in our Bibles to Hebrews chapter
12 Hebrews chapter 12 beginning in verse 1 reading
through verse 17 Wherefore, seeing we also are
compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us
lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset
us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. who
for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising
the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne
of God. For consider him that endured
such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be
wearied and faint in your minds. You have not yet resisted unto
blood, striving against sin. and you have forgotten the exhortation
which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not
thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked
of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If you
endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what
son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if you be without chastisement,
whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers
of our flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in
subjection unto the father of spirits and live? For they verily
for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure. but he for
our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now, no chastening
for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless,
afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them
which are exercised thereby. Wherefore, lift up the hands
which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths
for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the
way, but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men and
holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Looking diligently,
lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness
springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled. Lest
there be any fornicator, profane person as Esau, who for one morsel
of meat sold his birthright, For you know how that afterward
when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected,
for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully
with tears. I brought my message last week
from the first four verses in this chapter. And in them we
saw how that when a person is born again of the Spirit of God,
when a person is converted, that person immediately enters a race. Paul used the same word when
he said this at the end of his life, I have fought a good fight. Now this word that's translated
race and fight It actually means a place of an assembly. And by implication, there's a
contest there. Now, we do not know that Paul
wrote the letter of Hebrews, but we do know that in other
epistles that he wrote, he referred sometimes to things that were
common in the Olympian games. And a contest would be held in
a place, and it could be a fight. Boxing was something that they
did, and races were certainly things that they ran, and that
was a contest. You say, well, how do we know
in this place that he's referring to a race? Because of the words,
let us run. Let us run. And that indicates
to us that he has reference whoever the author was, the human author,
to the race, the race in which every believer is set. We looked at four things last
time that we are to do as we run this race. Now the verses
we are looking at today, verses 5 through 17, deal with the experience
that God's children have as we run the race. The race begins
with the new birth and it ends when we leave this world and
go to forever be with the Lord. The course, and I pointed this
out to us last time, the course is marked out to us, or for us
rather, by God. We do not choose the course in
which we run. God has chosen that for us. And for some, it's a short course. We looked at that man, that thief.
His race lasted only a few hours and he was taken into eternity. For many, the race is a long
race. And along the way, there may
be many heavy trials and difficulties. And in such times, Believers
are tempted to quit, to give up. And that's the whole purpose
of these verses that we are looking at, to encourage God's children
to run with patience the race, or with endurance, run with endurance
the race that is set before us. Now as we begin, I want to say
that I prefer the English word discipline to the word chastened. The King James translation that
I read and that I use, we saw the word chastening, chasteneth,
and chastisement. But in every place as the New
American Standard Bible and the ESV translation all use the word
discipline. And I think that's better because
remember this, the scriptures were written in Greek and the
Greek language died. And that was all in God's providence. It was all in God's plan for
that language to die so that throughout the ages, now 2,000
years later, the language in which the scripture was written
hasn't changed. And so we get those meanings
from what the words meant at that time. But English, and every
language which is spoken, changes. It changes over time. And in
my mind at least, this word chastisement has changed and it almost always
carries with it in our mind some kind of punishment for wrongdoing. And that's the reason I prefer
myself the word discipline. Discipline. It's used, this word
is used two other times in the New Testament. And I'm going
to give you those verses and I believe you will agree that
The word chastened maybe isn't the best English word for us
today. This word is used in Ephesians
chapter 6 and verse 4 when the Apostle Paul, writing to fathers,
he said, And you fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but
bring them up in the nurture. That's the word. Bring them up
in the nurture and in the admonition of the Lord. Now when you nurture
your child, when you bring your child up, discipline your child,
you are teaching them, instructing them. And that�s the whole point
here. And then in one other place in
2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16 we have this same word again.
