back to index2021-06-06 God's Loving Discipline
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Okay, if you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 12 verses 4 through 11. 00:00:12.400 |
Okay, yeah, we're going to cover all the passages, all of it, 4 through 11. 00:00:35.000 |
You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin, 00:00:38.840 |
and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons. 00:00:42.520 |
My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved 00:00:48.760 |
For those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines, and he scourges every son whom he receives. 00:00:58.360 |
For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 00:01:01.900 |
But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate 00:01:08.720 |
Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them. 00:01:12.440 |
Shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 00:01:16.600 |
For they disciplined us for a short time, as seemed best to them, but he disciplines 00:01:20.440 |
us for our good, so that we may share his holiness. 00:01:24.560 |
All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful. 00:01:28.020 |
Yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields a peaceful fruit of righteousness. 00:01:39.200 |
We pray that your word would convict us, guide us, sanctify us. 00:01:43.920 |
That we may see a greater glimpse of your glory. 00:01:48.720 |
That we may change, we may be sanctified, we may be able to persevere through all the 00:01:53.280 |
ups and downs, Lord God, of living in this fallen world. 00:01:57.380 |
Help us to be reminded, Lord, that we are aliens and strangers just passing through, 00:02:03.560 |
eagerly waiting and longing, Lord God, for the second coming of Christ. 00:02:15.160 |
I'm sure many of you have been watching the news that there are UFOs in the world, 00:02:23.680 |
Or at least there's more attention given, right? 00:02:26.200 |
There's been speculations and pictures and stuff that's been around since we were kids, 00:02:33.200 |
But recently with all the videos, and now especially the government fanning the flames 00:02:37.400 |
that they're not absolutely certain anymore whether they can deny it. 00:02:45.560 |
And all this space exploration, you know, a lot of that is, is there life there? 00:02:55.200 |
And so they've been studying this for many, many decades, but recently, obviously, it's 00:03:00.240 |
come to the forefront and there's a lot of speculations and talking about it. 00:03:03.960 |
I've heard a lot of Christians talking about it. 00:03:06.240 |
What would it mean if there are actually aliens in this world? 00:03:10.800 |
What if there was irrefutable proof that that was actually the case? 00:03:18.800 |
I've heard some people say recently, some Christians say that if aliens are real, that 00:03:28.400 |
I'm not sure exactly what they meant by that, but the way that it came across was that they 00:03:33.360 |
would probably question their faith if that was true. 00:03:36.600 |
And it made me think, how would it affect you? 00:03:41.680 |
Is this simple evidence of a UFO enough for you to say, you know what, everything that 00:03:49.380 |
Is your faith so weak and tender that something as a speculation of maybe possibly intelligence 00:03:57.520 |
outside of earth is enough for you to walk away from your faith? 00:04:01.520 |
And if that's not the case, what would cause you to walk away from your faith? 00:04:06.840 |
Maybe it's a loved one who gets cancer and say, you know what, God took him too early. 00:04:12.120 |
Or maybe a child who got sick and they left the earth too early. 00:04:21.600 |
What if your marriage fell apart or you're having difficulty or your child walks away? 00:04:27.280 |
What would cause you to walk away from your faith, that you don't think that your faith 00:04:38.080 |
Whatever it is that you think may happen that's going to cause you to question your faith, 00:04:43.140 |
it's probably at that very place where you are constantly being poked and attacked. 00:04:48.000 |
Because the Bible says that we have an enemy, the devil, like a roaring lion seeking someone 00:04:56.120 |
He's not devouring his own, he's not devouring the world, he's devouring people who follow 00:05:01.200 |
Christ because his primary objective is to be the anti-Christ. 00:05:06.080 |
So anyone who exalts Christ, anyone who says they're a believer in Christ, is at that very 00:05:10.640 |
place where you feel like that's your Achilles heel. 00:05:14.400 |
That's where your weakness is, is probably the place where you are constantly being poked. 00:05:19.200 |
If it's finance, if it is relationship, circumstance, peace, reputation, whatever it may be, that 00:05:26.840 |
may be the area where you are constantly being poked. 00:05:31.840 |
The book of Hebrews, the whole book is written to people who are just drifting. 00:05:36.240 |
They didn't decide to walk away from their faith. 00:05:40.340 |
They weren't in danger of apostasy because something happened and said, "You know what? 00:05:44.960 |
They were simply neglecting their faith and they were becoming tired. 00:05:49.800 |
Most people who walk away from their faith, it doesn't happen by choice, by at least not 00:05:59.160 |
They just become fatigued, tired, they get caught up with life, just like the third soil. 00:06:05.760 |
