Sorrows and afflictions often puzzle the people of God. There are many who believe that the Christian life is supposed to be void of suffering. And if suffering occurs, there must be something wrong in my relationship with the Lord. This error is explicitly taught in some quarters and is even more. widely implied in nearly all Forms of Christianity.
Because there are many Christian songs that encourage this kind of thinking erroneously and not very helpfully at all. There are just so many of them I wouldn't know where to begin. How about every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before?
So No No pain, no sorrow, or if there is any, it's always decreasing, never increasing, but of course. That's not what the Bible teaches, is it? And we need to understand that. We need to be corrected in our thinking by the infallible word of the living God. No, the Bible teaches us that no true Christian can avoid.
afflictions and suffering. And every Christian, therefore, needs to understand them aright so that we can respond to them in a God-honoring way. And to that end we have come in our Exposition through the book of Hebrews to verses 7 through 11 in chapter 12. And in these five verses, I want us to consider four. lessons about Afflictions, understanding our afflictions.
Number one, what divine discipline discloses, verse seven, Number two, what divine discipline exposes, verse eight. 3. What divine discipline requires, verse 9. and four, what divine discipline promises. In verses 10 and 11.
What does Divine discipline disclose? What does it Reveal. Look again at the words of verse 7. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what sun is there whom a father does not chasten.
What divine discipline discloses, in short, is number one, that we are sons of God, number two, that we belong to the family of God, and number three, that we are secure in Christ. That we are sons of God. If you endure tracing God deals with you as with sons.
Now, endure doesn't just mean that you hunker down until it's over. This actually might be better translated if you persevere faithfully through chastenings. If you patiently and perseveringly submit, to God's chastening Then this is true of you. God is dealing with you As with Sons. He is dealing with you as one of his children.
Because, as this passage teaches us, Divine chastening is child training. In this world, children are trained by their fathers. At least they are supposed to be.
Something's wrong when they are not. And if we experience divine child training. We therefore must be sons of God. And that's what this passage is teaching. Corrections in our lives, which can be painful to be sure.
Chastening, they're called in this text, but Corrections by God in our lives are pledges of our adoption. and badges of our sonship. And so divine discipline. Discloses that we belong to God if we are responding to it in the way. That the Bible tells us that God's children will respond to it.
And furthermore, not only that we are sons of God, but closely related to it, that we belong to God's family.
Now the net is cast a little bit wider. And we're looking not just at one individual and his relationship to God, but to all of those who are related to God. When it says, For what son is there whom the father does not chasten? That's taking into account Every child of God, every single one. not simply you, singular, if you endure chastening.
God deals with you as with sons, for what son is there whom the Father does not chasten, considering all of the children of God? And it's a rhetorical question. And the expected answer is clear. What son is there whom the father does not chasten? None.
No exceptions. whatsoever. God chastens all of his children without exception. But this is also true, God, and we'll see this more in the next verse. But God corrects none but his own.
God chastens all of his children, A L L. indicating all who are the children of God. helping us to understand the meaning of the word all in this particular context. But God chastens all of his children. But God only Traysons His children.
And so, if we experience divine child training, and we'll move the Word from chastening to that word, child training, which is also used in this text. At the end of verse 11, those who have been trained by it, that's what we're talking about. God's child training. And if we experience divine child training, then clearly we belong to the family of God. If you don't think you should be corrected by God, are you saying?
You're perfect and don't need that? Surely. You're not audacious enough to say that, are you? Are you saying, well, I might need it a little bit, but not very much? Aren't you willing to let God be the judge of that?
He's the heavenly Father, you're the child. that he is training. If you think you shouldn't be Chastened by the Father? Do you think you're the one exception to this broad rule that every Son whom God receives, He chastens? What made you the exception?
And of course, you are not the exception. There are, in fact, no exceptions.
So divine discipline discloses that we belong to God. to God's family, and furthermore, Divine discipline. discloses that we are secure in Christ Jesus. Where do you find that in this text?
Well, by that understanding of the word endure, at the beginning of verse 7. If you endure chastening, What did we say that meant? If you patiently and perseveringly Submit. to God's chastening. If you Persevere, that's a very important word.
If you persevere through chastening, continuing to trust God, continuing to cling to His word, continuing to respond to Him as a child of God. to his heavenly father. If you continue in faith, You don't lose your faith in the midst of afflictions. Your faith doesn't diminish, but actually grows in the midst of afflictions. You don't.
