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WARREN WIERSBE | AUDIO BIBLE STUDY | PART 3 | GOD'S ANSWER TO MAN'S SUFFERING | "CHASTENING" | AES
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foreign [Music]
verses 1 through 11.
wherefore seeing we also are compassed
about with so great a cloud of witnesses
let us lay aside every weight
and the sin which doth so easily beset us
us
and let us run with endurance the race
that is set before us
looking unto Jesus the author and the
finisher of our faith
who for the joy that was set before him
endured the cross
despising the shame
and is sat down at the right hand of the
Throne of God
for consider him that endured such
contradiction of Sinners against himself
lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds
minds
he have not yet resisted unto blood
striving against sin
and ye have forgotten the exhortation
which speaketh unto you
as unto Sons
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
receiveth
if ye endure chastening God dealeth with
you as with sons
for what son is he whom the father
chasteneth not
but if ye be without chastisement of
which All Sons are partakers
then are ye illegitimate children and
not Sons
furthermore we have had fathers of our
flesh who 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 prophet
that we might be partakers of his holiness
holiness
now no chastening for the presence
seemeth to be joyous but Grievous
nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the
Peaceable fruit of righteousness
unto them who are exercised
by it
and perhaps some of us
need that spiritual exercise
some of the sufferings of life
are a part of what the Bible calls
the chastening of the Lord
and chastening is the theme of Hebrews
as we have seen in previous messages
some suffering comes from creation
all of creation is groaning and travailing
travailing
and if you are human
some suffering is from the conflict that
some suffering is simply for the
some suffering is that we might
experience the companionship of God and
then Hebrews chapter 12 the Lord says to
us that some suffering is a part of chastening
chastening
now the word chastening is often
identified with punishment and that's
not always what it means
how many many times people who have been
going through suffering have said to me pastor
pastor
for what is the Lord punishing us
of course the answer is the Lord may not
be punishing you
now there are times when chastening does
involve punishment
punish his son for disobedience
the word chastening simply means child training
training
or if you want to substitute a butter
word substitute the word education
the word that is translated chastening
here in Hebrews chapter 12
is the Greek word that was used for education
education
used to perplex me that this chapter
began with a foot race
he starts off with a running of a race
down in verse 4 he uses the word
striving which is a a word of Athletics
the agony the the the working of the
athlete then he starts talking about
children this used to perplex me
and then I discovered that in Greece
every child was given athletic training
as a part of its education starting at
the age of seven
and continuing until maturity
and so the writer puts together these
two concepts here is a child and this
child has to be trained and a part of
his training is in sports the Greeks as
you know were great Believers in a sound
mind in a sound body
consequently the Holy Spirit has put
together two interesting Concepts childhood
and into this concept
we're going to look this morning this
matter of chastening
chastening does not necessarily mean
punishing it could mean perfecting
if you'll just think of the child with
all of his potential
and yet think of the child with all of
his weaknesses and all of his built in
inherited problems
you'll understand what the Lord is up
against when he tries to make something
out of us
think of the child think of the child
going through exercises and running the
race and wrestling
and then see the child growing up
and you'll have some idea of what he's
talking about when he talks about chastening
it is because he has three purposes that
he wants to fulfill
and these three purposes are spelled out
for us in Hebrews chapter 12.
in verses 1 through 4 it's the purpose
of enduring
he wants to keep us going
in verses 5 through 8 it's the purpose
of assuring
he wants to keep us knowing
and in verses 9 through 11.
