Those He Loves, He Disciplines (2)

Scripture:

Hebrews 12:3–13 ESV

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.

Recap:

Last week we looked at the reality that all of our lives are considered to be races. Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,” We saw that we need to realize we are in a race. That we need to understand if we are not looking to Jesus in our Running, in our laying off of every sin and weight, which are the distractions and cares of the world, we will not finish our race. At the End of our race, we will have seen that the blinding power of sin and satan had such a grip on our hearts, telling us our whole lives, “that since I feel bad about this sin, Im saved! Ill be good to go!” But we saw that that is not enough to be sure of our salvation. We must be constantly be laying off sin, and weights, which cling so closely to us. Like barbed darts that stick into our skin and must be ripped out of us, causing much pain and eventually death. And if they are continually ripped off and laid off, we will not make it. Because, as we closed, we saw that true believers are those who do this.

The Free gift of God’s mercy and grace has truly penetrated their hard hearts, and by faith in that grace and mercy of God through Christ’s work on the cross, Christians are those who do this. They lay off sin. They lay off weights. Over and over and over again, because they fear God not man. And really the true source of power behind this, was the fact that they (the saints before) and every true believer today are those who “look to Jesus.” This is the true mark of any and every believer. Christ has captured their hearts. Their pursuits. Their deepest desires. He is the One their soul longs for, and as they mature in their Christian walks, and Races, they see more and more of Christ and what he has done, causing them not to slow down in their pursuits, by to be empowered by Grace to run harder and harder after Christ….

Do you still Run to Christ in your suffering?

or does your walk and faith and pursuit take a back seat until things have calmed down again?

Thats the deepest mark of a Christian. Those who look to Christ, when no one is watching. when all abandon them. When it’s no longer the cool thing all my lifelong friends are doing. When Im home by myself. They look to Christ. And the need for this is in every season of life. Sun shining or storms smashing you to bits. The Christian is one who constantly look’s back to Christ. False Christians are often made known and evident throughout history in suffering, due to their failure to see Christ, have faith in Christ, in suffering. Jesus Himself warns and tells of this individual.

Matthew 13:20–21 “As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.”

Jesus says there are those who appear to love the gospel message. They accept it, spring up in joy, which others around them see, They like a plant begin growing and growing, getting ready to bear the fruit of Christs righteousness, and BAM…They are hit with suffering…And what do they do? They fall away. Right before bearing fruit, they leave. The gospel is now silly. Gods cruel or not real. Where there was infant like love for God there is now Hatred of him, because “How could a good God allow this to happen to me?”

Purpose of the Text:

The Author of Hebrews doesn’t want his listeners to fall away. We have seen this: Hebrews 2:1 “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.”

Hebrews 3:12 “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.” Hebrews 3:13–14 “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.”

Hebrews 4:11 “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.”

Hebrews 6:4–6 “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.” He doesn’t want them abandoning their claimed and shared faith, inches before they bear the fruit of Righteousness and Faith and Hope and Love.

Hebrews 10:38 “but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”

The Epistle to the Hebrews, is so concerned about these beloved saints growing into maturity of their faith, so that they personally benefit. This is a deep assurance of faith that is needed to make it through all of life. My calling primarily as a pastor of a Church is to preach to God’s people. To strengthen Gods people. Yes we pray and we beg God to continue to save souls, to bring his lost sheep home, but more primarily it is to feed the flock and fold of God. As he says to Peter “Do you love me?…Then Feed My sheep.” Thats what I, we as elders, and every future elder of pastor of Christ our Shepherd has the joy to do. We Deeply Pray for Hebrews 6:11–12 “And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

We want assurance for you, so that you are not sluggish runners, but passionate pursuers of Christ in your Race. That you are Strong runners, who see the anchor holding you in the midst of suffering and trials, and that you do not shrink back, but keep going bing strengthened by the joy of the Lord.

This scripture I believe is meant to do just that.

illustration: Like a soldier down in the trenches of war, nearly defeated. He’s beaten, battered, limbs shredded with bullets, mud, blood, sweat and tears stinging his eyes. Thoughts of loved ones back home, as he says his final prayers for God to protect them, ready to throw in the towel of living. And then all of a sudden the medic comes with bandages, a tourniquet, water, and words that steady the soldier's heart: "You're going to make it. Stay with me. Get up—we're going home." The wounds aren't gone, but now he has what he needs to endure.