Concerns of paying bills, raising children, the difficulty in the trials of getting a 00:06:09.960 |
job, dealing with coworkers, and trying to save enough money for retirement, and raising 00:06:14.680 |
children, all of these things, it just fatigues you. 00:06:18.160 |
And then instead of paying attention, you just kind of allow things to happen. 00:06:22.240 |
And the natural course, natural flow of life is going to take you away from Christ. 00:06:29.120 |
Well the text that we're looking at in verse 4 begins by saying, "You have not yet resisted 00:06:33.140 |
to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin." 00:06:36.960 |
Now you can look at that and be challenged and say, "Yeah, you know, we need to strive 00:06:42.960 |
If you have energy and you already came into this room with some vitality, saying like, 00:06:49.320 |
"Yeah, I want to do this," and this may be an encouragement to you, for a lot of you 00:06:53.160 |
to read this passage, it's like, "Wow, I'm already tired as it is." 00:06:56.560 |
And his encouragement to me is, "Well, you haven't shed blood yet, right? 00:07:00.120 |
You haven't even shed blood yet, it's not time for you to quit." 00:07:05.040 |
Again, you have to remember that the whole point of the book of Hebrews is really this. 00:07:10.680 |
The whole point of the book of Hebrews is to challenge people who are drifting away 00:07:14.360 |
from Christ that it's not time for you to quit. 00:07:19.160 |
That you have no reason to quit, to continue to persevere. 00:07:23.680 |
And the reasoning that he gives is because you haven't shed blood yet. 00:07:30.520 |
Shedding blood isn't simply like, "Oh, you got cut." 00:07:33.640 |
Shedding blood is another way of saying you have breath, you have life. 00:07:38.120 |
The reason why you have breath, you have life, is because somebody else shed blood for you. 00:07:42.960 |
And that was the point that he was trying to get at, right? 00:07:46.660 |
You have life because somebody else shed blood. 00:07:49.440 |
You still have life because he did it, so you have no reason to quit. 00:07:55.320 |
Because he's already bought your eternal life by his own sacrifice. 00:08:01.840 |
So therefore, his challenge is, no matter how fatigued, no matter how tired, how wearisome, 00:08:08.160 |
he says no Christian, if his faith is genuine, has a reason to quit. 00:08:15.080 |
I remember years ago when I was being discipled back in college, I was working probably about 00:08:24.880 |
I was a super senior, so I was taking 22 units to finish school. 00:08:33.160 |
And then I was heavily involved with the campus ministry, so I was probably giving about three 00:08:38.040 |
I was leading three small group Bible studies. 00:08:44.720 |
And I was in this apartment training, and so I was probably getting about three to four 00:08:51.640 |
But we had a rule in that apartment that no matter what time you slept, you have to get 00:08:56.760 |
And we'd have to go running and do quiet time together. 00:08:59.040 |
And after about a month and a half of doing this, I was so tired. 00:09:02.240 |
And I went to our trainer, and I remember asking him, like, I don't know if I can keep 00:09:08.920 |
I would go to the library, and literally, I would just fall asleep at the table, fall 00:09:14.120 |
And then I remember every time I would go to him, his advice to me was, "Peter, expand 00:09:21.320 |
Now, in a typical setting, I would have been angry, right? 00:09:32.360 |
And he said, "But Peter, everything you're doing is important. 00:09:37.860 |
The reason why I took that to heart was because who that was telling me. 00:09:47.600 |
He was doing everything I was doing, and he was excellent, and he was running the apartment, 00:09:53.200 |
and he was a youth pastor, and he had aging parents. 00:09:56.120 |
And he had a brother who was mentally challenged, so he was constantly going home to take care 00:10:00.680 |
of his brother, and he did all of that excellently. 00:10:04.760 |
And so if that advice came from anybody else, I would say, "Who are you talking to? 00:10:10.280 |
I'm sleeping four hours, so you want me to sleep two hours?" 00:10:13.160 |
But I remember always coming out from that counseling challenged, because he was setting 00:10:26.280 |
Christ looks at our circumstance, and the advice now, he says, "You haven't to the point 00:10:36.680 |
Jeremiah 12, 5, it says, "If you have run with footmen, and they have tired you out, 00:10:44.440 |
If you fall down in a land of peace, how will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?" 00:10:49.000 |
In other words, God is fully in charge, and he's training us and building us up. 00:10:55.040 |
The text that we're looking at this morning, verses 4 through 11, the word "discipline" 00:11:01.320 |
You need to persevere, because God is the one who is in charge of this discipline. 00:11:06.440 |
So when I say the word "discipline," some of you will have the idea of discipline as 00:11:21.360 |
Some of you, when we use the word "discipline," maybe you like to work out. 00:11:24.320 |
Discipline means making a schedule, getting up at 6 in the morning, going out to work 00:11:28.480 |
out, and not eating certain things, and doing certain things, saving up money. 00:11:32.240 |
Maybe in your mind, that's the first thing that gets triggered, discipline. 00:11:35.240 |
