Reject Not God's Discipline #3

In this part of the sermon: He defines the subject matter as God's 'chastening' (afflictive dispensations) and 'reproof' (corrective communications). The specific directives are not to despise these…

Martin recounts finding the phrase 'afflictive dispensation' in John Brown's writings, which he thought was original to him, prompting a caution against unconscious plagiarism for young preachers.

And we have defined chastisement as God's afflictive dispensations. And I thought that was original with me until I was reading in John Brown the other day and I came across the phrase afflictive dispensation. So I don't know if it got into my head by way of John Brown imperceptibly and I recognized when I saw it or whether we just happened to come up with the same terminology. So if you're reading John Brown on Hebrews and you find the phrase, please don't accuse me of plagiarism without the evidence.

2:35 - 3:04 Read in full sermon

Driving home: What are you going to do under the rod? You better understand this distinction, or you won't know what to do. It's just that practical.

He describes fathers looking at their newborns in a hospital nursery with 'gushy-mushy' love and delight, illustrating the 'love of complacency' God has for His children.

It's the kind of love that I see when I visit the hospitals when one of our couples has had a baby, and you go by the nursery, and you see all the papas lined up, and they're looking in, and they've got the most gushy-mushy kind of love, and they're looking down, you know, their heads are always this way, because the little ones, you know, in those little rolling, what do we call them? But anyway, you know what I'm talking about anyway, because I've been there too. And they're cranking their head over, and you can see fellows who maybe have come straight from the shop with grease all over thei...

11:11 - 11:53 Read in full sermon

Driving home: What are you going to do under the rod? You better understand this distinction, or you won't know what to do. It's just that practical.

He describes a father watching his son hit a home run, filled with delight, to further illustrate the 'love of complacency' God has for His children.

This delight is the kind of thing you see when some guy's sitting in the stands at the local little league game, and his kid's just knocked a home run in the last half of the fifth inning with two men aboard. And everybody around Panama, he's trying to look humble, you know, but he looks down at his kid, he looks down at his kid in his eyes, his whole countenance filled with what? He's delighting in his son. Now God says, My son, don't despise the chastening of the Lord, because all of God's chastenings have as their moving cause in God's heart His filial love, His love that has advanced to th...

11:53 - 13:12 Read in full sermon

The point: Learn the true role of a father as the disciplinary head and administrator of government in his home.

Martin notes that the writer of Proverbs assumed a common understanding of a father's role as disciplinary head, contrasting it with the modern absence of this in many homes.

You see that's what's so wonderful with these biblical perspectives. They begin to reach out their tentacles in so many directions. You see the writer to the Proverbs assumes that he was using an illustration that would bring a common experience before the minds of his people. He says don't despise God's chastening. Don't grow weary of his reproof. For whom the Lord loves he chastens. You people know just like every father who has a son that he delights in, he could assume that these people could call to mind home after home and family after family where they had seen a father not only stand a...

19:07 - 20:01 Read in full sermon

The point: Christian, don't fight the chastisement as though it were your enemy.

He illustrates how God answers prayers for patience by providentially placing a difficult, trying person next to a believer at work, driving them to depend on Christ for grace.

longing while I walk upon the face of the earth to be more like my savior you see Christian it's easy to say in a moment of rapturous intimate communion with the Lord on your knees oh God I long to be holy and the Lord says is that true my child let's see how much you long to be holy and then the rod falls upon us then the corrected communication comes to us to what end answering our prayer answering our prayer for you see it's not going to come as we sit in isolation and just get wonderful feelings flooding over our souls as we're reading some great devotional passage of the word of God it co...

32:48 - 34:14 Read in full sermon

The point: Some of you ought to weep at the mean things you think about God every time a trial comes to you.

Martin recounts David's response to the death of his child (2 Samuel 12), showing David's worship and acceptance of God's will, interpreting the affliction as from a gracious Father, not an angry judge.

two months guilty conscience afflicted miserably read Psalm 32 and Psalm 51 but God has graciously sent his prophet the prophet has announced to David or indicted David for his sin and then he announces this chastisement that is going to come to him David acknowledges his sin but now Nathan says in 2 Samuel 12 13 David said to Nathan I have sinned against the Lord Nathan said to David the Lord hath put away thy sin thou shalt not die how be it because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme the child that is born of thee shall surely die Nathan depar...

37:10 - 38:39 Read in full sermon

The point: Some of you ought to weep at the mean things you think about God every time a trial comes to you.

He recounts Shimei cursing and throwing stones at David (2 Samuel 16), and David's interpretation that God had 'bidden' Shimei, illustrating how God uses even sinful human actions as His rod of chastisement.

and let's begin the reading at verse 5 and when King David came to Behurim behold there came out thence a man of the family of the house of Saul whose name was Shimei the son of Gera and he came out and cursed still as he came and he cast stones at David and at all the servants of King David and all the people and the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left thus said Shimei when he cursed begone begone thou man of blood and base fellow the Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul in whose stead thou hast reigned the Lord hath delivered the kingdom into the hand...

41:32 - 43:01 Read in full sermon

The point: You better go right on expecting chastisement until you don't need any more holiness.

Martin quotes John Gill's exposition of 2 Samuel 16:10, clarifying that God is not the author of sin by command or spirit, but by His secret providence ordering and overruling circumstances for His purposes.

big tome if you wondered what in the world I was going to do with that I'm not starting in page one going through to the end which reminds me of a little incident that happened recently we were having our family worship after supper as we normally do and one of Joel's neighbors came and said Joel you're coming out he says no we're having devotions he said what's that he said well we read the bible and the kid went you'll never be out tonight if you're going to read the whole thing yes I'm not going to read the whole thing or you wouldn't be out tonight or tomorrow seriously now the exposition ...

44:29 - 45:58 Read in full sermon

The point: You better go right on expecting chastisement until you don't need any more holiness.

Martin shares a brief anecdote about his son Joel's neighbor being surprised by family devotions, humorously illustrating the length of Bible reading.

big tome if you wondered what in the world I was going to do with that I'm not starting in page one going through to the end which reminds me of a little incident that happened recently we were having our family worship after supper as we normally do and one of Joel's neighbors came and said Joel you're coming out he says no we're having devotions he said what's that he said well we read the bible and the kid went you'll never be out tonight if you're going to read the whole thing yes I'm not going to read the whole thing or you wouldn't be out tonight or tomorrow seriously now the exposition ...

44:29 - 45:58 Read in full sermon