Turn with me in your Bibles to
the book of Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. I've made a slight change in the message
as it is stated in the bulletin. In the bulletin it says, the
chastening of the Lord, and the passage is listed from Hebrews
12, 4 through 13. The change that I made, and really
it's the same message, I just changed the title. It's chastisement
and holiness. That's the title that I'm going
to give this message. And I'm going to add verse 14. Hebrews 12, 4 through 14. Verse 14 says, follow peace with
all men and holiness. And as I began to think about
this message on chastisement, that's what we're mainly going
to talk about, I want to say several things about this issue
of holiness. Now, to start off with, we realize
that when it comes to believing the gospel, believing in Christ,
resting in Him as our whole salvation, as our only righteousness before
God. That that message, which is called
the light in the Bible, and I'm going to talk about that a little
bit next week, that message is in direct opposition to the beliefs
the ideas, the imaginations of the world. The world is in opposition
to the church, the true church of the living God. The world
thinks in terms of having a right relationship with God by something
they do or something they decide. That's how they think of a right
relationship with God. But that is not so in Christianity. It's not so in the Bible. And
because of our message, which is the light that exposes the
world's condition, which is lost in their sins, you know, somebody
told me one time, said, well, you all think everybody's going
to hell but you. No, I don't. I was lost, but
I wasn't on my way to hell. I was on the broad road that
led there, but God had chosen me before the foundation of the
world. God justified me in Christ and he redeemed me and he sent
a spirit to get me off that road and put me on the narrow way.
And that's all by grace. So as I've said before, a believer
is a miracle of God's grace. He's not the product of his own
acts or works or decisions. Somebody said, well, didn't you
decide to follow Christ? Yes, I did, but that decision
came as a result of Holy Spirit conviction, the new birth. But my point is this, is that
because our message is so contradictory to the world's message, the world
in essence hates us. The scripture says that Christ
told his disciples, marvel not that the world hates you. It
hated me before it hated you. If it hates our Savior, it's
going to hate those he saved. Now, obviously that hatred will
express itself in different ways and to different degrees. It
may be they just avoid you. Or it may be they come after
you. Physically, it can happen. And that's what we read about
in Hebrews 11 at the end of the chapter. Some of these choice
Old Testament saints who gave their lives for the testimony
of the gospel. The gospel life, which exposed
the world to be lost and their deeds to be evil. Because in
light of the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel, our
works are nothing. Filthy rags, the scripture says.
So all believers in every generation will be persecuted in some way
to some degree. We've had it easy, I'll be the
first to admit. In our generation, we've had
it easy. We don't think it's easy, but it is, compared to
what our brethren, brothers and sisters in the past went through.
We don't have the Spanish Inquisition coming in after us today, do
we? And don't we thank God for it? We've got liberties and freedoms,
protections, hope they last, pray that they will, but they
may not, hope for our children and our children's children,
but all believers are going to be persecuted for their testimony
of the gospel. Now, the proof of that, that
the writer of Hebrews brings forth in verse 1 of Hebrews 12,
we're surrounded with a great cloud of witnesses here. a great
cloud of witnesses, and many of those witnesses were killed
because of their testimony of the gospel. And then there's
an even greater proof than that. Verse 3 says, Consider Him, that
is, Jesus Christ, that endured such contradiction of sinners
against Himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds.
You see, there are times we want to just quit and give up, don't
we? But how does God tell us to remedy that? Consider Christ. The Lord of glory. We think we've
got it bad, we don't have it bad. Here's the one who was perfect
in himself. Perfect love, love incarnate.
Who kept the law perfect, never did anything wrong. And yet he
was hated by the world. And that includes us by nature. We turned thumbs down on him
too, didn't we? We esteemed him smitten of God
and stricken of men, a blasphemer, all of that. Consider him. And
that's one of the greatest. He suffered unto death. Remember
in Philippians chapter 2 it talks about how he humbled himself and brought himself into humiliation. He who's the creator and suffered
in His, even unto the death of the cross. But this is written to help us
who are believers to endure and survive, not by our own power,
not by our own goodness, not by our own determinations. We'll
quit a lot, but God won't let us quit completely, will He?
