When Our Father Chastens
Prairie Baptist Church – 9/27/09
P.M. Service
Text: Psalm 6
Key verse: Psalms 6:1 - O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger, nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure.
Premise: Our God is not a vindictive Judge but a Holy Father who loves His children enough to rebuke us when we are wrong and set us on a right path.
The Introduction
President Calvin Coolidge went to church, and afterwards was asked by a friend what the minister spoke on. “He preached on sin.” The friend asked what the preacher had to say about sin, and was told, “He’s against it.”...
This is a penitential Psalm - confess sin and beg for reinstatement with God.
Sin violates God’s standard
Sin offends God and when his children sin, it goes against His plan for our lives
We are to be a mirror of His holiness, we are a Holy nation.
We notice several things from David’s cry in this Psalm:
1. David felt the displeasure of God over sin - 1
2. This troubles David both soul and body – 2-3, (bones and soul)
3. The emotional torment gives David restlessness and suffering - 6-7
4. He begs God’s deliverance and mercy – 4-5
5. David’s tone changes to one of expectation and hope in God – 8-10
This is how sin in our lives should affect us.
We are ashamed and beg for God’s forgiveness, restoration and mercy.
1. The Cry Of Mercy – 6:1-3
2. The Case For Mercy– 6:4-5
3. The Condition For Mercy– 6:6-7
4. The Confidence Of Mercy– 6:8-10
Body
1. The Reasons For Discipline
A. Punishment of sin
i. I love the story about the mom & dad with a son who was a freshman in college. He blew off his freshman year. He wasn’t very responsible, didn’t make good grades, squandered his money, & finally came back home. His parents told him, “If you go back to school you’ll have to pay your own way.” So he had to work that summer & not go on the family vacation. That was part of his punishment. The family went to Greece that year & the mom sent him a postcard, “Dear Son,” she wrote. “Today we stood on the mountains where ancient Spartan women sacrificed their defective children. Wish you were here.”
ii. This punishment is corrective punishment
iii. David experienced this in his sin with Bathsheba
iv. God makes it clear he will punish sin – Ps. 89:30-32 – 30“If his sons forsake My law and do not walk in My judgments, 31If they break My statutes and do not keep My commandments, 32Then I will punish their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.
v. The good news is the promise of His faithfulness – Ps. 89:33-34 - 33Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, nor allow My faithfulness to fail. 34My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.
B. Prevention of sin
i. God may discipline in order to prevent sin
ii. God puts fences around us as we do our children (ex. Play with matches or be in the swimming pool with an adult to watch over them)
iii. Paul was given a thorn in the flesh, not because he already had pride, but to prevent pride - 2nd Cor. 12:7-10 – 7And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
iv. What may be an inconvenience or hardship for us may be God’s loving hand of protection. (MacArthur)
C. Instruction for life
i. God’s discipline is not just about punishment but also correcting and teaching
ii. The example of Job:
a. It was clearly not punishment
b. Job 1:1 – There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil.
c. Job 2:10 - In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
iii. It can teach us sympathy for others.
Now let’s turn to Hebrews 12:5-11
2. The Response To Discipline
A. Discipline should bring us back to God and His Word – 12:5a
i. When we stray from the Bible we will wander into sin
ii. The saying goes, “This book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book.”
iii. James 1:22-25 - 22But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
B. Discipline should cause remorse and repentance – 12:5b
i. A very short boy wanted so badly to play basketball. He even told his dad that he wanted to become a pro when he was older. Knowing that his son would never be able to play the game, the dad asked the local coach if there was anything he could recommend to make the boy taller. "You might take him down to the museum and put him on the old torture stretch rack," the coach said. Several weeks later the coach asked the father if putting the boy on the stretch rack had helped. "Well, it didn’t make him any taller, but he confessed to several things that I never knew."
ii. This is what happened in David’s life, He confessed and was forgiven (Ps. 51)
iii. Admitting sin is the first step - Ps. 32:5 – I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.
iv. Confessing and turning from it are the second and third steps - Prov. 28:13 - He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. (1 Jn. 1:9)
C. Discipline should generate hope – 12:5c
i. The word “faint” in the greek means = become discouraged, to lose heart; give up
ii. In other words, do not become despondent, ineffective, do not lose hope
iii. Gal. 6:9 - And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
D. Discipline should produce submission – 12:9
i. Submission to His discipline and,
ii. Submission to His will
iii. 1 Peter 5:6 - Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
3. The Results Of Discipline
A. Every action has its consequences, both positive and negative - A man left work one Friday afternoon. But instead of going home, he stayed out the entire weekend fishing with the boys and spending his entire paycheck. When he finally appeared at home Sunday night, he was confronted by his very angry wife and was barraged for nearly 2 hours with a tirade of his actions. Finally his wife stopped the nagging and simply said to him "How would you like it if you didn’t see me for 2 or 3 days?" To which he replied, "That would be fine with me! Monday went by and he didn’t see his wife. Tuesday and Wednesday came and went with the same results. On Thursday, the swelling went down just enough where he could see her a little out of the corner of his left eye.
B. Discipline is proof of God’s love – 12:6a
i. Rev. 3:19 - As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.
ii. God’s love would never allow us the luxury of wandering into sin when He knows it would destroy us
iii. His love protects us and corrects us, even though it might be painful for us
iv. We are still experiencing God’s love even when He is angered by our sin
C. Discipline is proof of our sonship – 12:6b-8
i. Because we are His children, He sees fit to punish and correct us when necessary
ii. He does not punish and correct those who are not his own.
iii. Those outside of His family He judges
D. Discipline produces holiness – 12:10
i. Partaker = sharers of His holiness
ii. Holy in our:
a. Behavior
b. Our view of sin
c. Our view of God
iii. He wants the best for us and that is His greatest attribute, HOLY
iv. Positionally, we are already considered holy, because we are justified - Rom. 5:1 - Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
v. Practically, we are being made holy, which is our sanctification (Heb. 2:11)
E. Discipline leads to a better, more peace-filled life – 12:11
i. This is a life filled with the “peaceful fruit of righteousness”
ii. It is the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23)
iii. It’s result is lasting peace and security - Isaiah 32:17 - The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.
iv. It is right where God wants us to be.
