Well, our Bibles are open now to Hebrews chapter 12. Continuing on where we left off a couple weeks ago. In fact, I'm going to read verses. one through six to refresh our memory of what has taken place so far, as we have moved into the 12th chapter of the book of Hebrews. Therefore, we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, Let us lay aside every weight.
and the sin which so easily ensnares us And let us run with endurance 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 has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself. Lest you become weary. and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. And You have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons.
My son, Do not despise the chastening of the Lord. nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him. For whom the Lord loves, he chastens. and scourges every son, whom he receives. And thus we are reminded that Hebrews chapter 12 opens by pointing us back.
to chapter 11. Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, that is, All of those key roles of faith that we looked at one by one going through chapter 11. Who believed the promises of God and lived according to His Word, honored Him in their lives, accomplished amazing things because of their faith in the promises of God. But more importantly than anything, they persevered in righteousness and holiness all the way to the end. By faith.
And now we are pointed back to them and saying, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses or such a great, great number of testifiers who have testified. that the promises of God are true. and that it is possible to serve the Lord. According to His word and with the help that He grants to us, And seeing we're compassed about, we're surrounded by such a great cloud of testifiers to this wonderful fact, let us lay hold of the promises of God. and live according to his word as well.
And so, pointing to the Hebrews of Faith of chapter 11. The writer of Hebrews then follows that by an exhortation for us to run the race of life well. Our life, in many respects, is like a race, it's like a marathon. It takes a lot of energy, a lot of endurance, a lot of intentionality, a lot of purpose. A lot of commitment.
And we will get worry along the way and we'll be tempted to drop out, but don't do that. Don't do that. Lay aside the weight. And the sin which so easily besets us, and run with endurance the race that is said before us. And so we find help for this task by looking to the Examples that are given to us in chapter 11, but even more.
by looking under Jesus, the perfect example. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, the great goal that his heavenly Father had set before him of redeeming a people unto himself, he endured the cross. He despised the shame. He went through it all. And now he has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
What a reminder. And that takes us up, therefore, to this question. about Obstacles of running this race, namely the sufferings of life. which can be so difficult. and can be so prone to knock us off the course.
to get us off track. to get our eyes off of Jesus, to stop trusting God's word. And so we're not surprised, therefore, that verses 3 through 11, or even perhaps one or two verses beyond that, depending on how you look at it, deal with this very question. How should we view the sufferings of Life. In fact, the title of my sermon today is Punishment or training.
What are these sufferings? Are they punishments? Or are they Child training. for the child of God. And that's what we have to understand clearly.
And we need to understand, and I'll just say this right up front. We need to understand these sufferings not as judgments for sin. Why? Because Christ already bore the judgment for our sins, all of them. Forever.
There's nothing left for us to pay. in respect to the great debt of sin. that we owe. That's already been paid for us in Jesus Christ.
So we must never view these sufferings as judgments for sin, but rather as child training. And if we understand it that way, that makes a tremendous difference in the way that we face the trials. of life. And so we will begin by examining verses 5 and 6 today, even though this topic of child training extends on beyond that. But this will get us into that topic.
Verses 5 and 6. and we shall see first of all two significant realities Secondly, the correct view of suffering and third, and encouraging understanding of suffering. Two significant realities, and we actually tiptoe back into verse 4 to pick up the first one. And then we begin with our formal text for today and verse five for the second one. But the two significant realities that we need to keep in mind about suffering is: number one, Our suffering is lighter than we imagine.
It always seems great when we're going through it. In fact, it often seems greater than Anything that's ever happened to anybody when we're going through our particular sufferings. But our suffering is lighter than we imagine, verse four. And our response to suffering tends to be misinformed. Verse five.
And just verse 4, a reminder. You The write of Hebrew says to the Hebrew Christians, You have not. resisted to bloodshed striving against sin. In other words, You have not suffered as much as you could. Many of those in Hebrews chapter 11.
died for their faith. in the promises of God. You haven't died. You're still living. You've been through some difficult trials, but you haven't gone that far.