Thats what this truth before us helps us do. It does this by showing us a truth about God and his Sovereignty over us, that is given to us, not to drive us back, but to strengthen us to press us on.

Intro:

Reuben has many traits that indicate to others he’s my Son. He has my eyes, my short torso. He’s a mommas boy, picky eater, cries if you look at him sideways. But more than all that, he has my DNA. My last name. He’s my Son.

Gods Children are the same way. We have marks that reveal to others, and especially to ourselves (which is such a precious gift) that we are his children. We know that the marks of any true believer, is Faith in Christ. Love for God and Fellow Man.Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control. But Many in the church today do not look at this topic today as another mark of a true believer. And It is just as important because there is not one believer who is getting to heaven one day without this mark. That is the Mark of Discipline from the Lord.

Hebrews 12:7–8 “It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.”

There are many marks of the children of God throughout the Bible, but our text today gives us a mark of Gods people that many do not consider, or know about, in their journey's of faith. It is the Discipline from Our Heavenly Father. We believe that since we have been forgiven our sins, we think “why would I need discipline then?”

And if we see and Savor this Truth, Nothing truly will be able to stand against you and the love of the Father for you.

What is the Discipline of the Lord?

1. It is Corrective and or Formative

Definition

The Greek Word paideia means, to Train, to discipline.

It carries with it both a corrective element, as well as a positive element of growth.

This word is some translations says “chastens, or chastises.” its the same thing here in the ESV Discipline

Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones - “The Question that obviously faces us therefore is, what is chastisement, what does it mean? It means to train. It is the training through which a child is put, and the method of training a child. We rather tend to confuse it with the word punishment, but the essential object of chastisement to train and develop the child so as to produce a grown person.”

Corrective

Psalm 119:67 “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.”

If your living in unrepentant sin, and have experienced sovereign correction, whether through confrontation of a loved one, hurt of a loved one, distance felt from God, deep true Godly sorrow that doesn’t just leave you there in your tears but produces confession and repentance and continued pursued holiness, then this is corrective discipline from the Lord. Thats him loving you back to him.

Thomas Watson - Afflictions to the godly are medicinal, not penal.

Formative

Then theirs Job, and Jesus.

Job was not being punished, he was being formed to behold God more clearly

Job 42:5 “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you;”

Jesus was sinless, which shows this (That discipline is not always Corrective)

Hebrews 5:8 “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.”

John Piper - Here is one of the most remarkable things about God ordaining hard things in our lives in a disciplinary way: Jesus was disciplined and never sinned. Here is what I mean. Hebrews 5:8 says “[Jesus] learned obedience through what he suffered.” Now a lot of people read that and they say, “Whoa. Learned obedience? You mean like he stopped being disobedient and became obedient and thus sinned?” No, that is not what it says and that is not what it means.

Which shows the Difference between Discipline, and Judgment, is the goal and purpose of them.

John Owen - "There is no wrath in the chastisements of believers. They are all fruits of love."

2. To a Christian then it is Never Punishment

Its not Punishment because = Psalm 103:10 “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.”

The Hebrew listeners are being told not to grow weary at what all has happened to them, BECAUSE whats happening to them is the discipline of the Lord, which means the Lord loves you so much he’s using pain to grow you more and more in the likeness of Christ . Which to them was:

Hostility from People

Hebrews 10:32–33 “But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.”

Thats painful

Resisting Temptation

Hebrews 12:4 “In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”

struggles are painful. Have you ever resisted sinning to the point of pain or discomfort?

Battling Unbelief

The Fight for faith in Gods word, is a major struggle and indeed one that is needed. This is a discipline from the Lord. This is why the hostility was present, because these saints believed in Jesus, and over and over again arguments were thrown in their faces from peers and former friends, and “good arguments” and no doubt this wore on these saints.

