Today Pastor Ben Kingston brings us a message about God’s discipline. Three difficulties that often get confused in Christian Life: Trials, Tests, and Discipline. The third one is in question in this passage.

How to determine if it is discipline?
Ask the Lord, search the scriptures, and ask this question. Is there an area of my life that I know I am in willful disobedience to God’s word, or His will for my Life?

Hebrews 12:5 “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:”

Do not forget scripture.
Do not forget these lessons about discipline.

Lesson 1
Do not lightly regard the discipline of the Lord do not dismiss it disregard it despise it ignore it.
If you do you are condemned to go to the next level of discipline.

Lesson 2
Do not faint.
Do not fall apart do not whine and complain.
Do not quit.
Do not deny it.
Embrace it, respond to it, and repent.

Lesson 3
The benefits of Gods correction.
Hebrews 12:6 “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”
A) It shows Gods love for you.
B) It corrects you.
C) But it also identifies you.
You are a child of God!

Hebrews 12:7-8 “If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are yebastards, and not sons.”

D) It lends to endurance.
God is not done with you. There is worth. There is hope. There is a plan. There is reconciliation.

E) and proves sonship
God doesn’t discipline me because He needs me but because He loves me. He cherishes me. He is invested in me. And yes He has an assignment for me that requires Holiness.

Hebrews 12:9-10 “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 verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.”

F) It teaches subjection that leads to respect and sharing in His holiness. I believe this is the hardest lesson for Americans to swallow.

Subjection
But this is perhaps the most valuable lesson to be learned from God’s discipline. God does not want your participation

Your cooperation
And certainly not your opinion. He wants your undeniable unequivocal obedience from a servant who is in total subjection to His power and His will.

Hebrews 12:11 “Now 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.”

G) The hardship of discipline results in obedience which results in peace because of righteous behavior.

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