WHAT IS THE GREATEST FORM OF DISCIPLINE GOD CAN GIVE TO ONE OF HIS?

WHAT IS THE GREATEST FORM OF DISCIPLINE GOD HAS EVER GIVEN TO ONE OF HIS?

SCRIPTURE: Genesis 16:16-17:1-5, 15-19

MAIN THEME: If we were to ask anyone what was the answer to our question, I am sure that we would get many answers. Answers such as: allowing one to endure suffering (as many have done, myself included), a loss of a job, a friend, and the answers could go on. In this message, however, we look to what I personally would consider being the worst form of discipline that I could ever receive. I think it is safe to say that at times many, if not all, of we Christians have suffered from what Abram did. However, we are blessed that in the time in which we live, our suffering in this area is not for this long in space of time. Therefore, I ask you to consider these few words, and I think you will all agree that of all the forms of discipline that God could call for, this one would be the worst of all.

1. What led to God’s discipline of Abram? (Genesis 16:1-4; 15:1-6)
   • What would many say caused Abram’s discipline. I think several things would be said by people, depending upon whom you would ask. First I think many would say, “Listening to his wife”, would be at or certainly at or near the top of the list. We live in a society where people have different ideas, many underserved when it comes to women. Some feel that women are to be no more than a baby-maker and stay at home mom. Many feel that the woman has no place in society in leading companies, etc. Here is how I feel when it comes to that. There are some companies that would serve well to have a woman as it’s head, especially when it deals with products and services for women. Who better to understand the mindset of women than a woman. To develop products and services that will help women and young women would greatly be benefited by having the knowledge and creativity of a woman who knows what works for women and what doesn’t. Being a man who has been married to the same woman for thirty-eight years at the time of this writing, I can honestly say that I am still learning about the one God gave to me. Having said that, sure, there are some things I can see women need, but to develop things for women properly I feel needs a woman’s touch. Honestly how many men really know what women like when it comes to what kind of dress a woman likes (other than Jamie Farr, Corporal Max Klinger, of M.A.S.H. 4077, HAHAHAHA). As far as to whether I feel that women should usurp authority over men is an entirely different matter for another message. I would be amiss to not say that in the case before us, Abram was absolutely in the wrong to listen to his wife Sarai. She, like any other woman, wanted a child. In the culture in which they lived, the idea of Sarai was not one that was an unusual request. However, after Abram had done as she had suggested, and the child is born of Haggar, then even Sarai felt she had made a mistake. Another idea I think people would say that caused the discipline of Abram is that of having a second wife. One thing needs to be stated here, it was not God’s divine will that was the reason Abram married Haggar, but in God’s permissive will, simply meaning that He allowed it. Sometimes God allows us to do things which we think, such as in this instance,  the idea of Sarai, but it was never the will of God for it to happen. God’s perfect will is for one man to marry one woman and live with that person for life. Unfortunately, in our society, many are marrying for “lust” rather than for “love”, and lust will last only so long because at some point in time the two will realize that they are not alike which can and most certainly will bring confrontation. These marriages were doomed from the very beginning. Many suffer abuse, which can and should bring an end to the marriage if the abusive partner is unwilling to change and allow God to change them. I have said it this way because one cannot really stop sin on their own, and only by submitting to God can that sin completely be defeated, and the marriage then has a chance to be saved. I have known those who lived their entire adult life in an abusive marriage and believe me, they were ones who lived a life of suffering. However, if they are of the belief that to divorce, even though abused, is sinful in the eyes of God,  then they would suffer in their conscience for the remainder of their lives, always feeling that they made a choice against the will of God.  One last area we could see Abram guilty of would be in committing adultery. One may say that his wife said it was ok, so that made it ok. In your marriage, one or the other spouse may say, “let us allow the third party to join us in our marriage, so that we may have a more enjoyable sexual union.” I personally don’t know anyone who has said that, yet I am well aware that it happens, but adding any other party to a marriage between a man and a woman (that being the only marriage that God has ordained, any other kind between two men, two women, transvestites, etc. is not only wrong in the eyes of God, it is an abomination, as God reveals to us in what He did to Sodom and Gomorrah, along with His words of warning concerning this evil sin (Leviticus 18:22; 19:4, 12-16, 24-26; Romans 1:18-22). Those of us who are married can attest to the fact that a life of marriage will involve give and take, not meaning she gives and I take, or I give and she takes, but rather a life of compromise, but compromise in a way that honors the position of both man and woman in the bonds of marriage, and above all, honors God. Adding another person to marriage is unbiblical, and knowing that alone should make it something never considered.