You haven't yet suffered bloodshed for the cause of Christ, for your identity as a Christian. That hasn't happened to you yet. Yes, you've suffered a great deal, but you haven't suffered martyrdom. and therefore they had not suffered as much as it was possible for them to. And that's what what they needed to remember.
Your sufferings, though they seem great, they're not as bad as they could be.
So keep that in mind. Our sufferings are lighter than we imagine. And we need to keep that in mind, even as the writer of Hebrews wanted the people he was writing to to keep these things in mind. Your suffering is not as bad as it could be. And you know that's true.
No matter what you are suffering, you can always, if you'll look around, you can always find somebody else whose suffering is greater.
So you're suffering, whatever it is. I think maybe the Lord brought this. hip thing this week to Helped me think very deeply about the text that I was dealing with and preparing for today. The suffering seems really Painful, and it is, but it's not nearly as bad. is what others are suffering today.
And we all know that, but we have to be reminded of it. In fact, this reminds us that suffering unto death is a real possibility for a child of God. It is a reasonable possibility for a child of God. I was reading on something on the Internet recently. about um a reporter for I think it was for This um This group that was founded by By uh Eric The guy who got shot.
My mind is kind of going blank on me now, but you know who I'm talking about. And um Turning point USA. and a reporter for Turning Point USA. decided to go to one of these Protest Things that are not. that are taking place all the time and got got mauled, got knocked down, got beat up, got hurt.
And uh Could hardly get the police to do anything about it. They seemed to only be interested in.
Well, never mind what they were interested in. But anyway. But the amazing thing was She got up and um nursed her wounds for a while and then turned right around and Went again to another one, went again to another one, and the person that was interviewing her said, Why do you do that? It's so dangerous. And she said, Because I've decided.
that the rescue of my country is worth my life if necessary. And there are a lot of Christians that would shy away from the idea of thinking that laying down their life for Christ is an honorable thing to do. But it is an honorable thing to do, and it is sometimes a necessary thing to do. And think how many. Of our Christian forebears have laid down their lives for Christ, it's not unreasonable for a Christian to do that.
Look to our example. The author and finisher of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, a cruel death. Why? Because that was the right thing to do, it was the necessary thing to do. And some of us may be called upon for that.
And when you look at it in that light, What's a little pain in the hip compared to Death upon the cross, or some other cruel torture unto death. It's not, your suffering is not as bad as it could be. It's not as bad as we may think it is. And it's certainly, the Bible assures us, not more than we can bear with God's help. No testing.
No suffering. is greater than you are Able to bear. God will not, the Bible promises us. Test us above that you are able to bear and will, with the testing, provide a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. What a testimony, what a promise that we need to lean upon.
So, number one, in two significant realities. Our suffering is lighter than we usually imagine. And number two, our response to suffering tends to be misinformed. And that gets us to verse 5 in this quotation from Proverbs. Verse 5, and you have forgotten.
The exhortation which speaks to you as to sons. My son? Do not despise the chastening of the Lord. Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him. For whom the Lord loves, he chastens and scourges every son.
whom he receives. This quotation, Old Testament quotation, as we know, is from Proverbs chapter 3, because we just read it. a little bit earlier in the service. A well-known text, no doubt, to those at this author, human author, is writing this book to. The book of Hebrews.
You remember it was written to Jewish Believers in Christ who were being persecuted, and because of their persecution, were being tempted to turn back to the Old Covenant because their friends and neighbors and Jewish community were not offended by that, not by any means. They were offended by their clinging to Christ and becoming members of the New Covenant community. And that's why they were suffering. And so their sufferings were causing them to reconsider maybe we just ought to go back. And this whole book is written to say, don't go back.
You can't go back. There's no longer any salvation back there.
Now that Christ has come. There was before he came, but there's no salvation possible under the terms of the old covenant. It's all in Christ. Don't you dare go back. as they were tempted to do.
And so there's this Old Testament quotation from Proverbs, which because they were Jewish people, they would no doubt have been thoroughly familiar with. If this were a Gentile congregation, some might say, hmm, I haven't heard that scripture before. Not these folks. They'd read it, they'd heard it, they knew it. But had forgotten.