Renounce your faith in the midst of afflictions, but the opposite of all of those, in the midst of afflictions, your faith being tried. like gold being Purified in the furnace. The furnace burns away the dross and brings out. More valuable gold, more pure gold, and that's given to us as an illustration of our faith that God. Tests his children in this way, puts us in the furnace of affliction in order that the dross of our lives might be removed and that the pure gold of godliness and of unmixed faith might increase in our lives.
But here's the point I'm driving at. If you persevere through afflictions, Why? Do you? Persevere through afflictions.
Well, I do that because I'm strong. I do that because I'm such a good Christian. I do that because. I'm committed to that. I do that because I am determined to do that.
No, no, no. If you Persevere. Through afflictions It's because God is sustaining you. It is for that reason and that reason alone. Not only does God chasten every one of his children, but God also sustains every one of his children in the midst of those trials.
So that when you Endure afflictions and recognize this is God who is dealing with me. And I find that I am learning and I'm growing and I'm I'm confessing and I'm I'm making good changes in my life to be more pleasing to the Lord. I'm responding to this by drawing closer to God, not farther away. If that is what is happening in your life, and it is if you are a child of God, it will be exactly that when you are in the midst of the fire of affliction. then it's because God is sustaining you.
It's because God is keeping his promises. It's because he who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. It is because God has given you his Spirit. It is because God is fulfilling his promises in your life. It is because God is going to bring you to the ultimate goal.
The reason for which he saved you to begin with was not just to keep you out of hell, as wonderful as that is, but to bring you to heaven in Christ-likeness. And this is the process that is moving you in that direction. And therefore, if you are coming properly, coming God-honoringly through the trials and afflictions of life, That is because God is sustaining you, and those whom God sustains are his children, and those whom God does not sustain in that manner are not his children, therefore. Divine discipline. discloses that you are a child of God and that you are secure in Christ.
If you endure during chastening, It is because you are kept by God. And if you are kept by God, that you are his child. Amen. Glory hallelujah. And the afflictions and chastenings of our life reveal that so clearly.
But number two, what does divine discipline expose? Not only what does it disclose. Namely, that we are God's true children, but what does it expose? Verse 8. But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers Then You are Illegitimate.
and not sons.
Some of you have a King James Bible and the word there for illegitimate. is a much stronger word, but we all understand the meaning of it. an illegitimate child. What divine discipline exposes? It exposes the jarring reality of family exclusion.
and it exposes the fatal folly of illegitimate profession. The jarring reality of family exclusion. If you are without chastening. of which Yeah. Again, all.
In the context meaning all of God's children, not everybody in the world without exception, but all of God's children. Partake of this. If you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then what? Then You R. and illegitimate child and not A true child.
Again, for Christians, afflictions. our divine child training. All people lost and saved experience afflictions of some.
sort or another and of some measure or another. different measure by di for different people, again as designed by God. But all people experience afflictions, but they have A very different purpose for the children of God. God uses every affliction to grow us, to purify us, to to train us. This is child training.
for the children of God. It is not that for those who are not his children.
So for Christians, afflictions are divine child training. For unbelievers, afflictions have no sanctifying effect. They are the reminder that we Live in a fallen world. It is the reminder that sin abounds on every side. It is the reminder that since Adam fell in the garden, all sons and daughters of Adam since then have come into this world with sin natures and sin throughout their lifetime without Any Any uh Mitigation of that, any any cessation of that But God does not use afflictions that come in this world because we are in a fallen world.
And they are under the curse, but God does not use afflictions in the lives of unbelievers as child training, they're not children. But for God's people, Afflictions are child training. And therefore, those who do not profitably persevere in afflictions are not experiencing divine child training. They're just experiencing the afflictions of life that come to all people in this fallen world. In other words, they do not belong to the family of God.
Those who Respond to afflictions by drawing closer to God, looking more carefully into His Word, finding answers in the Word of God and in prayer. Are demonstrating that they are children of God. They belong to the family of God. Those who go through affliction simply suffering and complaining and criticizing, seeing, and maybe even. Cursing God.
are proving that they are Not the children of God. They don't belong to God's family. This is the jarring reality of family exclusion. It is the fatal folly of an illegitimate profession. then you are, in the words of eight, illegitimate.
and not sons.
