We come now to the fifth warning in chapter twelve of Hebrews. Verse 5 says, “And you have completely forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with sons, My son, do not make light of the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when reproved by Him.” The word discipline in this verse points to some kind of punishment. Verse 6 continues, “For whom the Lord loves He disciplines and scourges every son whom He receives.” To scourge here means to whip. Most of us received some kind of scourging from our parents when we were children. In like manner, our Father scourges His children. Verse 7 says, “It is for discipline that you are enduring; God is dealing with you as with sons; for what son is there whom the father does not discipline?” A father will scourge his own children, not the children on the street. For God to scourge us does not mean that we lose our eternal security. The more a child is disciplined by his parents, the more secure he is. Verse 8 says that “if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are bastards and not sons.” I am afraid that if God the Father would not discipline me, it would mean that I am a bastard, not a son. Verse 9 says that “we have had the fathers of our flesh as discipliners and we respected them; shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?” Being in subjection to the Father of spirits gives us more life. Verse 10 says, “For they indeed disciplined us for a few days as it seemed good to them, but He for our profit that we might partake of His holiness.” To partake of His holiness means to partake of His holy nature. This implies the growth in life. The discipline that we receive of our Father helps us to grow.
To be disciplined is not to be lost. A father may say to his son, “If you don’t behave yourself, I shall punish you.” But this does not mean that the son will be lost. When a father punishes his son, he does not kill him. Do not think that being punished by our heavenly Father affects our eternal salvation. When He disciplines us, our eternal salvation is even more secure because He is dealing with us as His dear sons, not as bastards.
Do you believe that our Father only deals with us in this present age, not in the coming age? Since so many of us have been influenced by inaccurate teachings, I must point out once again that if we do not behave ourselves, our Father will punish us either in this age or in the age to come. Do not think that after the Lord comes back and you are resurrected, everything will automatically be all right and there will be no further discipline or chastisement. This is an inaccurate teaching. As we saw in the last message, both Matthew and Luke tell us definitely that when the Lord comes back, He will punish some of His slothful servants in the next age. This is clearly revealed in the pure Word. Which do you prefer—to be disciplined now or punished later? I do not like to have any punishment. By the Lord’s mercy and grace I would rather behave myself. But if I must be punished, I would rather undergo it in this age, not in the next.
Verses 15 and 16 say, “Looking carefully lest any one be falling away from the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and through this many be defiled; lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, who for one meal gave up his birthright.” What does it mean to be “falling away from the grace of God”? It means that we have the grace already and that we must be diligent not to lose it, not to fall from the grace that we are already enjoying. If the Hebrew believers would go back to Judaism, they would fall away from the grace which all the believers in Christ were enjoying. They had to be careful lest any root of bitterness would trouble them, that is, some Judaizers would damage them with the bitterness of their Judaistic teachings. In the church life, things in the same principle occasionally happen.
Verse 16 says that for one meal Esau gave up his birthright. The birthright in Christ, which includes the kingship in the coming kingdom, means a great deal to the believers. But we may sell our birthright for just a small enjoyment of the material things just as Esau sold his for the enjoyment of a morsel of meat. If the Hebrew Christians would forsake the grace in Christ for a little morsel of Judaism, they would lose their birthright in Christ. To lose the birthright in Christ is not to lose eternal life; it is to lose the right of life, that is, to lose the enjoyment of the coming kingdom as a prize.
Verses 28 and 29 say, “Wherefore, receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us have grace, through which we may serve God well-pleasingly with godly fear and awe; for our God is also a consuming fire.” Since we are in the process of receiving such an unshakable kingdom, we must hold fast to grace and not fall from it. Verse 29 tells us that our God is a consuming fire. Although our God is love, here He is a consuming fire. This is a serious warning.