Rarely Taught — Absolutely Necessary

The writer of Hebrews said,

Hebrews 12:4-17,

4 You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;

5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,
“MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD,
NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM;

6 FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES,
AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.”

7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?

10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness.

11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

12 Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble,

13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.

Striving against sin is required to learn discipline, and discipline is required to yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

1 Peter 4:1-2,

1 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,…

2 so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.

1 Peter 2:21,

21 For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps…

We are to strive against sin. We do this by learning obedience in and through our sufferings, whether it be mistreatment from others, resisting temptation, etc. It is in this way we will grow to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ. But if we are without discipline we are illegitimate children and not sons.

The first mature man, Adam, sinned because he had no chance to learn obedience. There was no suffering in the Garden and he was not trained up on the way he should go. The last Adam, Jesus, came as a child and learned obedience through the things which He suffered throughout His life on earth, Hebrews 5:8, and died without sin. He was then raised from the dead and became a life-giving Spirit.

He gives that Spirit of life to all who believe in Him and deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Him. And all who believe in Him and deny themselves and take up their cross follow His example and learn obedience from the things which they suffer. All who claim to believe in Him but do not learn obedience are illegitimate children and not sons.

Many dodge this truth by claiming Christ gave them all authority in heaven and on earth, and instead of learning obedience, they attempt to use their usurped authority. They overlook the fact that Christ did not receive all authority in heaven and on earth until after He had completed His mission on earth.

If you’re not willing to humble yourself and bow to the One to whom all authority in heaven and on earth belongs, you might as well wave the white flag, for God is opposed to the proud.

Jon David Banks, God’s most unworthy servant

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Published by Jon David Banks