965. The Chastening of God’s Children

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina.

The school was founded in 1927 by the evangelist Dr. Bob Jones Sr. His intent was to make a school where the focus would be on Christ, so he established daily chapel services. Today, that tradition continues with fervent biblical preaching from the University Chapel Platform. Today on The Daily Platform, Dr. Steve Pettit, long-time evangelist and now president of Bob Jones University, is continuing a study series entitled Run the Race, which is a study of the book of Hebrews chapter 12. Let's now listen to today's message, where Steve will show us the loving discipline that God sometimes must use on his children. I'm going to ask you if you'll take your Bibles and turn with me please to the book of Hebrews chapter 12.

This morning, I'm going to ask a favor of you. As I look at the messages that I'm going to preach as I'm preaching through Hebrews 12, it's hard for me to say this is the most important over this particular sermon because it's God's word and it's always important. But sometimes a sermon is more practical and applicational at a particular time than other messages. We've been walking through this whole idea of running the race, the Christian life of faith, of perseverance. But what I'm going to give you this morning I believe might be the most important and practically applicable message.

I think they all will be, but I think this might be the one. So I'm going to ask you to do your very, very best to listen and pay careful attention to what I want to talk about this morning. And let me begin with an illustration. Between my freshman and sophomore years of college, I worked in Columbia, South Carolina for a moving company called Beacon Van Lines. So we would go and pack up homes and pack up trailers and 18 wheel truck and trailer and then ship and move furniture from one location to another location. And so I would work all day long and at the end of the day I would drive over to the University of South Carolina and about six o'clock every single day we would spend about two hours playing soccer. One day I had a fellow come to me and said, hey, we're going to go down to the College of Charleston this weekend and we're going to play in a scrimmage match against the College of Charleston. Would you go with us?

And I said, sure. So we drove down on a Friday afternoon and what I didn't realize was that we were actually playing indoor soccer. I thought we were playing outdoor. And so we were playing on a hardcore wooden floor at the College of Charleston gym. I'd never played indoor soccer before, always outside.

And so we were playing in a match and it was, you know, it was a fun game. And I went up to head the ball and I missed the ball and a cross. And when I came down, I came down and I sort of slammed into a body of a guy and then I fell over to my left and my left ankle was turned in like this and I landed on my left ankle. In those days I weighed about 195 pounds. You say, how much do you weigh this morning?

None of your business, but I weighed 195. And as soon as my foot hit the floor, I heard a pop and an incredible pain shot up my leg. And I fell on the floor and I grabbed my ankle and I went down my ankle and the bone went out and came back in.

I said, that's not very good. Well, eventually I ended up in the Baptist hospital in Columbia, South Carolina. I had ankle surgery. I had my left side of my ankle. I had to put pins in because I had a spiral fracture on the right side of my ankle.

I had the ligaments torn and I ended up in a cast for nine weeks and I was out of the whole season of my sophomore year of college and playing soccer. And when I woke up at the Baptist hospital after surgery, back in those days, they left a Bible for every patient and I picked up the Bible and almost immediately I knew I had broken my leg. I had been a Christian for about four or five months. I was saved my freshman year.

This is between my freshman sophomore years. And immediately I realized at that time that I was going through what is called a chastening experience. That I was definitely a Christian, but I could say it this way in simple terms.

I had one foot in the church and one foot in the world and I really was not fully committed and surrendered to the Lord. The passage of scripture we're getting ready to read is a passage that deals with the way God chastens His people. And I want to talk to you this morning about the chastening of God's children because I think we often have a misunderstanding of what it means. Thus far we've been talking about running a race and now the writer of Hebrews shifts and now he goes into using family terms. And as we read Hebrews 12 verses five through eight this morning, I want you to notice that the word sons is mentioned five times and the word chastening is mentioned five times.

So let's read it and then try to unpack it and understand what it is that we're going through in our own personal lives. We read beginning in verse five where he says these words, 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 patakers, then you are bastards and not sons. So it's really clear that the writer here is talking about the subject of chastening. So here we are, we're in this theme of Hebrews about running the race, the race that is set before us persevering, enduring, sticking it out, and then he shifts it into this concept of chastening.

