(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

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Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] Good evening and welcome to Verity Baptist Church. Can I please have everyone find their seats and grab their songbooks? And we're going to turn to page number 411. We're going to start the service off singing, Hold the Fort. Please find your seats and grab your songbooks and turn to page number 411. That's 411. We're going to sing, Hold the Fort. And let's go ahead and sing it out on the first verse. Oh, my comrades, see the signal waving in the sky. Reinforcements now appearing, victory is nigh. Hold the fort, for I am coming, Jesus, signal still. Wave the answer back to heaven, by Thy grace we will. Page 411, let's sing it out on the second verse. See the mighty hosts advancing, Satan leading on. Mighty men around us falling, courage almost gone. Hold the fort, for I am coming, Jesus, signal still. Wave the answer back to heaven, by Thy grace we will. See the glorious banner waving, the air the trumpet blow. In our leader's name we'll triumph over every fall. Hold the fort, for I am coming, Jesus, signal still. Wave the answer back to heaven, by Thy grace we will. Page 411, let's sing it out on the last verse. Fierce and long the battle rages, but our help is near. Onward comes our great commander cheer, my comrades cheer. Hold the fort, for I am coming, Jesus, signal still. Wave the answer back to heaven, by Thy grace we will. Great singing. Welcome to Verity Baptist Church and the Wednesday evening Bible study. Let's open up in a word of prayer. Father God, thank you so much for this church, Lord, and these people who come out here on a Wednesday evening to serve you. I pray that our singing would glorify you, Lord. I pray that you would bless the service and the preaching to come. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. All right, turn to your songbook, page number 377. We're going to sing Rescue the Perishing, page 377. Rescue the Perishing, and let's go ahead and sing it out on the first. Rescue the Perishing, care for the dying. Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave. We bore the erring ones, lift up the fallen. Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save. Rescue the Perishing, care for the dying. Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save. Page 377 on the second. Though they are slighting him still, he is waiting, waiting. The penitent child to receive. Lead with them earnestly, plead with them gently. He will forgive if they only believe. Rescue the Perishing, care for the dying. Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save. Down in the human heart, crushed by the tempter. Feelings lie buried that grace can restore. Touched by a loving heart, wakened by kindness. Forts that are broken will vibrate once more. Rescue the Perishing, care for the dying. Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save. Rescue the Perishing, duty demands it. Strength for thy labor the Lord will provide. Back to the narrow way, patiently win them. Tell the poor wanderer, Savior has died. Rescue the Perishing, care for the dying. Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save. Great singing. Amen. All right. Well, let's take our bulletins this evening and we'll go over some announcements real quickly. If you do not have a bulletin, just raise your hand and one of our ushers can get one for you. If you need a bulletin, just put your hand up and we'll get one for you. The verse this week, Hebrews 12-14, follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. And that's a good verse there. We like that. If you open up your bulletin, you'll see our service time, Sunday morning service, 1030 a.m. Of course, we do invite you to be with us on Sunday morning on the Lord's Day for Church Sunday. Evening service is at 6 p.m. And we're glad you're with us, of course, for the midweek service. We call it the most encouraging service of the week. And we're glad that you are here. If you look at our soul winning times, our main soul winning times on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. And we hope you'll join us for the big soul winning rally on Saturday mornings. And then we have additional soul winning times on Thursdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. So if you'd like to go soul winning on tomorrow, there'll be an opportunity for you to be able to do that. And of course, we're a family integrated church. What that means is that children and infants are always welcome in the service. We don't separate children from their parents for any reason. If you do have a child that's been distracting during the service or if you need some privacy, we would encourage you to use the mother baby rooms and the daddy baby room. And if you need to be baptized, please let us know on your communication card. If you look at the announcements and upcoming events, we have Ms. Taylor Marin's baby shower on Saturday, June 1st at 3 p.m. It's coming up. And Ms. Taylor's having a girl and she's registered on Amazon. It is a potluck, so if you can, please bring a dish to share. And if you'd like to come to the baby shower, make sure you let us know on your communication card. On the back, there's a place for you to sign up so that we know that you're coming. So my wife knows you're coming. And then of course, we have our graduation service coming up on Sunday, June 2nd at 6 p.m. And that's not this Sunday, but next Sunday. And we're going to have a good time, of course, with the graduates. Make sure you are here on Sunday night to support them. And we'll have the kindergartners, of course, they'll graduate. And they're always fun to watch. And then we have several high schoolers that are graduating as well. So if you're part of our church's homeschool group, make sure you sign up on the communication card so that you can participate. And what that means is that you can walk and receive your diploma. And if you're not part of our church's homeschool group, but you're graduating anyway, kindergarten, 6th grade, 8th grade, high school, college. Or if you're part of our homeschool group, but you're graduating a grade that we don't normally walk, like 6th grade or 8th grade, make sure you let us know on your communication card so that we can recognize you on that night. And then we'll have pizza and fellowship in honor of the graduates after the service. And we do need you to make sure you fill out the names of the graduates, the grade, the school. If you're a homeschooler, you should have a school for your school within your homes. We need to have that for the certificates. Make sure you fill that out on the communication card. Then, of course, we've got the Red Hot Preaching Conference coming up June 20th through the 23rd. And we've got some volunteer opportunities. If you would please help us with that. Make sure you look at this card in your bulletin. And if you could sign up to help clean, there are several days and times there that you can clean or sit in the overflow or serve Baskin-Robbins ice cream. Or if you're part of the orchestra, the safety team and the ushers, if you can help us, just letting us know when your availability is during the conference. You can help during the conference. We would appreciate your help with that. Choir practice, they're practicing at 5 p.m. on Sundays. And they're practicing, of course, for the Red Hot Preaching Conference. Homeschool group, they've got P.E. class tomorrow, May 23rd at 10 a.m. Tomorrow's the last P.E. class of the year. So make sure you're there for that and they'll be done and they'll be on summer break. Ladies weight loss accountability group, they meet on Wednesdays at 615. My wife leaks that and they meet in her office. And then there's other things there for you to look at. Please don't forget to turn your cell phones off or place them on silent during the service so that they're not a distraction to anybody. And right now would be a good time to just look at your phone and make sure it's on vibrate or on silent so it doesn't go off in the middle of the preaching. If you look at the back of the bulletin, birthdays and anniversaries for the month of May. This week we had Brother Joel Usher's birthday on May 19th. Brother Nate and Miss April Deakins had an anniversary on May 19th. Brother Jay Miller has a birthday on May 21st, or had a birthday on May 21st as yesterday. Brother Valente Perez also had a birthday on May 21st. Serge Goncharoff III, May 21st. And then later this week, Brother David Pierce tomorrow on May 23rd has a birthday. And my daughter Elizabeth Jimenez has a birthday on May 24th. And Michael Salazar has a birthday on May 24th as well. Praise Report, Money Matters, all of those things are there for you to look at. And I think that's it for all of the announcements. So we're going to go ahead and take our song books. And we're going to go to page number two as we prepare to receive the offering this evening. Page number two. And we're going to sing down by the cross. Page number two. Sing it out on the first. Page number two. Down at the cross where my Savior died. Down where for cleansing from sin I cried. There to my heart was the blood applied. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. There to my heart was the blood applied. Glory to His name. Page number two. Sing it out on the second. I am so wondrously saved from sin. Jesus so sweetly abides within. There at the cross where He took me in. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. There to my heart was the blood applied. Glory to His name. O precious fountain that saves from sin. I am so glad I have entered in. There Jesus saves me and keeps me clean. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. His name. There to my heart was the blood applied. Glory to His name. Come to this fountain so rich and sweet. Cast thy poor soul at the Savior's feet. Plunge into day and be made complete. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. There to my heart was the blood applied. Glory to His name. Amen. Good singing. We'll have the guys come up and help us with the offering at this time. And let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love You. We thank You for allowing us to gather together tonight. We pray that You bless the offering, the gift, and the giver. We pray that You bless the time set aside for prayer and of course for the study of Your word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. All right. Well, let's take our prayer sheets tonight and we'll go over our prayer list. If you did not receive a prayer sheet on your way in, just raise your hand and one of our ushers can get one for you. If you need a prayer sheet, just put your hand up and we will get one for you. Of course, the way that you add a request to the prayer sheet is through your communication card on the back of the card. There's a place for you to write down a request. Make sure you mark whether it's private or public. If it's private, then only I will see it. If it's public, we'll put it on the prayer sheet. If you don't mark it, we'll do our best to figure it out, but we usually don't add those. And we do add the request in the order that they are received and they are removed after a couple of weeks. I would like you to notice there on the back of the prayer sheet that Miss Laura Beth Bompa has been added to the expecting mothers list. So congratulations to Miss Laura Beth and of course we'll be praying for her. Let's go ahead and bow our heads and we'll pray together as we take these requests to the Lord. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you and we come to you tonight asking for these requests from our church family. And Lord, we begin with these requests regarding salvation. We pray for Miss Natalie as she prays for her husband's salvation. Also for Brother Ron who's praying for his mom and his family's salvation. Miss Maria Cudalima praying for Roma and Skyler's salvation as well. And Brother Josh Castellum Jr. praying for Larry and his family that they would get saved. Miss Christine Ortiz praying for her family's salvation. And Miss Dogma praying for her daughter and her family's salvation. Lord, we pray for all of these individuals. Lord, we ask that your Holy Spirit would do a work in their hearts and in their minds. And Lord, that you would bring them to the place where they'd be willing and able to hear the gospel. And we pray that a soul winner would communicate the gospel clearly to them. We also pray for these that have health requests. Brother Ron praying for his health. And Stephen Howley praying for his mom's health and recovery. Brother Renee Morales praying for his mom's health and upcoming test results as well. And Miss Tamara praying for her friend Dennis as he battles liver cancer. And Miss JC praying for her neighbor Penny and her upcoming knee surgery. And also for her own health as she participates in the soul winning activities and the missions trip that she's going on. And Lord, we pray that you would help her and be with her in regards to that. We pray for Antonio Dalde praying for his health. And Miss Christine Ortiz praying for her own health. Also for her sister Judy's health as she battles cancer. Brother Salvador praying for his health and the doctor's appointment he has on June 1st for things to go well. Miss Dokpa praying for relief for her pain. Praying for little Uretzi to continue to be healthy and strong as well. And praying for our missionaries. Dave Camantello's wife, Miss Angel, as she battles breast cancer. Lord, we ask for all of these individuals. Lord, we pray that you would miraculously heal them. That you'd put your healing hand over them and that you'd help them to recover. That you'd give wisdom to the doctors, the nurses dealing with them. We also pray for the ladies in our church that are expecting Miss Taylor, Miss Esther, Miss Ariel, Miss Rizel, Miss Rebecca, Miss Angel, and Miss Laura Beth. Praying that you give them all healthy pregnancies with no issues and no complications. We also pray for these that are having requests regarding work and physical needs. Brother Ron, we're praying for his work opportunities. And Brother Salvador for his finances and work as well. We ask that you would help them with regards to that. We also pray for these that are having requests for their friends and family. Miss Nicole praying for her family, specifically her son Ronald, and for her mom. Also Sam Madreno praying for his mom Naomi. And we also have Brother Salvador praying for his family. Lord, we ask for all these individuals. We pray you'd help them and be with them. And we pray that you would help their families. We also pray for these that have requests regarding upcoming exams. David and Isaac Stelzer praying for their upcoming exams in school. And Brother Alan praying for his wife that she would pass her upcoming exam as well. Praying that you would help and bless in regards to that. And then we pray for these that are mourning and asking for grace. Miss Michelle Scott praying for strength for the Bennett family as they mourn the loss of Tom Bennett. And also Josh Costellum Jr. praying for his coworker Larry who's grieving the loss of his uncle. And Lord, we just pray that you would give these individuals peace and the peace that passeth all understanding. We also pray, Lord, that you would comfort them. We know that you're the God of all comfort. We pray that you'd use this time in their lives to bring them closer to you and that they might be saved if they're not saved. We also pray for these that have traveling mercies, asking for traveling mercies. Miss JC praying for traveling mercies as she goes on this mission strip to Fiji. And Miss Docma for safe travels as she's in Germany and coming back from Germany as well. Praying that you'd give them all safe travels in regards to that. Then we pray for these spiritual requests. Miss JC also praying for many salvations there on the mission strip she'll be on. And Alex praying to find a godly wife. And Antonio praying for God's wisdom and protection. Miss Christine and Brother Salvador both praying for their faith and their walk with you. Lord, we ask that you would give direction to these individuals. We pray that you'd help them and be with them. And Lord, we pray for these that have unspoken requests. Miss Natalie having an unspoken request and Miss Kimmy having an unspoken request. And my father Felix Jimenez having an unspoken request. Brother George McQueen having an unspoken request. Miss Michelle Scott also having an unspoken request. And Brother Salvador and Miss Docma having unspoken requests. And Lord, we ask for these individuals and we pray for their requests. Lord, you know what their petitions are, you know what they're asking for. Lord, we ask that you would answer according to your will and that you would answer them, Lord, and that you would help them. And then we pray, of course, for our church ministry. We pray for the members of our prison ministry that you'd continue to bless them and help them and their families. Our missions work in the Philippines, Manila, Pampanga, Bikol. And we pray for Pastor Stuckey and for his family that you would keep them all safe. We pray for the upcoming events that our church has, many events, but specifically we pray for the Red Hawk Preaching Conference that everything would go well and run smoothly. And help us as we prepare for this big conference. And Lord, we pray that you would use the preaching of your word during this conference to help us to draw close to you. And that we would not just come and have a good time, but that we would actually grow and learn as a result of what we hear. And Lord, we pray for our church here in Sacramento. You'd continue to bless us and help us and be with us. And Lord, we pray that you'd help us with all the work and things that need to be done. And we pray that you'd meet with us tonight as we take another portion of scripture and open up your word and look at it together. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. May I please open up to Hebrews 12. Hebrews chapter number 12. If you do not have a Bible, please raise your hand and I'm not sure you can read your Bible. Hebrews chapter number 12. We will read verses 4 through 11. Hebrews chapter 12 verses 4 through 11. Hebrews 12 being in verse number 4. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, my son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if he be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits and live? For they rarely for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure. But he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. And no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this evening. I've got to thank you for your word for our church. I ask that you please give us all a tender heart to send the message tonight. I ask that you be with our pastor. Please strengthen him and fill him with spirit. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Alright, we're there in Hebrews chapter number 12. And of course we've been making our way through the book of Hebrews on Wednesday nights. We're going verse by verse. And we've been in the book of Hebrews for several weeks, months now. And we are nearing the end of the book. And we are here in Hebrews chapter number 12. Remember last time we were in the book of Hebrews together, we dealt with the first part of this chapter, the first three verses. And we talked about the race that is set before us. But here, starting in verse number 4 and through verse number 11, we find another subject that the writer of Hebrews brings up. And tonight we're going to continue here in chapter 12 and begin in verse number 4. And what I want you to know just by way of introduction as we jump into this text is that this passage, it's not really balanced, but it has a theme, verses 4 through 11. And the theme has to do with hardship in the Christian life, hardship in the Christian life. And what we actually see is in verse 4, we see a very quick, just one verse, reason for hardship in the Christian life. And then starting in verse 5 and through verse 11, we see another reason which the writer of Hebrews delves into and gives a lot of detail in regards to hardship in the Christian life. So by way of introduction, what I want to do tonight is just quickly go over different reasons for hardship in the Christian life. And that's not exactly what I'm preaching about tonight, but I just thought that since it's brought up in verse 4 and then it's delved into further in verses 5 through 11 under a different category, that it might be good for us to look at this just by way of introduction. And I was actually asked about this recently, so I thought it'd be good for us to learn the different reasons why someone may have hardship in the Christian life. Because oftentimes people get the wrong idea in regards to hardship, and they might assume that if someone's going through a difficulty or they're going through a hard time in their life, that it's for one reason or two reasons. But there's actually several reasons the Bible gives us for why someone may be going through hardship in the Christian life. And like I said, it's not the main focus of the sermon tonight, but I'd like to just quickly just by way of introduction give you six reasons, and I'd like to show these to you in the Bible, and maybe you'd like to jot these down, different reasons for hardship in the Christian life. The first reason that Christians go through hardship or that they may go through hardship, and please understand that none of these reasons, all of these reasons are valid reasons, and if somebody's going through difficulty, it's one of these six reasons, but you and I don't necessarily know which one it is. They may know, or God definitely knows, but there's different reasons. The first one is found here in Hebrews 12 and verse 4. If I could look at it in verse 4, the Bible says this, Ye have not resisted unto blood. This is the writer of Hebrews speaking to the Jewish believers in the first century to whom he's writing to, and to these specific believers he's telling them, Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And what he's saying to them is this, that in their striving against sin, and here the word striving is being used in the context of fighting against or going against. In their fight against sin, in their fight against the world, the devil, and the flesh, and specifically I think the context here is about fighting the enemies of the Lord, because remember in the previous verses he's talked about running the race and finishing the race, and laying aside every weight and the sin that so easily beset us, and then he tells them in this strive against sin that you've found yourself in, he says ye have not yet resisted unto blood. And what he's telling them is that you have not yet shed blood in the strive against sin. And what he's telling them is this, he's saying some Christians as they have fought against sin, they've actually been persecuted to the point where they've shed blood. They've been beaten, or they've been whipped, they've been stoned. And of course we read about that in Hebrews chapter 11. If you remember the last part of verse 11 he gives that whole list of all these different believers and all the heartaches that they've gone through. He says of whom the world was not worthy. But then he's telling these people ye have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin. So he's telling them you may have suffered some persecution, but you've not suffered extreme persecution in the sense that you've shed blood. And what I would say to us tonight is that that's the category we find ourselves in. You know, Verity Baptist Church over the years has suffered much persecution. In fact, I honestly, and I don't mean this in any sort of arrogant way, but I don't know that there are many churches that have suffered more persecution than our church. I know I can think of a couple, but I would say based off the thousands of churches that there are in this country, I mean the protests and we've had, you know, our banks turn on us and our insurance turn on us and multiple lawsuits or whatever, all those things. Our church has definitely, in comparison to the vast majority of churches out there, we've suffered a lot of persecution. But here's one thing that the writer of Hebrews is going to say to us is that we have not yet resisted unto blood. You know, maybe we've been sued and maybe we've had our accountants turn on us or our insurance company drop us or our online giving companies drop us, but none of us have been beaten, none of us have been whipped, none of us have yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. And that's what he's telling them. But in that context, what we see is this, that sometimes Christians do go through hardship due to persecution. And you know, you and I should be ready to suffer for the cause of Christ. This should not be something that we, you know, in our modern American culture, go with me to the book of Job, if you would, Job 23. If you open up your Bible just right in the center, you'll more than likely fall in the book of Psalms. And if you go backwards from Psalms, you'll have the book of Job. Do me a favor and put a ribbon or a bookmark or something there because we're going to leave it and we're going to come back to Job and I'd like you to be able to get there quickly. Job 23. In our modern culture, I feel like sometimes, you know, if people do suffer, we're just constantly apologizing, you know, and it's like, I'm sorry the air conditioner is not working or I'm sorry that it's so hot on Saturday. But you know, the truth of the matter is this, we have not yet resisted unto blood. And we've got it pretty easy and probably the worst persecution that you've suffered, if you've even suffered it, is that somebody slammed the door in your face or, you know, maybe said something mean to you or whatever. But this is something that we should be ready for because sometimes Christians go through hardship in the Christian life and it's due to persecution. And you know, if we are ever persecuted or when we are persecuted, we should count it all joy and we should rejoice that we get to suffer for the cause of Christ. 2 Timothy 3.12. You don't have to turn there. You're in Job 23. But 2 Timothy 3.12 says this, Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. This is something that if you're living right, you're going to suffer persecution because the Bible says it's a promise. All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. So if you're living godly, you're going to suffer persecution. That's why I think it's funny when churches like ours, you know, the LA Times writes some mean article against us or we've got protesters or whatever, and then Christians, they'll look at us like, Well, there's something wrong with your church because you guys are being persecuted. No, there's something right with our church because yea, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. And what I would say to 99.9% of Christians out there that have never suffered persecution is what's wrong with you? You obviously must not be living godly in Christ Jesus because if they persecuted our master, they're going to persecute us. If they hated him, they're going to hate us. So this is a reason why sometimes Christians suffer hardship is due to persecution, and this is a good reason. Obviously we don't like it when we go through it, but this is something good we should rejoice. That's one reason for hardship in the Christian life. Let me give you another reason for hardship in the Christian life. One reason is due to persecution and for living the Christian life, but another reason that people go through hardship in the Christian life is because God is purging us or God is purging them and refining them. Notice there, if you're there in Job 23, look at verse number 10. Remember Job, he went through some hardship, didn't he? I mean he lost all of his wealth. He was the wealthiest man in the east, the greatest man in the east in his lifetime, and he lost all of his wealth. His 10 children died, and his wife turned on him, his friends turned on him. He went through some difficult things in his life. He went through some hardship in his life, but why did Job go through the hardship? Well there's multiple reasons why Job went through it, but here's one famous reason that we see in Job 23 verse 10 when he says this, but he, this is Job speaking, and he's talking about God. He says, but he, God, knoweth the way that I take, and then he says