COMING TO GRIPS WITH GOD’S DISCIPLINE
OF THE BELIEVER

Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer

Part One

One of the most important responsibilities a father has is to discipline his children. A father who does not take this responsibility seriously is negligent, and does not love his children as he ought.

Though God is the Father of all men, He has a special filial relationship to those who have been born into His family through faith in Christ Jesus. Paul the apostle encourages us to develop intimacy with our Heavenly Father, “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Romans 8:15).

That God disciplines His children is not in doubt, but how He does is not always clear to us. We are especially confused when we try to find a link between a particular transgression and God’s disciplinary response.

When a couple, whom I shall call Sally and John, had a deformed baby born to them, they asked a question that we all would likely have asked in their situation, “What did we do to deserve this?”

Eventually, they accepted their bitter disappointment as a judgment from God because they had had a premarital relationship. The chickens were coming home to roost, they thought.

Yet, when the baby grew up to be a special blessing despite his handicap, they wondered whether they were right in their original assumption about the discipline of God.

The famous missionary, William Carey lost all of his priceless handwritten books in a warehouse fire in 1812. A lesser man may have never recovered, but Carey accepted this as a judgment from God (perhaps because of his failures as a father), and began the task all over again with even greater zeal.

One Christian woman I know, chose to ignore the counsel of the elders in her church and decided to divorce her husband on the grounds of incompatibility. A month later she took sick and nearly died. She interpreted the illness as a direct judgment from God for her rebellion. But because she fully recovered, she later doubted whether this was God’s discipline.

Though we as Christians are opposed to the pantheistic doctrine of Karma, we do believe in a general law of cause and effect. Paul did write, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap” (Galatians 6:8). This, we think, gives us the right to interpret the tragedies of life as a judgment for specific sins and failures.

Yet, when we stop to think of how and when God disciplines us, we immediately face some rather puzzling questions.

First, is He not inconsistent? In all three instances given above, we can think of other people who were guilty of the same sins and failures, yet they did not experience God’s discipline (or at least they did not have the same tragedies come to them).

As parents we have been taught to treat all of our children alike; the experts tell us that there must be consistent discipline. But our Heavenly Father seems to disregard this fundamental rule. Document the lives of both His faithful and unfaithful servants and virtually no pattern of discipline is readily discernible.

A second question: How can one be sure of the connection between a particular sin and the discipline? In each of the instances mentioned above, the people involved had other sins or weaknesses In their lives that could have accounted for the discipline. The relationship between sin and Its consequences is not always easy to detect.

To probe this topic, we must study God’s discipline from a broad perspective, and then narrow our focus to try to answer the puzzling questions we have raised.

What is the basis of discipline? The people to whom the book of Hebrews was written were experiencing persecution; indeed, they were on the verge of having to die for their faith. They had joyfully endured the seizure of their property and identified themselves with prisoners of the Lord. This meant increased persecution. But it was becoming wearisome; some wanted to give up their Christian witness.

God speaks to them, “You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; 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; For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.’ 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? But if you are without discipline of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons” (Hebrews 12:4-8).

The text could not be clearer: The basis of discipline is sonship. Every one of God’s sons is disciplined; indeed scourging is proof of sonship. We usually think that God should prove His love by delivering us from the hardships of life. Actually, the opposite is the case -- these trials prove His love.

All sin must be paid for. Those who reject the sacrifice of Christ end up bearing the weight of their own sin. And because there is no human suffering that can pay the debt, the condemnation goes on forever.

But those who accept the sacrifice of Christ for themselves are shielded from His wrath. The doctrine of grace teaches that we do not have to get what we deserve!

Thus, although God punishes His enemies, He chastises His children. We must think of this discipline as correction, not condemnation. The Greek word used in the text of Hebrews is paideia (pais means child) and refers to instruction. Charles Bridges wrote, “The same hand - but not the same character - gives the stroke to the godly and ungodly. The scourge of the Judge is widely different from the rod of the Father” (Commentary on Proverbs, p.31).