Paul said, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, here
it is, for instruction. Instruction in righteousness. To discipline is to instruct. And this Greek word, when it's
spelled out in English, is the word tutelage. And we all know
what a tutor is. One of the men here this morning,
I believe, told me that he is doing tutoring work, and he's
working with college students. So I know what that means. He's instructing. He's disciplining,
teaching, but certainly not punishing in any way. Now, I have three
parts of the message this morning, and each one I want us to learn.
That's my main thing. Learn. That's what we're here
for, isn't it? To praise God and learn. And the book of instruction is
the Word of God. And God the Holy Spirit is our
teacher. Learn. He uses men that He's
put into the ministry for the edification of the body. Yes,
but let's learn. Now first of all, learn from
these words about discipline. Now that'll become clear in just
a moment. Learn from these words about discipline. Our text begins
in verse 5. And most of the writers, they
tell us that the first part of this text could be understood
as a question or as a declaration. Notice. and you have forgotten
the exhortation which speaketh unto you on this wise." Have
you forgotten? It could be read as a question.
Have you forgotten the exhortation? Or it may be read as a declaration. You have forgotten the exhortation. But either way, here's my point,
either way we read it, either as a question or as a declaration,
It shows unto us how important the Scripture is as we run this
race. How important to each and every
one of us who know God today as our Lord and Savior, how important
it is for us to hear, to hear. A brother prayed just a few minutes
ago and prayed and confessed that he knew we were going to
hear from the Word of God. And that, when you attend a Christian
worship service, you know that, you should know that when you
go in the door, we're going to hear from the Word of God. We're
here today to hear from God's Word. And we should read the
Word of God, and we should meditate upon God's Word. Have you forgotten
the exhortation? You see how important it is?
how important the Word of God is in our lives because surely
we're going to have some problems and difficulties if we neglect
the written Word of God. The course that God has marked
out in which you are to run, maybe it's not so smooth. Maybe
you had it in your mind that when you became a child of God
that it'd be smooth sailing. It'd all be downhill. The wind
would always be at your back as you run this race. And you
find it's not so. You find things are not like
that. You meet with trials and you meet with afflictions. And
just maybe, just maybe, Satan, our arch enemy, I said when we
begin, when we're born again, we begin this race. Let me say
this too. At the very beginning, we have
a real enemy. Every child of God. We speak
of our enemies as three. The world, the flesh, and the
devil. And maybe in the midst of trials
and afflictions and difficulties that you meet with, just maybe,
Satan whispers in your ear, you couldn't be a child of God. You
couldn't be a child of God. If you were one of his children,
you wouldn't go through this. This is not the way God treats
his children. You wouldn't have any afflictions. You'd never have any trials or
difficulties in this world. I remember reading years ago
Charles Spurgeon, the great preacher in England. He suffered from
gout, suffered greatly from gout. One day, He said this, some man
opened his carriage door and looked in and said, Mr. Spurgeon,
if you were my son, I wouldn't treat you like God is treating
you. In other words, I wouldn't allow
you to go through the suffering you're going through. Maybe,
maybe you're tempted by Satan to think How could I be a child
of God and go through these trials? Actually, listen, if a person
doesn't experience trials and afflictions and difficulties,
that person has more cause to question his relationship to
God than those who do. Now that's just so. Now, I said
let's learn from these words. I like to read this as a question.