But when you see it, you'll understand that endurance is really basically foundational to what God is doing in our lives. So let me ask three questions this morning and try to answer them. First of all, what do we mean by chastening? Now when you think of chastening, what do you think of? A positive or a negative idea?

What do you think of? Well, let me ask you a question. When you get a spanking, when you got a spanking grow up, how many of you were spanked when you were growing up?

Okay, everybody here, okay. Was that a positive or a negative experience at the time? I like what the little boy said when somebody asked him, does your mama spank you? Yes sir. Does your daddy spank you? Yes sir.

Which one hurts the most? I do sir. So we all understand that. So when we think of chastening, we actually think of it naturally, naturally in the idea of some form of punishment or some form of judgment on God's people. And we think that way because it's a natural way for us to think about God, but actually that's not what chastening is all about. When you study the Bible carefully and you understand the cross, what you come to understand is that when Jesus died on the cross, He suffered the full punishment for our sins. God's judgment, God's condemnation, God's wrath against sin, the wages of sin is death, was paid for when Jesus died on the cross. So Jesus took the full weight of God's penalty. So we could say it this way, the death of Jesus was a penal sacrifice. He suffered the penalty so that when He said on the cross, it is finished, that means the penalty will never be paid for again by the believer. So whatever happens in your life, it is not a punishment. Because God is not punishing His children in the sense of a retribution or a rejection. God is not going to reject you.

What shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus? So what then is chastening? It is not a form of punishment that leads to rejection, it's actually a proof of God's love.

It's a proof of His acceptance. Because the word chastening, I'd like to use some other words because you'll understand it better. The word chastening means training. Or it means learning. Or it means instruction.

And in some cases with instruction, there is correction. Alright now, let me give you some verses in the Bible that uses the same word that is used in Hebrews for chastening, but it's translated differently in English in various verses. Let me read you five verses.

Listen real carefully. Acts 7-22, speaking of Moses. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and deeds. The word learned is the word chastening. Do you think of chastening as that way?

Well maybe if you're sitting in calculus class, yes. But the fact is that when you are learning, you're being instructed, you're actually being chastened. That's the idea of the word.

Alright, here's another one. Acts 22-3. And Paul says, I am verily a man which am a Jew born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet I'm brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers. The word taught there is the word chastening. And Paul's describing how he sat at the feet of the Rabbi Gamaliel and that's where he learned. He learned from him. And literally his teaching was chastening.

Alright, here's another one. Ephesians 6-4. And you fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. The word nurture is word chastening. So the raising of children, the caring for children, that nurturing process is actually the word chastening. 2 Timothy 3-16.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. The word instruction is the word chastening. So if you're learning, if you're being taught, if you're being nurtured, if you are being instructed, then the biblical idea is the idea of chastening. One other word.

One other time. Titus 2-11. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us, chastening us, that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. So here Paul says that the grace of God teaches us a positive and a negative.

We're to live righteously, soberly, and godly in this world and we're to deny ungodly lust and we're to deny worldliness. Okay? That whole idea of that teaching, he uses the word chastening. So what is involved in chastening? Education. Instruction. Protection. Correction. It's like going to school.

Bob Jones University. The whole process of education is a process of chastening. And it's primarily a positive idea because through it, through chastening, what do you do? You mature.

You grow. You become a different person. So whether it's protection or whether it's instruction or whether it's correction, it's all a form of chastening.

So let's put it all together. The writer of Hebrews is showing us that the Heavenly Father has an educational program or a training program. For example, some of you are going to graduate and go in for your masters. And let's say your masters degree is in engineering. Or your masters degree is in PT school, physical therapy. Or your masters degree is in, is in speech therapy. Or perhaps your masters degree is a master of divinity as you prepare for the ministry.

That whole process of training and going through that school, that's the idea of chastening. And what Hebrews is teaching us is that God has us in a training program. And what does He take us through to train us? Go back and look at Hebrews 12 verse 7. It says these words, if you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons.

That phrase, if you endure chastening, is translated in the ESV, and I think it makes clear a sense there, that it is for the purpose of chastening that you are having to endure. In other words, as you go through this perseverance, this sticking it out, this endurance, this staying with it, okay, that's the way God trains His children. So here you are, you're in week like six or seven here at Bob Jones University.

It's totally different than the first week. You're in an endurance stage. You're having to stick it out.

