We're getting to a point in the book of Judges now where the stories are getting longer,
and that's allowing us a unique opportunity.
In fact, this particular text, these 10 verses, allow us to have a very narrow focus on something
that up to this point we've only really dealt with in passing, and that is the loving discipline
of God.
In each and every one of the stories of this book, the judgment of God is present.
That's very clear.
You don't have to look very far to see that, but there is a uniqueness to how it's addressed
here at the start of the Gideon cycle, which would be the next judge that we'll cover.
Not only are we confronted once again by the reality of God's judgment, but here in these
10 verses, we begin to gain a clearer understanding of God's intentions with judgment.
What His purpose is in it, and I think that we'll find it to be quite instructive to consider
the nature and the process and the purpose of God's disciplinary action.
So up to this point, we've taken the stories really in larger sections, and to give you
a bit of a reprieve this morning from an hour-long sermon, we're going to take just a small section
with a narrow focus, and I think that it will be helpful for us to think about God's discipline.
In chapter 3, I spoke briefly about distinguishing between two dynamics of God's judgment.
On the one hand, we have what we would call retribution.
Retribution is God's punitive action against those who persist in sin and unbelief.
So it's purely punitive. You know what I mean by that? It is really just focused on punishment.
It is you did this, therefore you deserve this, and I'm going to give you the fullness of that consequence.
That's what we're thinking about in terms of retribution.
In the Gideon story, the objects of God's righteous retribution, his punitive action,
is this Midianite coalition. We're just introduced to them here, and we're going to get to how the
story unfolds in the next three or four weeks, but what we find right here, what we at least
need to acknowledge, is that Israel is not the object of God's retribution. Midian is.
And Midian receives the retribution, the punitive action of God, by ultimately being destroyed.
Okay, so that's what we see unfolding in their lives.
Being outside of the covenant relationship with God, Midian faces the Lord's retribution,
which we would say is judgment apart from grace and mercy.
But as we read through these ten verses, we find that God's judgment against Midian stands in stark contrast
to God's judgment of Israel, who is, in fact, in a covenant relationship with God.
Israel is not destroyed like Midian is, though they do endure a tremendous amount of hardship,
more hardship than we've seen them face at any point in Judges up to now, which is, that's saying a lot.
But they're not destroyed. God doesn't deal with them in the same way that he deals with Midian.
They were even guilty of the same kind of sin as the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east.
But instead of facing God's retribution, Israel faces what is best described as God's discipline, his discipline.
Barry Webb is helpful here. He describes these distinctions this way.
This is on the screen if you want to follow along with the quote.
Retribution, he says, which is pure punishment, unmitigated by grace,
is for those who are and remain outside of his covenant.
And he quotes Ephesians 2, they have no hope and they are without God in the world.
But within God's covenant with his people, a different kind of judgment takes place.
The most appropriate term for it is discipline, because it's corrective rather than retributive.
And it is always tempered by grace.
It can be severe, but its aim is always to reclaim rather than to destroy.
That's an important distinction that we need to understand.
Now, what unfolds in terms of God's judgment in these passages,
we need to realize on the surface, is purely physical.
Israel and Midian, they are real historical nations.
The judgment they are facing in Judges 6 is a physical form of judgment
that's related to their existence as a nation and their flourishing as a people.
So we need to keep that in mind.
What God is doing to them, it's purely physical at this point.
But the physical judgment that is recorded here is meant to point us forward to a more significant
and eternal spiritual judgment.
Like these two nations, all of us are guilty before God.
As Romans 3 says, we have all sinned.
We've all fallen short of the glory of God.
Solomon even says in the Old Testament,
there is no one who does not sin,
which means that there is no one who doesn't deserve the retribution of God's righteous anger.
That's all of us.
And God must judge our sins.
If God doesn't judge sin, then God isn't truly holy.
He's not truly just.
And what we must determine, and the question that we must ask ourselves this morning,
is to which of these two groups do we actually belong?
Do we belong to the group that is outside of God's covenant?
The group that is destined only for God's eternal retribution,
his anger, and his wrath in eternal hell?
Is that the group that we belong to?
Or do we belong to this group that is inside the covenant,
represented by Israel here?