It can be read either way. But have you forgotten the exhortation
that speaks unto you as children? Now what does he have reference
to? Well let's go back for just a minute and look in Proverbs
chapter 3. This is what he has reference
to. Proverbs chapter 3 and verses 11 and 12. Proverbs chapter 3 in verse 11
and 12. My son, despise not the chastening
of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction. For whom the
Lord loveth, he correcteth, even as a father the son in whom he
delighteth. Now, let's look at these words
and here are seven things for us to learn. First of all, learn
from the words my son." Learn from the words, my son,
to recognize that God is dealing with you in his character as
your father and not as your judge. Now this tells us two things
about afflictions and trials. There's both a negative and there's
a positive. It is not this trial, this difficulty,
this is not vindictive discipline of God as your judge. Because your sins, remember this,
your sins were all laid upon Christ. And by His chastisement,
by His chastisement, or the chastisement of our peace rather was upon
Him. That whatever the affliction
is, whatever the discipline is, it is not vindictive discipline. God is not dealing with you as
your judge. He's judged your sins years ago
in Christ. And He paid that sin debt. But
He is dealing with you as a Father. My Son. My Son. It is corrective discipline. It's nurturing. It's teaching,
yes. And this, when we recognize it
is from our Father, not God as our judge, no, no, but God as
our Father, this assures us that it is done in love, It is directed
and it is accomplished according to God's purpose. Number two,
learn from the words, despise not. Now what do we learn from
this? Despise not. We learn not to think lightly. You know, there's a saying, a
stiff upper lip. When in the midst of trials and
temptations, don't despise this. Ask the Lord. Seek to find out
what it is the Lord is teaching you. Seek to learn by the discipline. Don't just say, well, you know,
I've just steadied myself up and bear this whatever it is.
Become a stoic, you know, not be moved by afflictions, not
be moved in one way or the other by afflictions and difficulties.
No, despise not the chastening of the Lord. Learn from it. Ask God to teach you, to show
you what it is that He would teach you by this, whatever the
trial may be. So learn from the words, despise
not. to recognize not to think lightly
or to fail to seek to learn by the discipline. Number three,
learn from the words, nor faint, nor faint, to recognize the need
not to lose courage or give up when we are disciplined by Him. Faint not. And number four, learn
from this truth, those whom God loves He disciplines. Now that's
clear and it is clearly stated here in verses 6 through 8. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If you
endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what
son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if you be without chastisement
or discipline, where of all our partakers then are you illegitimate
and not sons. It is only natural that a father
who loves his children teaches them, disciplines them, takes
the responsibility of their instruction, to nurture them, to teach them,
Now, a parent, a father will teach his children, but he may
see someone else's child do the very same thing that he corrects
his son for, and he doesn't say anything to that other person. Now, what's the difference? The
difference is love. The difference is love. A father
who loves his children will discipline his children. They are His children,
God's children here. And He loves them with an everlasting
love. And think about this. God's children,
remember this, He did not even spare His own Son. For you, He
that spared not His own Son. For your salvation, so that you
might be a son of God, God did not spare His Son. but poured out his judgment and
his wrath upon him. And then number five, learn from
your experience with your earthly father. Your earthly father. The apostle tells us in verses
9 and 10, furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which
corrected us and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much
rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits and live
for they Our earthly fathers, barely for a few days, chastened
us. And by a few days, our earthly
fathers disciplined us, they nurtured us, they taught us for
our lives, which will last for just a few days in this world.
And they wanted us to be good citizens. And they wanted us
to be honorable. And so they chastened us for
just a few days. But God, He's not dealing just
with time, but also with eternity. And so we give our fathers reverence
at the time. There's just something put in
a child. When a baby is born, there's
just something put in a child that a child knows they should
obey their parents. Now, they will test that. There's
no question about that. But that's just innate in a baby. They know that their parents
have authority over them. And they should, because they
have their best interest at heart. One of the problems we hear about
all the time are children that are growing up without a father. And they're not nurtured, they're
not disciplined, they're not taught. And I said this many
times, I'll say it again, for those of you who have young children,
what a responsibility. What a responsibility you have.