Had forgotten what it said, had forgotten to apply it to their lives. Familiar though it was, they were forgetting it at this particular time when they were enduring sufferings.
So this word. My son? Well, back to the beginning of verse 5, and you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as sons. You have forgotten it. Or The Greek construction could just as accurately be translated as a question.
Have you forgotten? The exhortation, which speaks to you as sons, that's so important. Don't miss that last part. It it's the sun relationship that's so important here. And so here's something they knew but had forgotten.
It is from Proverbs. It is the wisdom of Solomon.
Some people treat the Proverbs more lightly than other sections of Scripture because, after all, it's not quite so theologically dense and so forth. That's true, it's not, but it's very practical and. Keep in mind, it doesn't matter how you view it as to its relative value, it's the Word of God. It's the inspired word of God. This isn't Benjamin Franklin.
This isn't uh Poor Richard's almanac. Marty and I were able to go see the The film, um A great awakening that is in some of the theaters now. How many of you have seen that? A few of you. I would highly recommend it.
I haven't been in a theater for decades. But I would go in a heartbeat to see that one again. It is amazing. And it's all about. George Whitfield and Benjamin Franklin.
And it's quite a quite a Interesting story, and I think for the most part accurate. You won't probably notice any inaccuracies, but I've read quite a bit about the life of Whitfield, so I do know a few things that perhaps were a little liberties we're taken with, but my, it is a wonderful, wonderful treatment of that time in American history. And Benjamin Franklin, in fact, the the film uh writers leave the impression that he Became a believer at the end. They don't say so outright. I don't think that's probably true, but I can tell you he was tremendously impacted by the life and the ministry.
the preaching and the spirit of George Whitfield. And but what I'm saying is The book of Proverbs. Is not poor Richard's almanac, as helpful as some of those sayings, pithy sayings and Proverbs may be. It is that, but it's more than that. It is the infallible word of God.
So don't treat Proverbs lightly. Consider it seriously. It's practical. I know people who read something from the book of Proverbs every day. I don't know that I would Consider it so much more valuable than other parts of God's word that I would.
That I would recommend that, but I wouldn't discourage it either. It's very practical, it'll really help you in your life if you'll take. what is said there and apply it. to your everyday living. And so this much-needed exhortation comes out of the book of Proverbs.
and it relates to all believers. My son Do not despise the chastening of the Lord. This exhortation. Which speaks to you as sons. That's what we need to keep in mind.
So that's two significant realities. Our suffering is lighter than we imagine. Our response to suffering tends to be misinformed. We tend to forget what this is all about. We tend to forget how God deals with his children.
All right, then we take up number two: the correct view of suffering. And that gets us into the quotation from Proverbs. My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord. Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him. What is the correct view of a Christian's suffering, therefore?
Number one is to view it in relationship to sonship. Don't Forget. the exhortation that is spoken to you as sons. My son. or daughter.
Forget not. Despise not the chastening of the Lord. It speaks to our privileged position. If you are a child of God, you are. most privileged above all people in this world.
There really are only two categories of people in the whole wide world. The world is not divided according to races, not properly viewed. There's only one race, it's the human race. The world is not divided according to ethnic groups and nationalities. The world is not divided according to Democrats and Republicans, although that's a great divide.
Greater than ever in our day. But the world is divided into two categories, saved and lost. children of God and children of the devil. And this exhortation speaks to those who are children of God. It speaks to you who are sons and daughters.
the greatest privilege that possibly could be bestowed upon anyone. And It tells us, therefore, that the sufferings that you are enduring are appointed by your heavenly Father. Keep that in mind. Why is that important?
Well, who's your heavenly Father? We could spend days, weeks, months. More than that, talking about Who our Heavenly Father is and what His attributes are, but some of them we are well acquainted with. We know that he is love, loving in all that he does. Keep that in mind.
your sufferings are coming to you in a sonship relationship. To God, and God is love and cannot ever be anything but love. That's important when you are dealing with sufferings to keep that in mind. And furthermore, God is wise. He is so wise that he Never.
Ever Ever ever makes a mistake. You believe that, don't you? Theologically, I do. You're suffering right now. You believe that in regard to your present suffering, don't you?