He keeps us. So it's all by His grace, His
power, His goodness, and that's what Hebrews 11 is about. It's
not a testimony to the greatness of men like Abel and Enoch and
Noah and Abraham. It's a testimony to the greatness
and the goodness and the graciousness of God in their lives who brought
these men to look forward to the coming Messiah to bring in
righteousness for them. And they knew it was the only
way. And so we run the race of grace. I preached on this last week.
Verse two, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith. And what did he do? Well, for the joy that was set
before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame and sat down
at the right hand of the throne of God. Our Lord is the Lord,
our righteousness. He is the only righteousness
we have. And if we don't have righteousness
in Him, we don't have any. Do you realize that? And you
must have that to have a right relationship with God, to be
accepted with God, to serve God acceptably. Now that's a message
that the world hates. and will come against. But look
at verse four, the writer says, you have not yet resisted unto
blood striving against sin. You've not yet resisted to the
point of having to shed your blood to be killed, to be murdered,
martyred in striving against the world's hatred for you, their
persecutions. And from verse five to verse
eight, he gives us how, he shows us how we as believers are to
view the persecutions that come over the gospel. And this would
include all suffering that believers go through, ultimately, even
that which we suffer for our own fault in that sense. And what he does, he says, these
things are not punishments by way of payment, they're the chastisements
of your Heavenly Father. They're expressions of his love. They're evidence of your being
his child. That's what he says. Now, there's
no way we can know this by feeling, even by our attitudes, or even
how we go through sufferings. There's only one way we can know
this, and that's because God says it. And that's what we talk
about by faith. I know this is true because God
says it right here. But here's the thing, when you
speak of chastisement, let's look at it. Verse 5, he said,
Have you forgotten the exhortation, the encouragement, which speaketh
unto you as unto children? These chastisements are just
exclusively for the children of God. And hold on to this thought,
because this is where I'm headed. These chastisements separate
the children of God from the world. So as unto children, you know
when you read the Bible, when you think about the gospel, when
you think about Christ and his work on the cross, the issue
is this. How can I, a sinner, have a right
relationship with God. How can I, a sinner, have a right
relationship with God? I know God is righteous and I'm
not. So how can I, who am unrighteous in myself, have a right relationship
with one who is perfectly righteous? How does that come? How is that
accomplished? And then, is it possible for me to know that
I have a right relationship with God? Is that possible? And then,
what are the evidences of one who has a right relationship
with God? Well, the first and main evidence
has already been stated by faith. Verse 2, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith. In other words, righteousness
comes to sinners by Jesus Christ. And how did he accomplish that?
As our surety and our substitute, he went to the cross and satisfied
the justice of God in our stead and brought forth an everlasting
righteousness that enables God to be just and justify me. That's
how. He's the author. That means he's
the beginner. He's the creator. He's the source.
And he's the finisher. He's the completion. He's the
perfection. of my faith. What is my faith?
I look to him. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of Christ. I have submitted to his righteousness
because Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to
everyone that believe it. So that's the first and foremost
evidence. So when he speaks of a child
of God, well who are the children of God? They are those who have
a right relationship with God. But look at verse five again,
and you have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto
children, this speaks to you as unto a child of God, that's
what he's saying. My son, now he's quoting from
Proverbs three here, my son, despise not thou the chastening
of the Lord, nor faint or quit when thou art rebuked of him. He says, verse six, For whom
the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth. In our common vernacular, we'd
say that when the Lord looks at his children and they need
a good whipping, he gives it to them. That's pretty much it. I know that's not popular today,
I know. I'm aware of our society. He
says in verse seven, If you endure chastening, now when it says
if you endure, it's not talking about by your own power, goodness,
and all that. It means if you're brought through
chastening, you come through it. On the other side, what happens
is you come out in a certain way, and we'll see that in just
a moment. God dealeth with you as with sons, as with children. For what son is he whom the father
chasteneth not? That's the discipline. He says
in verse 8, but if you be without chastisement, if this is not
the case, whereof are all partakers, that is, all believers, then
are you bastards, illegitimate children, and not sons. What
he's teaching us is this, the nature and design of afflictions
and suffering is our good because God has ordained it as his chastening
of his children. It's not punishment by way of
payment. It's not legal punishment to
pay, you know, somebody says, well, he's paying for his sins
or she's paying for her sin. My friend, there's only one payment
for sin and that's what Christ accomplished on Calvary. He paid
for my, Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Chastisement
is correction for instruction. That's what he's teaching us.
