HEBREWS 12:1-122009 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Hebrews 12:1-12

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2009. This morning as we're here in Hebrews chapter 12, we have a portion of scripture that

Well, you're probably familiar with at least a verse or two here in Hebrews chapter 12, verses 1 through 11. Verses 1 and 2 we look at frequently, we're reminded of frequently. The rest of the verses dealing with chastening, we try to avoid those as much as we can. But here as we continue our study in the book of Hebrews, the author is writing to these Christians who are discouraged.

Now, we've been talking about that throughout the book, that the Christians that he's writing to, they're wavering in their faith. They're trying to determine, should we go

on with the Lord or should we go back to the sacrificial system? Should we go back to the religiousness of the temple, the Jewish religion? Should we go back to the rituals of the sacrifices? Should we go back to those things because, well, for a variety of reasons, people were facing this decision and they were wavering in their commitment to the Lord and they were wondering if it was worth it to continue on with Jesus.

And for the first part of the book, the author of Hebrews really made it abundantly clear, you will not find anything better than what you have in Jesus Christ. He is far superior. There's no better religion. There's no better relationship. There's no better high priest. There's no better sacrifice. There's no better leader. There's nothing better.

better than what we have in Jesus Christ. And he's been giving them this understanding. He's been teaching us that we would know that Jesus Christ is far superior than everything else.

Well, now he continues on writing to these Hebrews who are wishy-washy, who are wavering and possibly going to abandon the faith. And now he gives them this picture, this idea of running a race. And he uses some athletic terms throughout our portion today to help them understand the importance of endurance and pressing on and continuing on and not giving up.

He's encouraging them so that they don't quit the race. They were defeated. They felt discouraged and abandoned. They were facing a variety of different situations. And they were thinking to themselves, you know, I just don't think it was supposed to be this hard. And maybe you can relate to that. And so in the midst of this great difficulty and pressures all around them,

The author of Hebrews gives them this picture of a race, and he tells them to run with endurance. Later on in verse 4, he talks about striving and opposition, the wrestling terms. He's giving this picture of a contest that is going on.

In verse 11, at the very end, he talks about being trained, which means to exercise vigorously. He's using these athletic terms to give them a picture that they would be encouraged and not give up in the race.

The race that we have been called to is a race of endurance. Now, the writer started this subject of endurance back in chapter 10, verse 36, where he told the Hebrews, you have need of endurance so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. The race that we have been called to, the race that we are running now,

is this course that God has set before us, and it's the course to do the will of God. It's not a race in the sense where, you know, trying to hurry up and get to the end of our lives, but it's a race in the sense that God has set a course before us,

in which His will will be accomplished. And He's called us now to run that course, to run that track that He has set before us, that we would get to the finish line having accomplished His will. Just as Jesus said at the end of His life, Lord, I've done all that You've called me to do.

Paul said at the end of his life, I fought the good fight. I finished the race. I got to the end of the course. I finished this track that you have set before me, and I got to the very end. In Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10, Paul the apostle there says, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

There he says, we are God's work of art. We were created in Christ Jesus for the purpose of good works, for God's will to be done.

And he has prepared these good works beforehand and laid them out before us. He's got this course set out before us, this track set out before us, and it's this race that we're called to, to do the will of God, to accomplish his purposes and his plans, which he has for our lives. Every one of us has a course that has been set before us.

Now, our course is different from everyone else. We're not just talking about things relating to church or ministry, but things in life. And God has called you to...

Probably, I'm assuming here a little bit, but for the most part, God's called you to be part of a family. He's called you to be in the workplace. He's called you to be involved with a body of believers. He's called you to different aspects of your life, but they're all part of His will for you, and you're to run that course that He has set before you to make it to the very end. You're to run with endurance.

The idea of endurance is making it all the way, getting all the way to the end, reaching the finish line. It's not a sprint. It's an endurance race. In Hebrews chapter 11, as the author of Hebrews went into chapter 11, illustrating this need of endurance with all of these men and women of faith who had gone before us.

In Hebrews 11.13, he says, These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. That's another way of saying we're athletes. We're on this track. We're on this race course. This is not our permanent home. We're just making it to the finish line.

They all died in faith, not having received the promise. The point here of endurance is that the promise that you have been given by Jesus Christ will not be fulfilled in this life. The race that you've been called to run is this life and this course that he has set before you. But the finish line is when we enter into eternity with Jesus Christ, when we enter into eternity with God.

