Might say, Preacher, if you preach something that I can stay awake on, I'd stay awake. I'd say, well, he fell asleep on Paul and he's a pretty good preacher, ain't he, man? Always throw the Bible back on him, right, ain't he? Hebrews chapter number 12, we've been studying on the chastening of the Lord in this chapter. God's chastening hand. Verses 5 through verses 13 is the context of the chastening of the Lord. We'll be looking at verses 11, 12, and 13 tonight. The chastening of the Lord. Hebrews chapter number 12. Verse number 5. Anybody got it? What's the first word there? I was saying, you have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? Verse eight, but if you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you bastards, not sons. You're either in the family or out of the family. And if you're in the family, God'll chasten you. You're not gonna get by living any old way you wanna live. Verse nine, furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh, which correct in us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in the subjection of the father of spirits and live? I mean, if you got any kind of fit parents, they're gonna discipline you for doing wrong. But if you don't have fit parents, if God is your father, he is fit, and he will whoop his own. Verse number 10, speaking of those earthly fathers, for they verily for a few days chasing us after their own pleasure, but he, speaking of our heavenly father, for our own profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. God has a reason for whipping. Verse 11, That's what we'll be looking at tonight in verse 12 and 13. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore, lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed. Brother Tim Sellers, would you pray for us brother? The chastening of the Lord. In these three verses tonight, verse 11, 12, and 13, I'm going to look at this study. If you wanted a title for this part of the Chastening of the Lord series, it would be The Exercise of Chastening. the exercise of chastening. Let's look at this three verses again. Verse 11, now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth a peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore, lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed. The chastening of the Lord. Now there's a purpose for God's chastening and God's chastening comes in four separate forms, if you would. Number one, the one form of chastening is the thorn. We won't look at these verses in particular, we'll look at some in a minute, but you can write them down if you'd like. One of the forms of chastening is the thorn. You find this in 2 Corinthians chapter number 12 and verse number 7, where God is giving Paul that thorn in the flesh. That is a form of chastening, and that form of chastening has a purpose, and its purpose is to keep you humble. God said he gave Paul that thorn in the flesh as a type of the chasing of the Lord. It's a form of chasing that thorn and the purpose of that thorn was to humble him down. God is chasing you to keep you humble. Amen. God will put a thorn in your life and let you realize I'm looking up to him. I need him and without him I can do nothing. Amen. God gave Paul that thorn in the flesh to keep him humble. Number two. Not only is the form of the thorn, but there's the form of the knife John chapter number 15 in verse number two What is the what is the purpose of the knife and chastening? It is to keep us fruitful. Amen That knife is for pruning. Amen without him. You can do nothing and that branch there's a coming out of that main vine which is Christ. God will have to use the knife to cut things out of your life like you do in the springtime to cut off limbs or bushes so that thing can be pruned back so it can grow more fruit and be more fruitful. And God will use the knife as a form of chastening to cut things out of your life and the purpose of it is to bring fruit out of your life. So God'll use the thorn to keep you humble, God'll use the knife to keep you bringing forth fruit, and then thirdly, God'll use the Word of God. The Word of God. That's what he said in John chapter 15 and verse number 3. The Word. What is the Word for in the context of John 15 3? That purpose of it is to keep you clean. There's a purpose for all of God's chastening. These are different forms that he uses. Whether God'll use the form of the thorn to keep you humble, God knows how to do that. God'll take the knife, and that is to keep us bringing forth fruit by pruning things out of our lives. God'll use the Word of God, and the purpose of him using the Word of God is to keep you clean. Ain't that gonna keep you clean like the Word of God? It'll wash you clean, amen. Then God'll use the fourth form, which is what we're dealing with in Hebrews 12. God'll use the whip. the whip. Now what is the purpose of the whip? The purpose of the whip is to keep you heavenly minded and depending on Him, depending on Him. Well, we're talking about the chastening of the Lord in the form of exercise. It's