What a blessing that God has given you children. There's no
doubt about that. It's a blessing of the Lord,
but what a responsibility to instruct them, to discipline
them, to teach them. And you know, you start off when
they're small, don't you? If you wait till they become
teenagers and then you say, well, I'm going to straighten this
thing out. No, you've waited too long now. You began early
on and you do it because you love your children. And when
they grow up, They're thankful. They respect you. Children, young
people, every adult in this building today. I know I'm speaking for
all of us here today. We are thankful that our parents
disciplined us. That they taught us. We're thankful. Now at the time, and that's the
next point, learn from what is obvious in verse 11. No discipline. No discipline. No chastening,
for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. But nevertheless
afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them
which are exercised thereby. I read a message this past week
that was entitled God's Gymnasium. God's Gymnasium. This pastor preacher brought
out how that in this process that we read about in these scriptures,
it's like going into the gymnasium. And the first thing we're told
to do is to strip. That's the word he uses, strip
down. And the instructor looks at us, he looks at our bodies,
and he sees where we may be flabby over in this part and where we
need more exercise here. And so he He teaches us and instructs
us where we need the instruction. God's gymnasium. But when we
are in the gymnasium, some of you go to the gym, I know, you
tell me about it, and sometimes it's not joyous, is it? Sometimes
those muscles get tired and strained and they ache and you have pains,
but you continue. continue on with the instruction.
And no teaching, no chastening or discipline at the time seems
to be joyous, but we must keep our eye on the prize, as we hear
that saying. Keep your eye on the prize. Well,
what is the prize? It is a peaceable fruit of righteousness. In our course that we are running,
we learn many valuable lessons by the discipline. We learn such
lessons as faith. The psalmist said, I would have
fainted if I had not believed to see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living. When you are going through trials
and afflictions, and God's discipline for you, your faith, your faith
is exercised. And it is increased. And not
only faith, but we have a number of the hope. Hope is exercised. Expectation. This is not going
to last forever. It's not going to last, it may
last for the rest of my life, but it's not going to last through
eternity. We have hope. And faith and patience. Patience as we run the race.
That's the thing that most of us are so short on. What does
the scripture say? Tribulation worketh patience. And there's no generation probably
more desirous than having everything now. Lack of patience, lack of
waiting. We want everything yesterday. That's just the way we live. Everything's instant today, isn't
it? We, in the midst of afflictions,
we, the peaceable fruit of righteousness, God's discipline teaches us faith,
hope, patience, humility. Humility. Self-denial. Self-denial. And it teaches us
to accept God's will. Our Lord taught his disciples
to pray, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Now I'll tell you something.
It's easy to say those words. But is our heart engaged? Thy
will. Thy will be done. Trials and
afflictions, discipline that we're talking about here, teaches
us. It renders or gives a peaceable fruit of righteousness. And one
of those is to accept God's will, which yields peace. One writer
said that after such discipline, external peace often follows. And in the midst of such discipline,
internal peace is often enjoyed. Have you known someone, I'm thinking
of someone even now in my mind who has suffered greatly and
yet I've never seen anyone display, any believer, any child of God
display any more peace than this person. And it's come, no doubt,
through affliction and through knowing God is in control and
God's will is being accomplished. And this writer went on to say,
not only peace after the affliction, not only peace in the affliction,
but always it will issue in eternal peace and everlasting happiness. So learn number seven from the
words as translated in the proverb that we read. And the author
here in Hebrews, he quotes from that proverb. The son in whom he delighteth. The son in whom he delighteth. God has one son. One only begotten
son. in whom he testified and witnessed,
this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. He delighted
in his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He delighted in him and everything
that he did, everything that he said. Why? Because he always
pleased God. He always obeyed God. But now how does this speak to
us? You say, well, preacher, I can see very clearly that God
delighted in His only begotten Son, in the Lord Jesus Christ.
