This recording is from Christ Kingdom Church in Waterford Lakes, East Orlando. Visit us online at ChristKingdom.org for our calendar, driving directions, and more audio recordings. In our worship through the Reading of God's Word, we're going to be reading today from the Book of Hebrews. Continuing our series in the Book of Hebrews. And we pick up again in Hebrews 12, starting at verse 4. Like for everybody to stand in reverence to God's Word and we can follow it on the screen behind us. 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 approved 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 discipline us and we respected them. Showing not much more be subject to the father of spirits and live? For they discipline 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 past your feet so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. The word of the Lord. Let me pray. Thank you, Father, for this word that you have given us and we thank you for Scott as he shares with us what is on his heart from you. And we have open hearts and minds to receive what you have for us this morning. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. And while you are seated, the third through fifth graders are dismissed. Well, we are continuing our study or getting closer to the end here of Hebrews. We will be wrapping up just by the end of May. So keep tracking with us. If you miss one, go back and look online to whoever is preaching that week. You can hear and get caught up. But this is an amazing book with a lot of amazing truths. And one of the most profound truths in this entire book, I honestly believe, is found or emphasized again right here in this text this morning. And it's also one of those profound truths throughout the entire New Testament. It's the fact that you have a God in heaven who invites you to call him Father. When Jesus instructed His disciples and said, pray like this. Because the disciples said, hey, teach us to pray. He says, pray our Father who art in heaven. You know, you kind of go right past that to all the meat, you think. Let me tell you, the meat was in the first two words. Our Father. That was astounding. That was me. It's earth shadowing to us today to really understand it. But especially the first century, Israelite, who was thinking, what do you mean? God in heaven, Yahweh, the one whose name, we can't even pronounce, shouldn't pronounce. So we've modified and adjusted it. The ones that we have the utmost holiness and reverts to rightfully so, invites us to call out to Him. Our Father. Absolutely. Jesus says. Because that's what His mission was all about. To make a people who are once slaves and enemies of God to become not just invited into or welcome back as servants in in kingdom, but those that be welcome back as beloved sons and daughters. It is mind blowing. If you really think about it. In this text, you'll see why it's so important. For a group of people who are struggling, who are going through suffering and go through persecution. Those that many are wondering, is it really worth it hanging on with what they were experiencing? This is when He was crucified on the cross. It was just the beginning of the persecution that was going to happen to those who were His followers. But the author, the writer of Hebrews, knows how important it is. The Holy Spirit knows how important it is. For them to know, you have a Father in heaven. And He's working all things together for His good. And He disciplines His children. And no matter what life circumstances are throwing your way, they must first come through the hands of a loving Father. My first taste with that, that I can remember as a child growing up, was somewhere around the ages of, you know, five, six, seven. I can't remember. A mom would remember it didn't ask her ahead of time. But whenever I went to camp Briarwood for the first time, which was an overnight camp. And I've never done an overnight camp before. But I wasn't really into the overnight thing anyway, because I like the comfort of my own bed, I like the comfort of my own food, all those kinds of things. But here I was for a week-long camp. It was me the overnight camp. And the day part of that camp went very, very well. I remember it was a lot of fun. My friends were there, counselors were nice and everything else. And everything was going great all the way up until bedtime. And when bedtime came around, everybody kind of nestled into their bed. And I, whatever reason, could not fall asleep. So as a young, I don't know, again, five, six, seven-year-old, whatever it was, you know, your mind just starts to play and go on. And they just had these spheres rise up. And I was just had this incredible overwhelmingness of homesickness. And at that point, there was nothing I could do. And I don't remember when I fell asleep that night. It was a miserable night, probably one of the most miserable in all 47 years of my life. Thank you, mom. For that. I was a man, or should say I was a boy, on a mission the next day. And the mission was, where's the pay phone? Okay. And I think it's still only a dime back then. But I made a phone call home or somehow called home. And I was like, mom, I need you to come get me now. And my older brother Steve was a day camp counselor. So he was popping in during the day, but he was going home sleeping his own bed at night. But I was, I mean, I remember, you know, kids don't like to cry in front of their friends. But I was bawling on the phone there, just crying. And I think I was talking to you as a talking to your dad. It's probably talking to you, thinking that more and more success with mom. So I was convinced that when my brother came up for that day to do the day camp stuff because I would see him. And they were like, you know, sending me little foods from home and stuff for him, which was nice. I thought for sure I would be going home with him. But I discovered I wasn't going home within that day. I became a very angry little five, six, seven-year-old boy at that point there with that. But what I did get is I got