what he said in verse number 11, exactly at the end of the verse, which are exercise thereby. The exercise of chastening. Look in 1 Timothy chapter number 4. Hold your place here. We'll turn right back. 1 Timothy chapter 4. Exercise. The exercise of chastening. There'll be three simple things we'll look at tonight in the form of the exercise of chastening. Number one, you're going to have to realize when it comes to exercise, and using the exercise as the theme of the chastening here, exercising takes time. Nobody's going to exercise without taking time out of their life, time out of their schedule. And in the form of exercising chastening, it takes time to work on your life. Kind of like what you just said in the form of chastening, it takes time for you to get the whip out and whoop somebody's tail, amen. It not only does exercising take time, but when there's the right kind of exercise, you'll see the right kind of results. And number three, not only will you see the results, but if you're going to exercise, it's going to take effort. It's going to take effort. It's going to take time, it's going to take effort, and the goal is that there might be results out of the exercise. 1 Timothy chapter 4, look in verse number 7. Paul's speaking to young Timothy about exercising here. He said in verse 7, But refuse profane and old wise fables, and exercise thyself rather unto one. Godliness. If there's any kind of exercising we need, it is godly exercising. Exercising ourselves under godliness. And guess what? It takes time. Amen. There'll be some effort put forth in your life and you can bank your bottom dollar on it. There'll be some results from your exercising. Amen. Hey, we need to exercise ourself when it comes to godliness in our lives. And guess what? If we won't exercise godliness, God will exercise chastening to produce the godliness out of your life. Amen. God's not going to let you live any old way. God's not going to let you do any old thing because God is the Father that cares about you. He cares about your life and He'll chasten you to get you where you need to be. No matter how much time it takes, God will pull out the will to work on us. Verse 7, Refuse profane and old wise fables, and exercise thyself rather than the godliness. Look at the example he gives in verse 8, For bodily exercise profiteth little. I mean, you wouldn't exercise if there wasn't any profit in it. I mean, who in the world would go out and run a mile if it wasn't going to help them lose a few pounds or something, eh, man? Work their bones or get rid of their arthritis or something. Nobody's just going to run just for the fun of it. I mean, if you're just running for the fun of it, something's wrong with you, man. It's like these people running marathons. I mean, you've got to have something in plan with this thing or you just lost your mind or something. Amen. But it profits. It's going to do you some good. It's going to stretch your bones out. It's going to keep you healthy and build up your lungs. Amen. And keep you in shape, if you would, so your body can be used for the glory of God. Amen. It profits in your life. And if bodily exercise profits a little, just imagine how much godly exercise can profit you. I mean, people, you know, exercising godly. If there's anything in this old world we're living in, in the age we're living in, in this new age of health fits and being healthy, and I'm not against being healthy, I believe you ought to take care of your body. The more you take care of your body, the more you can use it for God. That ought to be your mentality. If your mentality is, well, I'm going to take care of my body so people look at me and lust over me, you got it all messed up. But if your mentality is, hey, I want to be fit for God's work, I want to have more lungs so I can preach or or witness or keep my life going. I want to spend more time down here to help somebody come to Christ. I've taken care of myself for the right reason. We need that, amen. We're living in a health crazy society. Eat right and watch what you eat, watch what you do, exercise, take care of yourself. And there's a lot of effort put in that stuff, but not many people are putting any efforts in godly exercise. That's where something's wrong, amen. You're living for this world, not for the world to come. This bodily exercise is profitable of little, but look what he says in verse eight, but godliness is profitable unto what? All things. It's going to work everywhere. All things, it's going to help. I mean, you might go run a mile and get your lungs built up and help your lungs out a little bit, maybe build your muscles up and your legs a little bit, but it ain't going to help you in your biceps and triceps. It ain't going to help you in your chest. It ain't going to help you nowhere there. It's just going to help you in that little point of your life. But Godliness profiteth in all things. Amen. It's going to affect your life all the way around. It's going to affect the way you think. It's going to affect how