So discipline, the word, is being used in our English language in various ways. 00:11:42.020 |
So we don't want to project what we think discipline is, what this is saying. 00:11:46.440 |
We want to make sure that we understand what He means by it, because the word He uses really 00:11:57.880 |
Pidea, the root word, is the word "pious," and "pies" is the Greek word for "child." 00:12:05.120 |
So when He uses the word "discipline" in this text, He's not simply talking about punishment, 00:12:11.560 |
He's not only talking about training, although that's part of it. 00:12:14.520 |
It's basically He's describing a relationship where God makes us His adopted children, and 00:12:22.680 |
Now in this relationship between Son and Father, that He's raising us up. 00:12:28.660 |
And in raising us up, just like if you raise a child, there are times you have to discipline 00:12:36.160 |
There are some times you need to discipline them so that they may be properly trained 00:12:41.240 |
But the word "discipline" is a broad term referring to that now that He has made us 00:12:45.940 |
His children, so that we may live up to the calling that we have been given. 00:12:51.320 |
He hasn't just adopted us and said, "You know what? 00:13:01.160 |
Just like if you have children, or if you adopted a child into your home, you don't 00:13:05.160 |
just adopt them, make sure that's on legal paper, and then you just kind of let them 00:13:11.680 |
Part of the adoption, the reason why they go through all that process is they want 00:13:14.840 |
to know that if you're going to be a good parent. 00:13:18.960 |
They want to know if you have the means to take care of them. 00:13:20.680 |
They want to know if you're psychologically, physically able to take care. 00:13:25.000 |
And that's why you have to get reference letters. 00:13:30.480 |
Because they want to know if you are a fit father or mother. 00:13:35.880 |
And so this word that is being used here to talk about God's discipline is basically 00:13:46.640 |
And so it's in that context that this text describes, and I put it in three parts. 00:13:52.920 |
To understand the perspective of how God deals with us as his children, three things. 00:14:04.360 |
The second thing that this text teaches us is that God's discipline is proof of our 00:14:12.640 |
Third, God's discipline is for our own training, for our own good. 00:14:18.320 |
That's the exact words that is used here, for our training. 00:14:23.480 |
Second, God's discipline is proof of our sonship and his love for us. 00:14:33.400 |
In this text, firstly it says God disciplines us perfectly. 00:14:38.840 |
Verse five, "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when 00:14:47.320 |
In other words, there's two ways that an individual can wrongly accept or respond to God's discipline. 00:15:01.980 |
This is an individual who really doesn't see sin as that horrible. 00:15:08.240 |
I remember, I think this week, and I was listening to Piper, and John Piper made a very clear 00:15:13.400 |
distinction between confession and repentance. 00:15:18.960 |
Somebody who is constantly taking lightly their sin is somebody who is in the habit 00:15:27.560 |
The difference is repentance basically means not only to acknowledge your sin, but to turn 00:15:34.040 |
But somebody who is constantly confessing is an individual who feels guilty. 00:15:38.880 |
And the only thing that he's concerned about is that he gets out of his guilt. 00:15:47.620 |
And you get it off your chest, and then you cling to verses where God's, your sins are 00:15:52.240 |
forgiven, and then you move on, and then this cycle repeats over and over again. 00:16:01.160 |
This is an individual who takes the Lord's discipline lightly. 00:16:12.120 |
And an individual who kind of looks at the circumstance and says, you know what, years 00:16:16.880 |
later you're going to tell your children or grandchildren about how difficult it was 00:16:20.960 |
because it was shut down for a year, and you couldn't hang out with your friends to get 00:16:37.520 |
And so circumstances and trials and difficulties come into our life, and you just kind of brush 00:16:47.900 |
He says, do not take the Lord's discipline lightly, meaning the Lord has a purpose for 00:16:58.640 |
And that's why he says, do not take it lightly. 00:17:02.000 |
The other end of that, he says, do not faint. 00:17:07.400 |
Discouraged to the point where you don't want to do this anymore. 00:17:11.460 |
How many people have you met that because they were discouraged at this point, and somebody 00:17:15.000 |
let them down, and said, I love God, but I don't love the church. 00:17:22.120 |
And the reason why they become faint is because they don't see God's hand in it. 00:17:27.320 |
Or if they see God's hand in it, they don't believe in a loving God. 00:17:35.080 |
One of the most common questions that I get from people, especially if you've been alive 00:17:39.760 |
for a while, is like, how do I trust people when they've wronged me in the past? 00:17:48.520 |
I've had this, and I've heard some horrible things that have happened to people way before 00:17:56.860 |
And the wrestling mask is, I don't know how I can ever trust anybody considering what 00:18:08.300 |
The bad news is, you can't just turn that off. 00:18:12.340 |
It'd be insensitive for me to say, hey, suck it up and move on. 00:18:15.820 |
I mean, considering the horrible things that have happened. 00:18:19.580 |