a little note from my dad. And a little note from my dad was a little three by five index card, which he wrote lots of notes in those days on that. And it was that verse from Isaiah 41-10. It says, fear not. Frown with you. I will walk with you. Hold with you. I don't remember exactly. It worked for word there. But I remember thinking, I remember I think even crumpled it up like, you know, because I was not going home with my brother. And apparently I had four more nights to go. And all I got was a stinking three by five card to hold me through this. And you know, he wrote some other note on that. Like, hey, we love you. You know, you're going to be okay. We're praying for you. You know, I think he probably said stick it out another night or two. Let's see how it goes, that kind of thing. And all I remember is that bedtime again. I was sitting in bed. All I had was a stupid, stinking three by five card. And I literally had it in my hand thinking, this is all I got to work with here. But something happened in the course of that night. I was going, this is all I got. And I had to dwell on that verse that I should not fear. For God is with me. And he's going to strengthen me with his righteous right hand. And that night, even though it was one of those horrible nights to start with, you know, soon, in a matter of minutes, after meditating on that verse, I slipped into a peaceful sleep. And what I really slipped into was a peaceful spirit. And I enjoyed the next three days of camp without incident, slept like a baby in the next three nights, as far as I know, with it. But it was in a profound moment for me to know that my earthly parents had made a hard decision. It was difficult for me. It wasn't what I wanted at the time. But really, it was really the problem. The first time they introduced me in a powerful way to my Heavenly Father. Because he's all I had at that moment. And it changed the course in direction. I think of my life in many ways, many profound ways with that. So thank you, Mom. And Dad, you can hear me with that. I want you to think about the power it can be to know that your parents, or a parent, or especially Heavenly Father, is not just thinking you're going to make it. You're going to be all right. They're allowing you to walk through and be in difficult circumstances, because they are training you. They're disciplining you. They are helping you in a way that you may not like or appreciate at all in the moment. But it has to have a profound fruit in your life that one day you're going to thank them for. Sincerely, 40 plus years later. You can sincerely thank my mom for that incident. Well, the people dealing with this kind of persecution and struggling needed to know that they did have a father in heaven. And he was working all things together for good. And as we unpack a little bit here, you're going to see how important that is. We're going to look at four really points here. But my key point here is my key point is you have a perfect Heavenly Father. A perfect Heavenly Father. Don't skip the word perfect if you're writing that down. Very, very important. Jesus even says when he's talking to his followers, he says, Hey, you know how to be good parents to your children, even though you're evil. How much more does your father in heaven know how to give good gifts to his children? How much more would he give the spirit to those that ask? The son asked for a bread he's not going to give him a stone or a snake. Jesus sets it up and says, look, you know as parents, you know, or those that will be parents one day, you know what a good parent looks like. And you're evil. You're defiled by sin, depraved by sin. How much more does a perfect Father in heaven know what he's doing? And he's going to work. The four things you're going to look at this morning is one of the basis for your father's discipline, the tools of your father's discipline, the purpose of your father's discipline, and then lastly, the proper response to your father's discipline. Let's look at the first one here right now, the basis of your father's discipline. Look at verses five through seven. I'm going to read it again. And he forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons. My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when it reprieved by him. The Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for your discipline. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. Now, one of the things you may have noticed during your in your texture, that's in quotes what he's quoting from. He's quoting from Proverbs chapter three. Proverbs three, 11 through 12. The words of wisdom from King Solomon. And that in an actual full quote from Proverbs three says this. My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reprieve. For the Lord reprieves him whom he loves as a father, the son, and whom he delights. Now, I don't want you to miss this because the listeners here in Hebrews were to go on, gosh, that's Proverbs. That's Solomon. That's the wisest man of all kind. So we don't want to run past that too quickly here. If you remember about Solomon, you remember one of the key stories that is told about Solomon that set him up and where people looked and were astounded at his wisdom. Well, he comes from first Kings three. Just a quick summary there in first Kings three. One of the roles of the king would be the cast judgment, especially over difficult cases, and a very difficult case that come up. Two prostitutes, each of them had been living together by themselves. So nobody else could testify to, but each had within a matter of days had a child, had a son. And then at one point, one of the mothers apparently accidentally slept on top of her son or the baby, and he suffocated the death. And then by before the next morning, when she realized what had happened, she swapped her baby with her roommates' baby. And then claimed that that baby, the live one was hers and that the dead one was other ladies. Now, moms, you know how this goes. Even after a few days here, you can take out your child. You