And so we're called to run this race, our life, with endurance. To make it all the way to the end and still be devoted to God. Endurance is important because we're talking about living our whole life to accomplish His will, His plans, and His purposes. We're talking about making all the way to the end with a heart that's devoted to Him. Endurance is essential for us. We need to make it to the end, to cross that finish line,

that we would have an abundant entrance into the kingdom of God. So as the author of Hebrews is writing to them to encourage them to continue in the race, he gives these athletic terms, stresses the need for endurance, and he gives us some things that we must do in order to run this race with endurance. Four things we'll look at this morning. The first thing we must do to run this race with endurance, to make it to the end, is we must lay aside hindrances. Look at verse 1.

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. We saw this verse, we talked about it last week as well, but here I want to point out the things that were to lay aside. But first of all, we have this cloud of witnesses.

Therefore, connecting it back to the things he's already been sharing and connecting it back to the examples that we have in chapter 11 of men and women of God who had faith and were faithful to God and ran the race. This cloud of witnesses are those who have gone before us. They've crossed the finish line before us and they're a testimony to us that we can do it. They lived a life for the glory of God. They accomplished God's will and God's purposes for their life by faith.

They cross the finish line and we can too. So therefore, since we have those who have gone before us, who testified to us that you can do it, you can make it to the end and be faithful to the Lord. He says, here's what you need to do. Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnare us. We need to lay aside hindrances. If we're to make it to the very end on this endurance race,

We can't have things that trip us up and hold us back. And so he says you need to lay aside every weight. How many Olympic running matches have you seen where the athletes competing had weights? You ever seen an Olympic runner there in the games with ankle weights? Sorry, I'm touching my wrist and saying ankle, but you get the point. Wrist weights and ankle weights.

Maybe holding, you know, two-pound dumbbells. No, you don't. Because in order for them to win the race, in order for them to make it to the finish line, in order for them to really compete, they have to take off. They might train with those weights, but they don't run the race with those weights. And that's important. Because although they train with the weights, and that's okay, it prepares them for the race, you and I in the race that we're in, well, we're not in training anymore.

And so it's not time for us to have weights. It's not time for us to have things on our ankles and things on our wrists and things holding us down and weighing us down and slowing us down and hindering our run with endurance. We're in the actual competition. We're in the main event. We're to live a life for the glory of God, to accomplish the will of God. Let us lay aside every weight. If you were going to run fast,

across the United States. What would you pack to carry with you? If that was the purpose of your life, if this is all you had to do, you just had to get from, here we are in Southern California, all you had to do is get to the East Coast. You just had to set foot in the Atlantic waters and then you would go home to be with Jesus and that was it. What would you take with you? What would you do to make sure that you made it all the way across so that you didn't wash out halfway through the United States or give up?

part way through. What would you do? What would you carry with you so that you can make it all the way across? I'm sure you would carry just the essentials. Now you may have noticed today as I walked up there's a little red pack on my back. It's not so little. And this is my backpack. This I carry with me everywhere I go. I'm not going to slam it down because in here is my computer. I also keep in here my Bible. And I don't know if you know this but I'm the kind of guy I don't like to

I don't like to not be prepared. So I try to keep as much as I can as possible. So I have bags of popcorn. I have bottles of water. I have pens. I have breath mints. I have highlighters. I have all my sets of keys. I have my inhaler just in case. I have medicine. I keep my Bible, my notebooks. Everything is in here. And this bag gets very heavy. And I have a lot of things in here.

Now, for a while, when I was living off of Surface Club, I would walk to the church. And I would not, as much as possible, carry that bag with me when I would walk to church. It was only a three-mile walk. But having an extra, you know, 30 pounds on your back, well, that doesn't really help you very much. Probably actually is better for you. But there was many times that I would have to stop at Taco Bell on the way and rest for a little bit. Yeah.

And so to make that race, to fulfill that course, I would lay aside the weight. In the same way in our Christian walk,

The race has been set before us. Our goal, the finish line, is the end of our life. And the idea is that we're to walk this life and do the will of God and make it to the end, being devoted and faithful to God, having done His will. And so what are those things in your life that weigh you down and slow you down in accomplishing that purpose? What is it that's in your life that's hindering you from fulfilling the will of God, from accomplishing what He has called you to do?

and commanded you to do. You know, we could look at tons and tons and tons of examples, but I ask you to do that for yourself because it is a personal thing. What is it in your life? This word weight, it means something that is prominent. It means something that is in bulk or a mass or a burden.