Illustration: Erika Showed me a facebook post of a women this last week who posted a picture of herself standing on the beach smiling with her arms out wide with the caption being something like “How I feel after finally dropping the belief in an eternal hell….” She couldn’t take the pressure of defending God’s word and being no doubt rejected by many so called Christians, and battling the inner turmoil that a real heal really aught to produce in us, which is suffering, discilineing, training, and she couldn’t take it. She threw in the towel

All Suffering

Natural Disasters, sickness, death of a loved one, cancer, car wrecks, loss of material goods. Sickness, death

Corrective towards the Corinthians

1 Corinthians 11:27–30 “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.”

Why? Because they are taking the Lord supper wrongly. They are not considereing the body of Christ, and more specifically they are not considering that Christs broken body has brought unity between people. So a way they arent considering the body of Jesus, is made evident by them not considering others better than themselvs

1 Corinthians 11:18 “For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part,”

1 Corinthians 11:33 “So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another—”

And thus the result is the discipline of the Lord on these Christians. Sickness, Illness, even death

Martin Lloyd Jones - “Gods will is more important than the health of a man’s body, and if a man will not submit himself and subject himself to the teaching of the Word, then God will certainly deal with that man, and he may very well send an illness upon him and lay him aside in order to make him think.”

Formative to Paul

Before he sinned

2 Corinthians 12:7–9 “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

You may be asking, “How Can I know if this is Discipline?”

In A Mute Christian Under the Smarting Rod - “All the afflictions which come upon the saints,  are the fruits of divine love.When Munster lay sick, and his friends asked  him how he did, and how he felt; he pointed to  his sores and ulcers, whereof he was full, and said,  "These are God's gems and jewels with which He  decks his best friends, and to me they are more  precious than all the gold and silver in the world!"

3. But it is painful

Hebrews 12:11 “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

The Archaic analogy of Parenting

The Jewish Listener Would Understand this

Proverbs 3:11–12 “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.”

King Solomon taught his son a valuable life lesson, about the Lord. That if you are being disciplined by him, its evidence that he loves you.

Far too many of us who feel the Lord’s hand of discipline on our lives hear this and think, “Yeah easy for you to say. Walk a mile in my shoes.”

Hebrews 12:8 “If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.”

There is not one christian, one child of God who does not or will not experience the discipline of the Lord.

This is So Foreign to our Western 21st century minds.

This is a Gospel Crisis

One of the greatest losses in our culture is not merely that many parents have stopped disciplining their children—it is that, in doing so, they have unintentionally obscured the gospel itself. The Bible teaches that loving fathers discipline their children (Prov. 13:24; 23:13–14; Heb. 12:5–11). When a child grows up never hearing "no," never experiencing loving correction, never learning that disobedience has consequences, they can begin to assume that love means unconditional approval and that authority exists to affirm their desires rather than to shape their character. Then, when they hear the gospel, they're told that God is a Father who disciplines those He loves, who commands repentance, who opposes pride, and who calls them to deny themselves. To someone raised without loving discipline, that God can seem harsh or even unloving—not because He is, but because their understanding of fatherhood has been distorted.The tragedy is that a generation unfamiliar with loving discipline may also struggle to understand holy love. They have learned that love never confronts, never corrects, never says "no." But Scripture presents a very different picture: "The Lord disciplines the one He loves" (Heb. 12:6). God's discipline is not the opposite of His love—it is one of its clearest expressions.

The Discipline of the Lord shows, teaches us, reveals deep and precious beauties about Christ and the gospel that we can get no where else.

Why Does the Lord Discipline us?

1. To Strengthen us

We need strength to Endure

Illustration: Reuben was behind in his physical development because of his extended time in Children's hospital when he was born. Because of his Heart surgeries he laid on his back for the first few months of his life causing him to be behind developmentally. He needed to gain muscle by doing tummy time which was hard for him. I will never forget one day I placed him on his tummy and he was face down on the carpet and he could barely lift his head. He was scared, squirming, his hands were getting caught in his feeding tube, and he could only lift his head about 5 inches off the ground. While holding this position for about 15 seconds he began to shake, and wine and started at me ready for me to turn him back over to his comfortable back… But I didn’t turn him over. He began to Cry, Erika became incresingly uncomfortable, and I began to sweat. He started kicking and screaming, and hurting and straining but I didn't turn him over. I cheered him on, I laid eye to eye with him. I smiled so brightly at him as tears filled my eyes, but I didnt turn him over until 30 seconds. Then the next day or so a minute, then 5 minutes, 10 minutes, until Reuben grew strong. I willfully placed Reuben in pain, not because I took pleasure in hurting him, But because I love him so much and wanted to train his muscles so he could not only do 10 minutes of tummy time, but so that he could sit, stand, walk, and then run. God does this to us.