Illegitimate children. Men are generally ashamed. of their illegitimate children if they have them. And they usually distance themselves as far from them as possible. doing as little for them as they Km sometimes by necessity by law, they are required to do something for them, But they don't take a close interest in them.
They don't draw them in close. train them and And uh Act like a father to them, not generally. Generally, it's just the opposite. They try. to get as far away from them as they can, like the Country music song I quoted recently: All my exes are in Texas, that's why I make my home in Tennessee.
All my illegitimate children are in Texas, and I get as far away from them as I possibly can. That's the general response in this situation. The very term illegitimate implies a claim to some sonship that is not legitimate. And in this context talking about salvation in this context. A profession of faith that is illegitimate is Not genuine.
There are professing Christians who have not experienced the new birth. You understand that, don't you? And such false professions are exposed by. Those people's failure to respond properly to afflictions those people's failure to benefit from afflictions. That's one of the clearest ways you can tell.
whether you are a child of God or are not.
Now, in this congregation, it's not a surprise to hear me say that there are people who have made a profession of faith who are lost, who are no true Christians. But in the general evangelical world, there are an awful lot of people who bristle to hear such a thing because they have been taught that if you make a profession of faith, if you pray and ask Jesus into your heart, you are surely and eternally saved and you should never doubt it. It hasn't been that many months ago. When I said something about not everybody who's made a profession of faith is going to heaven. We had a first-time visitor who was so incensed by that statement that They got up and walked out of the service.
How dare you say a thing like that? What do you mean, everybody who's made a profession of faith? is not saved, is not going to heaven.
Well, the Bible teaches that over and over and over, and here's another one such passage. What divine discipline exposes is the emptiness of the claim of salvation in the lives of many people. And you could tell who is a child of God and who isn't, by the way. that we respond to afflictions to trials, to family chastening to God's child training. And therefore, this makes it clear.
If you think you should not suffer because you are God's child, you have got it not only wrong, but exactly opposite of the truth. The truth is, if you're not suffering... Afflictions. You are not God's child. If you do not suffer the afflictions of divine chastening, You are no child of God.
Life free from afflictions indicates a life free from salvation. A life Void. of sonship. not a life of favor and blessing.
Now I said earlier that nobody escapes the general afflictions of life that fall upon all people. But it is true that there is a certain category of unconverted people. who seemed to go through life relatively Worry-free, well, relatively without pain and suffering and sorrow. Nobody escrapes it completely. But some unconverted people seem to have very few problems in life.
It seems like everything they endeavor prospers, that they seem to be healthy, wealthy, and wise. Why there are some people in that category by the design of God, and the majority are not in that category. Only God can tell us, and He hasn't. exactly explained that to us in his word. But that has been a problem.
Remember, that was Asaph's problem in Psalm 73, how he almost. Went into a Spiritual tailspin when he considered the prosperity of the wicked and how much more they seem to be prospering than he is, he was. He couldn't understand why he, as a child of God, was experiencing so many difficulties. And there are people around him who give no thought of God, no worship for God, don't bring sacrifices to the to the altar of God as they did in the Old Testament. And yet they seem to go on year after year, just enjoying all the blessings of life.
And Asaph said, that really bothered me until I went into the house of the Lord. And he saw things from the divine perspective. And what he said he saw was: I saw what is their end. Hells. It would actually be a mercy of God if.
bringing afflictions into the lives of unconverted people. would it it can't it can't sanctify them it can't It can't grow them in grace, they have no grace, but it can sometimes stop them up short and cause them to stop and think about eternity. If God uses it that way, To give them serious thoughts of eternity and to turn their hearts toward God. That's wonderful. What may it mean?
If there are people who go through life without any difficulties, it may mean that God is not planning to. make them think about eternity, they're going straight to hell. Without any stop signs along the way. That's not a blessing. Far from it.
So, divine discipline discloses those who are the true children of God. Divine discipline exposes those who are counterfeit professors. Who claim to be saved when they're not, who in many cases have deceived themselves. They think they are saved, but they are not. Let them listen to this passage of Scripture.
Let them examine their lives in the light of these truths. Let them look at this as a mark of conversion to see if they have a mark. of the new birth in their lives. But number three. What divine discipline requires, and now we move to verse 9.