Good news is, God didn't call us to trust them. 00:18:37.020 |
See, when we become faint, part of that reason is because we don't see a sovereign God who 00:18:44.020 |
loves us, who've allowed this situation to happen. 00:18:48.100 |
You know, as parents, that's our constant fear, right? 00:18:57.760 |
So when we're disciplining our children, you know, years back we look at it and say, oh, 00:19:01.500 |
maybe I should have been more patient with them. 00:19:04.140 |
Or maybe in that particular situation, I should have been more harsh with them. 00:19:08.180 |
That I should have squeezed harder, or maybe I shouldn't have squeezed so hard, because 00:19:11.700 |
our constant fear is that if we squeeze too hard, we're going to discourage them, and 00:19:18.560 |
But if we don't discipline them enough, they're going to get spoiled, and they don't think 00:19:22.700 |
So there's a constant balancing act that parents do to make sure that we're doing what is necessary. 00:19:31.300 |
Well our God does not have that problem, because God is all-knowing. 00:19:39.880 |
So therefore, even though we can't connect the dots, the Bible says that our God disciplines 00:19:46.520 |
That's why we don't take it lightly, nor do we faint, because whatever it is that God 00:19:51.540 |
has placed us in, He's doing it in His perfect knowledge, in His perfect love, in His perfect 00:20:00.020 |
In Psalm 42, 5-6, it says, "Why are you in despair, O my soul? 00:20:07.460 |
Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence." 00:20:10.980 |
Oh, oh my God, my soul is in despair within me. 00:20:14.620 |
"Therefore, I remember you from the land of the Jordan and the peaks of Hermon, from 00:20:21.780 |
Today we're going to be participating in the communion, right? 00:20:24.100 |
All of you guys have this communion wafer and thingy that we have, right? 00:20:29.140 |
And hopefully we don't have to do this for long. 00:20:32.100 |
But the reason why God gave us this communion is for this reason, because He knows that 00:20:36.700 |
you and I have a tendency to look at circumstances through our physical eyes. 00:20:41.580 |
That all that we have, we walk by what we see, not by faith, because that's our natural 00:20:47.900 |
So the communion is given to the church to constantly remind us to look to Him. 00:20:54.780 |
That do you believe in a God who loved you enough to send His only begotten Son? 00:21:01.540 |
If He gave His only begotten Son, along with Him, give us all things. 00:21:06.700 |
If He gave His only begotten Son, why would He withhold any good thing from us? 00:21:13.360 |
And that's what the communion table really is, is to recalibrate our thoughts, our focus. 00:21:19.280 |
So that in the midst of trials, in the midst of raising children and busyness of life, 00:21:25.100 |
that we would look to Christ, that we would look to God, who is completely sovereign and 00:21:32.260 |
In 1 Corinthians 10, 13, it says, "No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to 00:21:39.200 |
And God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but 00:21:42.680 |
with the temptation will provide the way of escape so that you will be able to endure 00:21:48.960 |
That no matter what circumstance that you're in, past, present, or future, God is completely 00:22:00.040 |
His whole suffering was initiated because Satan challenged God and said, "Your child 00:22:06.640 |
that you say is righteous is only righteous because you've been protecting him. 00:22:11.680 |
Take away your hedge of protection and see if he praises you after I'm done." 00:22:19.240 |
So all of his suffering was initiated by Satan saying, "Let me at him. 00:22:30.340 |
And then you see the cycle of pain and suffering. 00:22:35.280 |
Anything that you can possibly think of, financial hardship, losing his children, personal health 00:22:39.960 |
goes out, his reputation of righteousness being challenged, his closest friends coming 00:22:46.720 |
and saying, "You must have done something wrong." 00:22:48.720 |
There's no part of his life where he's not touched. 00:22:52.760 |
Any one of those things would cause an average man to crumble. 00:22:57.720 |
Every part of his life, his reputation, his family life, health, wealth, everything, most 00:23:05.320 |
things that people would fear, all of that happens to him in his life. 00:23:09.960 |
And yet Satan's name is never mentioned after the beginning. 00:23:20.760 |
And even at the end, God doesn't show up and say, "It wasn't me. 00:23:28.720 |
God takes ownership because that only happened because God allowed it to happen. 00:23:38.400 |
Before Jesus goes to the cross, remember what Jesus says? 00:23:42.000 |
Satan has asked permission to sift you like wheat. 00:23:49.880 |
He didn't gather up an army to challenge God. 00:23:54.680 |
Even satanic work was under God's sovereign plan, and he allowed it to happen. 00:24:00.800 |
So when he says, "No temptation has seized you, but what is common to man, but God is 00:24:04.160 |
faithful and he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able." 00:24:07.680 |
In other words, that even in your trials and temptations, God has us in his arms. 00:24:19.600 |
And therefore, that's why he says, "You have no reason to quit because you're not the one 00:24:29.120 |
Everything that he does, no matter what circumstance, no matter what has happened to you in the 00:24:32.320 |