And so it's a good indication there. We can look at our lives and say, what is it that's prominent in my life that is not part of God's will for my life? What is it that's taking up the bulk of my time and taking the bulk of my energy? What is it that's taking away from what God has called me to do? Are there things in your life that are a burden to you that are not part of what God has called you to do? Remember,

You have need of endurance so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise. We're looking for the promise afterwards. And so in this life, there's things that perhaps in and of themselves, they're not sinful. But because of the place that they have in our lives, they're keeping us, they're weighing us down and keeping us from doing all that God has called us to do. Get rid of those things that slow you down in doing the will of God.

Now, again, we're not just talking about, you know, things at church and all you're supposed to do all day is read your Bible and pray and you can come to church, that's okay, but as long as you pray on the way, I mean, that's not what the author of Hebrews is saying. God has set a course for your life and that course includes living life and having family and being employed and going to school and those types of things. It includes that. He wants you to live this life.

But are there things in your life that are weighing you down and keeping you from, well, being the type of employee that God has called you to be? So you're late every day because you're up all night, you know, keeping up with this show or that show or getting the highest score on some game or it was poker night the night before, whatever.

God has called you to this in your life, and yet you're failing in this, you're wavering in this, you're not fulfilling his will because, well, you've got these other weights that pull your time away, that pull your energy away, that pull you away from what God has called you to do.

And the author of Hebrews says, look, you need to lay aside those things. Your goal here is to make it to the end and don't be naive and think, well, that'll be easy. We've got a lot of things pulling against us and our heart is out to deceive us. And so we need to make sure that we slim down, that we take off those weights and we don't make it more difficult to follow God and fulfill His will than it already is. We don't need to add more things into our lives that will weigh us down.

We only have time to do God's will. So don't fill your time with things that are not part of God's will for you. Because those things become weights that slow us down, that hinder us in this race that we're called to make it all the way to the end.

Run with endurance. And so we need to lay aside those hindrances. But we also need to lay aside the sin which so easily ensnares us. So not just those bulky things, those prominent things that slow us down, that distract us from, but those things that are out and out sin. The sin which so easily ensnares us. And I think we can relate to this. We understand how easily sin ensnares us.

The idea here of ensnare is it means literally to skillfully surround. I kind of think of a vine, you know, how it wraps around whatever it's against. That's the idea of sin. It just wraps around, it skillfully just grabs hold of and envelops you in it. And that's why sin is so dangerous. And that's why we need to stay away from sin and not dabble with it and toy with it and play with it. Because sin so easily ensnares us.

And it will hinder us in this course that God has set before us. It will trip us up and hold us back from accomplishing God's will in our life. Jesus said in Matthew 5, verse 29, And so he says...

If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Now, he's not literally saying you should pluck out your right. What he is saying, and he's teaching the importance of taking sin seriously and not letting it have any part of your life. And doing whatever you need to do to get rid of it. To lay aside that sin because it so easily ensnares. It will so easily trip you up and pull you out of the race.

And so Jesus says, you need to take whatever measure you need to take. If it means that you need to move to a different country, then move to a different country. If it means that you need to change careers, then change careers. If it means that you need to cancel the cable, then cancel the cable. If it means, whatever it means, lay aside the sin which so easily ensnares. You will not be able to run with endurance the race that is set before you. If you're wrapped up in sin...

Because it skillfully surrounds you. Skillfully, strategically trips us up and traps us. And that's why Jesus said, whoever sins is a slave of sin.

And there's those times that you have been set free, you've been delivered, but later on, you know how this is. There's a little bit of dabbling here, a little bit of toying there, and then right back in it, you're ensnared just like you were before. God had set you free, but here you are ensnared again. Lay aside that sin which so easily ensnares.

Take it out of your life. Get it out of your life. Make decisions about your life based on this understanding that you are running a race and you must make it to the end. You don't have time. You don't have energy. You don't have extra resources to mess around, to play around, to dilly-dally. You need to run with endurance. You need to make it to the end. So cut those things out of your life. Lay aside those hindrances. What we also find in verse 2 says,

that we need to focus on the finish line. We need to lay aside our hindrances, but we need to focus on the finish line. Verse 2 says, Here in verse 2, he tells us, look unto Jesus.

Look unto Jesus. This word look, it means to look away from, to turn your eyes away from other things and to fix them on one thing. Turn your eyes away from other things and fix them on one thing. Looking unto Jesus. If we're to run with endurance, if we're to make it to the end of this race, this course that God has set before us,

We must turn our eyes away from other things and focus on Jesus Christ. We must be captivated by Him. Jesus is our focus. Now it's very easy to change focus.