Furthermore. We have had human fathers who corrected us. And we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits? And live?
What divine discipline requires, and it begins with a helpful analogy before it makes the point. And the helpful analogy is to compare the child training of the Heavenly Father with the child training that we generally observe among earthly fathers. And the text tells us that we submitted to our earthly father's discipline. And we respected our earthly fathers for bringing us discipline. We acknowledge their right.
to correct us. We acknowledge their responsibility. to do so. We honored them. We submitted to their correction.
Now, the writer of Hebrews writes this to the Hebrew Christians without any. Caveats, he doesn't say this is what's usually true, there are exceptions, of course. Which caused me to think about that and to conclude that among these people That probably was generally true. Probably was significantly true because they are Hebrew Christians. They grew up in the context of the Jewish faith.
They grew up in homes where they were taught the Ten Commandments. They grew up in homes where they were had instilled in them. That one of the most important of God's Ten Commandments is honor your father and your mother. They grew up with that. And therefore, in most of those Jewish homes.
Children did. Acknowledge the rights of their father and their parents to discipline them. And Sheldon did submit to that. as a requirement of God. It was generally true among Hebrew Christians.
But if it was significantly true among the Hebrew Christians with a Jewish background. The best you can say is that it may be generally true today. It is true in some Some cases, and unfortunately, not true in other cases, because there's been a breakdown. In God God-designed families. And God designed Family relationships.
and God designed parental authority. But that's a an analogy that starts this discussion. About what divine discipline requires. And that gets to the last part of verse 9. We read verse 9 again.
Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us and we paid them respect. Then this Rhetorical question. Shall we not? Much more. Readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live.
The two requirements. The divine discipline requires of us is number one that we respect our Heavenly Father. And number two, that we submit to him. That we respect our Heavenly Father. We do not question his right to discipline us.
We do not complain when he does so, but rather we acknowledge that this is his right. He is our Father. We are His child. He made us His child. He didn't have to do that, but he did.
What a privilege we have to be the children of God. How dare we question his wisdom, question his right? to train us as children. We Are required to respect our Heavenly Father in the midst of our chastening. and we are required to submit.
to his authority. Beyond acknowledging his right, we must go one step further. We must submit to his authority. We must bow to his sovereign rule. He is our Heavenly Father, but he is the sovereign God, the sovereign ruler of the universe.
He made everything. Everything that has life has that life given to him. By God. And therefore we acknowledge Here's Right? to shape us, to train us.
Like the potter, shaping The clay into the kind of vessel that he chooses to make. We acknowledge the right of our Heavenly Father to shape us with His child training. And we submit to that. We bow. Before the throne of our Heavenly Father.
And we say whatever Your wisdom determines is best for me. I will accept it. Because I know you have promised to go with me. And I know you have promised that there will be no testing that will overcome me, but such as is common to man, and that you will, with the testing, provide a way of escape that I may be able to bear it. I know these things to be true because your word tells me that it's true.
And therefore, Lord God, I respect your right to do this, and I submit to whatever you think. is necessary. for my well-being. That's what divine discipline. requires of us But now we come number four to what divine discipline promises.
for us in verses 10 and 11. And here the analogy of the earthly Father and the Heavenly Father is extended, but now. The Comparisons are all contrasts. In verse 9, They were similarities. Earthly fathers discipline their children.
The heavenly father disciplines his children. Earthly fathers are. are given respect. to do this and we give respect to our Heavenly Father to do this. earthly fathers are submitted to in their Work of child training, and our Heavenly Father is submitted to likewise.
But now, the contrast of this relationship. Or the the the comparison of this relationship or contrasts. Verse 10, for they indeed, our earthly fathers, For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, But he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.
Now, no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful. Nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. to those who have been trained. By it.
So what does divine discipline promise? And it's two things. It is number one spiritual good, verse 10, and number two, spiritual growth, verse 11. Spiritual good. We're told in verse 10 that earthly fathers discipline their children for a limited amount of time.
for a short time. And that is true. It's basically the time from when they are a child until they become grown, from the time that they enter into the household until the time they leave the household. Earthly fathers usually understand that they're responsibility and authority to discipline their grown children. Is over when their children leave the home, particularly when they get married and start their own home.
It's a whole new relationship. But earthly fathers have a window of opportunity, a window of responsibility. It's a short one, but they. have a responsibility carrying out during That time. But the implication, it's not stated, but the implication is that there's no limit on God's.