That's what he says. And it's directly related to
our testimony of the gospel telling the world that without Christ,
you're condemned. Without Christ, your deeds are
evil. Without Christ, whatever refuge or testimony you have,
it's false, it's a refuge of lies. Without Christ, you have
no righteousness by which to be accepted and justified before
a holy God. If you're ignorant of His righteousness,
you're lost. That's what we tell them. But
now this chastening presupposes a right relationship of God as
our Father and us as His children and His love for His children.
First of all, only believers, true children of God, are chastised. Now, suffering and affliction
is common to everybody in the world. Common to everybody, even those
who live and die in unbelief. But to those who live and die
in unbelief, that suffering and these afflictions in this world
that's common, they're manifestations of God's judgment against sin,
God's wrath. He that believeth not, the wrath
of God abides on him. But secondly, as I said before,
believers are never dealt with by God in legal judicial punishment. Chasten means to train up. It
means to educate. It means to correct. The elect
of God do not pay for their sins. I can't emphasize that enough.
How can anyone who believes in the one sacrifice of Christ for
his people's sins even suggest the idea that we could pay for
them? God does chasten us. That's never
a punishment in the punitive sense. Christ paid for all my
sins. That debt has been settled and
God will not charge us with our sins. Psalm you read. Now, the
third thing we need to keep in mind is that many times we don't
know specific reasons for chastisement. Sometimes we don't know it at
all. Sometimes we don't know it till afterward. Somebody says,
well, they're suffering. Now, if they're a believer, I
know this, it's the chastisement of the Lord. But why are they
going through that? Well, the only thing I can tell
you is God is teaching them something. That's all I can tell you. And
the reason I can tell you that is because God says it here.
You say, well, they're suffering because they did this or didn't
do that and all that. A lot of times, friends, we don't
have enough insight either into God's purpose or our brethren's
lives to say something like that. We don't have that kind of wisdom.
You say, well, I know he's suffering because he did that. Well, let
me ask you this. Do we suffer for all our sins? Do we suffer even chastisement
for all our sins? Well, I'm going to tell you something.
Now get this in your head. If we did, we would not be able
to hold our heads up. Me included. We'd be doing nothing
but suffering affliction. Now that's right. Well, we know that sometimes
God does deal with his people in afflictions without respect
to their disobedience. Look at Job. Read the book of
Job sometimes. God put Job through some of the
severest tests that a human being can go through on this earth.
He lost his family. He lost his home. He lost his
health. You know, the Jews used to say,
well, at least you got your health. Job didn't. He didn't have that. It wasn't for any specific sin
that Job committed. Remember, he had three friends
who tried to figure it all out for him, and that's what they
thought. Well, Job, we've got to find out what you've done
wrong to bring this on and get it right. And you know what Job
called them? Miserable comforters. You're just bearers of misery. Well, we know sometimes believers
do suffer for specific reasons. David, King David, remember him?
He committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband killed. God told him, he said, your sins
are forgiven. But he says, the sword's not
going to leave your house. Your home's going to be a disaster
area. Because of what you did. Now
was David paying for his sin? No, he was suffering the consequences.
Now again, do we suffer the consequences of every sin? No. Thank God. David's the one who wrote that
psalm that Brother Jim read. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputed not iniquity. And we know what David had in
mind because Paul wrote about it in Romans chapter 4 when he
said, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputed righteousness
without works. But here's the point. Whom the
Lord loves, He chastens. That's a given. This chastisement
is an evidence of His love and His care for His people. And
if you don't suffer that, what does He say in verse 8? You're
an illegitimate child. You're not the son of God. Then
secondly, enduring chastisement is evidence of sonship. A child
of the King, Enduring, this enduring in verse seven, that's perseverance.
What is perseverance? It's being preserved by God's
grace using the means that God has given. It's an evidence of
salvation by grace and it's only by God's grace we can endure.