Our Heavenly Father is so consistent in His discipline that not even His beloved Son escaped the scourging that all sons need as they develop toward maturity. “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation...” (Hebrews 5:9).

Clearly, there are no exceptions! Every son whom the Father receives is scourged. Far from being inconsistent, our Heavenly Father takes great pains not to overlook any of His children.

Two implications follow: First, discipline is a sign of sonship, if we are without discipline, we are illegitimate. We are not born of God the Father but only claim to be.

In practical terms this means that if someone says he/she is a Christian and lives in sin without any form of discipline, such a person is probably deceived. Since God holds earthly fathers accountable for punishing and admonishing rebellious children, we cannot expect that He would do anything less.

Discipline is not an optional course in God’s curriculum; it is required. Just as an oak tree cannot grow without wind, so we cannot become mature without the benefit of scourging.

Second, discipline is a sign of love. We usually think just the opposite, namely, that discipline is a sign of God’s anger and displeasure. “Why does God turn against me when I need Him the most?” we ask, as if God’s primary motivation is a morbid desire to make life difficult for us and “even the score” at every turn. On the contrary, God’s discipline toward His children is not motivated by revenge but love.

There is no doubt that God desires to glorify Himself through the lives of His children. But He does not arbitrarily give us difficult circumstances simply to please Himself. We must not lose sight of the fact that discipline is actually for our good.

We’ve all told our children, “This spanking hurts me more than it does you!” I’m not sure that this is true (at least my children didn’t believe me!), but the sentiment expressed is that no responsible parent disciplines his children arbitrarily. It is done with the best interest of the child in mind.

One woman, when told that her tragedies were the result of God’s love for her, responded by saying, “I wish He wouldn’t love me so much!” But God loves all of us equally in Christ. Some are called upon to suffer more than others, but they should not attribute it to the belief that “God loves me too much.” Life is filled with injustices and tragedies that appear to come indiscriminately to the godly as well as the ungodly.

It is better to try to learn the lessons God has in mind for us than to blame our lot in life to a higher degree of love. What is important is to realize that which does come to believers first passes through God’s loving hands.

The basis of discipline is sonship. Our sufferings are appointed for our good and God’s glory.

Part Two

Often we look at someone who has deliberately disobeyed God and we wonder why he\she is so healthy and perhaps wealthy. Those who follow God often face greater trials than those who disobey Him. Is God consistent? Why is He not more severe in punishing the disobedient and generous in rewarding the righteous?

Unfortunately, we usually think of discipline only as God’s immediate response to specific sins. But the Bible teaches that our Heavenly Father has a more comprehensive curriculum.

Discipline is not always God’s way of correcting us for our sins. It has other purposes as well. First, there is educative discipline This is the kind of discipline that deepens our relationship with God. This kind of discipline has no direct relationship to specific sins.

One example is Job who experienced tragedy, not because he was a great sinner, but because he was righteous. The Lord taunted Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil” (Job 1:8).

Job was put on trial before Satan, angels, and God to see what he would do when faith in God no longer seemed to be beneficial. Satan said that Job was righteous only because of the blessings that were coming to him because of his piety. God had given him a fine family, wealth, and health. But if this were removed, said the devil, Job would curse God to His face.

The rest of the book of Job shows that although Job was considered righteous, he was not perfect. The trial brought needed refinements along with a new appreciation for God’s sovereignty. He was disciplined to be educated, exhorted, and refined.

Job’s three friends made the mistake of thinking that there was always a direct relationship between a man’s circumstances and his piety. If Job were righteous, they argued, the tragedies he experienced would not have happened. But they were wrong. In other words, we cannot tell the righteous from the wicked by checking the size of their bank accounts or their medical records.

An even clearer example was Christ Himself who was disciplined, not because of sin, but because He needed to prove His obedience to the will of the Father. Christ was sinless, yet we read that He learned obedience by the things that He suffered. Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered (Hebrews 5:8, NASB).

The discipline was not that His person may be made perfect, but that He might become perfected in His work, that is the assignment of the cross. Thus He “learned obedience by the things which He suffered.” The result was that He became the author of eternal salvation to all who believe.