Time for training his children. It's basically for our whole lifetime. And it has eternal implications.
So there's a contrast. Earthly fathers, a little time. Our Heavenly Father, our whole lifetime.
Furthermore, We're told that earthly fathers sometimes discipline In error. We had earthly fathers who corrected us and we paid them respect. Verse 10, for they indeed for a few days chastened us, and then this, as seemed best. to them.
Well, that's giving earthly fathers the benefit of the doubt, and it's probably true in most cases that. Fathers do train according to what seems best to them. though we know there are exceptions to that too, but Earthly fathers are Sinners, hopefully saved by grace, in some cases, not even Christians. And what seems best to them may not always be what is best. They're doing what they do with limited understanding and with limited wisdom as seems best to them.
And sometimes they're disciplining Well For our good? But sometimes they miss the mark.
Sometimes earthly fathers discipline out of anger when they should be, they should wait till they cool down. before they employ discipline.
Sometimes earthly fathers Discipline In um Embarrassment. They're they're in d disciplining the child because the child embarrassed them in front of their friends. And so they're Measure of discipline is all out of proportion. It is not really well measured and well thought out to help the child. It's just because the parent.
has been embarrassed by the child in some way.
Sometimes earthly fathers disciplined their children simply out of a carnal Desire to demonstrate their authority and power. I'll show you who's boss. Because they delight in In demonstrating and feeling that power over others. And that's carnal, that's sinful.
So Earthly fathers generally are helpful in their discipline, but sometimes they're actually harmful. Paul spoke to that when he. Told Fathers. to not Drive their children to wrath in the discipline that they employ for them. In other words, by doing it unwisely, doing it in an overbearing way, doing it in a way that's far.
out of proportion to the offense that has been created. But that being the case, that this happens with earthly fathers, the point is, it never happens with the heavenly father. His discipline is always perfect, every single time. Every single time. It's always for our good.
We know that. The good Well-known text in Romans 8:28 that we love and ought to love. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. And that Phrase all things refers to everything, including chastening, divine. divine discipline, afflictions that come to us.
They are all for our good. They are all designed by our Heavenly Father. Nothing touches us that doesn't first go through His hands. Do you believe that? Do you believe Romans 8, 28?
Amen. So though earthly fathers sometimes get it wrong, I look back upon my fathering and. There are some areas where I realize I didn't do the best thing then. I did the best that I understood at the time. That's what he says here.
Earthly fathers do what seems best to them. But now, with more time, greater wisdom, looking back, I wish I hadn't done that. I wish I hadn't. carried that out in that that that particular way. Thank God for His grace.
Thank God for His blessing what was good. And uh dismissing what wasn't.
So that our girls, by God's grace, are all walking with the Lord. What a What a blessing indeed. But I know I wasn't perfect in my fathering, in my child training, and neither are any of you, not a single one in here. And yet the encouragement is that in spite of that, God uses our efforts and He overlooks our faults and He minimizes the effects of them on the lives of our children. as we are endeavoring to do what is right to please him.
But the greater truth is our Heavenly Father never, ever, ever, ever, ever makes a mistake. in his child training. What a blessed comfort.
So divine discipline promises That it will bring us spiritual good because everything God does. in the lives of his children falls into that category. of what is good. And furthermore, divine discipline promises spiritual growth. A good part of the good, but we understand it more clearly from verse 11.
Now, no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful. Nevertheless, afterward It yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. In these Corrections of child discipline. There is A measure of pain. and sorrow.
Again, where did you get the idea that if you're a child of God, you should be shielded from that? Far from it.
God uses that. That's part of it. It's the pain and the sorrow that He uses to train us. It's a necessary condition. But afterwards It yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness.
Growing. in righteousness, growing in grace. growing in knowledge. in the enjoyment of peace. in an improved relationship with God and with other people.
as a result of what God is doing in our lives. But for the unconverted man, whether he professes to be a Christian or not, His response is more often irritation. Unbelief, questioning God, complaining to God, criticizing God, resistant to God's working in his life, and a decline in whatever spiritual. Life he professed before this trial came.
Sometimes It knocks counterfeit Christians completely. out of any activity that resembles a Christian life. and again shows them their true condition.
