Hebrews 12:3-13

Recap

Chapter 11 recounts the stories of those who have come before us and died in faith

Abraham, Issac, Jacob and Moses

These great patriarchs of the faith

And as Mike looked at a couple weeks ago

The writer ties us to these faithful believers at the end of 11, saying that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

And then at the beginning of 12, the writer paints this picture of the race

And it is no longer Abraham and Issac and Moses who are running

They are the ones in the crowd. They are surrounding us

We are running and he encourages us to shed every weight and sin

And He points us to the ultimate example

Jesus

This morning he is going to continue to point us to Jesus

And encourage us to keep running, to endure

Hebrews 12:3–17 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. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

Now before we get started this morning, I want to make sure we say something

What the author of Hebrews is writing about this morning is our struggle with sin

and the unpleasantness that results from the discipline of that sin

But I want us to make sure that we understand that unpleasantness doesn’t always mean discipline for sin

Some of you are going through things in your life that are difficult

And a text like this can cause us to assume that that difficulty is our own fault, a result of sin

And to be sure, that is always a possibility

But the idea that all difficulty is a result of our own sin is the same mistake the disciples made in John 9

John 9:1–3 ESV

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.

It is wrong to buy into the cultural idea that nothing is your fault

But it is also wrong to buy in the opposite idea that everything is your fault

It is a moralistic prosperity gospel that says that if you just did better, your life wouldn’t be so difficult

Satan is described as an accuser of the bretheren, and so I don’t want to give any space for him to twist this passage and bother God’s Children

PRAY

1. Point us to Jesus (vs 3-4)

“Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself”

Passion of the Christ

What is the purpose of seeing such hostility against Christ?

“That you may not grow weary or fainthearted”

How does Christ enduring such hostility help me not grow weary?

“In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood”

MOH Stories

Be strengthened, be confident that you can endure your struggles

Because others have endured similar or worse

Christ endured the full weight of human sinfulness

And was faithful until His death

And if He can endure the weight of human sinfulness

You can endure the weight of your own hardships

Through the work of the Spirit

2. Encourages us to endure (vs 5-13)

We have a natural aversion to struggle and suffering

We don’t have to encourage people to quit, or to give up, or to seek comfort

We have to encourage them the other way

As the writer of Hebrews does here

Lest we be bitter in our struggle, and blame God for our difficulty

The writer of Hebrews encourages us to think theologically about our struggles

He reminds us that discipline is an identifying trait of the Children of God

He quotes Proverbs 3:11-12

and He says in verse 7 that God is treating you as sons!

Well yeah, we are sons and daughters of God! We already knew that

But think about it. God doesn’t just call you His children, He treats you that way. He chastizes and disciplines us like any good father

That means when Jesus says He has gone to prepare a place for His children, you can have faith that you will inherit that place

That you can have assurance you are a child of God, because you are being treated as a Child of God

It’s not unusual to hear questions about the wicked prospering in this life

Why does it seem like those who deny the Lord and live lives of wickedness seem to also be those who have everything and live the “american dream”

And we must catch ourselves, because we can be guilty of envy and covetousness of the seemingly easy life they lead

But we are reminded, that those people aren’t to be envied, they are to be pitied

Just as a son or daughter who is denied the disciplining love of a father are to be pitied

He says “If you are left without discipline, you are illegitimate children and not sons”

In a culture that teaches that for us to love means that we never deny our children

The Bible is clear that such an understanding is the opposite of love. It’s delegitimizing

God’s love for us means that he meets us where we are, but won’t leave us where we are

He points us to our earthly fathers, who we have endured the discipline of, and yet respected them

But in contrast to our earthly fathers, who were not perfect in their discipline, God is a father who disciplines us for our good and toward His holiness

Guthrie

Hebrews: An Introduction and Commentary (i) The Need for Discipline (12:1–11)

However high the principles on which an earthly father acts he is not infallible. He is governed by his own pleasure which may at times be unwise or even against the best interests of the son.

Hebrews: An Introduction and Commentary (i) The Need for Discipline (12:1–11)

By contrast God’s knowledge of us is perfect and what he does is for our good, for he understands what discipline is needed. He will never overdo it, nor will he neglect it.

But it is not random, verse 11 says that It bears fruit

“Yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness”

J.C. Ryle

By affliction He teaches us many precious lessons, which, without it we should never learn. By affliction He shows us our emptiness and weakness, draws us to the throne of grace, purifies our affections, weans us from the world, makes us long for heaven. In the resurrection morning we shall say ‘It is good for me that I was afflicted’ We shall thank God for every storm

Discipline is painful, but it has purpose. We may not see the purpose, but we remember back to the beginning of Chapter 11

“Faith is the evidence of things unseen, the substance of things hoped for”

So how do we react to the Lord’s discipline?

Verse 12 “Lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees”

Don’t pout. The weakness here is directly tied to their discouragement

If our circumstances are leading us to be more like Him, and there is purpose in the pain, then we have no reason to sulk and feel sorry for ourselves.

The writer calls us to make straight paths for our feet, which again is imagery pulled from Proverbs, where the righteous follow straight paths, and the wicked follow crooked and devious paths

Al Mohler

Rather than making our paths straight and running after Jesus, we avoid opportunities for accountability and entertain our sin just enough to keep it alive.

That is what the writer of Hebrews is pointing to here, when he says what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed

We cannot regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, as verse 5 says

We must heed John Owen’s famous saying

Be killing sin, or it will be killing you

When the discipline of the Lord points out the idols and sins in our lives, we cannot let them remain

We must shed those weights and sins, and run after Jesus

Conclusion

We remember this morning that what we are talking about here is not moralism

We do not kill sin and run after Jesus in order to gain His acceptance

We kill sin and run after Jesus because we already have His acceptance and have such a great group of witnesses that show us how to live by faith

We remember this morning that our pain has a purpose

Its not random, but God is working it to make us more like Himself

This is the work of Sanctification

This is the work that will go on until we see Jesus face to face

And on that day, we will look back and thank God for every struggle that pushed us closer to Him, and purged sin from us.

Pray