That isn't perfect and still falls and still disobeys
and still even faces the discipline of the Lord to some extent,
but they are still safe within the covenant,
having their judgment put on the sinless Son of God instead.
I want you to just think about that for just a second.
Just contemplate sincerely in your heart for just a moment.
If the Lord were to return today,
and we were to all stand in that final judgment before God,
do we stand in the line with the people that are in the covenant?
Or do we stand in the line with the people who are outside of the covenant?
Eternal retribution comes to those who,
through sin and unbelief,
are and remain outside of a relationship with God.
Their destiny is eternal hell,
a pure punishment,
unmitigated by grace,
in the words of Barry Webb.
And of course, we find this all in the Scriptures.
We find it especially in Revelation chapter 20.
John says that the lake of fire,
what we often refer to as hell,
or our concept of hell,
is the second death.
And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life,
he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Now what does John mean
by a name being written or not written
in the book of life?
It's just a different way of saying,
you're in the covenant,
or you're out of the covenant.
You belong to God as his child,
or you are an enemy of God,
left in your sin and unbelief.
Which leads us to an important question, doesn't it?
If being in the covenant is what determines whether or not I face ultimately the retribution of God's wrath,
or whether I just experience to some measure the discipline,
the corrective discipline of the Lord in this life,
but ultimately I'm justified,
and heaven is my home,
and I've been forgiven,
and mercy.
But if the covenant is what matters,
then the question is,
how do I get in the covenant, right?
How do I get there?
Who wouldn't want to be in the covenant with God?
And here's the awesome thing about it.
We've seen it in so many different passages already today.
The way you get in the covenant
is by faith.
This is why Jesus is so important.
We understand our sin.
We understand that God must judge our sin.
We understand that the wages of sin is death.
The second death.
The lake of fire.
So why does Jesus matter so much to us?
Because Jesus, the sinless son of God,
comes to this earth,
willingly lays down his life,
in order that he might take
that retribution for us.
That's what's amazing about it.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians,
God has made Christ to be sin for us
so that in Christ,
we might receive his righteousness.
There's this exchange that takes place at the cross
where Jesus, the righteous one,
is imputed unto him.
Your sin.
Is imputed unto the sinless son of God.
And in return to that,
when you come to Christ by faith,
his righteousness is then imputed unto you.
So that when you stand in that judgment
on that great day of the Lord,
the final judgment after the resurrection,
when you stand before the Lord on that day,
the question is not,
did you do your best?
The question is not,
did you try your hardest?
The question is not,
did you go to church and did you give money
and did you remain a good little virgin
until the day of your wedding?
That's not the question.
The question is,
are you paying for your sins
or did Jesus pay for your sins?
And God invites us into this covenant of grace.
And he invites us into it through faith.
Isn't that what Jesus said?
He said,
I'm the bread of life.
We just read it.
I'm the bread of life.
If you're hungry,
spiritually hungry,
if you're spiritually thirsty,
just come to me.
Believe in me.
It's the will of the Father
that the Son be lifted up
and that all who look to the Son
and believe will have life.
It's amazing.
You say,
well,
how do you know that
Jesus' death 2,000 years ago on a cross
is actually that significant?
How do we know that his death
actually does provide forgiveness
so that we should believe in him?
I'm glad you asked.
Because three days later,
he rose from the dead.
The resurrection changes everything.
Literally,
it changes everything.
Peter says in Acts chapter 2
as he's preaching on the day of Pentecost,
he points to Jesus
and he points to Jesus' resurrection
who at that point,
people couldn't deny.
There's too many witnesses at that point.
They're trying to come up with reasons
to explain it away.
But the truth is,
they knew something was fishy going on
and the disciples were saying,
no, he's alive and we've seen him.
Peter says,
the grave could not hold him.
Why?
It had no claim on him.
Why did the grave have no claim on him?
Because he had no sin.
The resurrection of Jesus proves
that his death was a sufficient payment for ours.
It proves that God was appeased
in his wrath
by what Jesus did
on the cross.
You say,
I don't want to face the retribution of God.
How do I get into the covenant?
You believe Christ.
You trust him.