Now let's look at a few lessons to ramp all this up. In this passage, we are reminded of the importance of the doctrine of Divine sovereignty. All of your disappointments and setbacks come from God He's the ultimate cause. They may be delivered to you by So Somebody in your family, or somebody at work, or who knows where. But ultimately, they all come to you from God.
God doesn't let you have anything that He isn't using, He isn't shaping, He isn't guiding. in your life. Your afflictions are really blessings in disguise. It's hard to see that during the sorrow and pain. But that's the truth.
The Bible tells us so. It's good to fall back on that. Simple faith, the Bible tells us so. That's why I Asked Greg and Suan to sing. Jesus Loves Me last week.
I I just love that song and Jesus loves me, this I know. How do I know? The Bible. tells me so. It's not the way I feel, it's the Bible tells me so.
How do I know? That My afflictions. Or Good. And that God is working good in my life because the Bible tells me so. I don't always feel that way about it.
But the Bible tells me this, I know it's true. And so we need to understand that when you're suffering afflictions, God is sovereignly at work in your life. and therefore cultivate this right understanding of Trials. And employ that in your thinking and in your responses. That's so important.
The doctrine of the sovereignty of God has has more applications to our lives and just to understand The doctrine of election. Which is a wonderful doctrine, but the sovereignty of God has application to every area of our life, every event in our life. And the sooner we understand that, the better off we will be. Lesson number two is about divine child training. And that's just to remind us that both forceful correction and education are involved in God's training of his children.
But often correction must precede education. In other words, If we're not to understand and apply into our lives some area of truth. Then God knows just the right correction to get us ready. How many of us can testify that there are things in the Bible that I knew they were there, but they didn't really. Um Make much difference in my life until this happened, until that happened, until God did this, and then suddenly.
That truth really became alive. To me. Oftentimes the correction precedes The education. That's the way God does it. First the pain.
then the growth and the blessing. But there's a third lesson, I think, in this passage that deals with earthly parenting that we really need in this day and time. And that's a reminder that parents must exert parental authority. That's not a bad thing. That's not a bad word.
That's not a bad concept. That's what the Bible teaches. Parents have authority over their children, and it's for the good of the child that the parent exercise that authority. And therefore, parents must be willing to employ forceful correction when that's appropriate. It's not always appropriate, and be careful not to overdo it.
Don't be unwilling to do it when it is needed. Don't be swept away by Modern Cuddly-wuddly, fuzzy-wuzzy ideas of parenting and ignore what the Bible teaches us on this subject. Parents must be willing to employ forceful correction as needed. and parents must be able to endure the resulting pain. That old Phrase that Gets joked about and laughed at so many times that when fathers used to say before they spanked their children, Now this hurts me more than it hurts you.
And you said, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it does. Not on the seat of the pants. But in the heart of the Father. It's painful.
And nobody likes pain. And if inflicting pain upon my child causes me pain, then I'm not going to do it. And who are you really loving there? Are you loving your child or are you loving yourself? Come on now.
Be honest about this. Parents must be willing to employ forceful correction as needed. And must be able to endure the resulting pain that comes from it.
Well, if I do that, my child won't be my friend. Dear friend, dear parent. Um If you do do it, in time your child will become a wonderful friend. But there may be a strain in the relationship short term. But You've got to do the right thing.
And trust God. And your first responsibility is not to be your child's friend. Your first responsibility is to be your child's parent. That's a difference. And earthly parents must be willing to wait patiently for.
the subsequent fruit. even as God's chastening For the time brings sorrow. But afterward yields the fruit of peaceableness and righteousness, so in the lives of our children. The correction may bring pain initially, but afterwards, is going to bring good fruit. Please learn from the Bible how to be a good parent.
not from modern Notions. And finally, This passage tells us something important about salvation. Namely, if you do not respond to divine afflictions, with a persevering, believing, grateful, growing heart toward God. then you must not be a true child of God. If the afflictions that you have in your life do not make you a better Christian and draw you closer to God, as they do all of God's children.
True children. Then you must not be A child of God. You must be A false professor, you must be a counterfeit Christian, you must be. an illegitimate child. And if God has shown you that today, You need to go to God.
Acknowledge your need. Confess your sin. Cry out to him for mercy. and cast yourself completely and fully upon the person at work. of Christ.
Let's pray. Father, teach us thy ways. And show us. Thy paths. Amen.
Mm-hmm.