You're having to continue on, even when you don't feel like it. And this endurance, which is, which is your will making choices, your mind making your choices, overcoming your emotions, sticking with it, staying with it, all of that is a part of God's process of training you. So when you endure trials and hardships, it is for the purpose of discipline. And this is exactly what Hebrews says Jesus did. Listen to what it says, Jesus learned obedience by the things which He suffered. He was made perfect or mature through His sufferings.

Now think with me, if that's the way that Jesus matured, then what about you and I? You and I are going to go through the same experience. So we should resolve to be faithful, to finish what we start, no matter how difficult it is to stay with it, to endure, because endurance is the process by which God is training His own children. So if you want to be an engineer, you got to go through this. If you want to be a doctor, you got to go through this. If you want to be an architect, you have to go through this. If you want to be a spiritually mature Christian, you have to go through this. That's what He's saying.

Now I don't know where you are, but I remember learning this at your age and I remember how helpful that was. That I expected the process that I was going through and that I was being, I was going through this struggle and yet I knew this was the way of the Lord. And that leads me to the second question. And that is, when does chastening then become a problem for believers? Because the fact is not a lot of, not all Christians are enduring.

Not all of them are sticking it out. And I think there's no question that chastening is a struggle and it's not a light or shallow struggle. Let me give you a quote.

I find this very interesting. It's written by C.S. Lewis in his book called The Problem of Pain. He said, mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also more hard to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden.

It's easier to say my tooth is aching than to say my heart is broken. However, in light of our struggle with chastening, the writer here does something. And I want you to go back and look at the text if you will. Verse five it says, it's actually a rebuke. He says, and you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks unto you as unto children. My son despised not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. What is the writer of Hebrews doing here? He's actually quoting Proverbs chapter three verses 11 and 12. What he's saying is, you guys are going through chastening, you're enduring, and you're being tempted to quit. And then he lovingly and kindly rebukes him.

And he says, hey guys, you have forgotten something. You forgot what Proverbs says. What does Proverbs say? It says don't despise the chastening of the Lord, don't faint when you are rebuked of him. What he is saying is that chastening becomes a problem for Christians when they fail to consider the truth that chastening is a clear sign of God's love. When you are going through this hard process, it's not a form of rejection, it's actually a form of acceptance. That God actually loves you.

And why is this so important? Because God's love is to be the governing response of our heart. God's love is the lens through which I see these events in my life.

I see it through the love of God. I like what the little boy said one day when his daddy said, son, I'm spanking you because I love you. The little boy said, dad, I wish I was old enough to return my love.

It's really hard when you're in a difficult spot to see that God loves you because at the moment you may not feel the emotion. My wife said to me one day, sweetheart, do you love me? I said, of course I love you. She said, why do you love me?

I said, because the Bible tells me to. Now that's not overly romantic, but it actually helps because love is not an emotion that goes up and down. When you get married, you say you love each other, but it's more like you really like each other a whole bunch. You like each other.

Like you like hot dogs and hamburgers and shopping. But how long are you married before you discover things about each other you don't like? And that's where love kicks in. When you and I are going through difficult times, it's not a testimony that God doesn't love us. It's a testimony that he does. But there are often on our behalf, there are wrong responses.

And what are the wrong responses? Go back and look at what he says in verse five. He says, my son, don't despise the chastening of the Lord and don't faint when you're rebuked of him. There are two negative responses to chastening. And please listen to me very carefully.

Please listen to what I'm about to say. The first negative response that we all are guilty of is that we despise his chastening. What does it mean to despise? It means to treat something in a light way, a small matter. And generally we do this through negative reactions.

For example, when things are hard, what is the most natural thing to do? The most natural thing to do is to complain. And when you complain, listen to me, look at me with your eyeballs. Look at me. Look at me. I'm talking to you.

Look at me this morning. If you complain, then you are shutting down God's love in your life. Because what you're really saying God is that you've made a mistake.

You really messed up. Because I should not be experiencing this, but I am. Therefore I'm complaining against your providences. When in reality, what that is is God's way of showing you his love because through this you are enduring and through this you are maturing. And some of you, bless your heart, have never learned that what comes out of your mouth is a revelation of your heart. Some of you are the biggest gripers on planet earth and you should be ashamed of yourself.

