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What does discipline from the Lord look like? - Tim Conway

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    This question comes from Eddie.
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    Considering Proverbs 3:11-12 and Hebrews 12:5-8
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    How can you tell if God is disciplining you as a son?
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    What does the discipline of the Lord look like
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    to a true Christian?
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    And how can one know if he is
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    incorrectly discerning his own salvation in this respect?
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    You see what Eddie is assuming here?
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    He's assuming that because illegitimate children,
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    those who are not children of God
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    aren't disciplined,
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    and the true children are disciplined,
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    he's assuming that if you look at your life
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    and you find the discipline there,
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    that's evidence that you are a child of God.
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    But because lost people - those who aren't children of God,
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    likewise have things happen in their life
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    that cause them pain and affliction
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    and difficulty and trial,
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    which in some respects are very similar
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    to the discipline that God brings upon His children.
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    How can we tell them apart?
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    That's a valid question.
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    That's a good question.
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    So, what do we say to that?
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    Well, he references Hebrews 12.
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    If you've got your Bibles there, let's read it together.
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    I'm going to read about 8 verses.
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    Hebrews 12. I'll start reading in verse 5.
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    Because this is a good thing to know.
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    Listen, we've got a lot of people here
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    that believe they're Christians.
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    So if this is true, that God disciplines His children,
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    and He does discipline and only disciplines them,
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    then if you're a child of God, you better have discipline.
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    Because if you don't have discipline, you're in trouble.
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    But there are lost people who come along
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    and say, "Well, I have trials in my life."
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    Ok, how do we tell them apart?
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    How do we tell the trial of the lost man
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    from the discipline of the saved man?
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    Hebrews 12:5 "Have you forgotten the exhortation
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    that addresses you as sons?
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    My son do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord.
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    Nor be weary when reproved by Him.
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    For the Lord (now listen to this)
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    The Lord disciplines the one He loves."
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    It's a fact, folks. It's going to happen.
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    "And chastises every son whom He receives."
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    There's a fact. It happens.
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    "It is for discipline that you have to endure.
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    God is treating you as sons.
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    For what son is there whom his father
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    does not discipline?
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    If you're left without discipline
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    in which all have participated,
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    (in other words, all sons)
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    then you're illegitimate children and not sons.
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    Besides this, we've had earthly fathers
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    who disciplined us and we respected them.
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    Shall we not much more be subject
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    to the Father of spirits and live?
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    For they disciplined us for a short time
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    as it seemed best to them.
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    But He disciplines us for our good,
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    that we may share His holiness.
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    For the moment, all discipline seems painful
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    rather than pleasant, but later
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    it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness
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    to those who have been trained by it.
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    Therefore, lift your drooping hands,
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    strengthen your weak knees,
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    and make straight your paths for your feet,
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    so that what is lame may not be put out of joint,
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    but rather be healed."
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    So, how can we distinguish this discipline
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    from expressions of God's wrath?
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    Now think with me here.
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    Romans 1 says God's wrath is revealed
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    from heaven against all unrighteousness
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    and ungodliness of men.
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    And it's already revealed.
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    God's wrath is revealed.
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    And I'll tell you this,
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    one of the demonstrations of God's wrath
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    that we see in Romans 8 is the curse.
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    People get sick. People die.
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    Oftentimes from expressions of God's wrath.
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    God's wrath is upon this world in the curse.
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    God's wrath is upon this world in the fact that wicked men die.
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    God's wrath is upon this world, how?
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    Romans 1 says God gives men over
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    to more and more wickedness.
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    Have you ever read that?
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    I'll tell you what - where men ignore God,
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    God gives men over to sin.
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    Ignore God?
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    Unrighteousness comes in because God gives men over.
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    You know one of the ways you can see the wrath of God?
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    Is when people are able to just
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    go deeper and deeper in sin.
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    That's a judgment of God.
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    That's the wrath of God.
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    Now look, as people get deeper and deeper in this,
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    they get sick.
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    They catch diseases.
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    This cursed world around them
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    bears hard fruit in their lives.
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    How do I tell that from God's discipline on His children?
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    Well, let's think about the nature of God's discipline.
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    Why does God discipline?
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    What is always the issue?
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    Sin.
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    God never disciplines for anything but sin.
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    It's always sin.
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    Listen to Revelation 3:19, the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking,
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    "Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline,
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    so be zealous and repent."
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    The only thing that needs to be repented of is what?
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    Sin.
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    He says, "those I love, I reprove
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    and discipline, so repent."
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    In other words, I discipline you
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    because of sin in your life.
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    So you know what?
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    Every child of God gets disciplined when there's sin.
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    Let me ask you this:
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    Can you sin and get away with it?
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    No, I'm asking you.
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    Look, I'll tell you this, if you're a true child of God,
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    you cannot continue in sin and get away with it.
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    God will come for you.
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    He'll come for you, and He'll lay that rod on your back.
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    And I'll tell you what, usually God's discipline
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    is right in the area of the sin.
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    You know what sin a lot of times He comes after us for?
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    Idolatry.
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    A lot of times we begin to treasure something
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    in our lives more than Christ,
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    and I'll tell you what, He'll come to us right at that idol.
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    Oh, a lot of times...
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    But I'll tell you this, if you can sin
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    and He doesn't come for you, you're in trouble.
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    If you can sin and you can just keep on going on in it.
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    Beware.
