Our Heavenly Father's discipline
is the pledge of our adoption, the badge of our sonship. God Almighty chastens none but
His own, but He chastens all who are His own. And all who
are God's look upon His loving rod His loving discipline as
a marked token of grace. Knowing, as Paul tells us in
1 Corinthians 11, we are chastened of the Lord that we should not
be condemned with the world. I'm learning. I'm learning to
give thanks to God that he does not leave me to myself. Painful as it is, to feel his
rod on my back, I'm learning to kiss the hand of him who holds
the rod. Tis my happiness below, not to
live without the cross, but my Savior's power to know, sanctifying
every loss. Trials must and will befall,
but with humble faith to see, God's love inscribed upon them
all. This is happiness to me. God
in Israel sows the seeds of affliction, pain, and toil. These spring
up and choke the weeds that would else overspread the soil. Trials make his promise sweet. Trials give new life to prayer. Trials bring me to his feet. Lay me low and keep me there. Did I meet no trials here? No
chastisements by the way? Might I not with reason fear
I should prove a castaway? Bastards may escape the rod,
sunk in earthly vain delight, but the true born child of God
must not and would not if he might. Thank God he doesn't leave
me to myself. Spurgeon once said this, I bear
my willing witness that I owe more to the fire and the hammer
and the file than to anything else in my Lord's workshop. I
sometimes question, he wrote, Whether I have ever learned anything
except through the rod, when my schoolroom is darkened, then
I see most clearly. The title of my message tonight
is Sonship, Obedience, and Suffering. Those three things always go
together. Sonship, obedience, and suffering. There is no such thing as one
who is the son of God, the child of God, who is not obedient to
his father and learns that obedience through the things he suffers.
Our text is Hebrews 5 and verse 8. We're told here concerning
our Lord Jesus Christ as a man, in his mediatorial capacity,
as our substitute, surety, and great high priest, though he
were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. Now, there are several things
obvious in these words. First, though Christ is the Son
of God, he was not exempt from suffering. if he would redeem
us from our sins and from the wrath of God which we deserve. He must suffer all the consequences
of sin in his body and suffer the wrath of God to the full
satisfaction of divine justice. There is no other way whereby
God can forgive our sin except the punishing of sin to the full
satisfaction of justice in that substitute whom he has appointed,
Jesus Christ the Lord. Secondly, though our Lord Jesus
Christ is the Son of God, He could not execute perfect righteousness
to the full extent that the law and justice of God demands without
perfect suffering. Suffering was essential to our
Savior's obedience as our substitute. And thirdly, learn this, none
of God's children in this world, none of God's sons are exempt
from suffering. Our Lord said this, In the world
you shall have tribulation. There are no exceptions. There
are no exceptions. As our Savior learned obedience
by the things he suffered in this world, so we must learn
obedience to God by the things we suffer. Now let me make three
statements, and I trust God the Holy Spirit will teach them to
us graciously. Number one. The Lord Jesus Christ
is uniquely and pre-eminently the Son of God. He is uniquely
and preeminently the Son of God. We are the sons of God, that
is, we who are chosen of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ,
called by his grace. We are the sons of God by grace,
by adoption, and what a great honor and privilege that is.
The apostle writes like this, because you are sons, God has
sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, father, because God adopted you as sons. In the fullness
of time, he made arrangement so that you'd hear the word and
by the spirit of his grace be born again. And he sends the
spirit of his son into your hearts, causing you to cry, my father. Oh, what a privilege. that fallen,
depraved sons of Adam, in the full consciousness of their corruption,
depravity, sin, and deserved wrath, should lift their eyes
to heaven and look God square in the face, in the face of Jesus
Christ, his Son, and say with confidence, God is my Father. Abba, Father. Beloved, now are
we the sons of God. John prefaces that word by saying
this, behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon
us that we should be called the sons of God. If we are then the
children of God, we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus
Christ. We are the sons of God by grace,
by adoption. But our Lord Jesus Christ is
uniquely and preeminently the Son of God as no one else is.