It's very easy to begin to look at the other things. Remember, like Peter, as he stepped out of the boat, and what a great step of faith that was. But it says he began to look and see the wind and the waves. He began to look at other things, and immediately he began to sink. Now the good news is he cried out to Jesus, and Jesus caught him and pulled him back into the boat. But the point is, he started to look at the other things. His focus changed dramatically.

He was distracted by what was going on around. And that's the place of the Hebrews as the author is writing this letter. You know, they started out, they were focused on Jesus. But now things are difficult. And persecution is happening because of their relationship with God. And there's persecution from their family. There's persecution from the nation. The nation of Rome is turning against Christians.

There's also conflict within as they were raised as part of the Jewish faith. And so they had this, you know, it's part of their nature to participate in the sacrifices and practice those feasts. And they meant different things to them before the Lord. And so they had these pressures, these turmoils, these difficulties that they're going through. And well, they began to lose focus. They began to be distracted by God.

All of these things that are going on around them and the problem that they're facing. And so they become consumed by this trial. And so now, well, they're at a point where they're needing to be encouraged. They're needing to be reminded Jesus is far superior. And what you have in Jesus Christ is far better than anything else you can find in any religion, in any relationship, in anything in the world. They lost focus. And so he says...

You need to be looking unto Jesus. You need to be focusing on the finish line. You and I, very similar, we experience the same things. It's easy to become distracted as we're facing trials and difficulties. It's easy when we are going through hardship to take our eyes off of Jesus and we become consumed with this problem that we're facing.

And it's all that we look at, and it's all that we talk about, and it's all that we think about, and we have dreams and nightmares about it, and it consumes our life. All we can see is this problem. I try to worship, but it's hard, because all I can think about is this problem. I try to read, but all I can think about is this difficulty. I try to do this, but all I can think about is this pain that I'm experiencing and what I'm going through right now. It's easy in the midst of difficulty to begin to focus on other things around us and the difficulties of life.

But here the author of Hebrews says, turn your eyes away from those other things and fix them on Jesus. He's the author and finisher of our faith. He's the one who put us into this race. He's the one who started us in the faith. He knows the beginning from the end and he's the one who's going to bring it to completion. He's the one who's going to accomplish it. As we often look at Philippians chapter 1 verse 6, being confident.

Not skeptical, not just hopeful, but being confident, assured of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. He who started the work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day that you're with Him. And so you don't have to worry about all of those different things and becoming focused on them and fixated on those difficulties and problems and trials and pains. Well, it doesn't really help.

We're to take our eyes off of those other things and fix them on Jesus. He's the author and finisher. He's the one who's going to bring us to completion. He's the one who's going to do the work in our lives. And so we need to be focused on Him. Jesus is our focus.

The hope and the joy of one day being with Him. So Jesus is our focus, but He's also our example here as He goes on in verse 2. He says, "...who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Not only is Jesus our focus, but He's an example for us because this is what He did. He focused on the joy that was set before Him, and He endured the cross.

despising the shame, but he made it all the way through. And he has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. He finished the race. He accomplished the course. He's an example for us. As he focused on the finish line, which was the joy that was set before him, he endured. He endured all that he went through, living the life that he lived and the difficulties there, the pain and the hurt at the end, his crucifixion and

experiencing the burden of our sin being placed upon him, he endured with his eyes focused on the joy that was set before him. And what was that joy that was set before him? This is what's cool about it. Jesus's joy was eternity with you. And our joy is eternity with Jesus. And so it's a great love story here. He was focused on us. And he lived his life

for our benefit and for us. And our focus is Jesus. And we live our lives for Him, to do His will, for His glory. We give ourselves to each other. He's our example. He focused on that joy, knowing that there was no other way to spend eternity with you. But the joy of spending eternity with you, well, it made it all worth it. And so He endured. He endured the cross. And He made it all the way through. He sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

So focus on the finish line. Focus on Jesus Christ. Focus on eternity with Him, following His example. Well, number three this morning, we're to take courage. If we're to run with endurance this race that is set before us, if we're to make it all the way to the end, then we need to take courage. Look at verses three and four. He says, "...for consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself."

lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. Take courage, he says, by considering him who endured such hostility. Consider what Jesus endured. In order so that you and I don't become weary and discouraged, consider what Jesus endured. The Hebrews were discouraged. They were weary.