past, no matter how horrible that memory is, no matter how hard of a time we have connecting 00:24:42.340 |
No matter what circumstance you are in now, no matter what hardship and struggle, no matter 00:24:46.520 |
what relational problems and hurt and pain that you hold onto today, God is sovereign. 00:24:54.440 |
And no matter what you may face, your greatest fear may happen tomorrow, the answer is God 00:25:03.160 |
The God who is perfectly sovereign, perfectly knowing, who loves us like his own child, 00:25:12.720 |
And that's why he says not to take it lightly. 00:25:15.620 |
Don't brush it off like, "Yeah, that's not going to bother me." 00:25:23.520 |
Because whatever God is doing, he does perfectly. 00:25:26.660 |
That's number one, to understand that God's discipline is perfect. 00:25:31.160 |
Two, God's discipline is proof of sonship and love. 00:25:37.080 |
He says in verse 7, "It is for discipline that you endure. 00:25:42.120 |
For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 00:25:46.300 |
But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate 00:25:51.660 |
So if you say you're a follower of Christ and you have no hardship in life, he says 00:25:58.720 |
If God genuinely loves you, hardship will come. 00:26:02.220 |
He said, "If you follow me, they hated me, so they're going to hate you. 00:26:05.660 |
If there's any reflection of myself in you, the world is not going to be happy with you." 00:26:11.780 |
I mean, the problem that we have in our generation is we want to be cool in the kingdom and in 00:26:21.100 |
And we want to attract the world so that they can come into the church and have a smooth 00:26:26.940 |
transition from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. 00:26:33.340 |
And somehow, people have convinced themselves that this is possible. 00:26:39.660 |
That you've gotten accustomed to darkness and somehow you're going to come into light 00:26:48.380 |
There's going to be no difference between a non-Christian sitting and hearing the word 00:26:52.020 |
of God and a Christian hearing the word of God. 00:26:58.260 |
And so people whose eyes haven't adjusted to the light can also feel comfortable here. 00:27:03.660 |
He said, "If there is no discipline, that may be evidence that you're illegitimate children," 00:27:08.100 |
"Therefore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. 00:27:12.140 |
Shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits and live for they disciplined 00:27:17.820 |
In other words, it was common grace given to us temporarily as seemed what was best 00:27:28.340 |
They did what they thought was best, but they're sinners. 00:27:32.620 |
So therefore, whatever discipline we receive, even though it was for our own good, was never 00:27:40.420 |
But he disciplines us for good so that we may share his holiness. 00:27:47.740 |
Discipline for God's children is evidence of our sonship, is evidence ultimately of 00:27:57.580 |
We think that maybe the opposite of love is hatred. 00:28:06.200 |
You could make an argument, make a point of that. 00:28:09.100 |
But when we disobey to love, it's usually not hatred. 00:28:15.180 |
When God says to love, "And the world will know that you are disciples of mine if you 00:28:19.260 |
love as I have loved you," as Jesus said, "then the world will know you are my disciples." 00:28:28.460 |
I'm not going to obey Jesus, so I hate the world. 00:28:33.340 |
When we disobey love, usually we disobey with indifference. 00:28:41.940 |
Because getting dirty is uncomfortable with us. 00:28:55.220 |
I remember years ago, I had a pastor friend who came and told me, "You know, I think the 00:29:01.180 |
biggest problem in our generation in churches today is that we don't practice church discipline. 00:29:07.660 |
And so we allow sin to be rampant and do whatever they want, and that's our biggest problem. 00:29:22.620 |
I agree, because the Bible clearly teaches us to practice church discipline. 00:29:27.300 |
But the reason behind that is not what you think. 00:29:32.480 |
The reason why the church generally does not practice church discipline is because of lack 00:29:42.620 |
Because if the people who are going astray was your brother or sister, father or mother, 00:29:49.740 |
your daughter or son, you would not stay silent because you love them. 00:29:58.100 |
Even if they resent you for a period, you are more concerned about the harm that they 00:30:04.100 |
are doing to themselves than what they may say to you, because your love will supersede 00:30:14.460 |
Part of the reason why we are cautious and we stay away is really because we're indifferent. 00:30:28.480 |
Allowing a child who's running toward harm and saying nothing isn't grace. 00:30:35.220 |
You're saying, "I believe you're going to crash and burn. 00:30:38.980 |
I'm just going to let you be, because I'm loving." 00:30:47.460 |
Part of the reason why sin is not taken seriously, why we don't confront each other in truth, 00:30:52.860 |
in love, is because we are not practicing the biblical love that He preaches. 00:31:10.780 |
You think about the nation of Israel and would say, you know, you read the Old Testament 00:31:17.980 |
He's constantly sending prophets, telling Hosea to marry Gomer, a prostitute. 00:31:24.380 |
Just to tell them, "This is how hideous your sin is." 00:31:28.260 |