know which ones are your child or not. So the true mom who had the living child knew that the other lady was making a lie about this, but nobody could confirm one way or the other. The baby's for only a few days old. So this case is important. I think it's all the way up to King Solomon. And in Solomon's wisdom, after hearing the case here, he says, bring me a sword. And he says, all right, divide the baby in half and give one half to the one mother and one half to the other, because nobody's going to know which one is the real baby. And no sooner could they get the sword out before it could happen before the one true mom says, no, no, no, no, that's all right, that's all right, give it to her. They have to give it to her. It's her baby. And Solomon quickly knows who's the real mom. It says, give the baby to that mom, because she's the true mother who doesn't want to see her baby suffer and die. The text says, they were astounded at his wisdom with that. Solomon's wisdom, he knew the relationship between a parent and a child and how powerful it was. And the spirit gave him wisdom in that moment to take advantage of that. That is the quote we're hearing from here. It's from this man, Solomon. He understands the bond, the commitment that a parent has with a child. It's a loving compassion, it's loving care, it's loving discipline. It's a loving commitment for life that a mother has. In fact, a mother would do only give up her child and make sure that the child could live in that kind of situation. See, the base of your father in heaven is disciplined for you is a parent relationship. Jesus instructs us followers to pray. Our father in heaven has already mentioned, but why is that so important? Because it's not transactional, it's familial. It's family-based. It's not business-based. A father-child relationship is not a business relationship. Think about it for a second. All of you have a hairdresser of some type. At least I think. Actually, Don, you don't. But many do. Most of you have a hairdresser. Most of you probably have an accountant or somebody that does that. Many of you have a boss or employer. But those are all types of transactional relationships. If your hairdresser sees us to listen to your desires, if that happens more than a few times, you're probably going to change hairdressers. And you're probably not going to lose a lot of sleep about it. If your accountant makes repeated errors on your tax return, which, hopefully, most of you know, you've got what? To Monday to finish, wrap that up there. You better hurry. But if they repeatedly make errors, you're going to probably change accountants. If you are chronically late for work, your employer is probably going to change your relationship with your company at some point, right? Because those are transactional type relationships. The one that's being spoken of here is a familial one. It's a father-child or father-centered daughter relationship. So it's based on the fact that you're the Heavenly Father's boy, your his girl. And that's extremely important because it's not transactional. And so many times and so many other religions, religion in general, wants to suggest that you must do this for God and then God will do this for you. It's transactional. No wonder so many people have that kind of mindset and eventually turn their back on that type of God and go, I'm too tired of this. It doesn't seem to work. I come and give God my worship. I come and give my offering. Maybe I come and show up at church. I come and do what I think are the things He wants me to do. But He doesn't deliver for me. I'm out of here. It's not transactional from God's in or from your end. It's not based on that. It's based on your an adopted son or daughter. The familial relationship, see, it endures conflicts. It endures wounds. It endures misunderstandings. It endures repeated failures where transactional relationships never will. Think about it. Think of any of you here have a broken relationship in your family somewhere. Whether it's maybe it's with a child. Maybe your child is with an adult parent. How many of you in a broken relationship so long to experience reconciliation and healing that if a true sincere apology sincerely was offered to you humbly with those strings attached would not jump at that and receive it. I bet 99% of you would. No matter how deep even the offense was because there's something inside of you that knows I'm missing. There's a gap there. You can find another hairdresser. But no, you can't really find another earthly father. Can you? Or an earthly mother? Or an earthly son or daughter? There's something inside you that longs for that bond to be restored. That's how powerful familiar relationships are. And you have a perfect heavenly father. Let's talk for a second about the tools of your father's discipline. Not so much the fun part with this necessarily. Look at verses 5 through 6, second half of 5 verse 6. 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. The right of Hebrews here uses three specific examples or types of tools to describe the way that God parents his children. The first one is the word discipline. In fact, in the entire book of Hebrews this specific words only used in this chapter here. It's Pidea. It means the whole training. It means the modeling, the equipping, the full education of children. It's raising children in a righteous way. It kind of encompasses this whole process of parenthood. Jewish people took the discipline in training of their children very seriously, which was a very good thing they should. It was a very important part of their daily life. In fact, in Deuteronomy chapter 6, where we're given the Shema Israel special text there, which is used still in prayer with Orthodox Jews all the time. The hero Israel, the Lord our God, is the Lord, the Lord is one. That famous verse, it goes right on to say what? You shall level, we're great God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might. And then what does it say next? In these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children. And