2. What God says caused Abram’s discipline?
   • Unbelief in God’s promise (Genesis 15:1-6). God had made a covenant with Abram. He had promised that in his seed, meaning through the bloodline of he and his wife Sarai, would come so many that they would be as the number of the stars. Scripture says that Abram believed God. Yet Abram, in listening to his wife, counted her words more likely to happen than the words of God. Herein was Abram’s great mistake. We mustn’t think we are above committing the very same sin. Each time we disobey God’s Word, we are doing just like Abram. There is not a living soul that has walked upon this earth that has not done the same as Abram except only One, and His Name is Jesus Christ. Having said that, what is the greatest sin we Christians can commit? The sin of unbelief, of not taking God at His word. We too, just as Abram, will not get by with disobedience to the known Word of God.
3. How did Abram respond to God’s Discipline?
4. • The only way he could. Accepting two facts: that he had sinned, and that he deserved whatever God deemed righteous punishment/chastisement for his sin. By accepting the results of his sin, Abram was saying that he deserved the results because of his admission that what he did was wrong. What were the results of Abram’s sin, Ishamael? Now please don’t misunderstand me, for Ishmail was an innocent party. But in the case of Abraham, that was entirely different.Though he had done wrong, and a child had been born as a result of it, God would teach Abram a valuable lesson of what it can cost when one of His own disobeys Him. Abram at first had no idea what God would do, but as each day, then a month, then year passed, it became very evident what God did to teach Abram this must needed lesson. For the next thirteen years, God did not speak even one word to Abram. Imagine communing with God, enjoying the very presence of God, then all of a sudden He no longer speaks. Was God still there. Scripture teaches that God is “Omnipresent”, which simply means that there is not any place, be it in heaven, hell, the earth, or in space, that God is not present at. Therefore, God had never left Abram, He simply withheld His voice, so that even though God was there, Abram didn’t know it, couldn’t have fellowship with God as he had in the past. Even had he realized God’s Omnipresence, God still kept silent for some thirteen years. You may ask, “how do you know God didn’t speak to Abram for thirteen years?” Simply by reading God’s Word in Genesis 16:16-17:1. Notice the age of Abram whenever Ishmael was born. He was 86. How old was Abram when God speaks to him in Genesis 17:1, age 99. Simple math will tell you the time span is thirteen years. I know that there have been times of silence in my life between myself and God, and believe me, it’s miserable. We may think we can do without many things, but one thing in the life of Christians is absolutely necessary, and that is our time alone with Holy God, enjoying fellowship with Him, seeking Him when in need, praising Him whether in need or in having all our needs met. In those times, we can experience the times of our lives, Scripture teaching us that there is “fullness of joy” in His presence, and for those of us blessed enough to have times in His presence, we can attest to the reality of Psalm 16:11. The next thing that Abram did during those years, becoming more of the man God had called him to be. It is evident from some of the things God told Abram whenever He first began speaking to him again. I think after Abram at some time realized what had happened in his relationship with God, and why it had happened, he might have said, “I cannot change the bad decision I have made, but I most certainly can learn from it.” Is that not what we all should do? Yes, we are all going to fall. But the real test of a true Christian is that which we choose to do once we realize we have fallen, that being to get up. You may say, “I have fallen so far in my fellowship with God, not spending time alone with Him, not reading, studying, and obeying His Word, not praying to Him, that I don’t know what to do, how to have that fellowship back. To you I say I have great news. We do not have to suffer through a long period of silence from God such as Abram did, if we are His child. Always remember that He is still there and that the problem lays within us. God knew this would happen in our lives, and here are two verses of Scripture that I think you should read. The first one is one of my favorites, and its found in 1 John, God saying to us, His children, “1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Now