You trust what he's done.
You turn from your sin.
You cry out to him.
You follow him as Lord and Savior.
Jesus himself said in John 3,
we quote this verse all the time,
don't we?
God so loved the world
that he gave his only son,
that whoever believes in him
should not perish,
should not die,
but instead should have eternal life.
For God did not send his son
into the world
to condemn the world,
but in order that the world
might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him
is not condemned,
but whoever does not believe
is condemned already,
he says,
because he has not believed
in the name of the only son of God.
What's the significance here?
What else we do?
Believe.
Just turn from your sin and believe,
and he will give you this life.
Now,
all of that being said,
the focus of our attention this morning
is not on God's retribution.
The focus of our attention this morning
in this text
is actually on the nature,
process,
and purpose
of God's discipline
toward those who are
in the covenant.
We would say,
in New Testament terms,
those who are Christians.
That's what we're really focused on,
and looking at how the Lord
worked in and through Israel,
we can more clearly understand
how he works in and through us,
and I think you'll find this instructive.
Just three main points
that I want to point out to you
as we go through.
The first thing is this.
I want you to see the nature
of divine discipline.
The nature of divine discipline.
And I have three things
underneath this, okay?
The first one is this.
Here's what you need to acknowledge
about divine discipline.
It is real.
Divine discipline is real.
Look at verse one.
The people of Israel
did what was evil
in the sight of the Lord,
and the Lord gave them
into the hand of Midian
seven years.
All right?
It's very simple, isn't it?
Israel sinned,
and God corrected them.
He gave them
into the hand of Midian.
Now, here's the thing.
We face hardships
and difficulties in our lives,
and so many Christians
interpret every hardship
in their life
as one of two things.
They'll either say,
this is Satan
that's just really
on my back right now.
You heard people,
maybe you've said that before.
You've heard people say it.
You say,
how's your week been,
John?
And John might reply,
well, you know,
Satan's just really been after me.
It's been a tough week.
Right?
We make statements like that.
Or we would say,
we wouldn't necessarily
blame Satan
for the hardship
that we're facing,
but we would just say,
well, you know,
this is just life
in a fallen world, right?
And maybe I'm just
going through it right now
because it's just,
I'm going through it,
and that's all
that there really is.
Now, here's the problem.
It's not that those things
aren't true.
They are true.
They actually have a role
to play in our lives.
The problem is,
we always try to,
as Christians,
we seem to always
take the hardships
and the difficulties
that we face
and put them into
one of those two boxes.
But the fact is
that there's a third category.
And a third category
for our hardship
and our difficulty in life
or our circumstances
is that God does actively
discipline his children.
He disciplines us.
Now, I want you to notice it
in the text in verse one.
Notice that nothing
about Israel's circumstance
was coincidental.
No.
It's not coincidental.
This wasn't just bad luck.
Right?
This wasn't,
that what they were facing
with Midian
was not just the result
of living in a fallen world.
That's not what's happening
with Israel here.
Neither is Satan said
to have been involved
in the process.
This is not an oppression
that they are facing
similar to what Job
dealt with in the book of Job.
You remember,
it wasn't that Job
had sinned against the Lord.
It's that the Lord
was testing him
and he was allowing Satan
to actually do this work
to test his servant Job.
Okay?
That's not what's happening
here either.
What's happening then?
Their circumstance
was the direct result
of them doing
what was evil
in the sight of the Lord
and God himself
delivered them
into the hands of Midian.
It's clear as day.
They did what was evil
in the sight of the Lord
and the Lord
gave them
into the hand
of Midian
for seven years.
And here's my point
with all of that.
Divine discipline
is a reality
that we need
to acknowledge
if we're ever
going to grow
and mature
as God's people.
If you never
acknowledge the fact
that God actively
disciplines you
in your life,
how are you ever
going to learn
to turn away
from the sinful behaviors
that he's judging you for?
If everything we face
is just automatically
put in one of those
other two boxes,
how are we going to grow
and mature as Christians?
Answer,
we won't.
We need to acknowledge
that God's discipline
is a reality.
The next time
you're tempted to say
that the devil's
been on your back,
stop to consider
whether or not
it's actually God
who's afflicted you.