so it's hawk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way. And when you lie down and when you rise. A central key verse for the Israelite people. And it embraced the fact and the importance of passing along that inheritance that understanding, that training, that discipline to their children. Children were to be taught the laws of God. Children were to be told the stories of God. And how God had delivered them from Egypt and so on. And how God had revealed himself to Abraham. And how God had promised this blessing that they would be a mighty nation. They heard these stories. It was extremely important. Your perfect father in heaven is doing, by the way, no less. And actually far greater than what Israelite parents were doing with their children. He wants you to know his word. He wants you to know the stories of his faithfulness to all those you'll read about in the scriptures. By the way, he wants you to hear the faithful stories of those you're sitting around here in the room. Which is why you need to be in a small group. Which is why you need to be here on Sunday mornings. It doesn't matter what our attendance charts say and how good that could be or not be. It's so you will hear the stories of God's work in life. And that's why you need to share their stories, by the way. Don't go out here and get stacks of them when church is over. And know that there's an incredible story or something you think God's doing in your life. And not tell somebody about it. Tell your small group. Tell people sitting here. Tell people as you're inviting them to church. Let them hear the story. We need to hear how God is working moving. God wants you to hear a story. He wants you to know his story in your life. This is part of the discipline the training that God has. He wants his presence, his word. He wants your heart to be settled daily. To know who he is and who you are in his master plan. He's looking for opportunities to teach you. He's fully engaged as a perfect father as we even just sung about. One of the times, I'll give you an example, probably probably my best moments of being a father. There's not as many of those. But one of those has been taking the joy of taking my sons on a father's son trip. Someone that adolescent year range. Davis will be doing that before long. Reese has gone through that con or Michael and others. Let me tell you, that's probably, I'm at the top of my game on those weeks there. And I'm there with other dads doing it with our sons here on that. But part of that experience, part of what we're wanting to do in that. As I've done it with my sons, is want them to have a moment in memory that they'll cherish forever. And as much as important as that is, it needs to be happening daily way, way as much too. But I just want to share about what's part of the vision of these father's son adventures. One, I'm fully engaged when I take a week, which we do. And we go somewhere, adventure some. Been in the mountains of Tennessee, the mountains of Colorado. I've been living on a sailboat for a week. Those are the three different things I've done. Davis and I are planning on that expedition to Mars in a few years here for that. That should be a lot of fun too. So we do something that is exciting and adventure some. I'm fully engaged, I'm fully present because I'm not, you know, the cell phone's not working on those mountains. And I'm not even catching it if it was, you know, I'm there with them. The setting is designed for that adventure. There's challenges that are going on and they're very intentional. We've set up challenges. We have some that are extremely intentional. One was not as intentional. We had Jerry Hurtzler in charge of food for our oldest boys. And we ran out of food on a boat in the middle of the ocean. Jerry, we didn't count on that challenge. But let me tell you, when you're spear fishing for the food that you will actually have to eat that night, is a very different motivation when you're in the water, okay? God used that. We had some very set up intentional ones and that was not so intentional. Surprise as we're playing as a part of the trip. Remember one of the things that in our experience, the reason I had on our trip there is that we had a chance. We had a whole ceremony. They'll set up in a cave. And when he and the other guys, what Jacob was a part of that, we walked in the room. And the cave is wholly lit by probably hundreds of candles and little crevices throughout the cave. And the dads are there to impart a vision and to speak into our son's life. It's a powerful moment. All right. That's me and the dad on my very best day. We don't need to talk about the days that are far less than that. Because here's my point. That's, that's, I'm not telling you. It's cool. You want to talk more about it. I'll talk to you more about it. But that's me on my best day. You're heavenly father in heaven who's perfect. Do you think he's doing anything less than that in his sovereignty of every microorganism in the universe? Do you think there's reason why the scriptures say he knows the number of hairs that are on your head, or that a sparrow or bird can't fall from the sky without him knowing it? Do you think he's not involved, kids? When you feel rejected at school, do you really think that's out of his control? Or you're worried about what the next step is in life? We have a lot of seniors graduating this year. Or what about you bigger kids? Do you really think he's, he's really out of control? Okay. When you get a notice from work that you weren't expecting. Or you get passed over for that promotion again. Or in that marriage relationship where you're thinking, maybe this is good as it gets. Or that parenting situation where you're scratching your head and going, I'm not into my rope. Do you think he's not as good a father as I am on my very best week? Or do you think he's infinitely better? Think about it. Do you think God's fully engaged and present? Do you think he's created a life of adventure for you that he plans to walk you through