Usually we think of discipline only as the response of a parent to disobedience. We must broaden our understanding to include the “disciplines” that are needed for all of us to develop in spiritual maturity. James wrote, “And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:4).

When tragedy strikes, we must not assume that it can be traced to some specific sins or failures. God puts some of His most obedient children through the severest trials.

A second kind of discipline is called preventative discipline. This kind of hardship is brought into our lives to keep us from impending sin. Paul was given a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan. The reason for this trial was that he had been given many special revelations from God and therefore faced the temptation of exalting himself. He writes, “And because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me to keep me from exalting myself!” (2 Corinthians 12:7).

If we object to this kind of discipline on the grounds that we are being spanked for something we haven’t yet done, we overlook the fact that our Heavenly Father knows all things and therefore does not have to wait to see how we will react in a specific situation. An earthly father might not have the right to give us preventative discipline, but our Heavenly Father sees us from an omniscient perspective.

This kind of discipline fulfills the prayer, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” We should ask God to bring roadblocks into our lives that will keep us from sin. The pain of a trial is much better than the wreckage of a ruined life or ministry.

Billy Graham was asked how he remained humble in the face of so much favorable publicity. He replied by enumerating all of the physical ailments he has experienced, from broken ribs to the pain of phlebitis. Like Paul he was given a thorn in the flesh, preventative discipline, to keep him from sin.

We will probably never know how many sins we have been kept from because of the preventative discipline of God. Even a lack of funds, the pressure of a busy schedule, and ill health -- these and other trials may be used of God to keep us from temptations that would be too hard for us to resist. Our Heavenly Father knows what is best for us.

A third kind of discipline is retributive, that means that it comes as a result of specific sins. Though David confessed his sin of murder and adultery, the Lord said, “Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife” (2 Samuel 12:10). Then follow additional judgments: 1) his wives would be publicly humiliated; and 2) the child that Bathsheba would bear would die.

All of this, even though David confessed his sin and was forgiven by God! There are consequences that precede confession and there are others that follow. Here we have a direct cause/effect relationship between sin and punishment.

The Israelites were also forgiven by God but condemned to wander in the desert because of their unbelief at Kadesh-barnea. Jonah ended up in the belly of a fish because he rebelled against God’s instructions. He was given a plant to shade him from the blistering sun, then it was taken away to test his priorities. All of this, because of his disobedience.

Identifying the relationship between our sin and the discipline that follows is often difficult, though in some instances it is quite clear.

What purpose does God have in discipline? Think back to your childhood when you received discipline; what was its purpose?

The author of the book of Hebrews continues his discourse by saying, “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? 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” (Hebrews 12:9-10).

Our earthly father disciplined us according to his best judgment (there are exceptions, of course), and we responded with respect and obedience. But God disciplines us with unerring discernment and knowledge. He not only has greater wisdom, but also a greater purpose.

The specific purpose of the discipline is to motivate us to pursue a deeper relationship with God. There is no doubt that God’s hand is often painful, but hurting produces holiness. Indeed, we “share His holiness.”

What are the requirements for holiness?

The first is submission. We are to be “subject to the Father of spirits!” Perhaps this means simply, “Our spiritual Father.” But when we submit to Him, we “live.” The implication is that if we don’t submit we might die (as we shall see, there is a sin unto death), or perhaps the author means that we enter into a new quality of life here on earth. Either way we benefit.

The discipline either softens us or makes us more rebellious. Thus God frequently increases the dosage, intending to bring us into a state of complete yieldedness.

Second, discipline requires our loyalty. It is said that when there is a storm at sea the sailors either turn to God or to drink. Every person, at some time, comes to the crunch and must choose where he will turn.

I’ve just spoken to a man who works in a firm where there is not only much bickering, but each of the employees undercuts another in an attempt to jockey for power and position. This Christian man is trying to learn how to fulfill the admonition of Scripture, “Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’” (Romans 12:19). The test of his loyalty is: Can he entrust his complaints to God or must he take matters into his own hand? Virtually every trial of life forces us to choose between loyalty to ourselves or to God.