Number two,
divine discipline
can be severe.
So we're underneath
the nature of divine discipline
still.
Okay, sorry about that.
First,
divine discipline is real.
Second,
divine discipline,
it actually can be
quite severe.
Verses two through six,
look at it with me.
the hand of Midian
overpowered Israel.
Because of Midian,
the people of Israel
made for themselves
the dens that are in
the mountains
and the caves
and the strongholds.
Whenever the Israelites
planted crops,
the Midianites
and the Amalekites
and the people of the east
would come up against them.
They didn't camp against them
and devour the produce
of the land
as far as Gaza
and leave no sustenance
in Israel,
no sheep,
no ox,
no donkey.
for they would come up
with their livestock
and their tents.
They would come like
locusts in number.
Both they and their camels
could not be counted
so that they laid waste
the land as they came in.
And Israel was brought
very low
because of Midian.
And they cried out
for help to the Lord.
Divine discipline
can be severe.
Look,
the discipline of God
in this text,
it is far more
than a slap on the wrist.
This is not a slap on the wrist
kind of judgment.
It was the shortest
time frame
of judgment
that we've seen
thus far
in the book of Judges.
But it's also
the worst oppression
that we've seen
so far
in the book of Judges.
There's this coalition
of eastern nomadic tribes
led by
the Midianite people.
They differed
from all of Israel's
other enemies.
They didn't seek
to occupy
and conquer the land
as the others had done.
Instead,
they functioned
like marauders.
For seven years straight,
they entered Canaan
with more people
and camels
than could be numbered.
This is a show
of force
that would be foolish
for the simple
Israelite people
to attempt
to fight against.
That's what this is about.
The writer says
that they came in
like locusts.
If you study
other parts
of the Old Testament,
you'll see that
locusts is often
a judgment
from God.
When these waves
of locusts came in,
how is it normally
described?
You see this described
even in modern times.
It's like the sky
darkening.
There's so many of them,
right?
When they finally
pass through
and leave,
what's left?
Nothing.
That's how the author
is describing
this Midianite coalition.
Every year
for seven years straight,
harvest time comes
and guess what?
Israelite knows.
It's like clockwork.
More people
than they can count.
They come into the land,
they set up their camp,
they steal all their food,
they steal all their sheep,
they take all their donkeys,
they take all their oxen,
they leave nothing behind.
The Israelites
have to abandon
their homes,
they have to go live
in caves.
This is a miserable
existence
for seven years.
Kicked out of their houses,
left nearly to starve.
So that in verse six,
the author just says,
they were brought
very low.
They're brought very,
very low.
And it was all the result
of God's discipline.
God did this
to Israel.
God did it to Israel.
You see,
sometimes divine discipline
can be severe.
Sometimes we go through
circumstances in our lives
that we would never,
never really understand,
never really quite fathom
exactly or imagine
how hard things
have actually gotten
in our lives.
Sometimes it's severe.
Sometimes God has to bring
us very low
to get our attention.
Third thing underneath
the nature of divine discipline,
it's real.
It can be severe.
Divine discipline,
this is going to blow your mind,
you're going to disagree
with me at first.
It's offensive,
isn't it?
Divine discipline is loving.
It's loving.
How in the world
is that actually possible?
Look at how difficult
and miserable
their lives were.
You see,
it's a misunderstanding
of love
that leads many people
to conclude
that love
and discipline
are incompatible
with one another.
This starts
when we're just
really young kids,
doesn't it?
From very early
in our childhood,
we equate love
with expressions
of affection,
don't we?
Harper, come here.
Harper, if you were
to come in today,
Harper's my daughter
if you don't know,
I'm allowed to do this,
and I just walked in,
you didn't say anything
to me,
and I just said,
Harper, you know what?
Come give me a hug,
I just want a hug.
Now, why would I do that?
Because I love you.
Now, if you came in
and I immediately
spanked you instead,
what would you say?
Why don't you love me
anymore, Dad?
What happened
to the hugs, Dad?
What happened
to the fun things
that we did, Dad?
Why are you harming
me now, Dad?
Where'd the love go?
Right?