it's the purpose of maturing
he wants to keep us growing
now this helps us to understand some of
the suffering we go through
God permits Us in fact God himself
touches us with the loving hand of chastening
chastening
that he might fulfill these purposes in
our lives
the purpose of enduring he doesn't want
us to be quitters
the purpose of assuring
he wants us to know who we are and who
he is
and finally the purpose of maturing
he wants us to develop spiritual muscles
and be able to run the race
let's consider now these three purposes individually
individually
and find out how they help us in the
suffering of life
verses one through four of Hebrews 12
here's his first purpose the purpose of
enduring he wants to keep us going
now the book of Hebrews was written to
the Hebrews I can still remember hearing
Dr Donald gray barnhouse say when he
taught the book of Hebrews
the book of Hebrews was written to the
Hebrews to tell them to quit being Hebrews
Hebrews
because the people to whom this book was
sent were in danger of doing what the
Jewish Nation had done for centuries go back
no sooner had God delivered the Jewish
Nation from
the land of Egypt and they wanted to go back
back
they crossed the Red Sea they saw the
Egyptian soldiers sinking in the Red Sea
they sang that great song there at the
edge of the Red Sea they turned around
and headed toward the promised land and
then they got hungry
and they got thirsty and they began to
murmur and complain and said oh that we
had stayed in Egypt oh that we were
still by the flesh parts of Egypt
oh that we still had the leaks and the
onions and the garlic they forgot the
bondage they forgot the whips they
forgot the long hours and the heavy burdens
they wanted to go back
the theme of Hebrews is let us go on
let's keep going
so they wandered for some 40 years in
the wilderness until that generation of unbelievers
unbelievers
died off and God took the new generation
and entered into the Promised Land
no sooner they get into the Promised Land
Land
and they had some defeats
then they said oh that we had stayed on
the other side of the river
have you ever been like that
you've trusted the Lord and you've
you've been saved and now you're walking
with the Lord and you take some step of
faith and it gets to be difficult you
oh that I hadn't taken this promotion oh
ever talk like that well the book of
Hebrews is for you then
because the people he was writing to
were in danger well look at verse 3 of
getting weary and fainting in their mind
there is a spiritual weariness
there is a wrestling against the the
enemies of our soul and there are times
when not only is the body weary but
there are times when the mind is weary
and we faint in our hearts and we just
want to give up we say I can't lift one
more foot
I can't take one more step
and about that time
God says all right
I'll have to chase in you
the Christian Life cannot stand still
I've heard people say you know I'm
standing still in my Christian Life and
of course we know they are not because
the book of Hebrews says I want you to
move forward looking unto Jesus run that
race keep going keep going keep going he
gives us this experience of chastening
for enduring now this word patience in
verse 1 is the word endurance
the same as the word endure in verse 2
and down in verse three it's used again
in the later verses verse 7.
it's a difficult thing to endure
I tell you if you're living the kind of
a Christian Life God wants you to live
there are difficulties you're running
the race and there are difficulties
and you're wrestling against the devil
verse 3 he talks about how the Lord had
to endure contradiction of Sinners how
the Lord had to endure the cross look at
verse 2 he endured the cross verse 3 he
endured the contradiction and if we're
following in his steps we have to endure
the word endure means to keep on going
doesn't mean to put up with something it
means to keep on going in spite of something
the greatest heroes in the world today
do not always have their pictures in the
Hall of Fame
you won't find their names in the card
catalogs of the library
the greatest heroes in the world today
are those quiet Christians who endure
they endure crosses they endure
contradiction they are resisting against
sin and they want to keep on going
now how does chastening help us well
verse 1 says that when the Lord chastens
us he gets gets rid of the hindrances in
our lives
chastening is not always sickness
chastening is not always physical
Affliction sometimes it is
but verse 1 says God wants to get rid of
the weights
a friend of mine was visiting
an ancient Museum
over in the
in Asia Minor
and the guide was showing them the
various things in the cases and he saw
and he said to the guy what are those
things there he said they're weights
well I said what are they for oh he said
those were used by the Greek runners
whenever they trained for their Races
they would either carry these weights or
have them on them so that when they were
off they felt lighter
you've seen the baseball players do this
when they're about to step up to to bat
they'll pick up three or four bats and
swing them around and then they'll pick
up their favorite bat and it feels as
light as a feather and they can strike
and my friend my friend made a little
notation in his Minds that's Hebrews
chapter 12.