This is not a mistake. God makes no mistakes. These sufferings are appointed by your Heavenly Father. And he does not allow unnecessary suffering. I've already quoted that.
That he will not allow testing to be above what we are able. He'll never permit testing that is unnecessary, that is more than it needs to be. And so when you view your suffering in relationship to your sonship with God, that changes everything.
Well what else is a correct view of suffering? View it in relation to discipline. That's what it is, discipline. Do not despise The chastening of the Lord. Or be discouraged when you are rebuked by him.
For whom the Lord loves He chastens. and scourges every son whom he receives. View it in relation to discipline. There are two wrong attitudes towards suffering that are that are given to us in this section. One is to despise them, the sufferings, and number two is to become discouraged by them.
What does it mean to despise suffering? What does it mean to despise anything?
Sometimes We we talk that way. Maybe Maybe we've learned not to talk that way, but there are times when it's appropriate. But we hear other people talk that way. I despise this, I despise you, and so forth. What do we mean?
I don't value you. I look down upon you. Think harshly of you. I consider you to be useless, unnecessary, unhelpful, and harmful. My son, do not think that way about...
the chastening of the Lord. You're tempted to, aren't you? Be honest. This is useless. This is unnecessary.
I look down on this. I don't value it. I don't think it's good. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. Why?
Because God doesn't do anything but good for his children. All things, all things work together. For good. to those who love God. to those who are the called.
according to his purpose.
So number one. Don't despise your suffering, and number two, don't become discouraged by it, which is another very common response. Why would you become discouraged by suffering?
Well, because it wears you down. Why would you become discouraged by suffering?
Because you often think this shouldn't be happening to me. But remember God makes no mistakes.
So therefore apparently it should be happening to you. But we tend to think that way. Why is this happening to me? I don't understand this. I don't think this should be happening to me.
You get discouraged by it. Because you wonder sometimes if you're truly saved. Because by having a wrong idea about sufferings, then when sufferings come, if you've got the health and wealth gospel error and you think that those who have faith shouldn't have suffering, they should always be healthy and wealthy through life. Then, when suffering comes, you might say, well, I must not be a child of God. Because this is not a good thing, this is a bad thing, this isn't helpful, this is hurting me.
Or so it seems to, at least at the time, not in the long run. And so, because it may cause you to wonder if you're truly saved, that's discouragement. For sure. If it has that effect upon you, And because you are Rather than submitting to it, you're looking for a way to escape it. Isn't that what we do so many times.
Even in our prayer requests, what are we praying for?
Well, if somebody's sick, we generally pray for healing. And I do, and it's not necessarily wrong to do that, but just think about this. We know that it's not always God's will to heal, so why do we always pray for healing? We should pray for healing or... Greater grace, greater strength, greater patience.
greater trust in God to endure the sickness that God has appointed that may not have an end. in this world. But we always pray for healing. Whatever our problem is, if we got a Bum hip, we pray for healing. Please heal me, Lord.
We always look for a way of escape. And We need to submit instead to whatever God is doing and see it through and get the benefit from it. It is there for our good. There's benefit to it. There's benefit designed for it.
There can only be benefit designed for it if you are a son.
So, don't adopt either of these wrong attitudes towards suffering. Don't despise sufferings. Don't be discouraged by them. But there are three ways to understand sufferings, also by words. In the quoted text from from Proverbs.
and that is rebuke, chastening, and scourging. Do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked. By him. For whom the Lord loves, he chastens and scourges every son whom he receives. Rebuke.
To us, a rebuke is a verbal correction. And there could be that, because if you're doing something that's contrary to the Word of God and you get into the Word of God, then you're going to be rebuked verbally by the Word of God. That's a good thing. But we could also, I think, take it just a step further and say a rebuke is a mild type of correction. It stings, but That's as far as it goes.
It's verbal. And As we probably heard from poor Richard's almanac, Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me. Of course they can sting, but they can't hurt you in the way that sticks and stones can.
So rebuke. That's a mild correction. Chastening, that's a more forceful correction. Chastening involves something pretty forceful. to get our attention.