Part Three

We’ve all been able to identify a child by his resemblance to his father. In fact if there were no likeness, we might be tempted to suppose that the child was illegitimate, conceived by another man. There are Christians whose family pedigree is suspect because they are so unlike our Heavenly Father. When we do step out of line, God corrects us so that we will be brought to repentance.

How does God discipline His children? We’ve learned that He does much more than correct us for specific sins. Sometimes He disciplines us to educate us, sometimes to prevent us from greater sins. But yes, He does also discipline us for disobedience. Sin has its natural consequences which may actually be intensified by God to bring us to repentance.

Let us not fight God’s discipline. David wrote, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Thy Word” (Psalm 119:67). Discipline should lead us to a greater degree of family resemblance. When we were disciplined by our parents, the intention (hopefully) was that we would have the same character traits of honesty and obedience that they had. We should live up to the family name.

When there has been an offense, discipline always includes restoration. A good father will not only spank his children, but also comfort them once they have yielded to his authority. Though it hurts for a time, later it yields the “peaceable fruit of righteousness.”

When we pray, “O, Father, make me godly,” we mean, “make me godlike.” Christ taught that the reason we should love our enemies is so that your reward will be great and “you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:35b,36). The author of Hebrews says that we are to “share His holiness!

God deals with His children in a variety of ways, depending on what is needed to bring about repentance and restoration. All sin has built-in consequences of some kind. Since God has set up the moral system of the universe, it is unthinkable that any sin could be intrinsically free from detrimental effects. To these, God adds His own incentives to bring us to our senses so as to respond to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

First, there is the continuing consequence of sin. The familiar illustration -- nails that leave holes even after being pulled out of a barn door -- is to the point when we discuss discipline for sin. The thief, if discovered, must go to prison; the child killed by an alcoholic driver can never be resurrected; and the man who contracts AIDS through homosexual behaviors cannot be cured.

There are, of course, less obvious ways in which the effects of sin continue. There is regret for a wasted life; there is the unhappiness caused by an unequal marriage (Christian and non-Christian); there is the rebellion of children caused by an adulterous relationship. These consequences continue even after there is repentance and restoration to fellowship with God.

These results of sin teach us that 1) sin can never be profitable. In the end it must always bear bitter fruit. The death of Christ shields us from God’s wrath (both now and in the hereafter), but it does not erase all of the natural effects of sin experienced in this life. And, 2) It teaches us that sin is so serious that it can have effects throughout eternity, even for Christians. (Think of the implications of a poor performance at the Judgment Seat of Christ).

But now we focus on how God works in the life of an individual believer to point out the destructiveness of sin and the value of remaining in fellowship with the Almighty.

A second method that God uses to bring a wayward child to repentance is guilt. When we grieve the Holy Spirit by sinning, we are immediately aware of it. If not, we have grown hard-hearted in our relationship with God. Guilt that awakens the conscience is usually the first indication that we are out of moral agreement with God. This should lead to confession and claiming the cleansing of Christ. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

However, it is crucial to realize that after we have confessed our sin, guilt has done its work. No longer is guilt used by God as a means to discipline; that would call into question the sufficiency of Christ to forgive and restore us.

Many Christians are in spiritual bondage because they are unable to distinguish the prompting of the Holy Spirit from the accusation of the devil. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sins that we have not brought to God in honest confession. Satan brings accusations to us for these sins even after they have been put away by God. Sins that are “under the blood,” as the saying goes, no longer need weigh on our consciences.

Many Christians assume that they must bear the guilt for past sins (though these sins are confessed) as a kind of payment for their misdeeds. They simply do not feel free to enjoy their cleansing, thinking that they do not deserve it!

Of course, we do not deserve it, but that is precisely the meaning of grace! Grace means that we do not get what we deserve. God wipes the slate clean, and “remembers our sins no more.” For us to remember them, to be controlled by the guilt and power of our memories, is a discredit to the completeness of Christ’s work on the cross.

Guilt is God’s discipline only until the sin is confessed, any continuation of guilt is the work of Satan. These accusations must be renounced in the name of Christ.

