I heard about a young boy that went off to one of these extremely expensive universities.
The bills were coming in monthly to these parents, & they were struggling to keep their head above water. One day his mother received a letter from him that read like this:
Dear Mom: I’m writing to inform you that I have flunked all of my courses.
I had an accident and totally wrecked my car, I owe the clothing store in town $2000,
And I have been suspended for the next semester because of misconduct.
I am coming home, prepare Dad! His mother wrote a one line letter back to him that just said this: Dear son: Dad is prepared, prepare yourself.
God is prepared to take his children to His woodshed when they sin. If a true Christian, you will make several trips to that woodshed before you die. If not, you are not saved. Let us, therefore, raise and answer 6 questions about God’s discipline of His children.
- How could God deal with us when we sin?
- God could condemn us and send us to hell, but God cannot do this because He is merciful.
- God could condone us, and overlook our sin. He cannot do that because He is holy.
- But God corrects us because He loves us. Jesus Himself said, “As many as I love I rebuke and chasten…” (Revelations 3:19).
- Why does God discipline us? First, we need to understand that the purpose of discipline is not to discourage us, but to encourage us. “Exhortation” in Hebrews 12:5 means “encouragement.” And the word “discipline” (paideias means “child training.”) But how does discipline encourage us?
- Discipline identifies us as true children of God. Hebrews 12:6-7, “For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth and scourgeth. If ye edure chastening, God dealeth with as sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if you be without…then ye are bastards (illegitimate), and not sons.” “Now God whips His children, but God whips only His children! If your kids are playing in the yard with the neighbors’ kids, and they begin to misbehave and get into a fight, whose kids do you discipline? Well, you certainly do not discipline the neighbor’s kids! At least if you’re smart, you discipline your own. I know some parents are like the mother who brought her little boy to school one time, & she said to the teacher: “Now Johnny is a little bit nervous and slightly hyperactive, if he misbehaves, you just slap the boy next to him and he’ll straighten up.” Well, God does not whip the devil’s children, he only whips His! But He does whip His, and He does so because they are His children. Now you may be sitting there thinking, “Well, I’m a Christian, God never whips me. I’m living just like I want to and it doesn’t bother me one bit. I don’t believe I’ve ever been to God’s woodshed. How do you explain that?” There’s a very simply explanation … You’re not a Christian!”[1]
Those of you who hear this message: Listen deeply and carefully, “If you have never been taken to God’s woodshed, you are lost and need to be saved.” When you try to talk to some people about their waywardness, they just smile and say, “Well, I’m just backslidden.” Did you know there is no such thing in the Bible as a permanent backslider. A lot of these so-called backsliders have never been born again and given a new nature and are sliding into hell when they die. In the event
you are saved and have temporarily become backslidden, God will yet take you to His woodshed until you slide back into godliness. Example: Peter backslide very briefly, God took him to His woodshed, and he repented and came back quickly. Judas backslide, but never turned back, and King Saul did the same in my judgment. There is a very thin line between being backslidden and being lost and that line is the discipline of a loving God.
Discipline turns the true Christian back to repentance and unto holiness. Revelation 3:19, “As many as I love I chasten…be zealous therefore and repent.”
Illus.: v.6 “For whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth.” “I heard one time about a family of wayward members of a church, who at one time were very active in their church, but they had fallen away and lost interest. They were true backsliders, that is, they were saved, but they had just gotten away from the Lord. Well, some deacons went and talked to the father and his three sons, Jim, John, and Sam, about their condition, but they had no success. Then the preacher went to visit with them. They didn’t listen to him either! Some of the other brethren went and visited with them, and tried to get them back into the church, but they were rejected. One day when all of the boys were out in the pasture, a large rattlesnake bit John. He became very sick. They called the doctor, and after an examination he said to the family: “There is nothing that I can do! About all you can do now is just pray.” The doctor left. Well, this father immediately called for the preacher, and asked him to come. He told him of John’s condition. He said, “Preacher, would you please pray for my boy that he would be healed.” I want you to listen to how this preacher prayed: Oh wise and righteous Father, we thank Thee that in Thy wisdom thou hast sent this rattlesnake to bite John in order to bring him to his senses. He has not been inside the church house for years, and it is doubtful that in all of this time he has even felt the need of prayer. Now we trust that this will be a valuable lesson to him, and that it will lead him to genuine repentance. So now, Oh Father, wilt thou send another snake to bite Sam, and another one to bite Jim, and a big one to bite the old man. We’ve been doing everything we know for years to restore them, but to no avail. It seems that all of our combined efforts could not do what this one snake has done. Thus we conclude that the only thing left that will do this family any good, is more rattlesnakes. So Lord, send us bigger and better rattlesnakes we pray in Jesus name. Amen! That story is humorous, but it does illustrate a point! God will use anything from snakes to scorpions to discipline His children and to bring them back to a place of repentance and holiness and love.”[2]
How does God Discipline? In our text we are told that God disciplines His children in three ways:
- God disciplines His children by “speaking” to them inwardly (Hebrews 12:5). If truly saved, God convicts us by His Word and the Holy Spirit. He pricks our conscience and we know we have done wrong. This is that still small voice which speaks so loudly that we feel guilt and turn in our beds. This is the way God prefers to discipline His children. : As a father I have always rejoiced when I could correct my children by speaking rather than spanking. But what if children do not listen?