When perhaps A rebuke didn't. to get our attention when The pure word of God didn't get our attention as it should have. And so, some other more severe chastening comes along. And then there's even one step beyond that, scourging. That is extremely painful correction.
The scourging Spoken of here is a word that means to beat with whips. That hurts. Paul talked about enduring that several times how he endured the the Roman Stripes. or the Jewish stripes, 39 stripes, they stopped short of 40. And that could be a terribly painful, terribly cruel punishment.
And that is extreme. Chastening, extreme. Training. But those are three levels of suffering, and God uses all of them. at times when they are appropriate, when they are needed and necessary.
And so that's the correct view of suffering, and then we move on finally to. an encouraging understanding of suffering in verse Six. And it is the following. Suffering is, number one, a mark of God's love, and number two, it's a mark of divine sonship. And we've already dealt with both of those, but let's look at it here.
Verse 6. For whom the Lord Loves. He chasens. Why do we think God must be mad at me. God must not love me.
Just the opposite. whom the Lord Loves, which is all his children. He chastens. At the very surface, this ought to correct some of our misunderstandings about what love is.
Some people have the idea that love is Always soft, always mild. Always fluffy. Just this text corrects that. Whom? The Lord Loves he what?
The Traysons.
Now, that doesn't mean that's the only thing God does to people He loves. He does love people by showering blessings upon them and many signs.
soft and fluffy. Elements of love. Which we tend to think of as love, but this shows us that's not all there is to love. Love has another side that's just as important. And whom the Lord loves, He chastens.
He rebukes. He chastens. He scourges. God disciplines those that He loves. God only disciplines those that he loves.
I'll explain that more fully. in just a moment. But To understand suffering in an encouraging way, understand that it is a mark of God's love. Not of God's God's rejection of you. And number two, it is a mark of divine sonship.
For whom the Lord loves, he chastens and scourges every son. That's about the third time in this text that we are reminded that this relates to sons, it relates to God's children. And it's a mark of divine sonship. We do not Know what is needed to develop and guide our own children at times, but we do the best we can, and we know that at times it is. It is cruel not to chasten them.
I think most people still understand that, at least Christians. Once in a while I run to some Christians that seem to have adopted the attitude of the world on that one. And think that you should never speak harshly to your children, you should never correct your children. Little Johnny throwing a tantrum in the grocery store, and Mommy kneels down and says, Now, Johnny, that's not nice. And you say, just give me Johnny for half an hour, and we'll fix this thing real good.
This boy needs more. Than being told that this isn't nice. He needs something a little more forceful, right? And it's not loving to neglect him in that way when he needs it. It's possible to overcorrect children.
Yes, it's possible to be harsh and overbearing. We're sinners. And We can sin on either side of the equation. We can sin by being too harsh, but we can sin by being too soft. God gets it right every time.
Right down the middle. Exactly what's needed. But the point is that if we are good parents, if we are biblically trained parents, We know that at times our children need some correction. And we do that as best we're able to understand their need.
Well, with God it's the same thing, except he never misses. He always gets it right. He knows what we need. He knows when a soft approach will Will accomplish what is needed. He knows when a harder approach is necessary.
To accomplish what is needed. And it's all because He loves us, and it's all because we are His sons, and it's all because He has our good in mind. That covers our text, but now I have a number of lessons, and I'll deal as many with as many as I have time for.
Well, number one, we realize that forceful correction is. and important component of effective training. I just dealt with that. Do you know what The word disciple is very closely related to, we talk about being disciples of Christ. Disciple Discipline Do you ever think about the relationship?
between those two. A disciple is one who is being trained. A disciple is one who is being trained in whatever way needs to be accomplished to train him properly. A disciple is one who is being disciplined. And even that word discipline, properly understood, includes the positive as well as the negative elements.
Discipline is an always forceful correction. Discipline is teaching, it's patience, it's modeling. It's Walking alongside It's demonstrating, all of that is involved. in discipline. But also it is rebuke.
It is correction. It is Chastening it is scourging. And that's true for our children. If you have adopted a philosophy that says You should never strike a child. You haven't been reading Proverbs, have you?