what a fool a runner would be to carry
the weights
some of us have a hard time running
because we are carrying the weight
God has to chasten us to get out of our
Lives not necessarily sins
but hindrances
there are things in our lives that keep
us from making progress and from enduring
enduring
and so God has to come and Chase in us
and say I'm taking that away for you but
Lord that hurts I'm taking it away
I want you to endure and the only way
you're going to keep on going is to get
rid of that he talks about the sin which
so easily besets us that Greek phrase
just simply means it gets caught in our
legs and we can't run
it's like poor lioness with his blanket
when he tries to run around the bases he
can't make it
you can't run the race wearing that
which is going to entangle your feet
so God has to chasten us and get us to
get rid of those entanglements I'm sure
that many of us right now have things in
our lives that could not be called sins
they aren't dealt with in the Ten
Commandments or The Sermon on the Mount
but they are things in our lives that
weight us down and we can't run like we
should they are things that entangle our
feet they're keeping us from making
progress and my friend if we don't make
progress we go backward
and so God says all right I've got to
chase in you
I've got to chase in you get rid of that
now chastening also helps us to endure
by reminding us to trust the Lord more
looking unto Jesus
I don't know about you but when God's
chastening hand comes to my life I
instantly look up
I say Lord he said you should have said
Lord good to hear you say that son
looking unto Jesus keep your eye on
Jesus you can't run the race looking at
Chief Indoor Sport of most Christians
when you read Christian periodicals you
wonder if they ever do look to Jesus
they're looking at everything else
they're finding out what's wrong with
this one and what's wrong with that one
and my Bible says look look to Jesus
that's how your Christian life started
you look to him look unto me and be you
saved all the ends of the Earth that's
how the whole thing got started you look
to Jesus
that's how the whole thing continues
just keep looking to him by faith and
when you think you can't go one further
step you say oh he went the whole way
for me
he's the author of my faith that word
author means pioneer he's the pioneer of
my faith he's the Perfecter of my faith
he's the alpha he's the Omega being
confident of this very thing that he
that hath begun the good work will also
perform it complete it
so when God chastens us he forces us to
look to Christ and trust him
more than that when our Lord chastens us
it forces us to remember what he's done
for others Hebrews chapter 11 we're
surrounded by this great cloud of witnesses
witnesses
and you say oh I can't give up this or
that Abraham did I can't give my son my
daughter to the Lord Abraham did
I can't give up that good job to serve
I can't lay down my life for him
I can't walk into that dim future
Joshua did
when you read Hebrews chapter 11 you
realize that God enabled other people to
keep on going there were days when Moses
wanted to quit when he wanted to die
there were days when Abraham was ready
to fold up his tent and leave
there were times when Joshua fell on his
face before God
and didn't want to keep going and God
kept them going
that's the first purpose for chastening
it doesn't mean God's punishing us it
means God wants us to endure it's for
the purpose of enduring he wants us to
keep going
and he removes the hindrances
now the second purpose for chastening is
for the purpose of not just enduring but
assuring verses five through eight
you see when you and I find ourselves in
trouble in difficulty in suffering Satan
comes and says aha you must not be saved
things are rough
The Lord Is chastening You
and Satan says well if your father loved
you this would never have happened and
the answer is no it happened because my
father does love me
you see we who have
been parents know the children have to
be chastened
it's not a judge punishing a criminal it