He is described in the scriptures as the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. Now those words describe him
in three ways. First, Christ Jesus is the only
begotten of the Father in that he is the eternally begotten
Son of the Father, one with the Father and the Spirit in the
Holy Trinity. I have no understanding whatsoever
of what that means. I'm just honest with you. I don't
have any idea what is involved in the person of the triune Godhead. I simply recognize it is a plain
declaration of Holy Scripture. We worship one God in the triunity
of his sacred persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and Jesus
Christ is the eternally begotten Son of the eternally begetting
Father, one with the Father. That makes him the son of God
uniquely and preeminently. Secondly, it means that our Lord
Jesus Christ as a man is the only begotten son of God in that
he is the virgin born son of God. He who came into this world
as a man never ceased to be God. We sometimes speak of him laying
aside his glory. He didn't. He simply veiled it. We sometimes speak of him laying
aside his dominion. He didn't. He simply veiled it.
That one who came in human flesh is as fully God as though he
had never ceased, as though he had never left the throne of
God to come into this world, for in fact, he didn't leave
the throne of God. He's as fully God as though He
were not man, and as fully man as though He were not God. He
is born in the world as a man, but He's still God, the only
begotten of the Father. Turn to Galatians chapter 4.
Galatians 4. You'll remember in Genesis chapter
3, the promise that God made concerning one coming who would
be seed of the woman, who would crush the serpent's head. Here
in Galatians 4, the Holy Spirit expounds that text of scripture,
telling us how it is fulfilled in the virgin birth of Christ.
But when the fullness of time was come, verse 4, When the fullness
of time, when all the fullness of God's purpose had reached
its climax, when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth
his son, made of a woman, made under the law. Jesus Christ,
the son of God, made of a woman, made under the law for this purpose,
that he might redeem them who are under the law, that we might
receive. That adoption which took place
in eternity, the adoption of sons. Again, our Lord Jesus Christ
is uniquely and preeminently the Son of God, the only begotten
Son, in His resurrection, glory, and exaltation as the firstborn
among many brethren. Several times in the New Testament,
Psalm 2, verse 7 is quoted, where God speaks of Christ sitting
on His heel, sitting on His holy heel of Zion, sitting king in
glory. And God says, thou art my Son,
this day have I begotten thee. It's quoted twice in the book
of Hebrews, chapter 1 and verse 6, I believe it is, and chapter
5 and verse 5. But turn back to Acts chapter
13. Here in Acts chapter 13, we have the declaration of what
that meant. When the father said to the son,
thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee, he was speaking
about his resurrection from the dead and his exaltation at the
father's right hand as mediator, high priest, and king over his
church. Back up to verse 27, we'll begin
reading there. Acts 13, 27. For they that dwell
at Jerusalem and their rulers, because they knew him not, they
didn't know him. They didn't know it. In spite
of his miracles, in spite of his doctrine, in spite of his
preaching, they didn't know it. Because they knew him not, nor
yet the voices of the prophets. They had the prophets every day
read to them, but they didn't understand them either. They
were religious as all get out, but they didn't know God and
didn't know his word, which are read every Sabbath day. They
have fulfilled the words of the prophets. They have fulfilled
them in condemning him. Look at verse 28. Though they
found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that
he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all
that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and
laid him in the sepulcher. Now look at verse 30. But God
hath raised him from the dead. And he was seen many days of
them which came up from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses
unto the people. And we declare unto you glad
tidings. We declare to you the gospel.
How that the promise which was made to the fathers, beginning
back to Genesis 3.15. The promise made to the fathers
concerning this one who comes seed of the woman. The promise
made to the fathers in the types, pictures, and prophecies of the
Old Testament. The promise made to the fathers,
God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their children. in that he
raised up Jesus again, as also it is written in the second Psalm.
