The Discipline of the Lord
Hebrews 12:3-11
Chris Patton
August 11, 2024
Sermon Audio
Sermon Recap PDF
Sermon Main Point: “the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives (verse 6)”
“It is exceeding acceptable unto God, even our Father…that he may be received into our souls as one full of love, tenderness, and kindness, towards us…. Flesh and blood is apt to have very hard thoughts of him, — to think he is always angry, yea implacable…..Now there is not any thing more grievous to the Lord, no more subservient to the design of Satan upon the soul, than such thoughts as these. Satan claps his hands (if I may so say) when he can take up the soul with such thoughts of God: he hath enough,–that he doth desire.”
— John Owen
“The most deeply compassionate and merciful thing God can do is to humble us and bring us low so that we may bow before him and lean on him and trust him. This is the first mark of the compassion of God: that he loves enough to humble.” — Christopher Ash
Encouragement#1: Allow the reality of the Lord’s discipline in your life to set your heart at peace.
So I see in this passage the precious teaching that God reigns over the hazards of our circumstances and over the health of our bodies and over the hostility of our adversaries and he designs all of life ultimately as a loving father’s discipline. — John Piper
Encouragement #2: Treasure the holiness God by His Holy Spirit is working in you through the discipline of the Lord.
No man can understand the benefit of divine chastisement, who understands not the excellency of a participation of God’s holiness.—No man can find any good in a bitter potion, who understands not the benefit of health. If we have not a due valuation of this blessed privilege, it is impossible we should ever make a right judgment concerning our afflictions…There can be no greater pledge or evidence of divine love in afflictions than this, that God designs by them to “make us partakers of his holiness,”—to bring us nearer to him, and make us more like him. — John Owen
Purify my heart
Let me be as gold and precious silver
Purify my heart
Let me be as gold, pure gold
Refiner’s fire
My heart’s one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for You, Lord
I choose to be holy
Set apart for You, my Master
Ready to do Your willLyrics, “Refiner’s Fire”
Encouragement #3: If you know God is disciplining you for a particular sin, repent today and don’t delay.
Encouragement #4: In all your afflictions and trials never lose sight of the love of God.
Questions for Discussion/Application:
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- Consider taking time to read Hebrews 12:3-11 out loud. Consider also re-reading all the quotes and four pastoral encouragements. What initial insights or observations of the text do you have?
- Why do you think we can be so prone to have hard thoughts of God in trials and difficulty? How can a biblical view of the Lord’s discipline help us to combat those thoughts when they come?
- How can the reality of the Lord’s discipline actually serve to set our hearts at peace? How can the truth in the Piper quote below serve to truly help us and strengthen us?
So I see in this passage the precious teaching that God reigns over the hazards of our circumstances and over the health of our bodies and over the hostility of our adversaries and he designs all of life ultimately as a loving father’s discipline. — John Piper
- How can treasuring the Holy Spirit’s work of sanctifying us and make us more like Him through trials/discipline serve us to more fully embrace the discipline of the Lord when we experience it?
- How is the Father’s discipline of us truly an expression of His love? What does it look like practically, to live life in view of that truth?
- Consider taking time to pray, asking God to help us more fully embrace and benefit from the discipline of the Lord in our lives.