They were wavering in the faith, wondering, is it really supposed to be this hard? Even wondering, does God really love me? They were wondering, what in the world is going on? Is it supposed to be this painful? Is life really this hard? How come it's so difficult? And so he says, consider what Jesus endured. As they're going through this great difficulty, he points them back to Jesus. Now, you and I, we face difficulties in this life.

And we will experience things that, well, we can describe them as, man, the most difficult times of our lives. And it can happen in a variety of ways. It can happen in our marriages. It can happen in our finances. It can happen in our health. It can happen in all kinds of ways. Family, kids, you name it. We go through very difficult times in life. And that's important. You know, if an athlete, if a runner...

is weary and discouraged, if they're defeated already in their attitude, well, it's very likely they'll quit the race. They'll give up. And that's where the Hebrews were at. Have you ever given up because you were weary and discouraged in something? And so how do we prevent this? How do we make sure that we make it to the end? Well, he says, take courage by considering what Jesus endured.

And as I was spending time this week looking over this passage and reflecting on what the author is saying here, it really hit me in a different way. And it's one of those things, you know how it is, where it's things you know, but for some reason God just opens your eyes in a little bit different way and kind of smacks you in the head a little bit different way and shows you that, well, I was considering this about Jesus. He knew what awaited Him, but He went anyway.

Before he even started the process, before he even was born of the Virgin Mary, he knew what this life was going to be like. He knew what he would have to endure. He knew what he would have to go through. But he did it anyway. There in the garden as he's praying to God and saying, Lord, if there's any other way but your will be done, not my will. See, he finished the course. He did God's will.

But as he's praying there, it's with such intensity that his sweat was mingled with great drops of blood. And it's because he knew what was awaiting him. He knew what he was going to go through. He knew what he was about to face. And the whole time as he's going through this, as he's betrayed, as he's arrested, he could have retaliated. You remember, Peter wanted to. He cut off the ear of the high priest's servant.

Jesus said, hey, don't you know I could call down legions of angels? I could wipe these guys out. These are no problem for me. He could have retaliated, but he held back. And it really struck me, the thought of what type of self-control and discipline that required. Consider what Jesus endured. It struck me that all it would take is one wrong thought.

All I would take is one wrong thought. As he was being falsely accused, all I would take is one wrong thought and it would have been all over. Have you ever been falsely accused? You know what that's like to be accused falsely and want to retaliate and want to set the record straight and want to put things where they're supposed to be. All I would have taken is one wrong thought and it would have all been over. But Jesus held back.

Just with one thought, he could have wiped out those false accusers, but he held back. As the Jewish guards covered his face and then beat him, all it would have taken is one wrong thought. You ever been beaten? You ever been struck? Did you have a wrong thought? Consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. As the Roman soldiers took the skin off his back with a whip...

All it would have taken is one wrong thought. He could have wiped out the whole Roman army as the soldiers took the crown of thorns and beat it onto his head with a rod. All it would have taken is one word, one wrong thought. He could have retaliated. He could have fought back. He could have wiped him out. But he endured. For the joy that was set before him for you and for me, he endured. As they placed the cross upon his back,

forced him to carry it, all it would have taken is one wrong thought. As he put the nails in his hands and his feet, as he hung on the cross there for six hours, all it would have taken is one wrong thought. One wrong thought. He could have pulled himself off the cross, he could have wiped out the Roman Empire, but of course, then there would be no hope of salvation for us. That's just looking at the end of his life. That's not even taking into account

The real pain and agony of the situation, which is when our sins were laid upon him. That's not even considering the rest of his life and the temptation that he experienced there in the wilderness and throughout the rest of his life. Not even considering the mocking and the rejection, the isolation that came from living the life that he was called to live. Consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself. You and I,

Well, it goes on to say, you have not yet resisted to bloodshed. Jesus resisted to bloodshed. He resisted disobedience to God to the point where it cost him blood. It cost him his life. You and I have not resisted disobedience to God to that point. But he did. And he did it for us. You know, very often when we're going through difficulties and trials and great pains in life, it's easy to become weary and discouraged.

and to feel like we're the only ones, and no one else has experienced it quite like we have. And man, our pain is much, much more than those around us, or our difficulties are much harder. The things that we go through, man, it's much, much worse. And so we, by thinking these things, begin to become weary and discourage ourselves. But he says, take courage. I know it seems a little strange for us. Take courage, you know, you haven't resisted to death yet.