And what if we do not respond to the immediate prompting of the Holy Spirit? Let’s consider those disciplines that are brought into our lives if we persist in deliberate sin. God will put us under pressure designed to bring us to repentance.

Many believers who are enslaved by sin do not realize that their spiritual bondage is designed by God to bring them to repentance. There is a principle seen both in the Old and New Testaments, namely, that we will always be ensnared with the sin we tolerate. God warned Israel that if the nation would serve foreign gods, it would come under the subjection of those foreign powers. “For if you ever go back and cling to the rest of these nations, these which remain among you, and intermarry with them, so that you associate with them and they with you, know with certainty that the Lord your God will not continue to drive these nations out from before you; but they shall be a snare and a trap to you, and a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the Lord your God has given you” (Joshua 23:12,13).

Read the history of the nation Israel and you will find that they were constantly being subjected and even sold as slaves to various nations, all because they made alliances with these pagan countries. The compromises we make lead to chains of entrapment and servanthood.

Paul wrote, “Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?” (Romans 6:16). The sin to which we give ourselves is the one that eventually ensnares us. Every time we deliberately sin, we demote ourselves to the role of servants and exalt sin as our master.

Many Christians may confess their sin but are unwilling to make a clean break with the cycle of failure. They are too fearful to seek counsel, and keep their secrets to themselves. This incomplete repentance results in further spiritual bondage.

One price of disobedience is slavery. This explains why we should fear both God and sin. The child who has been to God’s woodshed and felt the pain of his disobedience is in no mood for a repeat performance.

When there has been an offense, discipline always includes restoration. A good father will not only spank his children but will also comfort them once they have yielded to his authority. Though it hurts for a time, discipline later yields the “peaceable fruit of righteousness.”

God uses both guilt and spiritual enslavement to help us realize the seriousness of our sin. Quite frankly, God’s plan is to make us so miserable that we will be willing to submit wholly to His authority.

Dear friend, if you are desperate today, turn to God with all of your heart for God is using your misery to bring you to repentance.

Part Four

You may think that a man who leaves his wife and children to continue his life with another woman ... you may think that he is getting by with it all. But if he is a believer, be assured that he is not escaping the discipline of God. It is just that God often does not discipline His children the way we think He should. In fact, many believers simply do not recognize the discipline of God but attribute His work to natural causes.

Believe it or not, God sometimes uses emotional trauma to get His people’s attention. When Moses warned the people that they would be scattered among the nations if they disobeyed the Lord, he added, “...and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul” (Deuteronomy 28:65).

This “despair of soul” is further defined. “In the morning you shall say, ‘Would that it were evening!’ And at evening you shall say, ‘Would that it were morning!’ because of the dread of your heart which you dread, and for the sight of your eyes which you shall see” (v. 67).

Emotional trauma is often God’s way of correction; it is His most persistent discipline for His children. We err if we think that His discipline is always external circumstances. Sometimes, perhaps most often, it is an internal despair that makes even the most significant events of life seem futile.

Is there any New Testament evidence that God uses emotional trauma for His discipline even today? Recall that in Hebrews 10 the author teaches that those who trample underfoot the blood of Christ are worthy of more severe punishment than those who died in the Old Testament. He describes it as “a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries” (v. 27). The reference is to God’s method of direct judgment frequently used in the Old Testament. The fire should not be thought of as hell but the temporal fire that took the lives of the disobedient.

This judgment, which Is as severe as that of the Old Testament (and logically even greater), is the terrifying expectation of judgment and emotional torment that might make physical death seem more tolerable by comparison. For example, I have counseled believers involved in the sin of adultery who prayed at night that they would not wake up in the morning. Death was more welcome than the emotional trauma they experienced. And as we shall see later, such discipline may indeed include physical death itself.

Not all emotional trauma is because of disobedience. Some people experience it because they were abused as children; others may be going through a time of physical illness or are facing some tragedy even as Job did. It is not necessary for us to know the precise reason for a trial in order to profit from it.

