The Sanctification of our Affliction
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The Sanctification of our Affliction
Hebrews 12:5-11
November 30, 2008
Series 3 Sermon 63
5 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. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 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? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 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? 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. 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.
Introduction
Foundations are very important things. A house is built on a foundation and if it is not then it will not stand. Education is based on foundations like math and language and reading and if those subjects are not learned then the idea of further education will not happen. Almost everything that we do has foundations. Worship requires foundational truth. There is a God and He has a desire for and has commanded worship of Himself by His creatures. If we don’t have that foundation then worship would be useless.
As we have studied the Epistle to the Hebrews what I have discovered and I pray you have discovered is that written on the pages of this letter are some very foundational theological truths that all Christians must know and understand in order to face the everyday challenges of life in the proper way and also to understand the will and the ways of God.
One of those foundational truths that we saw in the first couple of chapters is that God has in the whole of Scripture and especially as you move into the New Testament taken His eternal glory and majesty and projected it upon His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. He has given to His covenant people a prophet, a king, and a priest. In Christ’s priesthood which is far superior to the Old Covenant priestly order God made Christ the sacrifice and the Great High Priest who mediates this New and better Covenant sealed by His blood. Now all who are in the New Covenant are sealed by the once and not again sacrifice of Christ and His continued work as the mediator between God the Father and the people of God.
Also we have uncovered some foundational theological truth that we may not have understood very well before. One was from chapter 10 where we looked closely at a theology of judgment. What we know and understand from Scripture is that all will be judged. The lost will be finally judged and their sentence will be the
So the theology of judgment and our passage today seem to me to go hand in hand. The reason I say that is because many times affliction in our lives is the result of God’s hand of correction. But not every time. I am sure there were some within this church that were receiving this letter who were holding fast to the faith in spite of the persecution and problems that were happening to them. Sure they saw people come and go but all along they held fast to the faith and were trying to live holy lives. So why was affliction coming their way?
If you will, recall with for a moment the sermon two weeks ago. What we saw in our passage, Hebrews 12:2-4, was that God ordains affliction for us in course of our race. Our sovereign Lord is teaching us along the way and preparing us for Heaven and so if His sinless Son endured great affliction as part of His course and He has called us to take up our cross and follow Him then it should be very obvious that affliction will come our way.
The great hymn that we sing, How Firm a Foundation, in our hymnal has five verses. But the song actually has seven verses. I want you to listen to the words of one of the verses that is not in most hymnals.
When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.
This is a lost concept in our day. The whole idea of distress or affliction is one that is foreign to our minds simply because we believe we are not to live through any of that. But what we have seen thus far in Hebrews 12 is that our Lord has called us to run a course that He has set before us and on that course there will be smooth running and there will be times of affliction and trouble.
Psalm 23 says, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me.” This is the idea of the Great Shepherd leading His sheep and part of that leading is through treacherous terrain.
But the reason our Lord leads us through that treacherous terrain is for our sanctification. So what we must learn to do is to sanctify our affliction. God is using that affliction to mold and shape us into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ and so we must as believers learn to cooperate with Him in this process. Now I am not saying that it is easy to endure. But it is necessary.
Let’s put this in the proper context. At this point in our study we are very familiar with the fact that the people who are reading this letter for the first time were a persecuted church. They had people who were either thinking about defecting or had defected from the church and possibly had gone back to Judaism. Chapter ten was very clear in showing us that the persecution had caused these Christians to have their property plundered and some had even ended up in prison. Those who were not in prison had cared for those who had been thrown into prison thus putting themselves in harms way. Then the writer in Hebrews 10:36 tells the readers this.
For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.
The unspoken question that we have as we get to chapter 12 and verse 5 is this. “Why is God allowing us, His faithful people, to be treated like this?” “Why are we having to endure the wrath of wicked men when we are doing the will of God?”
Now this is an age old question for believers. It goes all the way back to Abel. Why did God allow Cain to kill Abel just because he brought the correct sacrifice and Cain did not? Why should Moses have to choose the reproach of Christ over the riches of
And the answer to that question we can not fully understand this side of Heaven. So why does God bring suffering on His people? Why does God allow our health to fail? Why does God allow some of His people to experience financial ruin? Why does God allow some of His people to die a martyr’s death?
There are just some things that we do not understand and will not understand until we stand in the presence of the Lord. I have used this illustration before but it is true. When we give Brodie, our mini-Schnauzer, a bath he has no understanding why he has to get wet and soaped up and then rinsed off. But we know exactly why because if he is not bathed he will begin to smell like a goat. And goats don’t live in the house. So often we do not understand why our Lord allows us to go through certain things either but just like Job we can not see what is happening in Heaven.
But this morning in our text we do get a glimpse of what is taking place in Heaven. We do get to peek into the mind of God and see what He is doing. And the writer takes us to the book of Proverbs to show us what is happening.