this, when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. And here we see a reason why Job was going through persecution, or Job was going through hardship, I should say, is because God was purging him. God was refining him. So look, sometimes we may go through hardship because we're being persecuted, the devil's attacking us, the devil's mad at us, the world's mad at us, and we're being persecuted for the cause of Christ. Other times we go through hardships, or we go through difficulties, because God is purging us, and here, when Job says, he says, when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. The idea is that they would take gold, or they would take some sort of a precious metal, and they would run it through fire, and they would have the fire purge it, and the fire would melt and cause the impurities to come up, and they would be able to remove those impurities, and they would refine it and make it even cleaner and purer as a precious metal, and then have to go through that fire to become better. And sometimes we, in the Christian life, you know we get too comfortable, and God has to kind of turn up the heat, and it's not that he's mad at us, it's not that we're even suffering persecution, it's just that he's trying to refine us, and he's trying to purge us, he's trying to make us better, and we can like Job in those instances to say, but he knoweth the way that I take. God knows who I am, and God knows where I am, and God knows, even if I don't know, because what Job was saying, if you remember, in Job, he talks about the fact that he can't tell where God is. He says, I look forward, and I look behind, I look to the right, I look to the left. He said, I don't know where God is, and I don't understand what God is doing, but he knoweth the way that I take. And when I don't know what God is doing, I can be confident in the fact that God knows what he's doing, and when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. So maybe you're going through difficulty at work, or maybe you're going through some sort of difficult time in your life, and you ought to consider the fact that the reason that we go through hardship, number one, may be because of persecution for living the Christian life, so don't run from that, don't run from hardship, embrace it, rejoice in it, that you are being counted worthy to suffer for the cause of Christ. It's a great thing. Sometimes we go through hardship because God is purging us, and he's refining us, and when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Keep your place there in Job, we're going to come right back in that direction, but go with me to the New Testament book of Romans, Romans chapter number 8, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, Romans chapter number 8. We're talking about reasons why people go through hardship, Christians. Why do Christians go through difficulty? Why do they go through hard times? Well, sometimes it's because of persecution, sometimes it's because God is purging you, and refining you, and making you better, but you know, sometimes Christians and non-Christians, believers and non-believers, saved and unsaved people, go through difficulty simply because we live in a fallen world, because we live in a sinful world, because we do not live in the world that God intended for us to live in. When God created the heavens and the earth, he said it was all good. When God put Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, he said it was good, but of course, as a result of sin, and sin entering into the world, the Bible says, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. And we know that death came upon humanity, death came upon the animal kingdom, we know that death came upon the plant life, and the earth and the ground was cursed, and we live in a world today that is cursed as a result of sin. Notice Romans chapter 8 and verse 21. Romans 8 and 21 says this, Because the creature itself, and here the word creature is talking about creation, because the creature itself, or creation itself, also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption. This is the world that you and I live in. We live in this bondage of corruption. We are in bondage to corruption. And what does corruption mean? Corruption is the opposite of being pure, or the opposite of being, you know, not something that's corrupt, it's dying, it's decaying, it's falling apart. And the Bible says here, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God, verse 22. For we know that the whole creation, and look, the whole creation is talking about everyone that's created. You and I, human beings, animals, plant life, sea life, we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. Animals today are living, they are groaning and travailing in pain. They are in bondage of corruption. Why? I mean, watch those animal shows. When I was a kid growing up, those animal shows, they were really cleaned up, you know what I mean? They always made everything look real nice, but now the animal shows that I've noticed nowadays, they come out with these animal shows where they show the reality, and they show these animals just killing each other or whatever. And why? Is that what God intended? No. But we live in a fallen world. We live in a fallen world. Why is there pain? Why is there disease? Why do people hurt each other? You know, sometimes we want reasons. Why would this happen and why would that happen? And oftentimes we want to blame God. Why would God allow? But the truth is that some things that we go through, some hardship that we go through in life, some of it is because of persecution. And some of it is because God allows it in our lives to refine us, to make us better. But you know, some things there is no reason, there is no rhyme or reason to it. It's just the fact we live in a fallen world. It's just the reality of it. We live in a sinful world. We live in a corrupt world. This is why the Bible says you don't have to turn here. In fact, you go to John, if you go backwards from Romans, pass the book of Acts into the book of John. John chapter 5, let me read to you from Revelation 21, 4. Here's what the Bible says, talking about when we enter into eternity, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Why do people weep today? Why is there ever a reason to cry, to weep, to mourn? Because we live in a corrupted world. We live in a fallen world. We live in a cursed world. But the Bible says there's coming a day when God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. See, there's coming a world that you and I are going to get to live in. It's not going to be a cursed world. It's not going to be a sinful world. It's not going to be a corrupt world. And in that world, there'll be no tears, and no death, and no sorrow, and no crying, and no pain. But in the world you and I live in today, sometimes there's death, and sometimes there's sorrow, and sometimes there's crying, and sometimes there's pain, and there's no rhyme or reason other than the fact that we live in a world that has sinned. And look, we just need to understand that as Christians. Sometimes we want to look at situations and say, why is this happening in the life of an individual, or why is this happening to me? Well, it may be that you're going through hardship because of persecution. That's one reason the Bible gives. It may be that you're going through hardship because God is refining you, and God is purifying you, and God is making you better. That is the reason we're given in the Bible. It may be, it may just be that you're going through hardship or someone's going through difficulty because of the fact that we just simply live in a fallen world. A sinful world. And it's just the result and consequence of sin. That statement that we live in a fallen world is the result and consequence of sin in general. In general. But there's another reason why the Bible says we sometimes go through hardship. I can look at it here in John, chapter 5. Sometimes we go through hardship because of the result and consequence of sin in general, living in a fallen world. But you know, the truth is this, that sometimes we go through hardship because of the consequences of our personal sin. John, chapter 5 and verse 5 says this, And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. Look at verse 8. Jesus said unto him, Rise up, take up thy bed, and walk. Verse 9, And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked. And on the same day was a Sabbath day. Look at verse 14. Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and saith unto them, Behold, thou art made whole. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. Here we have Jesus who healed a man who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. And then when Jesus meets him again later on in the day, He says, hey, make sure you sin no more. And then He says this, lest a worse thing come unto thee. What is He talking about? He's saying this infirmity that you had for thirty and eight years, it came on you as a result of your sin, and you better make sure you don't go back to that sin, or a worse thing may come unto thee. So here we see that sometimes we have hardship in our lives due to the consequences of our personal sin. But hold on a second. Let me give you another. What's interesting is, let me give you another story. Go to John chapter 9. You're there in John 5. Go to John 9. Because this is where we like to go, right? We hear somebody lost their job. We hear somebody, their house is getting foreclosed upon, or we hear somebody and some bad things happening in their life, and we're like, oh, it must be sin in their life. Must be sin. But wait a minute. Did Job have any sin in his life? Maybe it's just God trying to refine them. Maybe they're just being persecuted because they're living a godly life. Maybe it's just, there is no reason. It's just living in a fallen world, living in a cursed world and the consequence of sin in general. Now, yes, absolutely. Sometimes it's a result of our personal sin. Our personal sin causes us to have consequences, and that's why Jesus says to this man, Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. Let me give you another example. Sometimes people go through hardship, not because of their personal sin, but just for the glory of God. So what do you mean? Look at John 9, verse 1. And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. The Bible says in John 9, 1, that Jesus came by and he saw this man who was blind from his birth. He was born blind, and his disciples asked him saying, his disciples asked the question that most people ask, and they ask this question to Jesus. They take advantage of the fact that Jesus was God in the flesh. They pass by this man who's blind from his birth, and then they ask Jesus, because they're like, Well, Jesus should know Jesus is God. He knows everything. Master, here's the question. Who did sin? This man or his parents? That he was born blind. I love these types of questions, and I'm being sorry. I love these types of questions, and I'm being sarcastic. I actually hate these types of questions, but I always think it's funny. When somebody asks you a question, and they only give you these two options. These are the only two options in the disciples' mind. Somebody must have sinned, and they're asking Jesus, Who did sin? This man or his parents? Did he do something wrong, and that's why he was born blind? And I'm thinking to myself, He was born blind. What, do you think he did something wrong in the womb? He like sinned in the womb, and God got so mad at him that he blinded him? Or did his parents? Did his parents do something wrong, and that's why he was born blind? And look, this may seem silly to you, but these are questions people ask. Who did sin? This man or his parents? That he was born blind? Look at verse 3. Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned nor his parents, but that the works of God shall be made manifest in him. And you know what Jesus said is, The reason this man was born blind is so that I would walk by him, and you'd ask that stupid question, and I'd heal him. And it'd be in scripture, and God would receive the glory. Why did Job go through the hardship that he went through? So that there'd be this book in the Bible called the Book of Job, where we see a man who goes through tremendous hardship and never sinned, never charged God foolishly, never did anything to deserve it. It was just God getting the glory in the life of Job. So sometimes we go through hardship because of persecution. Sometimes we go through hardship because of the fact that we just live in a fallen world. Sometimes we go through persecution or we go through hardship because God is refining us and making us better. Sometimes we go through hardship. Yes, sometimes we go through hardship because of our personal sin, and sometimes we go through hardship just for the glory of God. And by the way, go back to Hebrews chapter 12. Sometimes it's multiple reasons. Why did Job go through hardship? He went through hardship for the glory of God. Remember, there was this whole conversation in heaven between Satan and God, and God brings up Job. He says, Has thou considered my servant Job? And the whole reason he went through it was just so God could show Satan that there was somebody out there that loved God and served God even if everything was taken away from him. It was all for the glory of God. But, Job said, When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. At the same time, God was also refining him and making him better. So it could be multiple reasons. But you know what we need to remember is to not be like Job's friends and to not just think to ourselves or ask questions like these disciples, Who did sin? This man or his parents? Now look, if we're going through hardship, it's a valid question to ask. You might want to ask the question, Lord, is there something I'm doing wrong here that you want me to correct? But don't assume that just because someone's going through difficulty that they've done something wrong. Because as we've seen this evening, there's many reasons why someone may go through difficulty. Maybe it's persecution. Maybe God is refining them and making them better. Maybe it is the consequences of their sin. That definitely could be a reason. But it might just be the consequences of sin in general and living in a fallen world. It may be for the glory of God, that God's going to get the glory out of it. If you think about Paul, was Paul backslidden? Was Paul a sinner? Yet the Bible says that he had a thorn in the flesh that God would not allow to be healed. And what did Paul say? Paul said, I would rather glory in mine infirmities that the power of God may rest upon me. And it was for the glory of God. Anyway, all of that to say this. There's also another reason why sometimes we go through difficulty and it's actually what the writer of Hebrews talks about if you go back to Hebrews chapter 12. And it's what he spends time on. It's what we'll spend time on with the rest of our time. And it's this, the chastening of the Lord. The chastening of the Lord. Sometimes it's persecution. Sometimes it's God refining you. Sometimes it's living in a fallen world. Sometimes it's the consequences of personal sin. Sometimes it's just for the glory of God. But sometimes we go through hardship because of the chastening or the discipline of the Lord. Are you there in Hebrews 12? Look at verse 5. Remember in verse 4 we saw the persecution. Ye have not yet striven. He said, Ye have not yet... Good night. I'm going to say it wrong. Let me just read it for you. Ye have not resisted unto blood, striving against sin. But then in verse 5, he says this, And ye have forgotten the exhortation. And what he's talking about, an exhortation from the book of Proverbs. We'll look at it here in a minute. He says, Ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you, as unto children, my son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. And the writer of Hebrews is telling us here that there is another reason. There's another reason why Christians may go through hardship and that reason is the chastening of the Lord or the discipline of the Lord. And then he breaks that down for us and we'll take several minutes here to just kind of look at that. And if you'd like to take notes, then maybe you can jot these things down. Number 1, I'd like you to notice the reality of God's discipline. The reality of God's discipline. Look at verse 5 again, And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you, as unto children. The word exhortation means a strong encouragement, trying to exhort you or encourage you to do something or understand something. He says, You've forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you, unto us, unto believers, as unto children. God is speaking to us, as unto children, my son, despise not thou the chastening or the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. And we need to realize as Christians the reality of God's discipline. That sometimes God disciplines his children. Again, I took the time to go through this passage, the introduction this evening because I don't want you to make the assumption that every time something's gone wrong in someone's life, God must be disciplining them. That's just one possible reason. There's many reasons why someone may be going through difficulty. And like Job, and like the man that was born blind, they might have done absolutely nothing wrong. It might just be for the glory of God. But here the writer of Hebrews says there is a reason, there is one, the sixth reason, the chastening of the Lord and we should be aware of this, the reality of God's discipline. That God disciplines his children. Now let's look at where this is quoted from. It's quoted from the Old Testament. Keep your place there in Hebrews and go with me to the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter number three. If you kept your place in Job, you'll just go past the book of Psalms into the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter number three. The reality of God's discipline. Sometimes God disciplines his children. What are common ways that this happens? Well it might be financially. It might be your job or your career. God disciplines you through that area of your life. It might be your health. It might be relationships. It might be bad things happening to you. And again, I want to be clear, just because you are going through financial problems or you have health problems or you have a relationship problem, that doesn't mean that God is chastising you. There's many reasons why God allows hardships in the life of the Christian, but this is one of the reasons and it's what the writer of Hebrews is bringing up for us tonight. Notice Proverbs chapter three and verse 11. You'll notice the quote in Hebrews 12 from Proverbs three. My son, despite not the chastening of the Lord, neither beware of his correction. And I want you to notice verse number 12. Because here's what we see. We see that God as a loving Heavenly Father chastens his children. God as a loving Heavenly Father disciplines his children, corrects