Again, read the book of Job. The only way Job could have gotten
through what he got through is for God to bring him through. And then thirdly, Chastisement
will result in holiness. Now what do I mean by that? Well
look at verse 9. Now listen to this. Furthermore,
we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us. That's what
chastisement is, correction. God's teaching us. And we gave
them reverence, we gave them respect. Children, you should
respect your mothers and your fathers, even when they correct
you. Shall we not much rather be in
subjection unto the Father of spirits and live the Father of
life, God who gives us eternal life through Christ? Verse 10,
they, that is our earthly fathers, barely for a few days chastened
us after their own pleasure. Now that doesn't mean that they
took pleasure in punishing. What that means is they did it
as best they could. They thought it was the right
thing to do. That's what it means when it
says according to their own pleasure. They gave it to you when they
thought you needed it. He says, but he, God, for our
profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. now god knows
all and he's the perfect god he knows what's best for us better
than we do so if our earthly fathers did
it according to what they thought was best think about when god
does it to his children when he thinks what's best cause he
knows what's best in every situation that we might be partakers of
his holiness holiness You know, one of the greatest deceptions,
I believe, that pervades false Christianity and false religion
is a misconception of this word holiness. Anytime people speak
of holiness, or just about anytime they do, what are they talking
about? They're talking about moral perfection. In the Bible, in certain contexts,
holiness can describe moral perfection. But you know what the word means?
It's not talking about moral perfection. In other words, if
the only evidence that I have is that going through these chastisements
or being brought through these chastisements and coming out
the other side being morally perfect, I can tell you right
now, I'm an illegitimate child. How about you? Partakers of His holiness, that's
God's holiness. Do you know what the word means?
It means, and think about it now, it means separation. That's what it means. Sanctification,
which is the same word as separation. That's what this is talking about.
This chastisement separates us from the world. Not by our moral
perfection, we don't have any, but by the grace of God in Christ.
How can you tell the difference? Here's an unbeliever who gets
a dreaded, life-threatening disease. Here's a believer who gets a
dreaded, life-threatening disease. How do you know one is just the
chastisement of the Lord and the other is an expression of
God's wrath? Who are you looking to for salvation,
for righteousness, for forgiveness, for eternal life and glory? That's
the difference. Faith in Christ. That's what this perfection is.
That's what this holiness is. It's separation. You know why
God is said to be holy? Because there is no being like
God. He is separate from everything
and everyone. There's no God like Him. Is He
morally perfect? Yes, and that certainly separates
Him, doesn't it? Because there's no other being
that's morally perfect. Only God is good. What separated
the Lord Jesus Christ from everyone? He's God in human flesh without
sin. How are we separated? Well, God
separated us in eternity past when He chose us in Christ. That's
electing grace. God separated us when He chose
in Christ not to impute our trespasses unto us. But to impute Christ's
righteousness to us, that separates us. It's His grace that separates. It's His mercy. God separated
us on the cross when Christ redeemed us by His blood from our sin.
He died for me. And then He separates us when
He gives us new life in the new birth by the power of the Spirit.
He brings us out of the world, out of the kingdom of darkness,
and puts us into the kingdom of His dear Son. That's separation.
Now look at verse 11. He says in verse 11, now another
thing about it, chastisements produce the fruit of righteousness.
He says in verse 11, now no chastening for the present seemeth to be
joyous, but grievous, it's hard. Chastisements are not easy, they're
not enjoyable, they don't feel good. And anybody who, Christians
are not masochists. We don't have persecution complex. We don't go out looking for persecution.
It just flat comes with the territory. And so he says, nevertheless,
afterward, it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them
which are exercised thereby. Now, what is the peaceful fruit
of righteousness? Somebody says, well, I come out
on the other side being a better person. Well, I hope you do.
But that's not the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Somebody
says, well, I grow in grace and in knowledge. I hope you do.
That is a fruit of God's grace. But you know what the peaceable
fruit of righteousness is? I've told you this before. You
come out on the other side, having been brought out by the grace
of God, looking to Christ and resting in him for righteousness
even more. That's what it does. thanking
God even more for his righteousness imputed. That's the whole issue. I've told you that when I go
through severe chastisements, I never, when I'm brought out
on the other side, I never look back and feel good about myself.
