified Him. He was outside of the city. Therefore,
let us willingly go outside the mainstream or any stream of this
world's free will works religion. Let us not be named among them
who are halt, half in and half out." Brother Greg said this about
one of his neighbors. He was witnessing to him and
he said, you people, you're either all in or all out, aren't you?
That's right. We're either all in or you're
all out. There's no middle ground here.
There's no middle ground. You're either outside the camp
or you're in the mainstream. You're within. You can't have
a halt between two opinions here. You can't have Calvinism and
Arminianism. You can't have the gospel and
lie mixing together. It doesn't work. It doesn't work. You can't have works and grace.
Let us go outside the camp. I feel comfortable outside the
camp. I feel comfortable bearing the
reproach of this world rather than than being in with them.
I don't have any comfort with them. I don't want any part of
them. Let us bear the reproach of Jesus
Christ our Savior. Let us suffer the reproach of
men, keeping our eyes to Jesus and His suffering for our sins.
Keeping an eye to His perfect righteousness and redemption
that He accomplished. Even the peace which passes understanding. I know who I believe. I know
what I believe, but I don't understand any of it. I have not yet fully
reached the understanding of my depravity. Have you? I've
not reached the fullness of His deity, of His holiness. I've
not fully understood all the things that are contained in
the cross of Jesus Christ, but I know this, I know that at the
cross He bled and died for my sins, and my sins are gone. I
know that. Do I understand that fully? No. But I believe, I trust,
I know it to be so. Straighten up. Stand fast with
those feeble knees in the gospel. And notice this in our text.
It says, Make straight paths for your feet, lest that which
is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed. When there is a race, we know
this, they clear a path. They clear a path. You know, you don't see people
putting cars or trees and people trying to dodge things in a race. You've got lines set around the
track and they run around the track and there's nothing to
impede their progress there. But what happens when they step
off the track? Well, if they step off the track,
that's not clear. That path's not clear. Not clear. There's danger there. There's
danger in a path that's not clear. Believer, there is only one way
to God, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the door
of the sheep. He is the path that every saint
has trod since the beginning, because He has from eternity
cleared the path to heaven. He's cleared it. Remember those
cities of refuge? They had to make those ways clear. They had to mark those ways to
make sure that there was no excuse for this. They would point the
way and clear the path to the city of refuge. Jesus Christ has, by his work
of redemption and by his work of righteousness, cleared the
path. He is the way. He is the way. And to turn from
this way is to turn from the old paths of the gospel. In Jeremiah 6, it says, Thus
saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the
old paths. Where is the good way? And walk
therein. Old paths are good paths, aren't
they? They're good, Pat. You know where they're going.
Right? I know where they're going. The
people have been traveling down... Go down 65 and you know where
it's going, don't you? You know if you're going north.
You know you're going toward Indianapolis. You know the places
that are up that road. It's set out. It's marked. It's
been trod. You're not guessing. If I go
south, I'm going to go to Nashville. If I get on 65 and I just drive
south, I'm going to... Lord willing, I'd get there,
because the path is already cleared. The old path of faith in Christ
has been trod by the saints, and we have witnesses without
number. We have no excuse to get off
of this path. People are always coming up with
new ways, aren't they, to worship? Always coming up with new paths.
What happened when David put the ark on a new cart? That may
have sounded good to the captains and the people, but it wasn't
the old path. And you remember what happened.
That man put his hand on the ark and he died. Believers in Christ, let us not
seek new paths. New ways for strength. There's no shortcut
here. There's no shortcut. Are you chastened by the hand
of God and confused? Because I often get confused. I often feel confused. Then look for the old path. If you've been wounded because
of your sin, what do you do? Sit down on the old path and
wait. Don't try to make it on your
own. If someone were running a race, well, it would be foolish.
They twist their ankle or they break their leg and they say,
well, I'm going to make it. Oh, don't you think it'd be better
if they just sat down and waited until that healed? in order for
them to move on. That's what he says. Look at
your text again. Verse 13, "...and make straight
paths for your feet, the old ways, the old paths, lest that
which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be
heaped." Friends, the wisdom of this world and the wisdom
of our flesh The wisdom of the Scriptures, I'm sorry, the wisdom
of the Scriptures and the wisdom of our flesh often contradict
each other. When we are chastened and pressed
out and we are hurt, somehow we check our minds at
the door. We check out of reality. When our wisdom and the Scriptures
conflict, choose the Scriptures. Riches. Nobody thinks it's wrong
to have riches. Somebody says, you want riches? Yeah, that'd be great. Nobody's
going to say, well, man, I don't know about that. Nobody walks
around like that. Well, none of us think that riches
are bad, but if riches are not come by honestly, if they're
in opposition to the Word of God, or they hinder us in some
way from worship, then they're to be rejected. Earthly wisdom
says, what are you doing rejecting riches? Come on! That should
help you worship God. No, it won't help you at all.
It will hinder you. Especially if they are ill-gotten. Scripture says, for the love
of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after,
they have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through
with many sorrows. All believers at times are weak
in faith. We are turned out of the way
of Christ and we begin to look at our own works for evidence.
We begin to look at ourselves or our own wisdom to get ourselves
out of trouble. And we become weak and and wounded. But believer, instead of trying
to press forward by yourself, wait, wait. I don't know where to go, don't
know what to do. Sit down, shut up and wait. Wait for what? Wait for God to
heal you. Wait for God to bind the wounded
spirit. That's what happens with a shepherd.
He breaks the leg of the wandering sheep, he binds it himself. He
carries him on his own shoulders until he is well to stand on
his own, just sit and wait. The Lord will take care of us.
You know what the defense mechanism is for a sheep? Turn over on
his back and stick his legs straight up. That's the defense mechanism.
That's our defense. When a sheep's in trouble, that's
all it does. And you know what? If the shepherd
don't come and turn him over, he'll blow up on the inside.
He'll die. How often have we been wounded,
and He's come and lifted us up? Why then will we try to make
our own path? We are chastened in the way.
Believers stay in the way. I don't understand. I don't understand
what to do. I've heard this so many times.
People say, I've got this job opportunity over here, and I've
got this thing. But, you know, there's no church
there, but it's really a great opportunity. What are you doing? You're trying
to make your own way. God says, be faithful to hear
the gospel, be faithful among God's people. You have the revealed
will of God right there. What are you guessing for? Sit
down and wait. Sit down and wait. Wait for God to do the work.
Follow what we know to be right. Let this world go. And God will
give us strength and liberty. He'll give us. The ability to
lift up our hands, he said, lift up your hands. Don't you think
he'll give you the strength to lift up your hands? Yeah. Yes, he will. And I'll tell you
this, he does this most often through his word, through the
preaching of the gospel, as well as the encouragement of the saints.
We encourage one another, we strengthen one another, if you're
if you that are spiritual, the scripture says, restore such
in one who has fallen. You see someone who has fallen,
reach out to them, not in condescension, but rather considering your own
self, lest you fall in the same manner. That word in Galatians, he says,
use your spirit to restore. That's like taking care, very
gently setting a broken bone. How do you want somebody to set
your bone when it's broken? Would you rather than get over
here? I told you not to do that. Snap right back into place. Oh,
it's in place. All right. It wasn't pleasant,
was it? Nobody wants that. I don't want
that. If you are spiritual and you
restore such in one of myself, I hope that you're meek and gentle.
And how do you do that except you follow the path of Christ,
except you follow his example? How can I do that except that
I follow his example? So when I'm chasing, I desire
that the Lord heal me, Lord put me in the way. I pray that God bless this to your
hearts. give us strength in a time of chastisement.