his children. Notice verse 12. For whom the Lord loveth, he correcteth, even as a father, the son in whom he delighteth. So we see that God, the reality of God's discipline is this, that God as a loving Heavenly Father chastens his children. Go to Psalm 94 real quickly there in Proverbs. Just kind of keep your place there in Job, Psalms, Proverbs. Remember to be in those verses, going back and forth between those places. So just keep your place there. And something that we should be aware of is this, is that God's loving correction is not God trying to punish us. Oftentimes people think, well, if God is correcting us, and again, that may not be the reason you're going through hardship. It may be that he's purging you. It may be persecution. It may be just because we live in a sinful world. It may be all sorts of reasons. But if you do find yourself going through hardship as a result of God's discipline, you should remember this, that God is disciplining us because he's a loving Heavenly Father, and that God's loving correction is actually for our benefit, and it's not God punishing. Because Christians get this idea, and they're like, oh, I did this, and now God's punishing me. God isn't punishing your sin. God cannot punish your sin. If you're saved, your sin was punished on the cross of Christ. The Bible says that he who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So I don't sin and God punishes my sin. If God was going to punish my sin, he'd send me to hell. My sin has been punished. The wrath of God came upon my sin. It came upon the Lord Jesus Christ when he took my sin upon him. You say, then what is the discipline? Discipline is not God punishing us for sin. Discipline is God trying to get us back on the right track. It's his loving correction as a Heavenly Father. Notice there's Psalm 94, verse 12. Notice what the Bible says about God's discipline. Blessed is the man whom thou chasteness, O Lord, and teaches him out of thy law. The Bible says that blessed is the man whom thou chasteness, O Lord. Now, if we wrote a verse like this, we would say, blessed is the man whom thou givest the raise to, God. Blessed is the man who you give nice things to. Like, that's what we would say. But God says, no, blessed is the man whom thou chasteness, O Lord. Because if God is chastening you, if God is disciplining you, it means he loves you and he's trying to get you back on the right course. Go to Job, chapter 5. If you go back from Psalms into the book of Job. Job 5. Look at this verse, Job 5.17. Behold, happy is the man. That phrase is used interchangeably with the phrase we just saw in Psalm 94. Blessed is the man. Behold, happy is the man whom God corrected. Therefore, despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty. Doesn't that sound a lot like Hebrews 12? And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord. Neither beware of his correction. You say, why should I not despise it? Why should I not get tired of it? Why should I appreciate it? Why should I not get mad at God for it? Because whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. The reality of God's discipline is this, that God is a loving Heavenly Father and God lovingly chastens his children. And God's loving correction is actually for our benefit. It's not his punishment on our sin. It's God trying to correct us from doing wrong for our benefit. He chastens us for our benefit. So we see the reality of God's discipline in verse five. Then I'd like you to notice the reason for God's discipline. We see that in verses six and nine if you go back to Hebrews 12. Keep your place there in Job or Psalms or Proverbs. Go back to Hebrews chapter 12. The reality of God's discipline in verse five, then we see the reasons for God's discipline in verses six through nine. Notice the reasons. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth. The word scourge means to whip. What is this talking about? This is like a heavenly spanking. God is taking out the paddle, the spiritual paddle, or the spiritual belt, and he's spanking his children. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Look at verse seven. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? Here's the reason for the discipline of God or for God's discipline. If you are chastened by God, here's what that means. It means that he is your father. Because you know who I discipline? You know who my wife disciplines? We discipline our children. We don't discipline other people's children. I would like to discipline other people's children, but we don't do that. You say, why? Because they're not my kids. They're not my problem. They're not my nightmare. They're your nightmare. Now, if you discipline them, they wouldn't be a nightmare, but that's a sermon for a different day. The point is this, that fathers only chasten their children. Mothers only discipline their children. They don't discipline other people's children. And here we see the reason for God's discipline. One reason you should be happy for God's discipline is because whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth, if ye endure chastening, God dealeth. Here's the good news. God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? And the idea is this, that if God is chastising you, then you can have assurance. Sometimes people like to talk about assurance of salvation. What's my assurance of salvation? Here's an assurance of salvation. When God spanks you, you know he's your dad. When God spanks you, at least you can walk away saying, well, I know I'm saved because I can't get away with nothing because God keeps chasing me and spanking me and whatever. If you're chastened by God, he is your father. And then on the flip side, look at verse 8. But if ye be without chastening. He says, if ye be without chastening. And by the way, look at this verse. Whereof all are partakers. You know that all of God's children get chastened from time to time? All of God's children get spanked by God the Father from time to time. If ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers? Look at it. Then are ye bastards and not sons. I know some people don't like that word, but look, I'm just reading the King James Bible to you. That's a word in the Bible. The Bible says the words of the Lord are pure words. As silver tried in the furnace of earth, purified seven times. So don't tell me that these are bad words. It's the word of God. And the Bible says, but if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. What's a bastard? It's an illegitimate child. It's a child without a father. And look, you're not like that or whatever. This is the Bible. Deal with it. But here's what you need to understand. If there is a Christian, so-called, who can just do whatever they want, live however they want, and they are never disciplined by their Heavenly Father, they're never chastised by their Heavenly Father, their Heavenly Father never takes out the soul or the spiritual battle and paddles them, then what the writer of Hebrews is telling us, if they're not getting spanked by the Heavenly Father, He must not be their father. They must be a bastard and not sons. Because if you are chastened by God, what's the reason for God's discipline? The reason for God's discipline is that God is a loving Heavenly Father who lovingly chastised by their Heavenly Father. The reason for God's discipline is that God is a loving Heavenly Father who lovingly chastens His children. And if He's not chastening them, if He's not chastening them, then it's because they're not sons. And you know, unbelievers, you say, well, what do unbelievers go through hardship? Because sometimes unbelievers, they go through difficult things. Well, we went over the reasons. Are unbelievers suffering hardship because of persecution? No. Are they suffering hardship because of their personal sin? Yes, they could. Are they suffering hardship just because of sin in general, living in a fallen world? Yes, they can. But are they suffering hardship because they're being chastened by God? No. Because God only chastens His own children. Let me just make a couple of points about this real quickly. Go real quickly to Deuteronomy chapter 8, towards the beginning of the New Testament, excuse me, the Old Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter 8. Let me just talk about this concept, for whom the Lord loveth thee chasteneth, and the scourge of every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons, for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? Let's talk about this within the context of eternal security. Because to me, this is the balance of eternal security. Because obviously we believe in eternal security. We believe that once you're saved, you're always saved. We believe that you're never going to lose your salvation. You don't do anything to earn it. Once you have it, you don't do anything to lose it. In fact, eternal security is found within the context of God being our Heavenly Father. When I got saved, I was born again into the family of God. I became a child of God. He became my Heavenly Father. Why can I never lose my salvation? Because I can never stop being a son. Just like my sons can never stop being my sons, no matter what they do, they will always be my sons. For all of eternity, they'll be my sons. When I became the son of God for all of eternity, I'm his son. I can never lose it. Now people will sometimes accuse us and they'll say, Well, you're giving people a license to sin. You're telling people that they can just go ahead and sin and they're never going to lose their salvation. Wait a minute. We never said that. We did say they can sin. They can do anything. They'll never stop being a child of God. But we never said they can just live however they want and nothing will ever happen. Because the truth of the matter is this. If you're saved and God is your Heavenly Father, Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourges every son whom he receiveth. So no, we don't believe that somebody can lose their salvation because of the way they live their life. But if you live a life and in a way that is displeasing to the Lord, he's going to chasten you if you're his son. Deuteronomy 8, look at verse 5. Thou shall also consider in thine heart that as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee. Look at 2 Samuel chapter 7. 