But that's what Jesus did for us. Consider him who endured. We're to take courage because of what he went through and what he endured. He resisted to bloodshed to the very end of his life. You see what we're talking about here, running with endurance? That's what Jesus did to the very end. He ran with endurance and he accomplished the will of God in his life. So we need to lay aside our hindrances. We need to focus on the finish line.

We need to take courage. And fourthly, we must endure chastening. Endure chastening. Now there's three things in enduring chastening that I want to point out. First off, chastening is proof of love. It's also proof of sonship. And chastening profits forever. It's proof of love. It's proof of sonship. And it profits forever. But a couple things about chastening before we look at those things.

When we think of chastening, or at least when I think of chastening, my first thought is the idea of punishment. Chastening, punishment, you know, that's, in my mind, they're equals. But this idea of chastening here, the word is not just for discipline or punishment, physical discipline or punishment. Although it includes that, the chastening here is a word which includes the whole training and education of a child.

So discipline is part of that training. It's part of what is necessary in raising children. But it's not all that there is, right? It's just not constant beatings, although your childhood may have felt like that. But there's instruction, there's encouragement, there's building up, there's education that goes into raising a child. And that's the idea of this word chastening. It's the whole idea.

The whole picture of raising a child, not just the punishment, not just the correction. And God chastens us, the point that He's making here, He chastens us in the sense that He is in the process of raising us up. He's raising us, we're His kids. And so He's growing us up into the children of God that He desires for us to be. He's transforming us into His image.

He's molding us and shaping us, making us more like Him. And so He's doing this incredible work in our lives, and this is that idea of chastening. Now, the thing is, we just don't really care for the way that He does that many times. And we can think it's cruel or difficult or too hard, but these things are necessary for us. And as the Hebrews are going through great difficulty, the author of Hebrews is explaining, look, this is part of God growing you up.

and preparing you for the life that He wants you to live. It's part of Him raising you up to be the children that He wants you to be. And it's necessary for you so that you can fulfill the will of God. Now, we can see some examples of this. I want to share a couple examples from...

the animal kingdom, to help us get a picture of what this chastening is all about and the purpose of these things. You've probably heard these things before, but bear with me as I remind us of these things. We can look at the butterfly. Now, if you look at a butterfly, you know it starts out as a caterpillar and it goes on, it wraps itself in a cocoon, spends some time in the cocoon, and then it comes forth from the cocoon

transformed. There's a metamorphosis that takes place in it and it comes out as a butterfly. It's beautiful. There's some great pictures there of what God is doing with us and the new body that He has awaiting for us. Oh yeah, great things. But the interesting thing about the butterfly is that the reason it's able to fly is because of what it had to do to get out of the cocoon. Because it had to break out of the cocoon, because it had to work its way out of

Its wings were strong enough so that it could fly. And so you get the moral of the story, right? The object lesson there. It's the work it took to get out which trained it, which prepared it to be able to fly as it came forth as a butterfly.

And sometimes in our relationship with God, we can feel like we're stuck in a cocoon. We can feel in this life like we're suffocated, like we're just surrounded with all of these difficulties and problems and they're pressing in on either side. We can feel like, man, everything we do, we've got to fight our way through it. And there's great difficulty and it's with great energy that we accomplish anything. It's part of God's chastening.

it's what enables us then to accomplish the next things that God has in store for us. It's part of Him strengthening us and preparing us for what is to come. Or you can look at the example of an eagle. I don't think it's all types of eagles, but there's a particular type of eagle that, well, the parent will push the baby eagle out of its nest. Now the nest is perched high up on a cliff, on a tree. It's a couple hundred feet in the air, maybe even more.

And the parent will push its baby out of the nest and it will begin to fall. I don't know if you like the exhilaration that comes when it falls, but you can picture and understand what that bird might be feeling. So it's falling several hundred feet. Now, the thing is, although it can't fly, the parent can fly and the parent can fly faster than the baby can fall.

And so the baby bird will fall and before it hits the ground, the parent will swoop in, catch the baby, take it back up to the nest. And this will go on for a few times until finally the baby, as it's pushed out, as it's falling down, as it's trying desperately, it begins to flap its wings and to fly. But it's through this process, this knocking over, this falling down, this catching up, bringing it back up and then doing it again,

that it learns, that it strengthens, that it works those muscles, that it learns how to fly and is able then to survive. Sometimes God works that way with us as well. You're perched up quite high and there's this, well, there's this exhilarating drop

And it always seems at the last minute that God swoops in and catches you. And you go, man, Lord, why are you always doing it? It's always the last minute. Rent's already due two days ago. And now you catch me. Now you provide. Now you take care. Now you meet that need. Now you provide. Now you heal. And then a little bit down the road, oh, here we go again. There's this exhilaration. What is going to happen? How are we going to do it? We're going to crash.