You can go sit down,
sweetheart.
When we're kids,
we start to equate love
with expressions of affection,
and then as we become teenagers,
it gets even worse, right?
Because now we actually
start to say things
like, I hate you,
and you don't love me,
you never did love me,
you're just a big liar,
and all the kinds of things
we say those things
as teenagers, right?
And then we get to be adults,
and we do the same thing,
don't we?
It's so hard for us,
even when we're adults,
to recognize that sometimes
authentic love
involves confrontation,
sometimes it involves
disagreement,
sometimes it even
involves carrying out
the consequences
of an action.
Remember years ago,
someone in our church,
our previous church,
they had an adult daughter
that was just really struggling
with a lot of drug addiction,
and stealing,
there's just a lot of things
going on in her life,
and over and over and over,
her parents just kind of
bailed her out,
and finally she got caught again,
and they said,
you know what,
we're just going to let her
sit in jail now.
You know,
that was a loving act
on the part of those parents.
We don't think of it
that way often,
do we?
So it's not surprising
that when facing hardship,
we're tempted to question
the genuine love of God.
We go through something difficult,
we get really terrible news,
or we find out that there's an issue
in our bodies maybe,
we're sick,
or we find that
something's just not going right
in our marriage,
or it's not going right
with our kids,
or something's not going right
with our finances,
or our home,
or whatever it is,
and we think,
God,
why don't you love me?
You're supposed to care about me,
why are you letting
these things happen
to me?
And really that comes
from a misunderstanding
of what love really is.
We need to understand
that God disciplines us,
not as a cruel tyrant,
but according to the scriptures,
he does this as a loving father.
Proverbs chapter three,
my son,
do not despise
the Lord's discipline,
do not be weary
of his reproof,
for the Lord reproves
him whom he loves,
as a father,
the son in whom he delights.
It's God's love
that drives his discipline,
it's his desire
for what's best for us
that brings about his reproof,
and if you face his discipline
as a believer,
rejoice,
he treats you as a son,
not an enemy.
Wouldn't you rather be Israel?
The Midian in this circumstance?
The nature of divine discipline.
Number two,
the process of divine discipline.
Now God does something
really weird here,
doesn't he?
Verse seven,
when the people of Israel
cried out to the Lord
on account of the Midianites,
look what the Lord does,
this is so weird.
The Lord sent a prophet
to the people of Israel.
Don't you find that curious?
He sent a prophet
before he sent
a savior.
A sermon
before salvation.
This is like the talk
that you get from your parents
when you get in trouble
as a kid.
This is the worst part of it,
isn't it?
Isn't the worst part
about being disciplined
by your parents?
It's not the actual
disciplinary action mostly.
It's when you're forced
to go and sit down
in the living room
across from them
in the other chair
and for an hour,
two hours,
however long it is,
you just gotta listen.
You just gotta hear
why you're wrong
and why it was wrong
and why you need to change
and why you shouldn't
have done that
and all those.
Isn't that the worst part of it?
It's painful, isn't it?
We just want to take
our punishment.
We want to be relieved
of the punishment
and move on with our lives.
But good parents,
they take time
to expose
and confront the error
that led to the consequences,
right?
In God's plan,
what we see unfolding here,
in God's plan,
the consequences
are meant to get us
to that conversation
where we have to actually
deal with the issue
of our sin.
Israel comes to God
and they say,
Lord, help us.
Send us a deliverer.
And so God says,
okay, here's a prophet.
Listen to a sermon first.
It's so important
for us to understand
the necessity
of this part
of God's process
because we're typically
only interested
in our circumstances
getting better
and so we attempt
to leapfrog
God's message
to get what we think
will be a quick
and easy solution.
You know,
the times that
we're really struggling
with sin in our lives
are going through
a difficulty,
you know,
often those are
the hardest times
to go to church,
aren't they?
Those are the hardest days
to open up your Bible
and have a private
devotional time
with the Lord.
Those are the hardest days
to pray sometimes.
Those are the hardest times
to actually be around
other Christian people.
You know why?
Because we know
what's going to happen.
We know that
to actually have to
sit across the table
from the Lord
with the word open
means that we're going
to have to be confronted.