So the unspoken question, why does God allow His people to endure affliction, is answered in Hebrews 12:5-11. Specifically the answer is in verse 7. Look at the verse with me.
7 It is for discipline that you have to endure.
The affliction that the Lord allows us and even causes us to go through and in the process are forced to endure is for discipline. Previously I mentioned the two types of discipline the Lord utilizes in dealing with His children. Those two types are formative discipline and corrective discipline. This is in verse 7. Look at the verse.
6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
Church discipline is made up of this same set up. The teaching of the Word of God is formative discipline which we learn what the Lord desires from His children. Corrective discipline is the restoration process of bringing an unruly or even disobedient Christian back into the fold. So the Lord uses these two types of discipline for His children. Now there is a reason that He does this and that reason is in verses 10 and 11. Look starting in verse 10.
10 For they (our earthly fathers) disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he (the Lord) disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 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.
This is how we must understand affliction. Affliction is God’s rod of correction and it is His preferred method of discipline. The reason He uses this is because His desire for us is for our good, for us to share in His holiness, and so that we can have the peaceful fruit of righteousness. The important thing for us to understand is that we must be trained by this discipline. We must sanctify the discipline the Lord allows us to endure.
There are those who learn from affliction and there are those who do not. When David sinned with Bathsheba he thought he had hidden his sin. But the Lord who is the faithful Father sent affliction to David so he would share in His holiness and be trained by this affliction. Listen to Psalm 51:7-8.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
Listen to Psalm 32:3-4.
3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.
David was able to recognize the disciplinary hand of God on him and repent.
But there are those who do not recognize it until it is too late. The Corinthians were making a mockery of the Lord Supper. They had been warned but had not heeded the warnings. Listen to 1 Corinthians 11:29-31.
29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. 30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep . 31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.
Even in the worst of sins David was able to discern the discipline of the Lord and to sanctify it. Some of the Corinthians were not and some of them died. So it is important to discern the hand of God in times of affliction.
PNP
So this morning from our text, Hebrews 12:5-11, we need to see two very important biblical facts concerning the discipline of the Lord that we need to understand.
1. We must understand that discipline is a fact of the Christian life.
2. We must understand that sanctified affliction brings forth the fruit of discipline.
Purpose
The reason I am preaching this passage this morning is so we can come to appreciate and sanctify our affliction that the Lord gives us as we run the race set before us with endurance.
RPNP
So look with me at these two very important biblical facts concerning the discipline of the Lord that we need to understand.
1. We must understand that discipline is a fact of the Christian life.
Verse 5 begins with a question. Look at it.
5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
It seems the writer is saying, “You are asking the question why but have you forgotten the Word of God, specifically the one that addresses you as sons or children?” The quote is from Proverbs 3:11-12. Look at it in verse 5 and 6.
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
I want you to understand that when the writer uses the word exhortation in verse 5 that his understanding is that when the Bible speaks it is not just words on paper but it is the very voice of God instructing His people. This should be our understanding as well.
There are two commands in this exhortation. The first one is in verse five and my translation says do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord. Your translation may say despise. It really means the same thing. The command is this. When the Lord disciplines you as His child you are to take Him extremely serious. Remember David and the Corinthians. One took the Lord seriously and the other regarded His discipline lightly.
What we must do when we are disciplined by the Lord is to take that discipline seriously. And second we must not grow weary under the discipline of the Lord. Look at verse 5 again.
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.
Within point one I want to give you three facts about the discipline of the Lord. And here is the first fact of the discipline of the Lord and it is in verse 6. Look at it with me.
6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
The one whom the Lord has set His affection and love upon, the one whom the Lord has called from darkness to light and death to life is promised by his or her heavenly Father that they will be disciplined by their Lord. Every son whom He receives will be disciplined and when needed chastised and this will come through affliction.
Now this cuts against the grain of so much preaching today. If you live the right lifestyle and you do all that God calls you to do then your life will be smooth sailing and the Lord will rain down blessings upon you. It is true that the Lord blesses those whom He loves but that blessing may be packaged in the form of a trial endured. The Lord is much more concerned with us being conformed to the image of Christ than He is with our comfort, ease, or wealth or our health. But we are so focused on the latter that we have a hard time seeing the big picture of sanctification.
So why does God take us through often very difficult affliction? Look at verse 7.
7 It is for discipline that you have to endure.
What has the writer been telling us all along in this Epistle? Listen to Hebrews 3:1-6.
1 Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house. 3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5 Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6 but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
Now listen to Hebrews 3:12-14.
12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 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. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
Hebrews 4:14.
14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
Listen to Hebrews 6:17-20.
17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Now look at Hebrews 10:19-23.