- God often has to “spank” His children. He can refuse to listen to our prayers (Psalm 66:18). He can take away our privileges, send sickness, cause us to lose our job. What a lot of people call “bad luck” is simply God’s discipline in my judgment.
- Now if “speaking” and “spanking” do not get our attention God “scourges,” meaning He “flogs with a whip.” This means a severe and painful beating. There comes a point when God’s child will not repent by God speaking or spanking, and the only remedy is death. Listen to Hebrews 12:9, “Furthermore we have had father of our flesh who corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits AND LIVE?” The apostle John speaks of “the sin unto death” (1 Johns 5:18). To my great horror I believe I have witnessed such in my lifetime. Some church members must be lost, for if saved, God would kill them the way they are living. Many would reply, “If this is the way God is going to treat me, I’m just not going to serve Him anymore.” I remind them of a statement by the great Nazarene preacher, Uncle Bud Robinson, “If the Lord is your Shepherd, then you are the Lord’s sheep. And He has a perfect right to shear you any time He needs.”
How should a child of God respond to discipline? Verse 2 commands that we “endure chastening.” But many professing Christians do not “endure.”
- You can resent discipline. Verse 5 says, “My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord.” The word “despise” means “to treat lightly. You can be bitter or mad when disciplined. : “I heard about a little girl who was disobedient to her mother! And her mother put her in the closet to discipline her. Well, it got very quiet, so the mother went to check on the little girl. She opened up the door and she said, “what are you doing?” She said, “Well, I spit on your shoes, spit on your coat, spit on your dress, and I’m just waiting on more spit.” Well when God disciplines us, we can gripe about it and complain about it! But I want to tell you that resenting it is not going to remove it.”[3]
- You can lose heart. Verse 5b, “Nor faint when thou art rebuked.” You can give up, quit church and abandon God’s people. Many get mad at God.
- You can receive it. Receive it as God’s warning or God’s seeking to teach us a lesson. Hebrews 12:11, “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 exercised by it.” The word exercised may be translated, “trained.” The Greek word is gymnasia. A gymnasium is a place of training. You need to realize that the discipline of God is not to make you mad or sad, but to train you in holiness and bring joy back into your life. Job 5:17 declares, “Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth; therefore despise not the chastening of the Almighty.”
Does God discipline even His faithful and fruitful children? Strange as it may seem, He does. Jesus Himself said “every branch that bears fruit He prunes.” Why? “That it may bear more fruit” (John 15:3). God removes all things in the believer’s life that would hinder fruit bearing, that is, He chastises to cut away sin and hindrances that would drain spiritual life just as the farmer removes anything on the branches that keep them from bearing maximum fruit. Example: The Apostle Paul was the most fruitful Christian who ever lived, but God permitted Satan to send a “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor. 12:1-11) to cut away his pride. Personal: God continually “prunes” me of things after being in the ministry for 56 years. In fact the 3rd beatitude says “Blesses are the meek” (Matthew 5:5) and the deepest meaning of meekness is an attitude of humility and openness to God so He can continually change us. Persons who refuse to permit God to “prune” them cease to grow, become stagnant, and eventually unusable in His service. : Tobacco leaves grow out from a stalk. At the point where the leaves enter the stalk, “little leaves” or “suckers” begin to grow. These “little leaves” contain the same ingredients of the large leaves which are cropped, cured, and turned into cigarettes. However, these “little leaves” are called
suckers” which must be removed or they will “suck” out the strength of the big leaves. So there are many habits, attitudes, sins that will destroy the effectiveness of any child of God, and a loving God cuts them away. You might call this “Spiritual Suckering.”
What are the Positive Results of Discipline if we receive it in faith and grace? Hebrews 12:1l, “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 exercised by it.”
- Your life is filled with wonderful peace. The most miserable man in the world is not the man who is lost and does not know God. The most miserable man on earth is the man who is saved and does know God but is out of fellowship with Him.
- Your life is marked by righteousness and holiness. Hebrews 5:8 says that even Jesus, the Son of God learned obedience by the things which He suffered.” David testified that it was good that he had been afflicted because before he suffered he “went astray” but now “have I kept thy Word” (Psalm 119:67, 71).
God commands us to “be ye holy for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:6). And He will discipline us until we are. If not, you need to be saved.
So my constant prayer is this, “Lord, make me as holy as a sinner saved by grace can be.” (The famous prayer of Robert Murray McCheyne).
Final Question: Is God going to have to take you to His woodshed to get you straightened out? He will if He has to. If He does not, then you are a spiritual “bastard” and not His son ( Heb. 12:8). This word to the wise should be sufficient. So you are “Headed for God’s Woodshed or Hell.” Think it over but not for long please.
[1] Bo Dumford, sermoncentral.com, sermon ID=53308
[2] Ibid. Dunford
[3] Ibid, Dunford