But there are many believers who can pinpoint their distress to specific acts of disobedience. They can recall when they came to a fork in the road, made a sinful decision and chose to live with it. The emotional turbulence they experience constantly reminds them that disobedience is not worth the cost. God is speaking, or rather shouting, that they might hear His voice once more.

God may even use the devil to discipline His people.

The Evil One is used to inflict the despair of soul, the emotional terror of judgment, that is designed to bring God’s people back to thorough repentance. This is seen both in the Old Testament as well as the New.

Saul, you will recall, was disobedient to the clear command of God; jealousy was eating the king alive. Since God had said that the kingdom would be taken away from him, he should have bowed to the will of the Almighty. There was little use fighting the inevitable. But he chose to struggle with God, refusing to acknowledge God’s right to give the kingdom to whomever He wished.

God viewed Saul’s jealousy as one more act of rebellion. To intensify Saul’s irrational moods, the Lord sent an evil spirit to add to his woes. “Now it came about on the next day that an evil spirit from God came mightily upon Saul, and he raved in the midst of the house, while David was playing the harp with his hand, as usual; and a spear was in Saul’s hand. And Saul hurled the spear for he thought, ‘I will pin David to the wall.’ But David escaped from his presence twice” (1 Samuel 18:10,11).

Saul’s paranoia was intensified by an evil spirit from the Lord. Why.? So that jealousy might become Saul’s master. He had, so to speak, made a league with an enemy called envy, and such alliances always lead to spiritual and moral bondage.

But Saul did not respond favorably to the discipline. His heart became harder, not softer. Because He spurned God’s discipline, his life came to a tragic end. He tried to commit suicide but was only partially successful. He apparently was killed by an enemy. The sin we refuse to put away becomes the sin that eventually destroys us!

In my counseling I have met Christians who have dabbled in the occult, only to discover that they received a demonic affliction, the harassment of the devil. Try as they might, they could not easily be freed, even with specific counsel. I believe the reason was because God was teaching them the “exceeding sinfulness of sin.” Easy deliverance might give the impression that entering Satan’s domain is not too serious. God thinks otherwise and uses the struggle for freedom as His means of discipline. Once the freedom comes, the offender is ready to stay clear of such careless (and rebellious) actions.

To tolerate sin in our lives is like defecting to the enemy in a war. This act of treason is welcomed by our adversary the devil and is exploited. God supervises, indeed directs, the harassment of Satan as just discipline for persistent sin.

We have come a long way in our study of how God disciplines a believer. We have learned that He will use emotional trauma and even the activity of Satan to bring His people back to repentance. God used an evil spirit to harass Saul, and in the New Testament we discover that one disobedient believer was delivered over to Satan that he might be brought to repentance.

The church in Corinth was guilty of looking the other way when one of the believers was found to be involved in immoral behavior. Paul admonished them to excommunicate the offender from the fellowship; indeed Paul himself was prepared to do so though he was not physically present in the fellowship. Here is his exhortation:

“In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (1 Corinthians 5:4-5).

What does it mean to be “delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh?” Cut off from the spiritual protection of the church, this man would be an open target for satanic activity, a pathetic victim of his own sinful choices. This could eventually lead to the destruction of his flesh, that is physical death. Yet because he was a believer, his spirit would be saved in the day of Christ.

The man faced a choice as to how he would react. He could harden his heart, continue in immorality regardless of how seared his conscience became. He could “despise the chastening of the Lord” even to the point of physical destruction.

Or, he could do otherwise, namely, to seek forgiveness and restoration. He could accept the discipline of the Lord as proper and just, considering the seriousness of the offense. He could choose to put himself under the leadership of the church and follow any procedure they might suggest to heal the wounds his sin had caused. Submission to God’s authority would take him out of the realm of Satan’s authority.

“That part of us that we rescue from the cross” wrote Tozer, “becomes the seat of our troubles.” The sin that we refuse to yield to God is the one that is exploited by Satan so that we might be bound by our own sinful choices.

God knows that some backsliders have to be desperate before they cease their rebellion and return to fellowship with Him.

If you have been disobedient, wholeheartedly turn to God today and receive His forgiveness. Do whatever is necessary to be fully right with Him. If you need counsel, seek it out; if you need to be reconciled to a brother or sister, do it. God receives backsliders who come to Him in their desperation.