to take you through? Do you think challenges he has planned intentional challenges there for you? And he doesn't forget to pack enough food ever for what you need? Surprises that he has planned along the way? A transcendent vision that he wants to impart to you? Or do you think I had him beat on that day? That had a little better parenting moment than he did? It's absurd, right? To think that. You have a perfect father in heaven. You need to let that sink in. You need to let that soak in. You need to let the thing that's heaping you from falling asleep quickly tonight and be superseded by that truth. You go, oh my gosh. When my child says they have trouble sleeping night because they're afraid there's a bogeyman next door. I'm like, oh, don't worry. It's okay. Did you know it's okay? You think he doesn't know it's okay? Every good father knows the importance of reproof and chest-heismate. And discipline and training is one of the words used here that just talks about this overall raising of a child. But another one he uses is the word reproof in verse five. You know, we use this tool all the time as parents. That's a word in Greek means to convict or correct by word or deed and it's usually by word. Think about this and just one example here because let me tell you this is something here. If you're not a follower of Christ here this morning, there is not a promise that God is there lovingly discipline you as a father. There's a difference between those who are his and how he disciplines and those who are not who remain under the condemnation the judgment of God. Matthew 16, Jesus reproves Peter. Remember Peter had come and it says in verse 22, he took him aside and again rebuke him. Because Jesus had just told him he was going to die on a cross and suffer and rise again in three days. Jesus just told him an amazing truth and powerful truth. And Peter says, far from you Lord, this shall never happen you. But Jesus turned to Peter and said, get behind me Satan. You are hindrance to me for you're not setting your mind on the things of God but on the things of man. Ouch, but from a loving parent, you know almost an exact same periodic piece of time. Judas, he tells that there's one that's going to betray them. And what does he tell the Jesus to Judas? He says what you do do it quickly. Very different response. To the one that Jesus says, one who has never upped him in the first place. Jesus said, I kept all the ones that you'd given to me except the one who was never with us in the first place. We see a loving rebuke from a God who views us as his children versus one those who do not. God reproves us today through his word, by his spirit, through the body of believers. Let me tell you the importance of spending time in reading God's word. That's one of the primary ways that he is trying to reprove you. You know, I know all of us would say, hey, I love to have it written on the wall. I love to have a dream in the night. I love to hear a voice somewhere in my head. Let me tell you he's giving you his written word. And it will reprove you if you listen to it. If you read it and you read it as a hero one in faith in Jesus Christ, he will reprove you. But let me tell you, it's going to hurt a little bit. Like most reproof does, if it says sincere reproof and if it was really needed, it's going to bite. It's going to cut. It's going to involve pain. But you have a 11th father who has given you this written word. So many generations would say, gosh, you don't know how good you got it. You have actually the word of God in your hands. You got it on your electronic device. You just pull it up in a moment. And so many generations never had it in their own possession. We have it. By his spirit, his spirit has been poured out to us. One of the primary roles of the Holy Spirit, by the way, Jesus said, is that he will convict you of sin. Well, how will you know when you're convicted of sin? You'll feel his reproof prayerfully and spiritually in your heart. Through the body of believers is another way. Let me challenge you right here on this. Do you invite other believers to speak into your life? Do you invite other believers to speak into your life? That's any might say way off. So no, either you do or you don't. Okay. Let me tell you, if you're not sure, ask when your close friends is another believer. And say, do you feel the freedom to speak truth in my life? And then say, don't don't answer yet. Tell me the truth, please. Say that next. And then don't say anything, but listen. And if they hesitate, if they him and Ha, they probably don't feel like you really want them to speak the truth in your life. But if they say, yeah, could you matter to me? Because I love you, because I care about you. God uses the body of Christ to speak reproofs into one another. But are you open to really listening to it? Again, this is not a small group sermon. But if you're not in a small group, it's probably not going to happen in this church. Because let me tell you, between hearing the refreshments out there, you're probably not going to invite, or they're not going to have the opportunity or feel the freedom or be distracted free enough to speak truth into your life right here. I know you're busy. Let me tell you, you are not too busy to be under God's discipline lovingly and one of the primary ways he wants to do it is through his body. You think you're too busy? No, you're too busy not too. Make it a priority. And don't just be in a small group. Be a part of creating that environment so that it does feel and it can speak truth in one another's lives. And listen when people do. You have a perfect, heavenly father. Not only does he discipline, not only does he reproof, but in other words, he used to use chest sizement. Not a popular word. We don't like it in particular. It can also be translated punishment, which you might say in your translation. The word is musti gao, which actually means to scourge or to whip. Metaphorically, it's used in reference to God as a way to refer to his physical consequences. God all the