Psalm 144:1 “Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle;”

We Need Strength to see the depths of our Need

Is it not Pain that revels our Hearts Deepest longings?

Beautiful Eulogy - “Whats concealed in the heart of having is revealed in the losing of things.”

The Lord is so kind, to sovereignly strip us of every care of the world that will stop at nothing to drag our souls to hell.

We Need Strength to See Christ More Clearly

Hebrews 12:3–4 “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”

Does the hostility you are experiencing from others hurt you?

Consider Him who endured such hostility against himself

Does your suffering not make sense?

Consider Him

Does it confuse you to look at God’s sovereign control, and your immense pain and rejection and heartache and lonliness and sorrow and sickness and loss and hear “its all loving discipline”?

Consider Him

Does every day to you seem like a dark cloud is looming over you and you just cant figure out whats wrong with you?

Consider Him

Martin Luther - “When I think of what Christ suffered, I am ashamed to call anything that I have endured suffering for his sake.”

Christ Suffered, so you could endure anything.

We need to be trained to look to the suffering of Christ in and while we suffer because it is Christ’s Suffering that grants us endurance in our Race.

Hebrews 12:3 “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.”

John Owen - That in all our afflictions, the resignation of ourselves unto the sovereign pleasure, infinite wisdom, and goodness of God, is the only means or way of preserving us from fainting, weariness, or neglect of duty

We Need Strong Faith

2. To Make us Holy

His Aim is our Holiness

Hebrews 12:10 “For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.”

Martin Lloyd Jones - “A most prolific cause of spiritual depression is the failure to realize that God uses varied methods in the process of our sanctification…Gods great concern for us is not our happiness but our holiness. In that his great love to us is determined to bring us to that, and he employs many different means to that end…Like foolish children we feel that our heavenly Father is unkind to us and we pity ourselves and feel sorry for ourselves and feel that we are being dealt with harshly.”

There is an impossible command for Christians, but it is a command nonetheless…

Thomas Schreiner, New Testament Theology - The Difficulties beloevers face on their journeys is compared to the discipline that parents administer to their children. So too, the stresses and presures that believers face areto be endured because God, as a loving Father, is disciplining them for their holiness.”

1 Peter 1:16 “since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

There is not one Holy Saint that has ever lived nor can ever make it through life without the holy discipline of God.

1 Peter 4:1 “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,”

Arm yourself with this thinking. You must be holy, And it comes through suffering, which as we are looking at is actually the sovereign discipline of the Lord. If the Lord commands to be holy in order to be a Christian Hebrews 12:14 “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” Then he is sovereignly going to bring that about through discipline

3. To Assure us we belong to Him

C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain - We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world....

God does not hate you

Proverbs 13:24 “Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.”

The Lord is a Diligent Father in showing you that his dealing with you, in discipline, is actually training you stop doubting his love for you. And many of our depressions in life as Christians come from this doubting of the Fathers Love.

He disciplines those he loves. To reject this truth about God, is to reject God. We want the glory without the cross. Love without loss. Peace at no cost. We pray, “Lord please don’t let me suffer!” But that is how the Lord brings us closer and closer to himself. And inso praying those prayers out of fear, we are actually seeing that our hearts are saying “Ive got enough of you God! Stop right there! Perfect! Ok just leave things like this until I see ya in Heaven pops!”

no he loves you too much to leave you at that shallow relationship with him.

Read: Which means the more you have suffered in your life, and you are a believer, the more you will cling to Christ, and the more you do right now. You have been given a gift of closeness with the Savior, than so many others have not been given yet! Therefore, be careful not to “Regard lightly the discipline of the Lord.” Because in doing so, you are regarding lightly his grace and love for you.