you talk. It's going to affect what you look at, what you listen to, where you go, what you don't do, what you do do. It's going to profit your life all together. Amen. If you want something to really work you out, you're talking about what they call a P90 program. I'm talking about a program, brother, that just works everything, amen? It works everything in your life. Hey, we need some godly exercise that's gonna work everything in our lives. Something's gonna work for God's glory, amen? Promising all things. Having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. Let me tell you about the difference between godly exercise and bodily exercise. That bodily exercise is only gonna help you here. I mean, you ain't carrying no muscles to heaven. You know? It ain't gonna bother, it ain't gonna matter. But what you do godly will last here and the world to come. You see what he's trying to get our attention on? It's amazing how we're so one-sided on this thing. We're so caught up in this old stinking earthly world that we're no good for God's kingdom and God's glory and we're gonna do all we can in a frenzy to take care of everything physically and earthly and exercise but we ain't gonna lay up any treasures in heaven. Not good, not good. So preacher, you against exercising? I already told you I wasn't. Be good to take care of yourself. Amen? But don't get so concentrated on these earthly things that you forget the heavenly things. Verse 9, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, for therefore we both labor and suffer reproach. If you're going to do something that's going to be profitable, godly exercising, it's going to be a labor, it's going to suffer reproach, Amen, because we trusted a living God who is the Savior of all men, especially those that believe these things, command and teach. He says, especially those that are believing. You know what he's talking to? He's talking about people that are born again. Do you know you can't exercise godly unless you know God. I mean, you can come to church, you know, you can read your Bible, you can pray, do godly things, you know, that are religious. But if you're not born again, you know, it's not going to change anything as far as you go into heaven. And you can read the Bible and be lost and it can probably start to direct some things in your life, maybe make you lay down some sins and maybe even do some good moral things. You can come to church and get into the Word of God and Maybe get you away from a bad crowd, get you around hopefully a good crowd at church, people that influence you in a godly way. It can be some profit in there, man, but it ain't gonna profit you as far as going to heaven. You can't go to church enough to go to heaven. Hey, you can't read your Bible enough to go to heaven. You can't exercise godly enough to be born again, to have your sins washed away. That's the work of God Almighty, amen. But for you that are born again to this trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, we need to start exercising godly in our lives. Turn back to Hebrews chapter number 12. Now we're talking about the exercise of chastening though. How does it work in the realm of chastening? He said in verse 11, Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous, nevertheless afterward, afterward, He's talking about the presence of chastening, but the afterward of chastening. So if there's a present time when the chastening is going on, and then the effects that come after the chastening that takes place, you can see that there's a time of chastening. There's a time span in your life that God is pulling out the whip. That God is maybe using the knife to cut things out of your life that you can be more fruitful. That God is maybe putting the thorn in there to keep you humble. The chastening of the work of the Lord. It takes time for God to get you back where you need to be when it comes to God's chastening hand. He said in verse number 11, now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but what? Grievous. Many have been whooped. Does anybody like a whooping? It'd be like somebody that likes running marathons. They're crazy, you know? You're not getting anything out of it. It's somebody that likes being warped. It's somebody that's kind of warped. Somebody likes the chastening hand of a heavenly father or an earthly father. The Bible said it's grievous for somebody to take the belt out and wear your tail out for wrongdoing. That's still biblical, by the way. Still needs to be done. You need to be disciplined in your life. But it's grievous. Nobody likes it, amen. Nobody likes somebody taking a leather strap and wearing them out across the tail, amen, and just beating them. They say, well, this is just real fun. I like this. I believe I'll let you do it again. The Bible said, no, it's not joyous. It's grievous. It's grievous to the one getting it. And somebody that's doing this right, it's grievous for the one that's delivering it to them, amen. Shouldn't get any satisfaction, any joy out of