time obviously was not physically scourging and whipping them, but he was metaphorically doing that with his people in the Old Testament all the time, through calamity, through bringing on plagues, through outward consequences, through their enemy coming and invading at times, through ultimately, the times they experienced exile, was the ultimate form of God's punishment, chest sizement on his people. Which, by the way, he told them that would happen ahead of time in Deuteronomy and other places. He told them, look, when you walk and he said, not if, he said, when you turn away, this will happen, but I will bring you back. Jeremiah, Isaiah, the book's little testament come to remind us here that this is God's plan. His chest sizement is from a loving father. Chest sizement is an artificial created consequence intended to deter future wrong choices or behavior that will often happen. We know it's an important tool for us as parents, right? It's one of the reasons why I'm still an advocate for appropriate proper corporal punishment, with children when they're young. Let me tell you, there's not had six kids. There's nothing quite as effective as getting their attention through corporal punishment when it's done in the right way. So don't let all the garbage out there talking about how bad it is. Doing it wrong way is bad. Doing it the right way is life-giving. Proverbs tells us in other places. Natural created consequences are children get older. We see the power of that as well, too. That if such and such happens or there's disobedience or rebellion, hey, I'm sorry, you're not going to get to go out with your friends. Or you're going to have extra chores, whatever the case might be. Those are important tools and chest sizements that we use as parents, at least I hope you do. Let me tell you, do you think your father, your perfect father in heaven? Kind of let that out of his tool bag. He's like, oh, not quite sure what I'm going to do here in this situation. What do you think? The examples that we have, the models that we have are really coming from him. The he is using chest sizement on a regular basis for his children. Because you know what, you're his girl. You're his boy. Do you think you're a better parent than him? He's a perfect father. Second Chronicle 714, which many of us have heard is a promise of revival and reconciliation. He says, if my people who are called by name, humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. God was constantly reminding his people that his work, that his when their land needed healing, was evidence of his ultimate chest sizement, which was wooing them back to himself. So he could turn and forgive and breathe life back in. God is using circumstances to chest size sometimes. Now, this can get confusing. I want you to catch some of this. This is important to know. Because a lot of times people will go, well, God is a God of love. He doesn't let bad things happen to you because of your choices. Are you serious? Are you thinking about what you really say about that? I mean, do you not, as a parent, those of you who are a parent, if one of your children says, hey, spit all my money on a bunch of fun things this week here, but now there's something else I really need and want here, and I'm hoping you would give it to me. I mean, do you just go, well, how much? Or do you go, well, you were given allowance last week. What happened to that? Well, I spit it all on, you know, fun things are doing this or that. Well, it sounds like what you need is not more money. It sounds like what you need is a job. Right? And you come alongside and you help them. Why, because you're just a mean old battle parent? Don't get you love them. Because the real world works that way. And would you rather than find that out at age 18 and 19 and leave home or find that out around age five or six? As their managing is their growing up. God is using circumstances to chastise us sometimes. You really is. Let me use some examples, insecurity problems. When you look to find your significance and acceptance and earthly relationships and things rather than your relationship with God. And you feel turmoil because you can't find the satisfaction of things on earth really make you feel good about yourself. Let me tell you, that's a chastisement in there as a child of God. He's saying, look, I don't want you. How cruel would it be for God to make you feel really ultimately and intimately satisfied by looking in the mirror every day? And go dog on it. God, I feel so good about myself because of the way I look. How hateful of a father would he have to be to let that happen to you? So he's not. He's going to give you blemishes on your face, kids. Lovingly. He's going to let you get some wrinkles over folks. Russ Martin is not here. I was ever a rest of the house on Friday. He said, you want to see my scar? I said, yes, I meant no. But he pulls up his shirt and he's got this long incision here on that. You know, Russ is in peak performance and shape. But you know, he's no longer a Mr. December in the church officer's calendar anymore. You know, with an incision down here. You know, his body is, thank God, God's using that. And he's doing much better. But I'm saying, your body, right? If the mirror is what you're looking for to find your hope and significance there, how cruel would it be for God to let that happen and let you find it there? But how many of us have looked at the mirror and gone, God, why am I here? You know, they have a loving father. You have a good father. Why should you look somewhere else? How about financial problems? When you don't follow God's principles and he gives you financial problems, what a beautiful picture of a loving Heavenly Father. So when you look at people in the world and you think, man, that person just got won the lottery or is doing this or, you know, there's really kind of doing illegal stuff and making lots of money. Look how good their life is going. There's not a loving Father. That's stepping in and allowing that to happen. Of course, maybe he's