Oh, how I acted during that. Usually what I do is I complain
and moan and groan and feel sorry for myself. But I tell you, every
time that God brings me through these tests, I come out on the
other side looking to Christ even more, resting in His righteousness
even more. That's growth in grace and knowledge.
And so he says in verse 12, therefore lift up the hands which hang
down, the feeble knees, make straight paths for your feet,
lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather
be healed. In other words, don't Fall into,
as Bunyan said, the slew of despond over this. Joy in Christ. Rejoice in Him. Look to Him. The Kingdom of God. It's not meat and drink. It's
righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Rejoice in
the Lord. That's what he's saying. And
verse 14, follow peace with all men. Be a peaceable person. We do that, first of all, by
preaching the gospel of peace, don't we? Peace in Christ, peace
with men, and holiness. But maintain your separation.
You do not want to be conformed to the world. You do not want
to compromise the gospel in order to have peace. In other words,
you must maintain your separation in Christ, without which no man
shall see the Lord. Now let me show you this and
I'll close. Turn back to Psalm 32 that Brother Jim read. The first thing, now this is
how we follow peace and holiness, separation. The first thing we
must realize in this thing of a right relationship with God
is there has to be a right standing. before God according to His law
and justice in light of His mercy and grace. And that's where the
psalmist starts out here. Verse 1, blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven. The Bible has taught all the
way up to this point and beyond that forgiveness comes at the
cost of the blood of Christ. This is not just some empty desire
or plea for forgiveness. Lord, forgive me. If God forgives,
there must be a proper basis. There must be a right ground.
There must be justice satisfied. Forgiveness comes at the cost
of Christ's blood. David knew that. And then he
says, whose sin is covered. He doesn't mean covered over
or hidden from view. He means covered By the blood. This is a reference to the covering,
the mercy seat over the Ark of the Covenant upon which the priest
sprinkled the blood of the Lamb, picturing Christ. Now verse 2,
blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity,
the non-imputation of sin. What does that mean? It means
not, that means sin was imputed to the substitute by whom forgiveness
By whose blood our sins are cut, imputed to Christ. It means righteousness
imputed to us. The commentary in Romans 4, blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works.
And in whose spirit there is no guile. That's the work of
the spirit which is the fruit of what Christ accomplished on
the cross that brings us to be honest with ourselves and honest
before God about our sin. and about righteousness. Brings
a sinner to faith in Christ and repentance of dead works. And
so that's the basis of understanding chastisement and our separation,
holiness. And so in verse three he says,
when I kept silent my bones waxed old through my roaring all the
day long. He's suffering, that's what he's
saying. But that doesn't change my standing with God. The fact
that I'm suffering. He says in verse 4, For day and
night thy hand was heavy upon me. That's the hand of God. That's
chastisement. My moisture is turned into the
drought of summer. He's cried so much that he doesn't
have any more tears. That's what he means. I acknowledge
my sin unto thee. In other words, there's no guile,
see. Mine iniquity have I not hid? I said, I will confess my
transgression unto the Lord, and thou forgave us the iniquity
of my sin. How do I know he's forgiven me?
I'm going through punishment. I'm going through chastisement,
suffering. Well, who's your hope, David? Where's your forgiveness? Who's
your righteousness? And he says in verse six, for
this shall everyone that is godly pray unto thee in a time when
thou mayest be found surely in the floods of great waters, they
shall not come nigh unto thee. Some through the water, some
through the flood, some through the fire, but all through the
blood, you see. Well, what's this all for? Verse seven, thou art my hiding
place. Thou shalt preserve me from trouble. Thou shalt come
past me about. Surround me with songs of deliverance. That's why we're here in the
gospel today. I'm singing you a song of deliverance. You may
have had a terrible week this week. You may have been chastised
sorely. But the song of deliverance is
this. Look to Christ, the author and finisher of your faith. And
that's what he says in verse 8, I'll instruct thee and teach
thee in the way which thou go, I will guide thee with mine eye.
Now don't be like the horse or the jackass, he says. That means
you gotta be forced by the legalism of the law or the threatenings
of men. No, God draws his children, even
in chastisement, with cords of love. that we might be partakers
of his holiness be ye separate you see we have a right standing
with god through christ