God swoops in. It's part of His training. It's part of what He does to help us and enable us to trust in Him and look to Him. He's raising us up. It's part of His chastening. The life that we experience and what we go through, it's part of His chastening so that we grow into the children He calls us to be. But one last example. This comes from an old book. Many of you maybe have heard of it. It's A View from the Zoo. And there He...

gives the account of what happens with giraffes. Now, giraffes, whenever a mom gives birth to a giraffe, first of all, she does it standing up. And if you've ever seen the legs of a giraffe, you can imagine the fall for the baby coming out. So it doesn't start out too well. I mean, there's just a great thud right at the beginning. And maybe that's how you felt your Christian life started out. Just a big thud. But the mom then will place herself over the baby giraffe.

The baby giraffe, you know, has just gone through an ordeal being born. It's quite an ordeal. So the baby giraffe is just laying there and the mom will kick the baby giraffe and send it tumbling across the ground, head over heels, or hoofs, I guess. The giraffe will tumble, the baby giraffe, and then the mom will come over it again and kick it again. Well, by this time, the baby's catching on a little bit and so the baby will try to stand up and the mom will continue to kick the baby

until it stands up on its own. And finally, after some kicks, after some great work, after some great struggle, when the baby giraffe is finally on its feet, then the mom, one more time, will kick it down. And then as it gets back up again, the mom won't kick it anymore. But it goes through this process. I mean, this is right after birth. I can't imagine any of you moms doing that, you know. Doctor says, you want to see the baby? Yeah, I need to kind of kick it across the floor, make sure it can walk.

But it's necessary because, well, you know, to protect it from predators, there's going to be a need for it to get up and go. And it needs to learn very quickly to get on its feet. And so it's necessary. It's done out of love. It's done because the mom loves and cares for this baby that has been born. And so she has to knock it down. She has to kick it around.

Maybe that's how you feel in your relationship with the Lord. Maybe that's how you feel like you're just getting kicked around. You're just getting beat up. Endure chastening. Yeah, it might seem cruel to us, but it's done out of love. In fact, it's proof of God's love for us. Look at verse 5 and 6.

He says, And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons. My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you're rebuked by him. For whom the Lord loves, he chastens and scourges every son whom he receives. He says, You've forgotten. You're weary, you're discouraged because you've forgotten. You need to remember, God chastens those that he loves.

Don't despise the chastening of the Lord. The things that you're going through, the difficulties that you're facing in life, don't despise them. The pains that you face, they're real. No one's disputing that. They're hard, yes, we agree. But don't despise them. It means to think little of or to regard lightly. Don't think little of those things that you're going through. Because God is allowing those things in your life because He loves you.

Everything that comes to us in this life, every difficulty, every problem, every pain, comes through the filter of God's love. It's never more than we can handle. It's never more than we can endure. It's never just for fun. It's always because He loves us. He allows these things into our lives because He loves us. It's proof that God loves you. Life is hard.

So God teaches us these lessons because He loves us. Now we often think the opposite, don't we? Man, this is happening and I have this problem and this difficulty and this pain and I just found out this the other day and what is up? Does God not love me? Is God out to get me? No, it's the opposite. And He says, you've forgotten. Remember, don't think that way. Don't think lightly of those chastenings that you experience in life. It's because God loves you.

For whom the Lord loves, he chastens. It's proof of his love. It's also proof that you're his child, says in verse 7 and 8.

If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Every child of God experiences chastening, experiencing God's instruction, God's correction,

experiences, trials, and difficulties. Every child of God does. And if you don't, he says, then you're illegitimate and not a child of God. But if you endure chastening, understand it's proof that you're his child. It's proof that you belong to him. It proves that you're a child of God. You're his child. He loves you dearly. He's seeking to grow you up, to transform you into his image. And so chastening is an essential part of your life.

It's proof that he loves you. It's proof that you're his child. But also, if you're to endure chastening, you need to remember that it profits forever. Look at verse 9. He says,

but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. So He goes on now and He says, Look, we've had human fathers, we've had parents who corrected us, and we paid them respect for it. How much more should we willingly subject to our Heavenly Father? He says, Look, they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them.