growing their hearts to him through that. Maybe it is a loving Father because we know how that story is going to end. It's not going to end well when we don't follow God's principles. Or think about it and marriage problems. Marriage problems that you have and that have that come from not following God's principles for marriage is a loving chastisement from him. Think about anxiety and depression problems. When you continue to look to the things of the world that satisfy and they don't, there's a loving Father chastising a beloved son or daughter and inviting you back to find where real life is found. When you're having parenting problems because you're not following God's parenting principles for your life and for your children, those can be forms of his chastisement. When you have less problems because you choose to satisfy the cravings of your flesh on a false lie that promises to deliver something, to deliver pleasure that will last and it's pleasure that fight cotton candy and dissolves your mouth and it's gone, leaving you hungry than you were when you started. What a beautiful picture of a heavenly Father that's chastising us through consequences and circumstances like that. God uses discipline, reproof, chastisement to lovely parents' children. Why? Because he's a perfect heavenly Father. Number three, the purpose of your Father's discipline. The purpose of your Father's discipline? The main mark of God's parents, the main mark of a good parents' discipline is the reason behind it. I think most of us would agree. The purpose behind it, what's really going on. For example, if a parent who only disciplines their child in public is probably a sign of a parent who's more concerned about how their child's behaviour reflects upon them than loving their child, in a similar way, what is God's reason for disciplining his children? Because this text gives us several here. Verse 6-8, for the Lord disciplines the one whom he loves and so on. God is demonstrating his love for you in his disciplining your life. Verse 9 talks about the kind of life he wants you to have. He says, besides this, we have all had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the father of spirits and the live? There's a life that God wants you to have. The enemy comes to kill or destroy. The Jesus said, I've come that you might have life. You might have it abundantly. Verse 10 is to help to share in his holiness. Verse 10, for they discipline us for a short time, speaking about earthly fathers. As it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good. We may share his holiness. You can learn a lot about a parent by seeing what their motive is, what their purpose is. And let me tell you what God's is because he loves you because he wants you to have abundant life because he wants you to share in his holiness, which means fulfilling your God-given responsibility and design to be an image bearer of his glory. To reflect his goodness, reflect him. By the way, what Paul says in Philippians 1 is what Jesus is up to. He says, I am sure of this, that he who begins a good work in you will bring it to the completion of the day of Jesus Christ. The work that God has started in your life is to bring it to fulfillment and completion and it's to be an image bearer. Verse 11 says, one more thing. It says it's to yield a peaceful fruit of righteousness. Verse 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. It yields the blessing that God promises when we trust and obey Him. Think about those examples we mentioned before. In love, God wants you to know that you were fearfully and wonderfully made, and that your image bearer of him, and that you have loved unconditionally. So stop looking in the mirror for finding that. In love, God wants you to know that money is the root of all kinds of evil, the love of money is, and you have a perfect father in heaven that will provide what you need. In love, He wants you to marry and experience the oneness and beauty of a marriage that models relationship between Christ and his church. In love, He wants you to not worry and fear, because He's with you and He'll never leave you or forsake you. In love, He wants you to experience the blessings that children are in your life, and He'll lovingly use you to invest in your children for future generations. In love, He wants you to know that few things lie and wound your soul like lust. And He wants you to experience abundant life that delivers your heart's longings, that delivers your heart's longings not abundant lust, that delivers bondage and shame. What's your heart to find something true? You have a perfect father in heaven, and His purposes are good. Lastly, the proper response to your father's discipline. Because this is important as we wrap up this morning. First of all, let me suggest what an improper response might look like to God's discipline. If we are not convinced of God's love for us and feel alone to care for ourselves, which, by the way, is the improper response, because you're not believing you're a son or a daughter, you're believing you're out there on your own. You're an orphan. It's up to me by myself. For me, improper responses would look like this when it comes to the disciplines of like blaming others for my sin. If my children's attitude wasn't so bad in the first place, I'd be way more patient and understanding parent. For example, to deal with the need to minimize our sin. One husband told me regarding his porn problem, and this is pretty much a quote. He says, I'm sure my wife doesn't really mind where I get my appetite as long as I eat at home. You can become self-consumed with avoiding the sin in your own life. This is kind of the more religious kind of response. This is what often seeps in with us in the church, who have grown up in the church, maybe. You need to stay good. This leaves you feeling oftentimes too good when you think things are going well, and it makes you feel too bad when things aren't going well. The problem here is that the focus remains always around yourself, or maybe it's a need