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    Psalm 119:71 "It is good for me that I was afflicted."
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    Why? "That I might learn your statutes."
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    Have you guys ever heard that before?
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    David says this, it was good that I was afflicted.
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    You know why? When we're afflicted, we learn God's statutes.
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    Have you guys ever found that out?
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    Have you guys ever found that the greatest growth
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    in your life doesn't come when the sun is shining?
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    The birds are singing? The sky's blue.
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    Everything's good. Bank account's full.
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    Have you ever noticed you don't grow then, typically?
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    It's when it's hard. It's when you're suffering.
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    It's when the trials are upon you.
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    It's when the fire is hot. That's when we grow.
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    Well, Hebrews 12:11, listen to this:
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    We're talking about the nature of discipline,
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    and the fact is discipline revolves around sin.
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    See if you can't hear it in the verses we just read.
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    Hebrews 12:11 For the moment, all discipline
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    seems painful rather than pleasant,
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    but later, what does it yield? The peaceful
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    fruit of righteousness to those
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    who have been trained by it.
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    You know what discipline does?
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    David says it's good I was afflicted -
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    I keep Your statutes.
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    You know what the writer of Hebrews says?
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    He says it produces the peaceable fruits of righteousness
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    when you're trained by it.
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    Trained by what? Trained by the discipline.
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    Discipline trains us. That's why it's called discipline.
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    Discipline and training.
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    Discipline in the military, you know, we talk about someone
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    who is very disciplined.
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    They get somewhere on time. He's a disciplined person.
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    So often we think of discipline as a bad thing.
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    It's a good thing. Discipline is good.
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    Training is good.
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    That's what discipline is meant to do.
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    Now did you hear something?
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    For the present, discipline is what?
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    Painful. Listen:
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    Don't think something's discipline in your life
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    if it's not painful.
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    That's another aspect of the nature of discipline.
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    It's painful! It's called affliction - why?
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    Because it afflicts.
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    For the present, it's painful.
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    But, it's an expression of God's blessing and God's love.
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    Psalm 94:12 "Blessed is the man whom You discipline, O Lord."
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    Psalm 119:75 "I know, O Lord, that Your rules are righteous,
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    and that in faithfulness, You have afflicted me."
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    God is faithful when He afflicts us.
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    Proverbs 13:24 "Whoever spares the rod, hates his son.
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    He who loves him is diligent to discipline him."
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    Now that's true of men in general.
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    How much more of the Lord.
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    Here's the thing, discipline is meant to get our attention.
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    And you know what?
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    Sorrow and grief get our attention like nothing else does.
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    God doesn't get our attention when we're happy.
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    God doesn't get our attention typically
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    when the bank account's full.
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    God doesn't get our attention when the car's running good.
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    You know when He gets our attention? Listen.
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    All you have to do is look at your life.
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    When do you pray most?
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    When does a child of God pray like he never prays at another time?
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    When things are hard.
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    When the bottom's falling out.
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    When the ends don't meet.
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    Now listen to this, 2 Corinthians 7:10,
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    "Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation
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    without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death."
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    Well, here's the thing,
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    Christ says, "I discipline those I love."
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    It's meant to drive us to repentance.
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    Pain is what's produced by discipline.
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    Pain produces sorrow. It produces grief.
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    Godly pain, godly sorrow, results in repentance.
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    See it all ties together.
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    Worldy sorrow leads to death.
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    Well, here's what I'd ask you.
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    You want to know whether a trial in your life
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    is discipline of your Father versus
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    just a trial of a lost man.
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    All you have to do is ask yourself this,
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    when trial and difficulty comes in your life,
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    what's the fruit?
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    Just ask yourself: what is the fruit?
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    You know what you find?
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    In the parable of the soils,
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    when you've got the person that suddenly
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    starts to experience affliction and persecution,
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    guess what happens?
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    They wither.
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    Ask yourself that, when trial comes in your life,
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    does it make you run under your Father's wing
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    and hold all the more tightly?
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    To pray all the more fervently?
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    And to be drawn to your Scriptures
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    all the more diligently?
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    And I'll tell you this, if you discipline your child right,
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    guess what happens?
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    By the end they're hugging you.
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    Oh, the world doesn't believe such things.
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    They think spanking is cruel,
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    but I'll tell you if you do it right, and you do it in love,
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    your child will cling tightly to you by the end.
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    If you do it wrong, they will go out resenting you.
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    That's the same thing.
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    And I'll tell you, God knows how to do it right.
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    And if it's not producing the right fruit,
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    it's an evidence that you're not His child.
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    In other words, if hardship and difficulty come in your life,
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    that which causes you pain, that which afflicts you,
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    comes in your life and you find yourself
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    resenting God.
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    You don't like it.
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    You know what? I've heard of people
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    that they came to church and all of a sudden
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    some calamity came into their life
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    or somebody they love died
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    and they never went to church after.
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    You know what that tells me?
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    Lost as anything. That was no affliction
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    and chastising of God.
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    That was a lost person that went through some difficulty.
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    All you have to do is look at it.
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    You know what God's discipline is meant to produce?
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    Holiness. Righteousness. The peaceable fruits of righteousness,
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    that you might share in His holiness.
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    If chastening, if difficulty, if trial
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    doesn't produce that in your life,
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    no good.
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    It's no good, folks.
Title:
What does discipline from the Lord look like? - Tim Conway
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Video Language:
English
Duration:
14:43

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