We're just going
to have to deal
with what we've done.
We don't want to deal
with what we've done.
We just want to get
to the solution,
right?
We need pastors
to help us view
our circumstances
through the lens
of God's word.
That's what this is about
in application.
We need pastors
and elders
to help us
see our lives
not just simply
through our perspective
but through God's perspective
through the word.
We need mature
Christian friends
in our lives
who will use
their Bibles
to lovingly say
to us the things
that are hard to hear.
Because often
it takes a prophet
to point us
toward the Savior.
Often it takes
a sermon
to get us
to the true message
of salvation.
We desperately
need to be confronted
by God's word
in this process.
We can't overlook it.
We can run to lawyers
when things are going bad.
They'll just take
advantage of our pain.
We can run to a therapist
when things
aren't going very well
but they're not going
to deal with the
heart of the problem
of our pain.
We can run to
unbelieving friends
because we know
that they're probably
going to justify
our decisions
no matter how bad
they actually are.
But what happens
when we come
to the word
and to other people
of the word?
It's hard.
It's a struggle.
But it's best.
Of course we can't
discount the Bible's
role in simply
helping us to
evaluate our
circumstances.
See there's another
layer to this
isn't there?
In this text
we're referring
to corrective discipline.
You know there's
another type of
discipline that
belongs to God?
There's corrective
discipline.
That's mainly
what we think about.
There's also
what we would
call formative
discipline.
Formative discipline
is what the
athlete does
to prepare
their body
for competition.
They go to the
gym every day.
They're like
Brian Baker.
They're up at
like 3.30 in the
morning to go
pump the iron
or whatever it
is and they
go to the gym.
They punish
themselves not
because they've
done something
wrong.
They're disciplining
themselves aren't
they?
Why?
So they can be
stronger.
So that they can
perform better.
There is a type
of discipline
that the Lord
takes us through.
It's not corrective.
It's formative.
Sometimes this is
what James was
talking about in
James chapter 1
when he said
count it all joy
when you fall
into various
trials and
temptations
because the Lord
brings us through
difficult times
sometimes.
Sometimes he
allows us to go
through really
hard things in
order to make
us stronger,
in order to make
us more faithful.
There's a formative
kind of discipline
that the Lord
takes us through.
Now, formative
discipline and
corrective discipline,
what comes as a
result of those
things often look
the same, don't
they?
If we're just
trying to evaluate
it on our own,
how are we going
to know whether
or not the Lord's
just trying to
build me up right
now through formative
discipline or there's
actually something in
my life that he's
trying to get my
attention about?
How will you know
unless you have a
pastor or a
Christian friend or
somebody you can sit
down with who
will take the
Bible and help
you look at your
life and circumstance
through the lens of
God's word?
We need the prophet
before we need the
deliverer.
We need the sermon
before we need
the solution.
The process of
divine discipline is
not complete without
a confrontation from
God's word.
And we need to stop
trying to circumvent
God's process.
There's the nature of
divine discipline,
the process of
divine discipline.
Finally, and this is
the best part, there's
the purpose of
divine discipline, the
purpose of it.
Look with me at
verses 8 through 10.
The prophet said to
them, thus says the
Lord, the God of
Israel, I led you up
from Egypt and brought
you out of the house
of slavery.
I delivered you from
the hand of the
Egyptians and from the
hand of all who
oppressed you and
drove them out before
you and gave you
their land.
And I said to you, I
am the Lord your God.
This is an identifying
marker.
I am Yahweh your God.
You shall not fear the
gods of the Amorites in
whose land you dwell, but
you have not obeyed my
words.
Now if you'll hang with
me, this gets good here,
okay?
I want to summarize God's
message in two simple
statements, okay?
Here's what God is
saying to Israel through
this and what I believe
he's saying to believers
through this, through his
discipline.
Number one, he says, you
are mine.
You're mine.
Look at it.
Thus says who?
The Lord.
This is the covenant name
of God.
This is Yahweh.
And then what does it
say?
How is Yahweh described?
The God of Israel.
Look again at verse 10.
And I said to you, I am
the Lord, your God.
First thing God says
through corrective
discipline, he says,
you're mine.