Part Five

We have learned that there are many ways that God seeks to get the attention of His disobedient children. He uses guilt, the enslavement of sin, emotional trauma, and even Satan to bring us to the point of desperation. He wants us to repent without a hidden agenda.

Let’s consider God’s final act of discipline and then conclude our study with some practical advice on how to respond to God’s discipline so that we might be restored to fellowship with Him.

Physical death is the ultimate act of God’s disciplinary hand. Old Testament examples of people who died because of specific sins are numerous. Nadab and Abihu, the two sons of Aaron, died because they deliberately disobeyed God.

Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what the Lord spoke, saying, ‘By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.’ So Aaron, therefore, kept silent. Moses called also to Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel, and said to them, ‘Come forward, carry your relatives away from the front of the sanctuary to the outside of the camp.’ So they came forward and carried them still in their tunics to the outside of the camp, as Moses had said. Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, ‘Do not uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, so that you may not die, and that He may not become wrathful against all the congregation. But your kinsmen, the whole house of Israel, shall bewail the burning which the Lord has brought about. You shall not even go out from the doorway of the tent of meeting, lest you die; for the Lord’s anointing oil is upon you. So they did according to the word of Moses” (Leviticus 10:1-7).

Korah and his family opposed God and died. “‘If these men die the death of all men, or if they suffer the fate of all men, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord brings about an entirely new thing and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that is theirs, and they descend alive into Sheol, then you will understand that these men have spurned the Lord.’ Then it came about as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground that was under them split open; and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who belonged to Korah, with their possessions. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly” (Numbers 16:29-33).

“And, Uzzah touched the ark and God killed him. And they placed the ark of God on a new cart that they might bring it from the house of Abinadab which was on the hill; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were leading the new cart. So they brought it with the ark of God from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill; and Ahio was walking ahead of the ark. Meanwhile, David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord with all kinds of instruments made of fir wood, and with lyres, harps, tambourines, castanets and cymbals. But when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out toward the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen nearly upset it. And the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down there for his irreverence; and he died there by the ark of God” (2 Samuel 6:3-7).

There are New Testament examples, too. Ananias and Sapphira lied to God about their gift to the church and both died.

“But a certain man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife’s full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, ‘Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after It was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God.’ And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came upon all who heard of it. And the young men arose and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him. Now there elapsed an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter responded to her, ‘Tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price?’ And she said, ‘Yes, that was the price.’ Then Peter said to her, Why is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they shall carry you out as well. And she fell immediately at his feet, and breathed her last; and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. And great fear came upon the whole church, and upon all who heard of these things” (Acts 5:1-11).

“Some believers in Corinth died because they partook of the Lord’s supper in a flippant way. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep” (1 Corinthians 11:30).

John wrote that we as believers should pray for those whose sin does not lead them to death. But then he also adds, “There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make a request for this” (1 John 5:16). The “sin unto death” is probably not a specific sin, but a certain kind of sin that is so severe that it merits the physical death of the individual. We have no idea how many people have died prematurely because they did not respond to God’s chastening hand.

To complete this study, I must mention in passing that God also uses the special gifts of His grace in bringing us to repentance. This may seem inconsistent with all of the things we have been studying to this point. We have talked about God’s rod of correction, such as guilt, trauma, and even Satan. But the fact is that God often brings us to our senses by sending us unexpected blessings. Who of us has not been shamed into repentance simply because God blessed us in ways that we so clearly did not deserve?

One woman said that as a teenager she attended a party where she could have been seduced or even raped. The fact that God protected her from harm (even in the midst of a police raid), led her to such praise to God that she never desired to become involved in such situations again. The hearts of God’s people are often won back to Him because of incredible displays of His mercy when it is least expected. Paul taught that the kindness of God is designed to lead unbelievers to repentance. Surely this principle applies to believers as well. “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4).

The bottom line is that God never tolerates sin in the lives of His children. Through the prompting of the Holy Spirit, yes, even through the work of the devil if necessary, He will teach us that sin grieves His heart.