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
Folks, the command over and over is to hold fast to Christ. And we are holding fast to Christ in the midst of life’s storms and the afflictions that come our way. We are holding fast to our confession when life is good and when it is not so good because our Lord has over and over again proved Himself faithful and will continue to be faithful. Our duty to Christ in the midst of these trials and afflictions is to hold on to Him just as tightly as we can. Now look at Hebrews 10:36.
36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.
So the first fact of discipline is that the Lord loves you so He disciplines you. The second fact about discipline is that it is for your endurance. Now I want you to see the third fact about God’s discipline. Look at verse 7 of Hebrews 12.
7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. (Why? Here is the third fact.) God is treating you as sons.
Now I know this is counter cultural today. The idea of discipline is pretty much gone in our society. But here is what the Bible says in Proverbs 13:24.
24 He who withholds his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him diligently.
In affliction and discipline God is only doing to His children what He has instructed us to do to ours. And that is what the rest of verse 7 says.
For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
Verse 8 tells us what type of child is left without discipline. Look at verse 8.
8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
Have you ever wondered how a person who claims to be a Christian and lives a very ungodly lifestyle never has anything happen to them remotely like what some of you have gone through? I know you have maybe said it or thought. It goes something like this. “If I did that the Lord would surely make it known to the world.” Or “If I did that I would get thrown under the jail.” But nothing happens to them. Why? Because of verse 8. If they are truly Christians and are living an unbiblical lifestyle then our Lord is faithful to bring them back into the flock and many times through great chastisement.
I have a friend who I wonder about quite often. When will the Lord discipline him for his ungodly lifestyle or is he truly not a son? Every time I talk to him I have pointed him back to Christ. It may be that he is not truly a Christian and is like the dog in 2 Peter who returns to his vomit.
Now the writer puts it on a level we can all grasp. Look at verse 9.
9 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?
Here are the facts of discipline. First the Lord loves you so He disciplines you. The second fact about discipline is that it is for your endurance. Third, the Lord is treating you as sons. If you are left without discipline then you are illegitimate and not sons.
Now we need to see that:
2. We must understand that sanctified affliction brings forth the fruit of discipline.
The Lord does nothing without seeing the fruit of it. Now we need to understand what is to come out of the discipline the Lord takes us through. The writer takes us back to our earthly fathers to show us the fruit. Look at verse 10.
10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them,(Why did our parents discipline us? Not just so we would not be wild children and would be obedient to their words but because they loved us. So why does God discipline us? Look at the rest of verse 10.) but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.
So the first fruit of discipline is holiness. Specifically we are sharing in His holiness. There is a second fruit of discipline and we find that in verse 11. Look at it with me.
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 second fruit is the peaceful fruit of righteousness. In this affliction or discipline the Lord is faithful to bring about two things we all desperately need, holiness and righteousness. Why is this so important? Look at Hebrews 12:14.
14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
The discipline of the Lord will bring about holiness and the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Remember that verse from the hymn “How Firm a Foundation” that we did not sing? Listen to it again.
When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.
Now look at verse 11 again.
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.
When I discipline my children I pretty much always say the same thing to them no matter the offense that is being punished. I say, “Listen and obey.” There job at this point in their lives is to do whatever I and Dani tell them to do. Children obey your parents in the Lord. That is the command for their lives. And to do so they must listen first, understand what I am asking of them, and then to do it with a happy obedient heart. That is what is expected. Anything less will not be the peaceful fruit of righteousness. It may be bitterness or something else but the happy heart requirement is for the peaceful fruit of righteousness. I do not want them obeying me because they are afraid of me or because of the consequences of disobedience, I want them to obey me because they love me and they love the Lord and desire holiness and righteousness. Anything else is Pharisaism.
The same can be true for us. We may obey out of the sheer knowledge of our duty to God and out of fear of the repercussions for that disobedience but that is not true holiness and righteousness exhibited by our obedience. That is just being a Pharisee.
Verse 11 says that those who are trained by this discipline will have the peaceful fruit of righteousness. So how do we allow ourselves to be trained by the discipline the Lord takes us through without becoming Pharisees or becoming bitter or angry with God in the process? We have two commands in verse 6 that we need to obey. Look back at verse 6.
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him.
In my study this week I found an article in the Sword and Trowel written by Dr. Joel Beeke. So instead of trying to reinvent the wheel I will share with you some of what Dr. Beeke wrote. Here is how we can sanctify our affliction and be trained by the discipline of our Lord.
1. We need to understand and appreciate that affliction humbles us. It destroys our pride and our self sufficiency. Our greatest enemy is not Satan but ourselves. Let me quote Dr. Beeke here.
“In affliction God strips away that ugly pride and puts our priorities right. A Christian who is greatly afflicted is not a shallow man, dealing flippantly with life. He is a humbled person, formed and moulded after the pattern of Christ. The Puritans used to speak of fruit-laden trees being the most beneficial because they hung lowest to the ground. When they are afflicted, Christians hang low to the ground, but their lives are filled with fruit.”