You see it now? Thou art my Son, this day have
I begotten thee. When Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, had fulfilled his obedience unto the Father as our covenant
mediator, surety, and substitute, when he had brought in everlasting
righteousness, when he had by his blood put away our sins,
he arose from the dead, and the Father said, This day have I
begotten you. Sit down now until I make your
foes my footstool. And there he sits upon the throne
of glory reigning as king supreme. All right, secondly, though he
lived in this world as the son of God, uniquely and preeminently
the son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ learned obedience. What a word. He learned obedience
by the things he suffered. Obedience. Obedience. Obedience is more than compliance
and conformity. Obedience begins and in its essence
is a hard issue. You see, obedience is the voluntary
subjection of myself to the will of another. If it is not voluntary,
it is only outward compliance. It's not obedience. Our Lord
Jesus Christ said, lo, I come in the volume of the book it
is written of me. I delight to do thy will, oh
my God. He voluntarily yielded himself
in the totality of his being to the will of his father. That's obedience, Bob. That's
obedience. Obedience is owning the authority
of another, performing the pleasure of another because you desire
to do so. When our Lord Jesus Christ came
into this world, he came here as Jehovah's servant to do the
will of God Almighty, his father, as a man. He was made under the
law that he might obey, establish, and fulfill the law to the full
satisfaction of justice as our substitute. Now this obedience
was essential to our Savior's priesthood. He could not be our
high priest if he had not performed perfect obedience to the Father
and thereby become author of eternal salvation as we see in
the following verse. Our Lord Jesus Christ volunteered
to become obedient. And when he did, he did so back
in eternity. But he actually entered into
obedience, the experience of it, by the things which he suffered
as a man. He learned obedience by suffering. What on earth does that mean?
The Lord Jesus came into the world and denied himself. That's
what obedience involves in its essence. It is self-denial. He denied himself the pleasures,
the comforts, the ease, and the well-being he rightfully deserved
as a man because of his perfection. He denied himself the ease, the
comfort, the pleasure, and the well-being he rightfully deserved
as a man for us. For us, for the glory of God,
for you and me. For you and me, you and I who
are his children. For us, he said, I will not take
comfort. I will not take ease. I will
not take pleasure to myself. He pleased not himself, the scripture
tells us, because it was his greater pleasure to please his
father in redeeming us. He became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. Turn to Philippians chapter two.
I read this to the men in the office just a few minutes ago,
but it'll bear a repetition. Look at verse five. The apostle
Paul is writing to the believers at Philippi, and he is encouraging
us and them to walk together in humility and love one for
another. And this is what he says. Let this mind be in you. which was also in Christ Jesus.
This mind of obedience, this mind of humility, this mind of
self-denial, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery
to be equal with God. This wasn't something he had
to look after. It wasn't something he had to strive for. It was what he
possesses by nature. He is equal with God, but made
himself of no reputation. The word's a very strong word.
It means he emptied himself. He made himself of no reputation.
and took upon him the form of a servant. David, he who is the
God of glory, he who is the king of glory, he who is the maker,
creator, and ruler of everything, took on him the form of a servant.
Even to the point that on one occasion he took a bowl of water
and a towel, wrapped the towel around his waist, knelt down
at the feet of his disciples, Judas included. that man who
was a betrayer from the beginning and washed his feet, made himself
of no reputation, took on him the form of a servant and was
made in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man,
he kept on humbling himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. Though he were a son, yet learned
the obedience by the things which he suffered. though he was and
is God the Son, uniquely and preeminently the Son of God,
our Lord Jesus, learned by what he suffered. Well, what was it
he suffered? They are the things, the very things that you and
I, at various times and circumstances as God's children, suffer in
this world. But you don't have to look at them. Your memory
will serve well. Our Lord Jesus came here and
suffered poverty. Poverty. We sometimes think we
have needs. He had not where to lay his head. He suffered poverty as a man,
willingly, willingly. The Lord Jesus, the Son of God,
who owns everything, took possession of nothing as a man. He suffered
temptations of the devil. He who created Satan, he who
created him and rules him, suffered himself to be tempted by him.