You belong to me.
I belong to you.
This is that covenant
relationship, right?
Notice that God's
correction is based on his
relationship to Israel.
He does not deliver a
message like this to
Midian.
He delivers it to his
people.
And twice he reminds them
that he is their God.
They are his people.
God chose them.
He revealed himself to
them.
He delivered them from
bondage in Egypt.
He fought for them as
they journeyed into the
land of promise.
That's what he says.
He says, you're mine and
remember what I have done
for you to make you mine.
Their relationship with God
was the foundation of his
correction.
And it should have been the
motivation for their
repentance.
Is this not how God
intends to speak to us
through discipline?
Is not his discipline of us
who are in Christ, is not
that discipline rooted in his
relationship with us?
Just like Israel, he chose us
by his grace.
Just like Israel, he revealed
himself to us in the person of
Jesus Christ.
He delivered us from the bondage
of sin through the power of his
Holy Spirit.
And he fights for us as we
journey on our way to the
ultimate promised land, to the
heavens in this life.
His discipline is his way of
saying, hey, you're mine.
And look what I did to get
you.
Look at my son.
And it should serve as a
motivation for us to obey.
But it's not the only thing he
says here.
This is important.
He says, you're mine, but it's
only because they're mine that
he can now say this next thing
to them.
He says, and you've sinned.
You've sinned.
Verse 10, I'm the Lord your
God, is what he had told them.
And you shall not fear the gods
of the Amorites in whose land
you dwell.
But you have not obeyed my voice.
You know, I don't feel all that
bad about disobeying some people.
But there's a uniqueness to the
times in my life when I've
disobeyed my dad.
It feels different, doesn't it?
Ashlyn and Harper, I would say,
probably are a bit embarrassed if
one of you were to ask them to do
something and they were to disobey
that instruction.
They would probably feel embarrassed
by that, but they wouldn't feel all
that bad.
You know, when they disobey me,
though, it carries a different
weight, doesn't it?
God says, you're mine.
You've sinned.
This is the modern, this is the
ancient equivalent of, I'm so
disappointed in you.
At the heart of Israel's sin was
idolatry.
They were following after the gods
of the Canaanites, conforming to
their culture in ways that God had
expressly forbidden.
In fact, everything that they faced
here with Midian is exactly what God
said they would face in Deuteronomy
28.
You can read that later if you write
it in your margin.
Deuteronomy 28, 29, and 31.
God sent his messenger to the people
so that they would understand that
their enemy ultimately wasn't Midian.
Their enemy was their sin.
And a military victory wouldn't finally
solve their problem.
Only repentance could do that.
Thus, we discover the purpose of divine
discipline is this.
God disciplines us in order to lead us
to repentance because it is through
repentance that our fellowship with the
gracious God is restored.
Isn't that why all of this is rooted in
their covenant relationship?
He disciplines to lead us to repentance
because it's only through repentance
that the sweetness of fellowship and joy
inside the covenant is restored.
Now, to go all the way back to the beginning
now, if you try to pass off every hardship
of your life as either bad luck or the work
of the devil, and God is actually disciplining
you to bring you to repentance, you're never
going to experience the fullness of fellowship
and joy within his covenant that you could.
If you never get to the word, how will you
understand the dynamic of your sin?
How will you understand the love of God?
So that when you do come and confess your sins
to him and turn from your sin to experience
that, how will you know?
This is what it's about.
In the end, discipline is grace.
It's grace.
It's loving.
A loving discipline of God, it's not only a reality,
it's a necessity.
It's never easy.
But for a Christian, it's always good.
It's always good.
And understanding the nature and process
and purpose of it is what will move us from
a position of despising the discipline of the Lord
to rejoicing in the discipline of the Lord.
Hebrews chapter 12.
He disciplines us for our good
that we may share in his holiness.
For the moment, all discipline seems painful
rather than pleasant.
But later, it yields the peaceful fruit
of righteousness to those who have been trained
by it.
Don't despise it.
Rejoice in it.
God doesn't treat you as an enemy.
If you're in Christ,
he treats you as a son.
His son.
Rejoice in his grace.
NINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNINGNING