Hebrews 12:5-11 KJV 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: {6} For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. {7} If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? {8} But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. {9} 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? {10} 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. {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.

No one likes to suffer. When we go through suffering, our first response as humans is to seek to avoid or repair the suffering. We all do it. When God took Israel out of Egypt, He took His people through a series of water tests.

At the Red Sea, Israel experienced too much water (Exodus 14:10-12).

At Marah, God led Israel to bitter water (Exodus 15:22-26).

At Rephidim, God led Israel where there was no water (Exodus 17:1-7).

At each encounter, Israel responded exactly the same way. They muttered and moaned and complained and blasphemed God and His servants. Israel did not respond to the tests in faith, paying attention to how God saved her each time. Because Israel repeatedly failed the tests and did not turn to God in the midst of their need, their faith never grew. Since their faith never grew, when Israel got to Kadesh Barnea

Deuteronomy 1:26-28 (Author’s Paraphrase) Israel would not go up into the land, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord our God. They murmured against God, saying that God HATED them and sought to destroy them. They feared the Anakim, the giants in Canaan, but did not fear God

They failed the earlier water tests – the trials that God sent their way to grow their faith – and because of this they were unable to go into the Promised Land. The first generation of Israel was condemned to die in the wilderness. Why? Because God is watching, and said:

Deuteronomy 1:34-40 (KJV) the Lord heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying, 35 Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers. 36 Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the Lord. 37 Also the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither. 38 But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. 39 Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it. 40 But as for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.

God is in control of all things. There is no trial, no tribulation, no thing that comes your way that is not under God’s purview. God says:

Deuteronomy 31:8 (ESV) It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.

Illustration: The God Who sends the tests and trials is the God Who guides us through the tests and trials. As our Heavenly Parent, God is not a mother Hen, but an Eagle. The Mother Hen makes her nest as comfortable and pleasing as possible to the young chicks. The Mother Hen is overprotective of her brood. As a result her chicks grow up unable to fly very far or very high. The Eagle, however, builds its nest in high places. When Eagles build their nests, they start with thorns and prickly material, then put softer material and even their own feathers over top of this. As their eaglet chicks grow, the Mother Eagle begins to remove the softer parts of the nest. In time, the chicks are bedding on thorns and pricks. In discomfort they leave the nest – and SOAR. That is what God wants of His Children:

Isaiah 40:31 (ESV) they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Amnesia Is So Dangerous

Hebrews 12:5 KJV 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:

Word Study: Here God speaks to His Children AGAIN. He says “ye have forgotten the exhortation”. The word “EXHORTATION” is the Greek paraklēsis. Paraklēsis is a very interesting word in the Bible. It means “to call alongside so as to encourage or uplift, to comfort”. A very close word to paraklēsis is the Greek paraklētos, translated as “Comforter” in our New Testament (John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7; 1 John 2:1). The word is used four times to describe God the Holy Spirit and one time to describe Jesus our Savior and Lord. The Comforter, the Holy Spirit is the paraklētos, and the Word He speaks to us is the paraklēsis.

God Himself – the Holy Spirit – has spoken words of encouragement, and consolation, words to uplift all throughout Scripture. He has told us over and over again that God sends trials and tribulations to us as a loving Father, to grow our faith. God spoke to us through Solomon:

Proverbs 3:11-12 (ESV) My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of His reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.

And the oldest book of Scripture speaks to us in:

Job 5:17-18 (ESV) Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty. For He wounds, but He binds up; He shatters, but His hands heal.

King David wrote in Psalm 94:12, “Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord, and whom you teach out of your law”, and again in Psalm 119:75, “I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me”.

God sends trials our way to grow us, to make us more like Christ. It is very true that “God is love” (1 John 4:8), but love does not coddle. Those of you who are considered “parents”, but who coddle your children, you are not loving them. You are setting them up for failure in life. Children must be disciplined. They must know that there is a higher standard than their wants and desires. They must know that they are held to a greater calling.

Hebrews 12:5-6 KJV 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: {6} For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

When trials come into our lives, we are commanded to “NOT DESPISE” (oligōreō), not to MINIMIZE it or FAIL TO REGARD it. Israel lost the Promised Land because, when the trials came, they paid little attention to how the trial was resolved. They minimized it. But they also “FAINTED” (eklyō), that is, they collapsed into exhaustion, became despondent and accusatory, faint hearted.

When a trial comes to us, we are to regard it as something a Loving Father sent our way. We are not to let the trial become bigger than God, but we are to seek to learn from the trial.

Hebrews 12:6-7 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

Two words are used in the King James text to describe God’s discipline to the believer. The first word is chasteneth, the Greek paideuo {pronounced pahee-dyoo’-o}, meaning “to discipline, correct, reproof, admonish as a child”. Paideuo means that God sets limits and then corrects us according to those limits, just as a parent should do with a child. The second word is scourgeth, the Greek mastigoo {pronounced mas-tig-o’-o}, means to strike with a whip or belt. God sends trials to us on two levels:

1. God sends trials to test and grow our faith. These trials are NOT punitive.

2. God sends trials to punish us when we step outside of family boundaries.

These trials, whether to strengthen or to punish, are not sent to us because God hates us or is mad at us. “whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth”. It is His love that wants us to draw close to Him, and to depart from sin. Old time Pastor Thomas Watson wrote:

“God brings us into the valley of tears, that He may bring us into the valley of humility … When men are grown high, God hath no better way with them, than to brew them a cup of wormwood. … God’s thorns are to prick the bladder of pride .”

Trials teach us to look to God our Father, and to turn away from sin. When Jesus came to the Pool of Bethesda, He went to a man who had been an invalid for 38 years (John 5:3). For 38 years this man had laid in front of this pool, crying out that someone would get him down to the water so he might be healed. Jesus told him, “Get up, take your bed, and walk”. The man was healed. But later that day Jesus told the man:

John 5:14 (ESV) … you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you …

The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Sin can bring sickness to us. But when we sin and refuse to repent, God Himself punishes us with chastisement because He loves us. As His Children under the New Covenant, God wants us living in step with Him, not in sin.

Here is a test as to whether you are saved or not. If you can sin, and the Father not punish you if you will not repent, then you are Unsaved!

That’s what our text tells us:

Hebrews 12:8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

Word Study: The word translated BASTARDS is the Greek nothos, which means “one not born in the family, one born of a concubine or a female slave”. This was the case of Ishmael, the son of Abraham born of Hagar, not of Sarah. Though Abraham was willing for Ishmael to be considered his son, God told him “through ISAAC your descendants shall be named” (Genesis 21:12). Who is the “Child of the Promise”?

Romans 9:7-9 KJV – Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, [are they] all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. [8] That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these [are] not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. [9] For this [is] the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son.

The Child of God is not the person who “keeps the Law”. The Child of God is the person who came to Jesus on bended knee:

Ephesians 3:14-15 (KJV) For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, (15) Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named

You do not enter the family of God by your works, but based on faith in the finished Work of Christ. Jesus said:

Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV) Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. {14} But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Jesus Christ is the “Door of the Sheep” (John 10:7). Faith in Jesus Christ is “THE Way, THE Truth, and THE Life. No one comes to the Father but by Him” (John 14:6). Oh Beloved, we have repeatedly stated:

Galatians 2:16 (KJV) Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

You cannot work your way into the Family of God. Entrance comes by faith in Him, the Savior Who died for our sins and rose again for our sanctification. It is true that salvation is by faith in Him, not by works, lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). Salvation comes only when we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in our heart that God has raised Him from the dead … this is what brings eternal life (Romans 10:9- 10). Salvation is a wondrous, supernatural event that comes to us as a free gift of God. But once saved, God begins to shape us, to mold us. God is making us who are His more like His Son Jesus.

It Is The Nature Of A Good Father
To Mold His Children

The next words we read are foreign to our current “let the child rule” culture. We read:

Hebrews 12:9-10 (KJV) 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? 10 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.

In America today many young men and women grew up without “fathers of our flesh which corrected us”, much to the detriment of our society. God bestowed upon fathers the requirement to raise up children to be good citizens of this earth. When children raise themselves, and are NOT disciplined, they grow up to consider civil laws to be optional. They grow up believing that anarchy and self pleasure to be king. Past civilizations that have done this have fallen forever. Civilization requires law abiding citizens who respect the lives of others.