He suffered the unjustified slander of men. He was accused of being
a glutton and a wine-bibber, and never once defended himself
from their charges. Not one time. He suffered bereavement. He went to the graveside of his
friend Lazarus and wept. He loved Lazarus. The Jews looked
at it and said, behold, how he loved him. He suffered misunderstanding.
and misrepresentation, both by his disciples and friends and
by his enemies. They often misunderstood what
he said. They often misunderstood what he did. They often misunderstood
his actions and misunderstood his words and misrepresented
both. The Lord Jesus Christ suffered
betrayal by one who claimed to be his friend and should have
been his friend. He was betrayed by him. He was abandoned, deserted,
both by men who loved him and men who were loved of him. The
Lord Jesus suffered sorrow like no man ever suffered sorrow. As he anticipated being made
sin for us, he knelt in the garden and cried out to God. What sorrow. As he hung upon
the cursed tree, was made to be sin for us. He cried out to
God and said, my iniquities are more than the hairs of my head. He cried out to God and he said,
I am in trouble. Deliver my soul from the grave. And the Lord Jesus Christ suffered
being abandoned by his father. We sometimes suffer feeling abandoned. Sometimes it seems, Bobby, that
God's asleep, hiding his face, that he's forsaken us. There's
mercy's clean gone forever. He who is our Savior, when he
was made to be sin for us, was abandoned by his Father. Learned obedience by the things
he suffered. He could never have known any
of these things except by what he suffered. Never. He could never have experienced. That's what it means to know.
You don't know something just because you got a notion in your
head. You know it when you've experienced it. And he could
never have known it except by what he suffered. He learned
obedience by the things he suffered. He who is life could never know
death, except he suffered death. And when he was made to be sin
for us, he suffered death under the wrath of God. Someone said
God had one son and only one without sin. He has no sons without
sorrow. So thirdly, I want us to learn
what God the Holy Spirit teaches us in this text. Though he were
a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. The lessons taught are both practical
and of immense importance. Number one, obedience is the
character of God's sons. In the tenor of our lives, if
we're God's children, we're obedient to him. That's the character
of God's sons. So the preacher, you tell us
all the time we're full of sin, nothing but sin, everything we
do is sin. That's true. That's true. But that's not what
we really are. That's not that new man. That's
not that man created after God in true holiness. Oh, no. God's
sons and daughters are men and women who walk before Him in
the depth of their heart, gladly surrendering to Him universal
compliance in all aspects of their lives. We want His will. And that's what dominates the
life of the believer. Secondly, obedience is a costly
thing. Always is. Always is. If you tell your son's daughters
to do something, it necessarily involves them surrendering what
they want to do at the time. It necessarily involves them
taking up what you've called them to do. It necessarily involves
some effort on their part to do it. And it may even cause
them some pain. Well, with God's children, obedience
necessarily involves self-denial and surrender. Necessarily. It necessarily involves not doing
our pleasure. The scripture tells us plainly,
if we suffer, we shall reign with him. Yea, and all who will
live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Turn to Matthew
chapter five. Matthew chapter five. The Apostle Peter in 1 Peter
tells us that if we suffer as Christians, if we suffer as Christians,
as believers, we have nothing of which to be ashamed. For Christ
left us an example that we should follow in his steps. And when
he was suffered, he committed himself to God our Father and
his Father. Look at Matthew 5, verse 10.
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake. not
because you act holier than thou, not because you act like a horse's
rear, but because of righteousness sake, because of the gospel of
God's grace, because you declare plainly by your identification
with the gospel and your testimony to the gospel that righteousness
comes only by Jesus Christ the Lord, only by the grace of God.
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when
men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner
of evil against you falsely for my sake, because of the gospel.
Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven,
for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Now thirdly,
learn this. God's love for us and our relationship
to him as the sons and daughters of God Almighty do not exempt
us from suffering. We live in this crazy health,
wealth, prosperity, religious age in which people automatically
associate health and prosperity and happiness with godliness
and strong faith. And they conversely associate
poverty and sickness and sorrow and hardship and heaviness of
heart with unbelief and ungodliness. Nothing could be further from
the truth. Nothing could be further from the truth. Though the Lord
Jesus Christ is the son of God's love, he was not spared any suffering
or sorrow as a man. None. The disciple is not above
his Lord. nor the servant above his master.
He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and if we follow
him, we shall be as well. One of the old writers, I don't
remember who, made this statement. I jotted it down some time back.
If a sheep strays from the flock, the shepherd sets his dog after
it, not to kill it, but to bring it back to the shepherd. That's the purpose of God's afflictions. I think it was Spurgeon who said,
afflictions, adversity, trials, temptations, these are God's
black dog by which he fetches his sheep to himself. Fourthly, the things which we
suffer in this world by the will of God are the things by which
we learn obedience to the will of God. We don't learn by words, but
by experience. Not by reading. Oh, the words
and the reading are necessary, but if that's all you get, you
don't learn anything. We learn by tasting. We don't learn by
just listening to instruction. but by correction. Our father
chastens us that we might live before him and be partakers of
his holiness. We don't learn by admonition,
but by affliction. Now this is what David said,
before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I've kept your
word. It's good for me that I've been
afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. Won't learn them
any other way. I know, oh Lord, that thy judgments
are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. What a word. Now it doesn't matter who the
errand boy is. Whatever it is that comes your
way, be it prosperous or adverse, it is sent by God our Father
to teach us. The Puritans, some of them had
unique ways of saying things. Stephen Charnock said, we often
learn more of God under the rod that strikes us than under the
staff that comforts us. Thomas Brooks said, God's house
of correction is his school of instruction. And William Jenkins,
he said, as the wicked are hurt by the best things. Are you listening? So the godly are bettered by
the worst things. We only learn obedience by suffering. Some of you here are yet without
Christ. And I'm going to tell you something.
You'll never learn the obedience of faith until you suffer being
under the wrath of God, lost, undone. Until God makes you to understand
that you can do by which to retrieve yourself from your lost and ruined
condition, from the corruption of your nature, the depravity
of your heart, and the wrath of God Almighty, you will never
trust His Son. Won't do it, won't do it. We only learn patience by the
trial of our faith. We only learn sympathy when we've
experienced sympathy. And that's so. No woman can experience and empathize
with a woman who's lost her husband except a woman who's lost her
husband. No one can empathize with one
who has lost a child except one who's lost a child. No one can empathize with devastating
illness, except one who's had devastating illness. We never
learn forgiveness. That is, we never learn to practice
it until we've experienced it. We never learn to help a fallen
brother until we've been helped from a fall by a brother. How often have you said, well,
if that's me, I know what I'd do. Let me tell you something. You don't have any idea what
you should do, much less would do. Just don't. So I know what I'd
do. No, you don't. No, you don't. Not until you've been there.
We never learn what we would do or should do in any circumstance
until we're in the midst of the same trial ourselves. And we
will never learn to be weaned from this earth until God graciously
weans us from this earth. Now then, we greatly rejoice. Though now for a season, if need
be, year in heaviness through manifold temptations, And I want to tell you, my friend,
if you're in heaviness, there's a needs be for it. If you're
his, there's a needs be. God never
causes his child a needless tear. All right. In the midst of this
heaviness, yet we rejoice that the trial of your faith being
more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried
with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at
the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Somehow, I don't know how, heaven will be more heavenly
and glory more glorious, and rest more restful, and salvation
more delightful because of the trial of our faith than it possibly
could be otherwise. And so let us, in everything
we suffer in this world, ask God to teach us, like the sons
of God, obedience. are the things we suffer. Amen. All right, Lindsey, you come
lead us in the hymn, if you will.