2 Samuel chapter 7 and verse 14. You're there in Deuteronomy. You go past Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel. 2 Samuel chapter 7 and verse 14. I will be his father and he shall be my son if he commit iniquity. Notice these words. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men. Sometimes God uses other people to bring chastisement upon his people. I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men. So we see that just because we believe in eternal security, this does not mean that we believe that you can live however you want. Here's what we do believe. You can live however you want and you're not going to lose your salvation. Because if you think about my children, the Lord has blessed my wife and I with six children. If you think about our children, there's nothing they can ever do that would make them stop being my child. Do you understand that? No matter what they do, they're always going to be my sons or my daughters. But obviously the way they live and the way they behave themselves will affect our relationship. If they're being disobedient, if they're being rebellious, if they're doing things that are not good for them, then we have to discipline them, we have to chastise them, we have to correct them. But no matter what, no matter whether they're being good and we're blessing them and going out to ice cream, or if they're being bad and they're getting spankings, either way, they're my children. Nothing's going to change that. So we see the discipline factor, it balances this idea of eternal security because we're saying you can do whatever you want and you'll never stop being a child of God. If you're a child of God, you're a child of God, period. But you can't just live however you want and not expect that your loving Heavenly Father is not going to bring chastisement upon your life. And if you live just however you want and you're never chastised, if ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as a son, for what son is he whom the father chastenseth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, the Bible says then are ye bastards and not sons. So if you're not getting disciplined by God the Father, then maybe you're not his son. A good father, by the way, disciplines his children. He doesn't desert his children. Go back to Hebrews just real quickly. Flip over to Hebrews 13. It's just funny to me because people say, like, oh no, no, God is the Heavenly Father, but if you do wrong, he's going to leave you. He's going to take away your salvation. He's not going to let you into heaven. Well, wait a minute. Wouldn't that make him like a dirt bag dad? Isn't that like what a dirt bag dad is? Just having children and not being there for them? Having children and abandoning the children? Isn't that the definition of like a dirt bag dad? Just having children and abandoning them? Is that what you think the Heavenly Father is? Some ghetto dad having children, all sorts of children with all sorts of women and just not being in any of their lives, not being there for any of them, not providing, not protecting? You know, here's what the Bible says in Hebrews 13. Be without covetousness and be content with such things as ye have, for he hath said, here's what God said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. That's a good father. You know what a good father does? He doesn't abandon his children, but he does discipline his children when they do wrong or when they need correction. So a good father disciplines his children. A good father does not abandon his children. Not the father is the best father. And by the way, go back to Hebrews 12 real quickly. You know, I realize that sometimes when you speak of these things and you speak of God as God the Father, for some people these conversations can be difficult because unfortunately for you, for some of you, because we live in a fallen world, you didn't have a good dad. There are people who had dads that were, that did abandon them or that were abusive to them or that were not everything they should have been. And you know, if that's you tonight, I'm sorry that that was your experience with a father, but I would say to you that don't carry that over to God the Father because God the Father is the example of a great father and all of us that are human fathers should strive to be like God the Father. And for those of us that had good parents, you know, I thank God for my father and my mother and just the home that I was raised in and obviously no one's perfect, they weren't perfect, I'm not perfect, but I did have a good dad. And so it's easy for me to just transfer that idea of a concept of a good father and to understand that this is how God the Father wants to relate to us as our Heavenly Father. But if you're here tonight, you say, well, I didn't have a good father. Well, if you're saved, you do have a good father. And you have the opportunity to experience a good father maybe for the first time in your life because you now have the Heavenly Father and He's the best of all fathers. And by the way, let me just say this, look at Hebrews 12 and verse 9. Then the writer of Hebrews actually begins to talk about human fathers, Hebrews 12 and 9. He says, furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh, talking about our human fathers, which corrected us and we gave them reverence. Human fathers correct their children and then the children give them reverence. The word reverence means respect. He says, furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence. And let me just say this, human flesh fathers and mothers should correct their children. They should discipline their children. Go back to Proverbs just real quickly. If you kept your place in Proverbs 13, look at verse 24. Today we live in this society where people don't discipline their children. They don't correct their children. And listen to me, this is why people are raising monsters. Why they're raising sociopaths and psychopaths. Because we live in this culture today where children are not being told no. They're not being told that was wrong. They're not being told that was disrespectful. They're not being told no, you didn't obey. And they're not being given consequences for their actions. And parents today will say, oh, I love my children too much to spank them. That's a lie. You know what the reality is? You're too lazy to spank them. That's the reality. You're too lazy and selfish to spank your children. Because the Bible says in Proverbs 13, 24, he that spareth his rod, hateth his son. But he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes. The word betimes there means early. Why would a father and mother chasten their children? Why would they discipline their children? You know, the reason you should discipline your children is because when you see bad behavior in your children, when you see your children developing bad habits, when they are developing a habit of being a liar, or being a manipulator, or being disrespectful, or whatever it is, when you as a parent realize or become aware of the fact that your child is developing a bad habit, your job is to correct them. To correct that. Because you know what a loving parent does? A loving parent says this, if I correct it now, if I give them the correction that they need now, he that spareth his rod, hateth his son, but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes, you know, then the cops won't have to beat him down later. Then he won't lose his job when he's older. She won't end up on the street. Whatever, you know. Because this big bad world we live in, they don't care. If you don't know how to act, and how to be normal, whatever. So parent, your job, mom and dad, is to raise normal, adjusted, well-balanced, well-rounded children. That's your job! And I'm just telling you, and look, I'm not trying to hurt your feelings, but I'm telling you right now, if you never spank your children, you never discipline your children, you're a bad parent. And I didn't say that. God said that. He that spared this rod, hated the son. You're constantly making excuses for your children's behavior, and say, oh no, it's because of this, because that's the other person. You're wrong! And look, obviously, no child is just 100% wrong all the time, but all children need to be disciplined from time to time, and there are literally people who just never discipline their children, always are making excuses for their children. Their children are never wrong. You will raise a sociopath. You will raise a monster. He that spared this rod, hated the son, but he that loved them, chased them, beat times. So we see the reality of God's discipline, we see the reason for God's discipline, and then, lastly, tonight, let's look at the result of God's discipline. Look at verse 10, Hebrews 12 and verse 10. For