And there are no favorites in His classroom.

So how shall we respond to God’s discipline? We read, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him” (Hebrews 12:5).

There are three possibilities when we fall under God’s disciplinary hand. First, we can take it lightly, that is disregard it, ignoring the warnings. This, of course, results in great hardness of heart and actually makes further discipline necessary. To regard discipline lightly is to shield ourselves from the lessons God intended to teach us. I have a brother-in-law who was spanked by his father for eating chocolates. Yet, even while he was lying across his father’s lap receiving his whipping, he reached over and took another one from the box near the couch!

My car has a Check Engine light on the control panel. I can ignore it, continue to drive, and get by quite well. But eventually something serious will happen to the motor. If I ignore the warning, I am taking it lightly.

Some people experience great trials yet never stop to check their spiritual lives and ask: What is God trying to teach me? Their sorrows are wasted, or worse, they become spiritually insensitive and morally careless.

The second possibility is to faint; that is, to simply give up, unable to integrate the trial into a meaningful spiritual experience. Some backslide, deeply bitter with God because of circumstances that they believe are quite unfair. They just decide that the fight is not worthwhile.

The third possibility, of course, is to learn from the trial and let it be the means of drawing us closer to God.

How shall we view the trials or disciplines of life?

We should:

1. Ask God to search our hearts to reveal any sins or failures that may be causing this hardship.

This step seems elementary but is basic to all of our spiritual training. The reason many believers fail to learn from life’s disappointments is because they do not give God time to show them what He might be trying to teach them.

The problem of connecting a particular sin with specific discipline is often difficult, sometimes impossible. But we must seek wisdom to know whether God might pinpoint a relationship.

2. We must not interpret the patience of God as the leniency of God.

If we live with deliberate sin and do not see God’s disciplinary hand, we should not deceive ourselves into thinking that He is ignoring our transgressions. He does not take sin lightly. Many a believer has misjudged the severity of God.

A minister who was involved in adultery said he was totally confused when God continued to bless his ministry despite the ongoing affair. He expected the judgment of God to fall on him for his sin, but it didn’t, at least not immediately. People continued to be saved and the church grew despite this secret liaison.

Of course the disciplinary process had already begun but he did not realize it. The guilt of the adultery, the lies to cover it, and the fear of exposure were already taking their toll on his personal life. God was not ignoring the sin; He was simply disciplining him on His own schedule. The warning light was blinking furiously, but he ignored it.

Eventually, of course, his life and ministry all came apart. God’s hand upon him was severe. He now knew that his Heavenly Father had not overlooked this sin despite his longsuffering. Unfortunately, he had interpreted the longsuffering of God as the indifference of God.

One of the most dangerous experiences we can have is to commit deliberate sin and appear to ‘get by.’ This will only develop our confidence to repeat the same sin, expecting the same kind of leniency from the Almighty. There are times when God appears to be indifferent to the sins of His children, but He is only waiting for His correct timing.

The woman who commits adultery without getting pregnant or contracting some form of sexually transmitted disease is being chastened by God just as consistently as the person who commits sin and experiences the other consequences listed above. Not a single one of God’s children ever gets by with deliberate sin; chastisement of some kind is absolutely inevitable.

Let us remember that we can learn from every trial whether we know the reason for it or not.

It was not necessary for a couple to know whether there was a connection between their deformed baby and premarital sex; William Carey whose library burned might well have been wrong in making a connection between the fire in his library and his personal failure; the woman who got her divorce on a flimsy pretext may have become ill even if she had remained married. There may have been other ways that God was disciplining them for these failures.

They, along with all the rest of us, can learn from every trial, even if we are unsure about a connection between personal sin and our hardships. All trials have a broader purpose:

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted of God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer;” (2 Corinthians 1:3-6).

Every trial is designed to draw us closer to God and to teach us the divine comfort of God. The “trial of our faith is more precious than gold that perishes.”

Blessed is the person who can accept the hardships of life and grow through adversity.

Blessed is the person who can loam from the burdens of life as well as its blessings.

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