You read the Old Testament, it's like, "Oh, God is a God of judgment." 00:31:31.820 |
It says, "God so loved the world that He only begotten Son. 00:31:35.780 |
He demonstrated His own love while we were yet sinners. 00:31:38.740 |
So the God of the New Testament seems like a loving God. 00:31:41.220 |
God of the Old Testament seems like He's a judgmental, vengeful God. 00:31:46.420 |
But the only reason why He's sending these prophets to warn them is because He loves 00:31:53.460 |
If He was done with them, we wouldn't have the Old Testament. 00:31:58.900 |
There wouldn't be this drama of sending His prophets and warning them to turn from their 00:32:03.620 |
sins because all He had to do was, "Go, I'm done with you. 00:32:11.460 |
What would it take for Him to wipe out the earth? 00:32:18.060 |
I'm sure destroying is a lot easier than creating. 00:32:24.220 |
Destroying could, one day, you can bring those buildings down in one day. 00:32:30.740 |
The only reason why He sends His prophets to warn them, to discipline them, and why 00:32:34.740 |
He perseveres with them is because He still loves them. 00:32:46.180 |
Why this whole drama at the end with seven judgments? 00:32:51.220 |
The seal judgment, trumpet judgment, the bowl judgment. 00:32:55.900 |
Because God is pleading with the sinful world before judgment comes to turn and to repent. 00:33:02.860 |
So He says, "If you are truly His children, He will discipline you." 00:33:09.260 |
God's discipline is proof of sonship and His love toward us. 00:33:13.020 |
Third and finally, God's discipline is for our training. 00:33:20.500 |
Discipline is hard to take when we don't understand what it is. 00:33:24.980 |
Discipline is hard to take when we don't understand what it's for. 00:33:31.620 |
I can remember probably the most pain that I've ever experienced, a physical pain, was 00:33:44.860 |
There's an immediate pain that comes, but like prolonged pain. 00:33:48.220 |
I remember, I think I was about eighth grade. 00:33:51.460 |
Our family never went to the dentist, like ever. 00:33:56.500 |
We didn't have insurance, so everything that cost so much money. 00:33:59.300 |
So my teeth, if you look at my third grade picture, there's more cavities than I had 00:34:06.380 |
I went and basically I had like 20 some cavities that I needed to work on. 00:34:11.900 |
I remember listening very carefully at my mom trying to get a discount. 00:34:16.100 |
Even as an eighth grader, it's like, "Please don't get the discount. 00:34:27.820 |
It was like four Saturdays or something that we're going. 00:34:30.860 |
Each time I went, it was excruciatingly painful. 00:34:33.660 |
I don't know if the Novocaine or whatever they were putting in my mouth just wasn't 00:34:38.820 |
I remember they were drilling inside of it for 30, 40 minutes. 00:34:44.860 |
I was pinching my thigh just to take away from this pain that maybe this pain will distract 00:34:53.940 |
I didn't jump out of the seat and say, "What are you doing?" 00:35:02.700 |
But when you don't understand what the pain is for, you don't understand who is doing 00:35:07.260 |
it and why it's happening, it is very difficult to endure. 00:35:14.500 |
But what he's trying to say is that a God who practices perfect discipline, and he's 00:35:20.180 |
doing it because he loves us, has a specific purpose for our own good, for our own training. 00:35:27.660 |
And that's why he's saying no matter how hard things get, he's telling the Hebrews that 00:35:33.220 |
you're drifting away because all you're seeing is the difficulty, not recognizing who it 00:35:40.700 |
And that's why he's saying to fix your eyes on Jesus. 00:35:46.700 |
Satan is not roaming around outside of his care. 00:35:50.860 |
So whatever pain that you may have experienced in the past, present, or even in the future, 00:35:56.300 |
God who doesn't make mistakes, who loves us to the point that he would send his only begotten 00:36:01.140 |
son for us, has a purpose to equip us and to train us. 00:36:13.100 |
My brethren, when you encounter various trials, consider it pure joy. 00:36:17.820 |
You know, some people look at this passage and think that if you're a good Christian 00:36:21.100 |
that you should always have a smile on your face, right? 00:36:24.780 |
Even in the midst of excruciatingly painful things that happen in life, because you want 00:36:41.380 |
Even Jesus, as he was facing the cross, was agonizing before God. 00:36:48.900 |
That's why it says in verse 11, "All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful." 00:36:54.080 |
So the fact that it is hard, the fact that it is not pleasant, is natural. 00:37:00.340 |
But when he says, "Consider it joy," he's saying, "Think, consider, and calculate." 00:37:06.100 |
When you're putting it in your ledger between positive and negative, when you look at it 00:37:11.180 |
from the perspective of eternality within the hands of a sovereign God who loves us, 00:37:15.140 |
who doesn't make mistakes, consider it, think of it, pure joy, when you encounter 00:37:19.660 |
trials of various kinds, knowing that you're testing up your faith produces endurance. 00:37:25.540 |
He said that's the point that he's trying to get us to, right? 00:37:36.700 |
Our natural instinct is, when hardship comes, is to get rid of that hardship, right? 00:37:45.300 |
If it's coming from people, avoid those people. 00:37:48.400 |
If it's, whatever it is happening, I don't like it there, it's uncomfortable, and so 00:38:04.820 |
Whatever it is, our natural instinct is, when we're uncomfortable, to change because we 00:38:11.420 |
But he says when the testing of your faith comes, in order to produce endurance, and 00:38:17.260 |
when endurance happens perfectly, when you continue to endure, this is not saying that 00:38:23.360 |
there is no good time to ever change anything. 00:38:27.140 |
There's times when false doctrines are being taught, when there's apostasy happening. 00:38:37.620 |
But he's saying this, if our natural instinct is, every difficult circumstance, our immediate 00:38:42.820 |
thought is, God doesn't want me to be uncomfortable, and so I need to change this, change this 00:38:49.980 |
He said consider pure joy because it produces endurance, and when you continue on the right 00:38:55.780 |
path, you will have perfect results so that you may be perfect, complete, lacking in nothing. 00:39:01.380 |
Perfect meaning God's intended purpose of your suffering. 00:39:05.140 |
That if you continue, that's why an individual who's constantly switching from one uncomfortable 00:39:10.820 |
situation until you get to another comfortable situation, until that becomes uncomfortable, 00:39:15.380 |
and then you go somewhere else, and then that becomes uncomfortable, is that you never produce 00:39:23.220 |
Because what God desires requires perseverance. 00:39:28.880 |
You don't snap a finger and read them a bedtime story of the rules that you're supposed to 00:39:37.020 |
Those of you who are potty training your children, did you just tell them, show them a picture 00:39:49.860 |
Seem like they got it right, and then the next thing you wake up in the morning, you 00:39:52.340 |
see a puddle of pee on the ground, it's like, oh my gosh. 00:39:59.780 |
It required, even something simple as potty training required perseverance. 00:40:05.620 |
So if God is raising us as children, maybe some of us are being potty trained right now. 00:40:10.580 |
Spiritual potty training, because you keep peeing everywhere. 00:40:16.820 |
He says you need to persevere in the right direction because God is raising us up. 00:40:25.100 |
He says to consider purity because God's perfect loving hand is trying to teach you something 00:40:30.980 |
and when you persevere in it, you will be complete lacking in nothing. 00:40:35.940 |
And not only this, but we also exalt in our tribulations knowing that the tribulation 00:40:42.500 |
Again, what is the primary thing that he says that happens when tribulation comes? 00:40:51.620 |
Go through trials and endure through suffering because when you endure through suffering, 00:41:00.940 |
Now especially for the younger people in our generation, we have a tendency to think that 00:41:07.100 |
character comes from being famous on TikTok or your character comes from being successful 00:41:18.780 |
Character is not something that you get from reading a book. 00:41:22.340 |
Character is not something you get because you're successful in business. 00:41:26.240 |
Character is not something you get because you made a few right decisions. 00:41:29.460 |
He says character comes from perseverance, doing hard things and enduring through it. 00:41:39.820 |
He says when you have proven character, hope and hope does not disappoint because the love 00:41:46.580 |
of God has been poured out within our hearts though the Holy Spirit who was given to us. 00:41:52.620 |
Love causes us to persevere which develops character and character is what we have hope 00:42:06.260 |
We've been trained to look to Christ and not to the world. 00:42:09.220 |
We've been trained to run to Christ and our comfort come from him and not to the world, 00:42:18.340 |
So in everything that we do in life, we have some kind of training. 00:42:21.580 |
Like I said, if you're a child, you're trained, potty trained. 00:42:26.820 |
Like pastors, we go to seminary and we get trained. 00:42:29.820 |
We get trained meaning how to study the Bible. 00:42:32.300 |
I would say 90% of what I do at church, I was not taught in seminary. 00:42:39.060 |
I remember the first baptism that I did, I had no idea what I was doing. 00:42:44.260 |
I just remember what my older friends did and I just copied it. 00:42:48.700 |
And then when they told me, "Why did you do that?" 00:42:56.980 |
So it took me a while to figure out why am I doing it this way? 00:43:02.180 |
So it kind of forced me to kind of question everything that we're doing at church. 00:43:07.260 |
And I realized so many things that I was doing, I just did it because that's just what I saw. 00:43:12.940 |
But everything that we do, we have some kind of training. 00:43:15.860 |
But the true training does not happen in classrooms. 00:43:24.980 |
That's why when you go look for a job, it's good that you have training, meaning that 00:43:35.060 |
Because what they really value more than your education is do you actually know how to do 00:43:43.180 |
I remember years ago when I was younger, I was like 19 or 20, I got a job at Hughes Aircraft 00:43:50.380 |
And for eight hours a day, I had to clean trash can and vacuum. 00:43:55.020 |
And it was in semi-darkness because I had to go to the other side of the building to 00:44:00.000 |
There was just enough light so that I wouldn't have to waste time, go to the other end. 00:44:03.540 |
So eight hours a day by myself with no human contact, I was picking up trash and cleaning 00:44:10.940 |
And I remember about a month and a half to two months into it, I started hearing my own 00:44:19.460 |
This is before cell phones, the internet, there's nothing. 00:44:22.060 |
So basically once you go to work, it's just dead silence, dim light, and just throwing 00:44:26.940 |
And I remember carrying the trash out with my both hands to the dumpster, and I started 00:44:35.540 |
And then I caught myself talking like, what are you doing? 00:44:41.220 |
And I said, oh, this is what happens to people who are isolated for a long period of time. 00:44:45.500 |
Because I had no human contact at night, and then during the day I attended class by myself. 00:44:54.040 |
So I asked my boss, I don't think I can do this anymore. 00:44:59.580 |
I'm not going to be able to distinguish between the real voice and fake voice. 00:45:03.940 |
So he said, well, the only other position we have open is the guy who was cleaning the 00:45:12.500 |
And that's where all the nighttime workers were hanging out. 00:45:15.340 |
So I said, oh, that's got to be better than this. 00:45:19.300 |
So I walked in, and they had about 23 different toilets. 00:45:25.060 |
So my job was to walk around from 5 to 2 in the morning to clean up all the bathrooms. 00:45:30.780 |
And I got so many stories from this period of my life, which I won't get into today. 00:45:36.040 |
But I remember the first time doing the job, he said, oh, this couple who was doing this, 00:45:45.260 |
And I remember when they were training me, they just would tackle the toilet with bare 00:45:52.700 |
They'd take the brush, and then they would wipe it down. 00:46:06.960 |
And in the cart, they had this huge apron, rubber apron, the kind that they had at the 00:46:11.260 |
butcher, where every part of them is protected. 00:46:13.660 |
So they had this rubber apron that comes from the neck all the way down to the floor. 00:46:20.720 |
And then they had a glove that comes all the way beyond your elbow, both of them. 00:46:25.540 |
And then you wear a mask, and then you have a hood. 00:46:29.220 |
So basically, if anything splatters, the only part that's not protected are your eyes. 00:46:38.500 |
This is better than being in darkness all night. 00:46:43.180 |
And then even the brush isn't that typical, like a foot and a half brush. 00:46:52.140 |
So if it splashed, I have enough time to jump out of the way. 00:46:56.500 |
So the first two to three weeks, I did exactly what they told me to do, or thought, oh, this 00:47:19.860 |
One of these days-- OK, maybe at the retreat, when we have more time. 00:47:22.980 |
I learned so many things about different cultures through their bowel movements. 00:47:28.540 |
Anyway, has nothing to do with this sermon, so I'm not going to sidetrack. 00:47:33.580 |
So after about a week and a half of this, it's like, I can't do this, because it would 00:47:38.380 |
And then every time I need to take a break, I got to hose down, take all things off, wash 00:47:45.860 |
And then five minutes later, I got to come back, put it all back on. 00:47:59.940 |
And I gave the brush-- I can't reach this with a brush. 00:48:04.140 |
Then after, oh, this-- I can't bend with this apron on. 00:48:10.180 |
Eventually, I took everything off, and I was doing exactly what they were doing, because 00:48:15.260 |
I was able to do it half the time and do it much faster and effectively, because I wasn't 00:48:22.860 |
Obviously, I'd have to go home and take a shower and clean myself. 00:48:27.100 |
But if I wanted to do this job effectively, I had to do what they're doing. 00:48:37.060 |
There's so much training that you can get in the classroom, because you're hearing and 00:48:41.740 |
people are telling you, this is what you're supposed to do. 00:48:52.860 |
If our natural inclination is, you see sin in other people, you see sin in circumstance, 00:48:59.300 |
you see difficulty, and our natural instinct is to put on the full garb or just stay away 00:49:03.700 |
from that, your training is always in theory. 00:49:13.460 |
You don't really know how to persevere, because it's all in theory. 00:49:18.480 |
It isn't until we are willing to get dirty, just like Christ came and took on humanity 00:49:27.800 |
and walked among the dirt with us, that he was able to sympathize with our weaknesses. 00:49:36.460 |
God is working to train us to walk in the same shoes that he walked in, to be in the 00:49:46.900 |
If you're in the midst of sinners, you're going to have some of that stuff splash on 00:49:57.300 |
That's why he said, "If you want to come after me, you take up the cross too, and you deny 00:50:06.480 |
In God's perfect plan, he allows certain things to happen in our lives. 00:50:11.940 |
A God who is perfect, a God who loves us, has a specific reason why he placed you and 00:50:18.940 |
allow you to experience what you are experiencing now. 00:50:22.580 |
My prayers at this morning as we participate in this communion, to recognize maybe we are 00:50:28.900 |
looking at our physical circumstance and our past through our own physical lens, but this 00:50:34.220 |
morning that we would look at it through the lens of Christ who was crucified on our behalf. 00:50:43.500 |
If you believe that a loving, perfect, sovereign God is the one who placed us where we're at,