to pretend or conceal the truth. That would be another inappropriate way to respond to God's discipline. What I do in my private life is nobody else's business, and it only affects me, which you can see a lot behind that. This kind of response ultimately leads to fatigue, discouragement, cynicism, despair. You see, worldly, fleshly discipline produces shame and encourages hiding. You see what the writer Hebrews tells us is the proper response. Verse 5 says this. He goes back and he says, Sorry, come back to it. Verse 5, And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? My son do not regard lightly the discipline of a Lord, nor be weary when approved by him. The first thing he tells us there in this passage is to not take it too lightly. The word there in the original language means to care little for it. But he says also, you'll become weary by it. The word there means literally to loose or to be weakened, to lose heart or to become despondent. So listen to the interesting thing he says, he says, don't take it too lightly, God's discipline. But don't take it in such a way that it is too weary on you. So what's he trying to get to? He's saying, receive it as a child. Because let me tell you, every child that's in a healthy relationship with a parent doesn't take it too lightly. The thought of mom or dad catching them or repriming them should make them a little bit uncomfortable. If it does it, then there's a problem. But let me tell you, it does it overly weary some of them either where they're like, okay, I'll try harder next time, dad. Mom, that's not the proper response either. A healthy child with a healthy parent doesn't look forward to the reproof, doesn't look forward to the chastisement, but knows it's coming from a loving hand. Look at verses 12 or 13, describe it. The writer comes back, he says, since you notice about the father's discipline, he says, therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees and make straight pass for your feet so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. He invites you, don't take it too lightly, the discipline of the Lord. Don't become weary by it, but I walk confidently in the hope that he is healing and directing you. Walk confidently in the hope. God's discipline lovingly produces conviction of sin and encourages repentance. We can be free to be authentic, to be honest. We can have a growing all of God's mercy and grace because he's loving for giving us. And the wrath that our sins so easily as deserved has been poured out on Jesus. Let me tell you, when you do mess up, it's win, not if, okay, you have a father in heaven that's not going, I mean times, okay. That's an earthly father response. You have a perfect heavenly father's real response. That thing grieves in sadness and it's like, come on, let's walk through that together. Come on, I'm here. You turned your face maybe away from me in that moment, but my face has not turned away from you for a second. Let me tell you, that kind of father is the father of the Bible describes as there. Remember we talked about Peter and Judas? Where was Judas after his sin alone? And where did he lead him? To death. Where was Peter after his sin? I tried to be alone, I guess. I said, it's hiding. He's out there fishing. And then he sees Jesus on the shore. And Jesus is making breakfast. And what does Peter do? You don't row back in, you don't say, come on guys, push. Push, he jumps out of the boat and he starts swimming. Because he's going to make it back a lot faster than the guy's rowing the boat or going to. That's his response. Running, returning home to the one who is preparing breakfast for him. Who restores Peter? Says, Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep. Come on, let's go. Get ready to help here, right? Simon Peter, he says, Satan has asked permission to sift you like wheat. But I pray for you, that once you return, you'll be strengthened and you'll strengthen your brothers. Jesus has already told him, dude, I'm way ahead of this parenting thing with you. And I'm way ahead of your bad choices. Some of you need to hear that this morning. And he's not upset and disappointed in the sense of rejecting you in any way. And by the way, he already knew what you were going to do ahead of time, didn't he? Like he told Peter, it's time for you to come jump out the boat. Swim home. This Jesus just wants to sit down and have breakfast. He just wants to sit down and restore you. He wants to strengthen you. Why? Because he's a perfect father, a perfectly father. So do you think this was important for the people and Hebrews to hear this at this time? Facing the struggles that were going on? And do you think it would make a difference? If they really understood they had a father in heaven that was disciplining them, loving them, using all the circumstances around them to encourage them, to strengthen them? I think it might have made a difference. You think it will in your life? Just want to bet it will. Pray with me. God has asked that is, we respond to your word this morning, as we respond to the hope and the promise that you are at work and you're disciplining, loving us, you're improving, you're chastising us as a perfect father in heaven. God, would you just drown out and would you take away the lives of the enemy that want to make us think that we still got to perform? That want to make us think, God, that really Jesus didn't take care of it all on the cross. That we really have something to prove, that we have something to hide, something to fear. God, but would you replace that with the truth and the reality that we have become beloved children, sons and daughters in the most high God? And we now have a father in heaven who has poured out judgment on Jesus instead and now is disciplining and lovingly and training up his children and making breakfast for him. So for those guys that are desperate to run home here and that's a big each of us, may we see them, may we come home, even as we come to this meal now. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.