Because you're despising God's providences. Some of you get irritated. Some of you are so irritable. Every little thing bothers you. And you complain and you gripe about this and about this. Why don't you just be quiet?

Shut up. Close your mouth and use your brain and remember what God says. For whom the Lord loves, he chastens. God is using this in your life, but you cannot despise it. How do we despise it? When we live with constant confusion because we cannot see God's purposes in design.

You know what? You may not always see his purpose in design, but you can trust him that he is a good, good Father and then thank him. Lord, thank you. I don't understand. But Lord, I don't want my negative emotion of unbelief to overrule and control me. The second thing that we do is not only do we despise, but secondly we shut down emotionally. Nor faint when thou art rebuked of him.

The idea of fainting is losing your heart. It's getting discouraged. What's the number one problem with college students today? The number one problem is mental illness. When I talk about mental illness, I'm not saying there's something wrong with your brain. I'm talking about the five primary things that are often mentioned in mental illness like depression, anxiety, going through eating disorders, substance abuses, ADD, OCD, all of those things. And if you'll look at the core of almost all of those problems that people face mentally, it's actually rooted in fear. That's what depression is all about. That's what anxiety is primarily about. And what is it the Bible says deals with fear?

Perfect love casteth out all fear. When you and I go through things where we struggle with being depressed, what is the answer of God for whom the Lord loveth? He's taking you through this training process. God intends for us to constantly reflect on His love. And when you and I shut down emotionally, it is that we have failed to remember that God loves us.

So let me finish quickly this morning and that is what is the proper attitude towards chastening? My time is very limited, but here the writer tells us basically that there's a positive attitude. And that is if you endure chastening, if you stick it out, if you understand this, then God is dealing with you as with sons for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? Here he's saying that God treats you as a father, that He loves you when you go through these hard times. So hard times are testimony of God's love. It's not a testimony of God's rejection.

It means that God loves you. But secondly, there's a negative point here and that is if you never undergo discipline, then it means you're not God's son. But if you are without chastisement where of all are partakers then are you bastards and not sons, you're an illegitimate child.

That son is not disciplined by his own father. I have two boys. Did I discipline them as they were growing up? Yes.

Do I love them? Yes. Did I discipline somebody else's boys?

No. They're not mine. But God disciplines His own. And so what are we to do when we go through these struggles? We are to learn how to counsel ourselves. Do you know that you have the ability to counsel yourself? It's called talking to yourself. Everybody in this room talks to yourself. You ever watched anybody talk to themselves?

They're walking down the street. You do it all the time. You wake up, your mind starts talking to yourself. Now you can do one of two things. Either you can listen to your own heart, which is a recipe for disaster.

Because what comes out of your heart is sinful or you can listen to God's word by telling yourself God's word. And there are three things that you need to tell yourself. Number one, the first thing you need to tell yourself since God is chasing me is number one, I'm God's child. That's the first thing you tell yourself.

Can you say that this morning? Say it with me. I am God's child. Say it like you really are.

Ready? I am God's child. I'm a child of God. I'm a child of God. Number two, God loves me. Would you say that this morning?

Say it. God you love me. Now if you listen to your heart, you're going to say I don't feel like God loves me. Well your heart's lying. The heart is deceitful.

You lie to yourself. And then number three, God is changing me for good. Can you say that? God is changing me for good. I am God's child. Say it. God loves me. Say it. God is changing me for good.

Say it. Then what do you do? You're giving yourself counsel. Don't believe your heart. Believe God's truth that will never lie to you. And how we are going through this endurance process.

Why? Because God is training us. That's what chastening is. God is training us because he's maturing us and growing us. If you could just get this. If you could just say okay, I get it. And I believe it.

It'll change your life. Father thank you for your word. Thank you that you love us. Thank you God that we are your children. And thank you God that you're changing us for good. In Jesus' name, Amen. You've been listening to a sermon from Hebrews 12 by Dr. Steve Pettit, president of Bob Jones University. For more information on Dr. Pettit's series, visit our website, thedailyplatform.com, where you can get a copy of Steve's study booklet entitled Run the Race. A Kindle version is also available. Thanks again for listening. Join us again next week as we study God's Word together on The Daily Platform.