is a loving father perfecting a child
in fact many of the juvenile delinquents
that I have worked with in Years Gone by
have confessed to me that their parents
did not discipline them and they didn't
really believe their parents loved them
I don't know if you've ever noticed that
a child usually after being disciplined
loves you more
and I would hope that our children could
say to us father mother thank you for
loving me too much to let me have my own way
way
thank you in love you put some fences up
and you said this far and no farther
kept me from being confused in a world
that has no fences
and so God chastens us for the purpose
of assuring he wants to keep us knowing
I tell you my friend if you can continue
rebelling against God and God doesn't
spank you it's a sign you've never been
born again
I didn't say that the writer said that
he says every father chastens his own
son God chastens every son that he
receives and if you aren't chastened
it's evidence that you are an
illegitimate child I've often felt like
spanking the neighbor's children but I
didn't dare do it
I don't doubt that the neighbors may
have at times want to spank my children
they didn't dare do it
but God spanks his children it's an
evidence that we are really saved whom
the Lord loves he chastens
it's an evidence that he loves us you
see we Christians get such strange ideas
we think that when difficulty comes it's
a sign that God doesn't love us
and children sometimes are this way all
of us have heard little children say you
and mother says I do love you I love you
so much it hurts
and you don't believe this but it hurts
me more than it hurts you when I spank you
you
here's David David came home from the
battle one day
took off his armor it's always a
dangerous thing take off your armor
his eyes got to wandering he saw his
neighbor's wife he got involved with his
neighbor's wife
one sin led to another
and David covered the whole thing up and
God said David I'm going to have to
spank you
I can't permit you to live in
and so God proved his love to David by
chastening him reading Psalm 32 read
Psalm 51 find out what happened to David
during that year when he tried to cover
up his sin God said to him I love you
too much for that to happen and he had
to chase him
God does not want any pampered children
sometimes he rebukes us
sometimes he scourges us
but he's never going to leave us to ourselves
ourselves
there's a cross-reference here that we
ought to look at I think it's over in
First Corinthians chapter 11.
where Paul's been talking about the sins
in the Corinthian Church
verse 30 because of the way they have
been disobeying God for this cause many
are weak and sickly among you and many sleep
sleep
now the indication there is that some of
God's people were going through sickness
and weakness and some of them had died
because of God's chastening now this
keep your place there in First
Corinthians 11 listen to what it says in
verse 9 of Hebrews 12. we have had
fathers of the flesh who corrected us
shall we not much rather be in
subjection unto the father of spirits
and live
the suggestion is if we're not in
subjection to the father we may not live
there is a sin unto death
back to First Corinthians 11.
for if we would judge ourselves we
should not be judged but when we are
judged we are chastened of the Lord
that we should not be condemned with the world
world
and so God chastens us for the purpose
of enduring to keep us going and for the
purpose of assuring to keep us knowing
knowing what knowing that we're his
children and knowing that he loves us
and knowing that he would rather see us dead
dead
than deliberately flagrantly disobeying
his will and bringing disgrace to his name
now there's a third purpose for his chastening
chastening
he chastens us for the purpose of
maturing verses 9 through 13.
not only does God want to keep us going
and not only does God want to keep us
knowing but God wants to keep us growing
that's the whole theme of Hebrews let us
go on the key here is sonship back in
verse 5.