They disciplined us. They trained us. They prepared us as seemed best to them. And that changes from child to child, you know. The first child is more of an experiment, okay? Like we have no idea what we're doing, but we're just kind of doing the best we can. The second child is always treated better, right? Okay, maybe not better, but different. Okay.

All I know is I had to go through the hard curriculum when I was homeschooled, and my sister, she got the easy curriculum. That's what I know. I had the difficulty. They learned, oh, we don't want to do that. That was really tough. Let's do the easy one with this next one. It's true. You can ask them. They did what was best. They did what they thought, this is to the best of our ability. We're doing the best we can as parents. We're trying to raise kids, and so they worked in our lives in that way. But God is not like that.

He's not just doing, you know...

Well, I hope this is going to work out okay. I hope this is the right thing to do. He says, "...he for our profit that we may be partakers of his holiness." God chastens us, not just kind of as seemed best, you know, at the time or best for him. He chastens us for our profit so that we may partake of his holiness. He's chastening us. He's developing us. He's preparing us for eternity with him, for a new body, for what he has in store for us for the rest of forever and ever. Amen.

The chastening in our life that God allows is profitable forever. It's what prepares us to partake of His holiness and to partake of eternity with Him. In verse 11, he says, Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present. And we say, right, no kidding. But painful, yes, okay, we agree. Nevertheless, here's the point, afterward, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

We go through life and it's difficult. We have trials and difficulties and pain and hardship and hurt. And we must remember, it's proof of God's love. Endure chastening. It's proof that we are His children. Endure chastening. And it's profitable forever. No one's expecting you to be excited about chastening in the present, but to be joyful in the hope of what it brings, knowing that afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

to those who have been trained, that is, to those who have been exercised vigorously by it. See, that's what chastening does. That's what those things in our life cause us to do. They cause us to exercise vigorously, exercise faith vigorously, exercise our prayer life vigorously, exercise our trust in Him. It causes us to draw close to Him. But notice it says, afterward, which brings us back to the beginning.

He said in 10.36, you have need of endurance. That after you've done the will of God, you may receive the promise. The promise that God offers to us is received not in this life, but in the next life. The examples in Hebrews chapter 11 illustrate that over and over again. These all died in faith, not having received the promise. They saw Him afar off, they embraced Him. They walked as strangers and pilgrims on the earth. We receive the promise today.

what the Christian life is all about. We receive the fulfillment of it, the promise is fulfilled when we go to be with Jesus. In the meantime, we're to run with endurance. We're to make it to the end. We're to get there to the very end, having been faithful to God and accomplishing His will. And afterward, it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Afterward, you have to run with endurance.

Because you get to the finish line, you get to the end of this life, and then it's afterwards that we receive the fulfillment of all that God has promised. That's why it's so important to run with endurance. That's why it's so important to stick it out and not quit. Don't become discouraged and weary. Run with endurance the course that God has set before you. Which means we, number one, need to lay aside hindrances to take out those extra weights and that sin in our life.

We need to focus on the finish line, take our eyes off of those other things and the people around us, and fix our eyes on Jesus. We need to take courage by considering Jesus and what He endured, and we need to endure chastening because it's how God proves He loves us, and it proves that we're His children, and it profits forever. It produces in us things that we'll be thanking God for for the rest of eternity. Run with endurance the race that is set before you.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, You've set before us a course, a race. And God, You said that in this world we'll have much tribulation, but to take cheer because You've overcome the world. And so God, as we have seen in the past, the victory is already accomplished. We just need to outlast our opponents. We need to remain standing. We need to endure. So God, I pray that You would help us to run with endurance.

Lord, not to be careless about weights and things in our lives because we're not in training, Lord. We're in the actual competition. This is for real. We're playing for keeps. Help us, Lord, to follow you completely, to lay aside those hindrances, to cut out the sin in our life. Help us, Lord, to fix our eyes on you, Lord, that we would be able to consider you and meditate on what you endured and what you went through for us.

And Lord, may you use those things to help us endure, to endure this work that you're doing in our lives. Lord, that afterward we could experience the fulfillment of the promise that you've given to us. Help us to make it to the finish line, Lord, to be faithful to you and accomplish your will, your plans, and your purposes. And Lord, we may not like the methods you've chosen. We may not agree. We may think we could do it better. But even so,

Like Jesus, we pray, not our will, but your will be done. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.