they, remember, he's talking about earthly fathers, because in verse 9 he says, Furthermore, we had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence. And then he says in verse 10, For they, verily, for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure. Right? They chastened after their own pleasure. Because whatever it is that they cared about, that's what they, you know, if you have a father that's very timely, then they're going to correct you when you're timely, or when you're late, and they'll mold you into someone that's on time all the time. Right? We tend, as parents, to just really focus on the things we care about. They, verily, for a few days, chastened us for their own pleasure, but he, for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. So why does God chasten? He chastens for our profit. He's not chastening us for his own pleasure. He's not chastening us just because he's tired of hearing us fight or whatever. He, for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Look at verse 11. Now, no chastening. In verse 10, we see the why. Why we get chastened? For our profit. Then in verse 11, we see the when. When we are chastened, remember this. Now, no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous. That should be pretty self-evident, right? Nobody liked eating a spanking. Nobody liked it when they were getting a spanking. Now, and if you're going through a spiritual spanking, obviously, no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward, it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Say, what is the result of God's discipline? The result of God's discipline is this, that he wants to afterwards yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness. That's what he's trying to do. Go to Psalm 119. We'll finish up. Psalm 119. So we see this concept of discipline. But again, we began this morning with the realization, sometimes we go through hardship in the Christian life, and just remember that if someone's going through hardship or if you're going through hardship, don't just assume that it's God spanking you. Maybe it is God spanking you. But maybe it's that you're just being persecuted because you're living godly in Christ Jesus. Maybe it's that God is purging you, and when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Maybe it's no reason. It's just that we live in this sinful, fallen world. Maybe it is as a result of your own sin and the consequences for your sin. Maybe it's that God is chastening you, and God is disciplining you. Maybe it's just for the glory of God. God is allowing you to go through some major trial so that he can show you off, so that he can get the glory through your life. There's all sorts of reasons. And look, it's not our job to look at individuals going through hardships and decide, here's why they're going through that. That's where Job's friends messed up. But it is for us, when we're going through hardship, to ask the question, Lord, are you disciplining me? Is there something that I need to correct in my life? Or whatever, you know? I mean, obviously, if you smoked your whole life, and then you end up, you know, getting some lung disease, then yeah, it's probably as a result of your sin. Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For what's for a man's soul that shall he also reap? It's just the reality of life. But we should look at these situations and ask ourselves, and sometimes we should ask ourselves, is God disciplining me? Is God chastening me? Is God doing something trying to get my attention, trying to correct me? Now look, you don't have to go very far in the Bible before you start reading stories and you start realizing that God's hand is often disciplining or chastening his children. Think about Jacob. What does Jacob do? He lies to his father, Isaac. He rips off his brother Esau, and then Jacob goes to his uncle Laban's house, and what does Laban do? He lies to him and he rips him off. You say, what was that? That's God chastening Jacob, his son, because he was doing wrong. Remember Miriam? She's criticizing Moses. She gets leprosy. Samson? I mean, he gets bound. He gets his eyes plucked out. He's grinding at the mill. Why? Because he was living a wicked life of flesh. David, he commits adultery, and what happens? First of all, the baby that was conceived dies. Then his daughter Tamar, and God says this is happening because of your sin. His daughter Tamar was raped by her brother Amnon. Amnon was killed by his half-brother Absalom, and then Absalom leads a rebellion against David. Saul, he lost the kingdom. Why? Because of his pride and disobedience. Remember Gehazi, Elisha's servant? Naaman is healed from leprosy by Elisha. Naaman offers all these clothes and money to Elisha. Elisha says no, we don't need it. God takes care of us, and then Gehazi goes behind Elisha's back, lies to Naaman, and takes. He says, oh, Elisha changed his mind, gets all that stuff. Why? Because he's covetous and greedy, and then God says, oh, you want the clothes and the money from Naaman? Well, you can have Naaman's leprosy as well. Gehazi gets leprosy. Why? Because of God chastening him. Jonah, God says, I want you to go over there. He goes that way and gets swallowed by a whale. God's chastening correction. Remember Ananias and Sapphira? They dropped dead when they lied about how much they gave to the vision offering. So, you know, you see the chastening of God's hand in the lives of believers throughout the Bible, and we need to realize that, look, I often say this. When you got saved, now you and I play this game of life, and we play under different rules. So, well, the world, they get to, yeah, but they don't have a, they're bastards. They're not sons. They don't have a heavenly father. The reprobates have a father named the devil, who doesn't, he's a dirtbag dad, but we have a heavenly father, and he cares about us, and he's going to lovingly correct us, and he's going to chasten us. Psalm 119, look at verse 71. We'll finish up right here. Psalm 119, Psalm 119, verse 71. Here's what the psalmist said. He said, it is good for me. It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. He said, it's good for me that I have been afflicted. Why? Because it draws me closer. It draws me closer to God, and you know, if you and I are suffering the discipline of the Lord today, if we're suffering the chastening of the Lord in our lives, we should realize that it's good for us because it's our heavenly Father lovingly trying to get our attention and correct the way that we are going that we might learn and follow his statutes. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do love you, and we thank you for your loving hand of correction that chastens us and keeps us from going too far and messing our lives up too much. And Lord, I pray you'd help us. Help us to identify the chastening hand of the Lord when it comes. But Lord, help us also to remember like we began in the sermon to not just assume that when people go through difficulty or hardship that it's God chastening them or a result of their sin. Help us not to ask the question like the disciples, Who did sin, this man or his parents? Neither sinned. Sometimes it's just for the glory of God. Sometimes God is just trying to refine us and make us better. Sometimes we're dealing with persecution because we're actually living godly in Christ Jesus. Sometimes it's just the result of living in a fallen, sinful world. Lord, help us not to be like Job's friends who criticize and assume. But Lord, when we do find ourselves under the disciplining hand of our Heavenly Father, help us to be quick to correct, to learn our lesson and to move on, and to remember that it is good for us that we have been afflicted. We love you. In the matchless name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. All right, we're going to have Brother Moses come up and lead us in a final song. I just want to remind you, of course, that we have Soul Winning on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. We have Soul Winning tomorrow at 2 p.m. I realize that schedule isn't open for everybody. If you'd like to go Soul Winning tomorrow, we'd love for you to join that time slot. The Saturday morning at 10 a.m., that's our big Soul Winning rally. We usually have over 100 Soul Winners here, 110, 120 Soul Winners, and we'd love for you to be a part of that to join us on Saturday for Soul Winning. If there's anything that we can do for you, please let us know, and we'll have Brother Moses come up and lead us in a final song. Please enter songbook page number 459. We're going to sing Ferris Lord Jesus, page 459. Let's go ahead and sing it out on the first. Ferris Lord Jesus, roller of all nature, O thou of God and man the Son. Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor, Thou my soul's glory, joy and crown. Page 459 on the second. Fair are the meadows, Fairer still the woodlands, Proud in the blooming garb of spring. Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer, Who makes the wall fall hard to sing. Fair is the sunshine, Fairer still the moonlight, And of a twinkling sorry host. Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer, Than all the angels have and boast. Beautiful Savior, Lord of all the nations, Son of God and Son of Man. Glory and honor, Praise, adoration, Now and forevermore be thine. Great singing. Can I please have Brother RJ close us in a word of prayer? You ready? Praise, honor, Praise, honor, Praise, honor, Praise, honor, Praise, honor, Praise, honor, Praise, honor, Praise, honor, Praise, honor, Praise, honor,