2. It is Through Discipline God is proving to you, His Love!

Hebrews 12:7–8 “It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.”

READ: Meaning, if you’re being disciplined in any of the ways mentioned, or have experienced those forms of discipline, they are not wounds, but weapons to silence all doubt and quench any dart of the devil saying “Are you really Gods Child?”

How Can God use the Most Tragic of Loss’ to Show us His Love?

Was it not through Stripes from the Father, that we recieved pardon from our sins?

Isaiah 53:5 “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.”

Who Crushed Jesus?

Isaiah 53:10 “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.”

Acts 4:27–28 “for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.”

What was predestined to take place by the Father, was the whipping. The Mocking. The Torture. The Spitting. The abandoning from friends. The Crucifixion.

Examine How he trained Christ, through Discipline

Hebrews 2:10–11 “For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers,”

He brings the discipline the training and suffering, because its our band of brotherhood that binds us with Christ.

Suffering discipline reveals Christ is Your Eldest Brother. He sets the pace, the model, the path of our race.

Luke 6:40 “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.”

Charles Spurgeon - And as you are to be like Him, descend like Him into the depths of agony, that with Him you may rise to the heights of glory

He is a good, effective and faithful trainer in our races of faith.

Meaning, if you’ve experience his discipline, or currently are, its just the reminder that he will bring you home, and this is how he has always done it.

There are far too many who do not believe this, because they have not experienced the discipline of the Lord. And they don’t believe it because they cant stomach the fear of the reality that they are not his children. Hebrews 12:8 “If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.”

3. Don’t You want to Know the truth of the gospel deep down inside you?

Thats what discipline does. He’s saying to you. “You're mine!” “Im jealous for you.” “You want to get up and leave so many times but Im going to have you!” I will sanctify you through my hand of discipline over sin. I will mature you through constant training in habits of grace. I will be good to you, and bind your wandering to me, You Father of Love.

Christian, because Christ received your punishment, every pain your Father now ordains is fatherly love—not judicial wrath.

Applications:

Stop Grumbling at your Circumstances, but Rather Rejoice that it is God who is ordaining them all for your good

And we love to let everyone know how bad we have it don’t we? All the while grumbling against God’s loving training

Philippians 2:14–16 “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.”

Jude 15–18 “to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage. But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.”

Grumbling leads to Hardness of Heart

Hebrews 3:7–8 “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness,”

Exodus 15:24 “And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”

Knowing this Truth about God, and his sovereign plan, eliminates the ability, (and hopefully desire we feel) to constantly grumble

2. Start Identifying times, seasons, or instances of Gods discipline in your life, and rejoice!

Charles Spurgeon - “I have learned to Kiss the Waves that beat me up against the Rock of Christ.”

You need a firm foundation, to stand on when all of live seems to fall. And that foundation is Love. And when you are in the throws of Gods discipline, See his loving face behind his providence

Hebrews 12:5–7 “And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?”

The Strength to endure our race of life, as we looked at last week was by looking to Christ. And what we see when we look at him, is true deeply profound love for us his siblings. And Christ shows us something amazing that gives us strength to endure, to last, not to crumble under the pressure of life. Its the Love of our Father, IN our discipline. It says “(do not) be weary when reproved by him. (Why? How could I not be weary by that, thats awful sounding!) FOR (the reason why and how) is because The Lord disciplines the one he loves.

Psalm 103:10 “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.”

If your a Child of God, hold fast to that truth when it feels impossible! And when you do, there is nothing anymore in this life that the devil can tempt you with to say “AHA! I KNEW HE DIDN’T LOVE YOU!”No!! “HE DOES NOT DEAL WITH ME ACCORDING TO MY SINS!” IF HE DID I WOULD BE DEAD AND DAMNED!

Illustration: many of us say far too often in our walks “I deserve this. This is happening to me because I deserve it. Woe is me. Pity me….ME, ME, ME..If any us in here got what we deserved, for the sins we have commited this very day, we would spend an eternity in Hell….For those of us who are united to Christ by faith in him, God has not, will not ever, cannot ever, deal with us according to our sins, because he already has by crushing his Son.

How Firm a Foundation - “The Flame shall not hurt you, I only design, thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.”