2. We need to understand and appreciate that God uses affliction to cause us to search our lives. In that searching we are made more aware of our sins and the ugly character of those sins. Listen to what John Bunyan said about sin. “Sin is the daring of God’s justice, the raping of His power, the contempt of His love and the jeering of His patience.”
“It is as though the Holy Spirit comes in our afflictions with a candle and walks inside our hearts, going to every crack and crevice, and He pulls out hidden sins that we were not even aware of. He finds sins of motivation, and of failure to love God above all else, and our neighbours as ourselves.”
Listen to Psalm 119:67.
67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word.
Let me give you some quotes.
‘A sanctified affliction is like a silver bell,’ said George Swinnock. ‘The Christian is one whom the harder he is smitten the better he sounds.’
Richard Baxter said, ‘The good shepherd is not drowning His sheep when He washes them, nor killing them when He shears them. Rather His washes are needed cleansings, His shearings are necessary strippings, His corrections are essential lessons.’
3. We need to understand and appreciate that the afflictions that we endure mold us to the image of Christ.
“The Puritan ideal is that in every affliction we ought to stop and think, ‘Our Saviour has travelled this way before us. He was tempted and tried in all points like as we are. He has overcome. He has sanctified that pathway to the way of the cross, and in this we see a pledge that no affliction or trial shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. In affliction, therefore, we are to rejoice and count it joy. We are to take His yoke upon us, for it is easy and His burden is light.’”
4. We need to understand and appreciate that affliction when properly understood will minimize the thought of physical comfort and joy and will magnify spiritual comfort and joy. In other words affliction teaches us not to seek physical comfort but rather spiritual comfort. And that is only found at the feet of our Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. Affliction when sanctified will drive you to the Word of God and not away from it. It will drive you to the Savior and not away from Him. You will seek comfort where it truly is found.
5. We need to understand and appreciate that afflictions strengthen our faith in God. They serve to show us what our spiritual makeup is. When we are afflicted then we can not trust in our own abilities or talents but must put our faith in the One who can raise us back up. In affliction we learn what it really means to walk by faith and not by sight.
6. The last is so good I want to read it to you in its entirety.
“Finally, afflictions work together for good in weaning us from the world. Thomas Watson said, ‘A dog never bites those who live in its house, only strangers.’ Affliction often bites believers because they live as strangers to the ways of God. They are too much at home with the ways of man. Watson also said, ‘God would have us living in this world lightly.’
Affliction is profitable to prepare us for a heavenly inheritance. Affliction elevates our souls heavenward. Affliction paves our way for glory. ‘For our light affliction,’ says the apostle, ‘which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory’ (2 Corinthians 4.17).
John Trapp put it this way: ‘He that rides to be crowned, needs not much to fear a rainy day.’ The Puritans viewed affliction as being perfectly designed for each believer. ‘God is our tailor,’ said one, ‘and He tailor-makes every trial He sends our way.’ George Downame said, ‘The Lord does not measure out our afflictions according to our faults but according to our strength, and looks not at what we have deserved, but at what we are able to bear.’
What a way to look at affliction! Concerning it, the Puritans trusted God supremely, realising that affliction would not kill them spiritually. ‘Adversity,’ said one Puritan, ‘hath slain his thousands but prosperity his ten thousands.’ Prosperity is more dangerous than adversity for a Christian.
Another Puritan, John Downey, said, ‘Think it not evil of God to put much weight on your shoulders. It is only His signal that you have not slender shoulders. It is your badge of honour and not your sign of defeat. For He will not put upon you more than you are able to bear. Do not be so afraid of affliction. Be more afraid of sinning in it, than having it come to you.’ ”
Now I want you to look back at verse 6.
6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
Are you one of the ones that God loves? Have you experienced His hand of discipline in your life? Has He been faithful to correct you in sins and to produce holiness and the peaceful fruit of righteousness in you?
If not then the Bible says that you are not sons. Those who follow Christ will encounter on the course of life afflictions sent by the Lord to conform us to the image of Christ. They are more sure than the sun rising again in the morning.
If you are living in active disobedience to the Lord this very day and have not received the disciplinary hand of the Lord in your life then you are in grave spiritual danger. It could be that you are not truly a believer and if that is the case then you must repent of your sins and you must believe the gospel. And you must do so this day while there is still light.
And those of you who are enduring affliction now I encourage you to sanctify that affliction and allow the Lord of glory to bring about holiness and the peaceful fruit of righteousness in you as the Lord weans you from the world and conforms you to the image of Christ. Do some soul searching and see the ugliness of your sin and allow the Lord to purge you and make you clean.
Let’s pray.
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