my son despise not the Lord God speaks
unto you as Sons over here in verse 7
god dealeth with you as with sons that
what he says in verse 9 is rather
obvious he said we had Earthly fathers
who chastened us and we obeyed them
shouldn't we obey our heavenly father
our Earthly fathers were fathers of the flesh
flesh
but our heavenly father is the father of
our spirit we've been born again through
the spirit of God our Earthly fathers
chastened US during childhood until we
grew up but our heavenly father chastens
us all during our lives he knows how
easy it is for us to slip back we never
get to the place in our spiritual lives
where we do not need the chastening of
the Lord
about the time we come to that place
where we think we don't need his
chastening we really need it
our Earthly fathers chastened us as it
seemed good to them and many times they
made mistakes I am sure there were times
I chastened my children for things they
didn't do
but your heavenly father never is that
way he chastens us with perfect
knowledge he knows all about us he knows
how much we can take he knows what we
have done he sees the thoughts and the
motives of our hearts our Earthly
parents chastened us for what we did
outwardly but God sees what we think and
what we are inwardly
our Earthly parents
dealt only with conduct
but God deals with character and God
says I want you to grow up
I want you to mature nobody ever matured
in the Christian Life apart from chastening
chastening
Abraham suffered Moses suffered not
because of their sins but that God might
help them mature
Joseph you'll forgive me for saying this
but I believe it Joseph was somewhat of
a spoiled brat
when he was sold by his brothers he was
being pampered by his father and had
Joseph stayed with Jacob he would have
become a spoiled kid and God said I got
better things in store for you and
Joseph became a servant Joseph became a
prisoner God spent 13 years chastening
Joseph to make a king out of him
took him out of the playpen put him on
the throne took him 13 years but he didn't
didn't
and God wants to do that with you and me
the trouble is we won't respond the way
we're supposed to
did you ever watch a child who's being
Spain to fights and the more he fights
the worse it gets
I have an evangelist friend who has a
great host of homey illustrations
that some of you won't understand
because you were born 30 years too late
but some of us can remember when mother
or dad would use a stick
to spank us now my dad used to use his
belt he had the fastest belt
and um but on the farm where I did not
grow up but on the farm they'd send the
kid out and let them cut a switch
and my evangelist friend who grew up on
the farm said my mother send me up to
get a switch and I'd go out and cut a
switch and she'd check it out she was
all right and she started with me and
he's I noticed something
the closer I got to her
that's good theology the closer you get
to the Father the less it's going to
hurt that's why he whips us sometimes
he says you're straying away You're
rebelling you're doing it your way and I
want to bring you back and the only way
now what are we supposed to do well
there's some people who treat all this
very lightly verse 5 despise not thou
the chastening the Lord don't take it lightly
lightly
there's the Other Extreme there are
those who faint they say oh I'm done for
here are two extremes despising it
fading under it he said no don't do that
I want you to exercise yourself under it
verse 11. it yields the Peaceable fruit
of righteousness to them who are
exercised by it spiritual exercise those
who endure those who are subjected to
the Lord the whole word the whole
secrets in verse 9 we gave our Earthly
fathers reverence let's show reverence
to our Heavenly Father let's respect him
we were in subjection to our Earthly
fathers let's be in subjection to the
father of our Spirits why does God
chasten that he might mature us what is
the first evidence of maturity loving
loving
of course the result of all of this is uh
uh
for our Prophet verse 10. God chastens
us for our Prophet that we might be
partakers of his Holiness that we might
have a deeper walk with God Holiness
doesn't come from reading a book
Holiness comes from walking with the Lord
verse 11. there's no joy but afterward
there's joy afterward there's fruit
afterward there's peace afterward
there's righteousness afterward there's
new strength in your spiritual muscles
because you've been exercised
afterward those two words are tremendous
nevertheless afterward but Lord It's So
Hard ah but afterward I can't keep going
so don't faint don't despise it rather exercise
exercise
endure or submit respect
and the result will be spiritual maturity
some of the sufferings of Life come
directly from the hand of God
therefore the purpose of
therefore the purpose of assuring he
wants to keep you knowing
that he loves you
and for the purpose of maturing he wants
to keep you growing
he wants to build into us the kind of
grown-up character that glorifies him
therefore despise not the chastening of
the Lord and don't faint when you're
rebuked of him
for whom the Lord loveth he chastes and
he scourges every son that he receives
let's be in submission to hear
though we don't always understand let's
bow before him and say great father
loving father
here I am
we're thankful Our Father
Jesus purchased us we are not cheap
and you would not have us to experience
May the character that you build into
our lives be strong and deep holy
holy
May there be no duplicity in our lives
may we have that kind of mature integrity
integrity
that you can bless
I pray for any of your children today
I pray father you'll give them the grace
to endure
speak to them through the word
and assure them
and through it all mature them
to become more like Christ
I pray for those here without the Savior
who've never been born again
that they might come and become children
oh Father how wonderful it is to know
that you love us that when your hand
touches us
it is the Touch of Love
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