That's one of the places, probably the clearest place in the Bible, where we are told. several times that if you don't Beat, don't use the rod on your son. You hate him. You don't love him, you hate him. Corporal punishment is not wrong.
It can be, it can be overdone, overbearing. Yes, yes, yes. Let it never be. Any of those things. But never let it be absent when it is needed.
And maybe some children don't need it. I'll concede that.
Some children seem to be. unusually tender-hearted and unusually compliant. But if your child isn't responding to that, that's a signal: yoohoo, something more is needed, yoooohoo! Forceful correction is an important component. of effective training.
God trains his children that way. We need to learn to train our children appropriately as well. Our second lesson out of this portion is God's relationship with humanity. And I've already mentioned this too, but there are two categories. And God deals with the two categories of people in this world in two different ways.
For those who are unbelievers, God deals with them judicially. For those who are believers, God deals with them parentally. Big difference. Big difference. For an unbeliever, God is not their Father.
That's another misconception that's widely spread in this. God is the Father of us all. God is the father of all his children. But Jesus said to the Pharisees, religious leaders. You are of your father.
The Devil. God is not the Father of us all. I remember as a child hearing a song All men are brothers. This above all things is true.
Well, in a human sense, yes. We all come from Adam. We're all. brothers in the flesh. But because of the spiritual realities of Rebellion against God that has not been.
Submitted to has not been corrected, as opposed to rebellion against God, which has been repented of, and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, which has divided all of humanity into two categories. And so with the unbeliever, God is dealing with them judicially. And their sufferings, therefore, Are deserved punishments for sin, and they deserve a whole lot more, but. They don't deserve any less. And if you view suffering as punishment for sins as a child of God, You're thinking like an unbeliever.
That's why you need a correction. Like this passage will help us with today. God deals with the unbeliever judicially. But he has already dealt with the believer judicially in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, upon the cross, in our representative upon the cross. He dealt judicially with him.
Now he deals with us parentally. He's our Father. We are his children. And therefore, he deals with us. Not judicially.
judgments because of our sins. But loving discipline of justified believers. Who need to grow? And this is one way we do it. We grow in grace and knowledge.
Through God's Loving discipline. A third lesson. Scripture is God's primary method of communication. Isn't it interesting? The writer of Hebrews gets to this point.
And he says, now, to make my point, What am I going to do? I'm going to quote to you from the Old Testament scriptures. They can. And he's an inspired writer. And what he writes turns out to be scripture as well.
But God speaks to you as to sons, and quotes. The Bible. That's how God speaks to us. God speaks to them. As sons.
Quoting My son? Despise not The chastening of the Lord. Right out of the Bible. God speaks to us today primarily through His Word. Let me.
elaborate upon that. There are other forms of communication. The Bible tells us that creation itself is a wonderful form of communication. God communicates something about his majesty, his power. His his glory.
in the creation but A lot of people miss it. Why? Because scripture must teach us to understand creation aright. There's a message there. But very few people will get it until it's coupled with Scripture.
And likewise, suffering is a powerful method of communication. It gets our attention. But the question is: what does it turn our attention to? Does it turn our attention inward? Oh me, pity me, pity me, poor me.
Does it turn our attention in some other direction? Only if it turns our attention to the Word of God. will we get the right message from the suffering? Scripture must teach us how to properly understand our suffering, and thus we have a passage. like the one before us today in Hebrews.
Number four. This is very important. All right, taking all this into account, how do I tell? If my suffering is judgment for sins. or child training.
It could be the same item. The same illness. The same accident. The same difficulty, the same calamity in both cases.
So, how do I tell of my suffering? is either a judgment for sins In which meaning Because I'm not a child of God. Or is child training, because indeed I am a child of God. And I've got a twofold answer to that question. And the second one is probably the most helpful, but in the first place, If you have a biblically based assurance of salvation as a Son of God, then you can assume that this is child training.
But because it is possible for people to mistakenly think they're saved when they're not. The second one might be more helpful. How do you tell the difference? by the results in your life. If your suffering results in Anger.
Bitterness Resentment. Turning away from God. That is a red flag. That's not the way Christians respond. to God's loving Child training.