let us look carefully at what God is saying. First, “If”, meaning that this is a prerequisite to what He is about to promise us, He gives us instructions as to what we need to do. Notice that He doesn’t say you must do this. Have you ever wondered why? As I am typing this, here at 1:30 in the morning, God revealed to me a glorious word concerning this Scripture that is worth taking note of. God is love, the true essence of what love really is. 1 John 4:8  “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” Knowing the fact that God is love, He always gives us a choice. He is saying in 1 John 1:9, “If”, my/your choice, not when I choose because He only wants us to do this sincerely from our of heart because anything less is not motivated by love. You may say that this verse is a command, and I fully agree, it is, but in His command, He desires our sincerity. He doesn’t want us to say words unless we mean them. We must mean what we say to God from our hearts. Now He says, “If we confess our sins,” those things which we have done wrong against Him, as David acknowledged in Psalm 51:4 “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest.” David said God has the right to do whatsoever He chose to do to him, because he had sinned, and that his sin was against God. Did it have an effect upon others, most certainly? He had committed adultery with Bathsheba, which ultimately caused the death of his unborn child. He had also had Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, killed in battle, in an attempt to cover up his sin. Others suffered as a result of his sin, but his sin was against God, Whose laws David had broken. And so it is with us. Others will be affected by our sins, but make no mistake about it, our sins are against only One, that being Almighty God. Therefore, just as King David confessed his sins before God, so must we, if we want fellowship between He and ourselves restored. Next God gives two amazing promises, (1) He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, that being because of what Jesus did for us in living a righteous, perfect sinless life before God the Father, then allowing Himself to die a cruel death on a cross, literally nailing our sins to that cross, taking our hell upon himself, shedding His royal blood for sinners such as you and I. Being raised on the third day, showing the Father’s acceptance of the sacrifice of Jesus for mankind. Therefore, in Christ Jesus, God sees us in His court of law, for we are guilty of breaking His law, but Jesus then says, I paid his/her debt Father, so God the Father is just to forgive us our sins because the payment has been made by His Son Jesus. (2) “and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” In looking at this portion of 1 John 1:9, let me share another Scripture with us, which tells us the results of this “Holy bath” as I like to call it. In Hebrews 9:14 “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” In a few verses prior to this we read these words, Hebrews 9:9 “Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;”. Why did I want this second verse for us to see? In the Old Testament, the only way for one’s sins to be forgiven, was for all individuals to offer a sacrifice to God for their sins. However, as Hebrews 9:9 clearly states, those sacrifices did not clear one’s conscience. However, according to Hebrews 9:14, because Jesus gave the perfect, acceptable and eternal sacrifice, it clears our conscience so that we can serve the living God. Were it not for a clear conscience, our sins would haunt us just as it did with King David, as he says his sins were “ever before” him. Prior to the New Testament, one could not have a clear conscience because Jesus had not yet paid for their sins. But as they looked for Christ, we can look back to Christ, seeing He has paid our sin debt, and not only be justly forgiven but have our sins wiped. We may remember them from time to time, as our enemy Satan brings them to our remembrance, but if he accuses us before God, then he will hear God reply, I don’t see any sins on Eddie’s account, He’s under the blood, and his life is hidden in Christ, all I see is my Son.
5. What was the ultimate result of Abram’s sin?

• • The enemies of the Israelites, the Arabs, are descendants of Ishamael. We must see this final point because there is a cost involved in sin. In the case of Abram, later becoming Abraham, the race that came from Abram’s sin has also become the greatest enemy of Israel. Please do not make light of this my friend and fellow believer, God has our number, and sin does not go unnoticed by God, nor does He fail to chastise us for it. He even goes so far as to say that if one does not chastise his own, he does not love them (Proverbs 13:24 “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.”) God also says the same when it comes to His children (Proverbs 3:11-12 “My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.” And in Hebrews 12:7-8 “If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.”). Having viewed what God says, I think it prudent that we heed the Word of God. Sin always has, and always will have a cost involved.