whooping a youngin'? The end result that maybe comes out of it, that's where your joy is gonna be. But in the meantime, while it's going on, in the timing of it, it is not joyous, it is grievous, amen. It's grievous. It's like when Daddy used to whoop us when we were little, amen, sent us to our rooms. Yeah, we got whoopers. We got our room sniffing and crying. You ever had the sniffles? Crying so bad that you can't control it kind of thing? Y'all kids don't know what I'm talking about, do you? Y'all ain't never had a whooping. Y'all older people know what I'm talking about. Getting sent to your room and trying to hold that thing in and be quiet. And Daddy, this used to be, this I remember, Daddy used to say this all the time. Hush that mess up or I'll come down and give you something to cry for. And I'm thinking, that's what you just gave me. Don't worry where you ever got that one from, amen? But it's amazing how you get old and you use it on your youngins. How does that mess up if I give you something to cry upon? It's grievous, amen? Nobody likes it, amen? I mean, I kind of thought my daddy liked it for a while there, but I realized I don't believe he really liked it. I hope he didn't really like it, amen? Sometimes he tells me he'd whoop me again, amen, if I don't watch out. Grievous. It's not joyful. There's no joy in a whooping. There's no joy in the chasing hand of the Lord. There's nothing good about it. There's nothing good for the one receiving it. It's not giving God any joy for doing it. There's no good in it. Hopefully the results of the end result of it is where the thing's going to come to pass. But in the meantime, there's nothing joyous about it. In the light of the exercise of chastening, when you're out there running and trying to get in shape, it's grievous, it hurts, man. The bones ache a little bit, the muscles are stretching, your lungs feel like they're running out. That exercise that is grievous, it's the resort that you're looking for. The time of the process is causing pain in your life. But hopefully in the end, it's going to accomplish what you want it to accomplish. When God's exercising His chastening hand on us, amen, it is not joyous, it's grievous, and it's going to take patience and patience in our lives for that time span of the whooping to bring forth the fruit that God wants out of us. It's joyous. Joyous. End results. Grievous. You ever seen somebody, God chastening them with some disease? God chastening somebody in their finances? God chasing somebody in their mind? God can get you any way He needs to get you. And to see somebody going through something like that because of disobedience to God and God trying to, and you say, well that's grievous man, that's bad. You see what they're going through in their lives and if it gives you any kind of satisfaction to see a child of God suffering under the chasing hand of the Lord, there's something wrong with you. to see somebody suffer because of their wrongdoing and God chasing them is grievous. It's not joyful. It's not joyful to go to the doctor because of God's chastening hand. I'm not saying all these things are because of the chastening hand of the Lord. God works things out in your life to bring fruit and joy and help you be a witness. But I'm talking about in the realm of chastening. God will use these things to try to get a hold of you. And it takes time. And during that time it's grievous. Grievous look in Isaiah chapter number 40, but through patience it'll pay off through patience For the presence present is grievous, but afterward afterward is what he said afterward is what we want to get to You got an exercise You stretch and run and lift weights or whatever you do, that grievous time of affliction to your body, it's the afterword that you're trying to get to, but during the time it is grievous. It's just like God exercising chasing on us. It's grievous during that time. It's painful, it's hurtful, amen. It's gonna take time. It's gonna take time. It's not gonna happen overnight. Isaiah chapter 40, look in verse 30. You know the verse, verse 31, but look in verse 30 and 31. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and young men shall utterly fall. You see that? It doesn't matter what age you are. But, verse 31, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. There's gonna be a renewal. To who? Those that wait. they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run, listen to these words, how they're tying in our text in just a moment, they shall run and not be what? Weary. They shall walk and not faint. So there's a time frame. What is this time? It's showing patience, it's calling waiting on the Lord. And if you'll wait on the Lord, you shall mount up with wings as eagles, you shall run and not be weary, you shall walk and not faint. Hey, God can get you to where you need to be so you can accomplish great things for God. but it's going to take time to get it to come to pass. It's not going to happen overnight. It might take a time. You're praying for