Word Study: God uses trials – CHASTENING – to make us better citizens of HIS Kingdom. When you were saved by faith in Christ, God imputed His Holiness to your spiritual account. But once we are saved by faith, God works in our lives “we might be partakers of his holiness”. The word rendered “PARTAKERS” is the Greek metalambanō, which means “to RECEIVE so as to ENJOY”. This speaks of practical righteous.

God wants you to be not just “saved” by Jesus,
but to BE LIKE JESUS, a citizen of His Kingdom.

Hebrews 12:11 (KJV) 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.

Trials teach us to rely on God.

There’s an interesting story in Acts chapter 12. We are told:

Acts 12:1-5 (ESV) Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. 2 He killed James the brother of John with the sword, 3 and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. 4 And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. 5 So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.

Now here’s a question. Who put Peter in prison? The simple answer is Herod. But couldn’t God have kept Herod from imprisoning Peter in the first place? Beloved, God allowed Herod to do as he did, imprisoning Peter. Why? We see in verse 5:

earnest prayer for {PETER} was made
to God by the church

The Church did not murmur, nor curse God for the trials. The Church drew near to God and prayed for Peter. James, the brother of John was martyred. James was the leader of the Church in Jerusalem, and suddenly the Church was without a human leader. It was like when Moses went up into Sinai to receive the Law – but in this case no golden calf was made.

The Church cried out to God.
The trials of Herod brought those who loved God closer to God.

Acts 12:6-17 (ESV) … when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. 7 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. 8 And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” 9 And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. 10 When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. 11 When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”

12 When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. 13 And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. 14 Recognizing Peter’s voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. 15 They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, “It is his angel!” 16 But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. 17 But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison.

What amuses me when I read this is that – though the Church was EARNESTLY PRAYING for Peter – they didn’t believe it when God answered their prayers. This is why God uses chastisement and scourging to grow our faith. There are times we are thick as stumps, and about as lively.

Pray That The Trial Will Glorify God

When trials come, we want them to end quickly. But rather than this, let us pray that God will use the trials to grow His Kingdom and glorify His name. The stepbrother of Jesus wrote:

James 1:2-4 (ESV) Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Peter was not the only Apostle imprisoned and released, but in Acts chapter 16 we read about Paul and Silas. Beloved, the God Who allowed Peter to escape from prison could have kept him from prison in the first place if He had so desired. The God Who allowed Paul to be imprisoned with Silas expected these dear believers to focus, not on the prison, but on the Lord Who saved them. Rather than groan and grumble, as they were imprisoned Paul and Silas focused on glorifying God while in the midst of suffering. We read:

Acts 16:25-26 (KJV) And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. (26) And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.

Paul and Silas didn’t murmur. They looked beyond the trial, and realized that God is in control. Paul and Silas PRAYED to God. In between prayers, they PRAISED God. And as they did this, the PRISONERS in the jail with them heard it. When the doors were opened, and the bonds that held them were loosed, they did not run away. God was glorified even more when neither Paul nor Silas attempted to escape, but remained in that broken jail. Why do such a thing? They were faithfully focusing on God and not focusing on their trials. God rewarded their efforts by bringing the Philippian jailer to salvation, he and his whole house. The Kingdom of God grew.

Trials from God test our mettle.
Are we HIS, or are we still OURS?

If we belong to God, then we know that …

1 John 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

I want to end with these words from the great C.H. Spurgeon:

“Faith sees that in her worst sorrow there is nothing penal; there is not a drop of God’s wrath in it; it is all sent in love. Faith sees love in the heart of an angry God. Faith says of her grief, “Why this is a badge of honor, for it is the child that must have the rod, ” and she sings of the sweet result of her sorrows, because they work her lasting good. Nay more, says Faith, “These light afflictions which are but for a moment do work out for me a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” So Faith sits down on the black throne, out of which she has expelled reason and carnal sense, and she begins to the praise of divine wisdom, to lift up her voice in a joyous song.”

If you are not saved and are being tried, I pray that the trial will drive you into the arms of Christ. But if you are saved, know that the trial has a purpose. God is making you more like Jesus, a better citizen of His Kingdom. Trust Him as you go through the storm. The God Who sent the storm is the God Who is your Father.

May the Holy Spirit speak to your hearts today. Amen and Amen.