Or if your response to your suffering is softening toward God. seeking God more, to draw close to Him in prayer and to understand His word. If your trials are causing you to make new commitments to God, to want your life to count more for Christ, then that's a pretty good, I would say almost 100% proof that you are a child of God. And we've all Ben Discouraged, have been disheartened at times, and we have seen people we thought were Christians have a great trial, and thereat it has been. If that's the way God's going to treat me, I don't want anything more to do with him.
What does that tell you? They weren't really saved, were they? But when we see people facing sufferings. and they face it as a Christian. That tells us a very different story.
Think of Job. Wow, did he suffer? Did he suffer? And right at the beginning, we see the difference between Job's attitude and Job's wife's attitude. And I'm going to be audacious enough.
to make a judgment about their spiritual condition here. What did his wife say? Job 2.9. Then his wife said to him, Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die.
Unbeliever. She probably, Job may have thought she was a believer, she may have thought she was a believer, but that's not the attitude. Of a child of God. Here it is. Job.
But he said to her, You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God? And shall we not accept adversity? And all this Job did not sin with his lips. You can tell by the what what the suffering accomplishes in your life.
Does it have a training effect? Does it have an improving effect? Does it make you a stronger Christian, a better Christian, a sweeter Christian? Then you're a Christian. That was Sonship.
Child training. And you can know that. What are the purposes for the believer's suffering? I think I've got time for this. And there are three things.
Correction, prevention, education. Correction.
Sometimes God brings suffering to get our attention, and what he's saying to us is, stop it. Don't do that anymore. Or Stop being neglectful. Start doing this that you haven't been doing. Stop it.
Start it. Correcting.
something in our life that needs to be corrected.
Sometimes it comes in the purpose of prevention. to keep us from potential since, future sense. Isn't that what Paul had in mind when he talked about the purpose for the thorn in the flesh? Thorn in the flesh is suffering, some kind of physical suffering. Lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations.
A thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me. Lest I be exalted above measure. It was given to him to prevent him from having excess pride. That he would be prone to have because he, the only person he knew, and probably one of the very few ever. Was invited up into heaven.
To see what was there and then come back to earth. Whoa. And Paul didn't write a book about it, try to make a million bucks out of it. In fact, he was forbidden to speak about it. I wonder why there are people today that tell us they've been caught up to heaven and come back to tell us all about it.
Why does God want them to do that when He wouldn't let Paul tell us about it? But in Paul's case, Paul was prone to pride about it.
So God said, I'm giving you this tremendous privilege, greater than anybody else has had. And I'm giving you this bulk to keep reminding you. of your weakness. and not to get proud. that suffering had a preventative.
purpose, didn't it? Prevention. And then, thirdly, education. God is often teaching us things through suffering. to grow in our knowledge of God and our fellowship with Christ.
To grow in our knowledge of Scripture drives us into the Scriptures in a way that perhaps we've been neglecting before, but now somehow we see the need to get into it more. And guess what? It is revealing to us beautiful, beautiful truths. To grow in our ability to minister to others. Remember what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1?
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation. Doesn't say he removes from us all of our tribulation. He comforts us in it, the tribulation he brought to us. That We may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort which we ourselves are comforted of God.
I was Truly surprised. When I was going through cancer treatments and coming out the other side. Successfully, how many people contacted me to say, I have cancer or my Spouse has cancer, my mother has cancer, and I'd like to talk to you about it because I know you'd understand it. Not everybody does. Wow, what a door of opportunity.
People I didn't even know. Calling me on the phone. Getting my phone number and calling me and wanting to talk about They're cancer. Yeah. Hopefully, God enabling me to help them see it from a...
God honoring perspective. And finally, since I've got one minute left. A lesson, the need for reminders. We need to be reminded. Repetition.
Have you forgotten? What you already knew? Have you forgotten what you've already been taught? Have you forgotten what you've heard before? Yes, shamefully, yes.
So you need to hear it again. We need to hear it again. We need to be reminded of what we've already been taught. Shall we pray? Father.
Teach us. Your ways. and show us Your pants.
