Grace Fellowship Church Pastor/Teacher Jim Rickard Thursday, November 8, 2012

Doxology Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.— Amen.

The Book of Proverbs Chapter 3 Prov 3:11-12 Doctrine of Divine Discipline.

Doctrine of Divine Discipline A. Definition and description.

1. D. d. is the sum total of punitive action taken by the justice of God in grace to correct, punish, encourage, train, and motivate the believer’s free will toward the Plan of God.

2. It is for believers only and is distinguished from Divine judgment that is directed toward all categories of the human race and angels under certain circumstances. Heb 12:5-8

Heb 12:8, “But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.”

3. When believers get out of fellowship through sin, human good, or evil, we bring suffering on ourselves.

a. This discipline suffering includes three potential stages as noted in 1 Cor 11:30, “some are weak and sick and a number sleep.”

b. It also includes the law of volitional responsibility with its self ‑ imposed, self ‑ induced, and self-indulged forms of misery. This is the law of “you reap what you sow,” Gal 6:7-8; Cf. Prov 22:8.

c. If we do not use the most basic PSD of Rebound we will continue in a state of carnality, cosmic living, or reversionism.

Carnality is a brief stay in the cosmic system; reversionism is a prolonged residence in the cosmic system.

4. Punishment from God often follows the failure to Rebound from our sins. Our every sin originates from our free will and some form of arrogance or lust.

Asceticism (Legalistic) Lasciviousness (Ultra loose living) OldSinNature Strength (Human Good) Weakness (Personal sins) Immoral Human Good “ends justify the means” Moral Human Good “means justify the ends” Immoral Sin and Evil Approbation Sin and Evil “going along with the crowd” Immoral degeneracy Moral degeneracy

5. God uses His sovereignty and His perfect judgment to know when it is time to warn us that we are out of fellowship, and to bring us back to reality with varying categories of punishment.

6. All D. d., except the Sin Unto Death, is always designed to correct, to train, and to motivate.

7. Although it is suffering, it is not bad, but it is teaching from the grace of God. All of us must learn certain things the hard way through Divine discipline. J ob 5:17; Psa 119:75; Heb 12:11

Psa 119:75, “I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.”

Heb 12:11, “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.”

You can learn the easy way, from your Pastor ‑ Teacher, Eph 4:11-16, or you can learn directly from God, the hard way by which you hurt, Prov 3:11-12.

Grace Fellowship Church Thursday, November 8, 2012 Tape # Proverbs Chapter 3 Divine Discipline, Part 2 James H. Rickard Bible Ministries 2012 Grace Fellowship Church Thursday, November 8, 2012 Tape # Proverbs Chapter 3 Divine Discipline, Part 2 Prov 3:11-12; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 4:11-16; 2 Tim 4:2-4 James H. Rickard Bible Ministries 2012