But know this, that if you are in Christ today, He delights
in you. He sees you in Christ. And just as He delighted in His
Son, delights in His only begotten Son, so He delights in you. as one of his children. Now here's the second part of
the message. I want us to learn from these words about our effort
in this race. Our effort in this race. We're not passive. We're not
treated like a bump on a log, my friends. We are spoken to,
to act. Verse 12, he tells us, don't
let your hands hang down. Lift up the hands which hang
down in the feeble knees. Don't let your hands hang down
or your knees be sluggish. Be active. Be engaged. Be active in prayer. Be active
in hearing the Word of God. Be active. Don't let your hands
hang down. Don't let your knees be sluggish. I thought about the Apostle Paul's
words to the believers in the church at Corinth when he said,
Watch ye. Stand fast in the faith. Quit
you like men. Be strong. Don't let your hands
hang down. Number two, in verse 13, the
path for your feet to walk in. Notice he says, and make straight
paths for your feet. The path for our feet to walk
in is the Word of God. It's already marked out for us,
the Word of God. The Word of God must always be
our rule of conduct. Remember what the Apostle said,
whether you eat or you drink, whatsoever you do, do all for
the glory of God. Don't allow your walk. Don't
allow your walk to be a stumbling block to a lame member, to a
lame member of the body of Christ. Don't allow your walk to be a
stumbling block to a weaker brother in Christ, a weaker believer. That person is ready to halt. That person's ready to give up.
That person's ready to turn back. Don't let your conversation be
anything other to that weaker brother than an encouragement
to persevere, to go on, to continue in the race. And number three,
verse 14, follow peace with all men and holiness. Follow peace as much as in you
is, the apostle said. Live peaceably with all men. Follow peace with those in the
church. For those in our home, husband
and wife, follow peace. Children and parents, parents
and children, follow peace in our neighborhoods as neighbors. Follow peace. Follow peace. It's an exhortation for all of
us, isn't it? And then he says, follow after
holiness. Now, one writer said there must
be a twofold meaning in this, in this exhortation. The holiness
or the righteousness of Christ we follow after by believing
on him and receiving him as all our righteousness, all our holiness,
we have it all in Christ. We are complete in Him. Follow after holiness without
which no man shall see the Lord. That righteousness, that holiness
which is in Christ, follow it. Follow after it. Receive it.
Believe it. Rejoice in it. Live in it. Recognize that before God today,
if you are one of His children, you are as holy as His dear Son. With His garments on, His garments
of righteousness and holiness, you are as holy as He is. He is all our sanctification,
all our righteousness, all our wisdom, all our redemption. And
number two, the holiness or godliness of an obedient walk. Believers,
are new creatures in Christ Jesus. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. I remember reading one man made
this comment. He said, after he was saved,
he said, either the world has completely changed or I've changed. Well, the world hasn't changed. It hasn't changed. It's still
the same. And it's going to continue to
be the same. But when a person is born of the Spirit of God,
we're new creatures in Christ Jesus. We have a new attitude. And that's where it all begins,
isn't it? In the heart. A new attitude. We have a new
character. And we have a new walk. Follow
after holiness. And then third, in closing, learn
from these words about the grace of God in verses 15 through 17. Looking diligently lest any man
fail of the grace of God. The grace of God is all important,
isn't it? For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Grace. Grace. What a wonderful sound
is that word grace to a believer's heart. Grace. How do we know
if we have experienced the grace of God? We talk about it. We
sing about it. We read about it. But how do
we know if we have experienced the grace of God? Well, there
are two marks. which are always true of those
who have experienced the grace of God. Number one, humility. You will not find a proud believer. That's an oxymoron. Humility,
humility. What did Paul say? This is a
faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. That was
at the end of his life. That was after he had suffered
many things for Christ, after he'd been used of God in preaching
the gospel. Many people converted under his
ministry. But he saw himself, and that's
always true of those who experience the grace of God. Other people
look upon you and, you know, we see you on the outside, but
you see the inside. And you know it's all of grace.
It's all of grace from beginning to end. And the second thing
that grace always produces, it gives a man a desire to live
for Christ, to serve Christ, to honor Christ. That's what
the grace of God will do for a person. Well, I pray that the
Lord will bless His word to all of us here this morning and that
we will learn, learn from this exhortation. I want us to conclude the message
singing hymn number 195.