somebody, God, to get them back where they need to be with the Lord. And the chasing of the Lord is softening them and conditioning them and working on them. It takes time, but it can yield forth the fruit of righteousness and that exercise thereby, God, can bring it forth for the glory of God if you be patient. Amen. You know what happens sometimes in our lives when it comes to the chasing hand of the Lord? Especially when somebody we're close to and God's trying to get a hold of them to get them back where they need to be with Him. And God's afflicting them in any kind of way He can during His chasing hand. And we see them suffer and we hate to see them suffer because we love them. They're close to us. You take a child that's out of the will of God and away from God, but they're saved and they're God's child, and God's maybe putting a chastening whip on them, and He's trying to get them back. Maybe He's afflicting them in their body, maybe in their mind, maybe their finances. However, God's trying to get them, and He's whipping them because they're His, because God whips His own. They're not bastards, they're sons in the context, He says. And God's whipping them. You know what we'll do in that time span? It seems like, boy, God's putting a lot on them. I can't stand to see them suffer like that. I can't stand to see them not be able to pay their bills and have to be in that kind of shape like that and we try to reach out and sometimes we'll get in the way of God and bail them out. You know what I'm talking about? Bail them out of the chasing of the Lord where God has got them where He needs them to be so they'll look up, amen, where they haven't looked in a long time to God because they've got their own life figured out and they're doing their own little thing and God is chasing them and they're in that time frame of God exercising that chasing on them which is painful, which is afflicting them, which is grievous. Hey, we get it where it starts touching our heart and we go in front of God and bail them out short of God getting them where they need to be with Him. It takes time. You know what it's going to take? It's going to take patience on our part, just as it'll take patience on the part of the one getting the whipping. You've got to let it be done. It's kind of like the Bible says about whipping your children, sparing not for their crime. You know, you should save their lives, you should deliver them from hell. You know, you've just got to stick with what's right because in the end it's going to produce what needs to be done. Patience. Chastening takes time. The exercise of chastening. You gotta wait on the Lord. Look what the Bible said in John 13. A good example right here of what Jesus said to his disciples about this time. He said, for the present is grievous, but afterward, afterward, during that time is grievous. During the present time of chastening, it's not joyful. It's grievous, but afterward is where the fruit is gonna be. Jesus here in John chapter number 13, as a servant, to his disciples, John 13, washing the feet of the disciples and showing humility to them. Look at the statement Jesus made to, I think it's Peter here, Peter, verse 7 it is, John 13, 7. Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do, thou knowest not what? Now, You don't get it, Peter. What I'm doing, you don't understand now, but look, but thou shalt know hereafter. You see the example here? Peter, you don't understand what I'm doing right now, but hereafter you're going to understand what I've done. That's the example of what Paul is saying over here in the book of Hebrews, over here in chapter number 12. No chasing for the present seemeth to be joyous. You don't understand right now, but afterward, it's going to yield forth the peace of a fruit of righteousness. Afterward, you're going to look back and say, I'm glad that I was afflicted, amen. Hey, because I was afflicted, I went not astray. God knew what to do to get me where I needed to be, but during that time, it is grievous. It hurts. It's hard, amen. Hey, it's a lot to take in, but it's the irresolute of patience in God's chastening hand that's gonna bring forth the fruit in your life. Don't bail out short of God getting you where you need to be. Don't you bail someone else out short of God getting them where they need to be. exercise takes time whether it be bodily exercise or heavenly exercise or godly exercise as Paul said in the book of timothy look back in hebrews chapter number 12 you understand the exercise of chastening takes time afterwards you'll see But during the present, look at it again in verse 11. Now, no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous nevertheless afterward. So it takes time. Number two, I said, there'll be results. If you allow the time process to work, it will produce results. You will see the results. What do we do when it comes to physical exercise? We don't put in enough time. We start out and say, well, this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to do this, get this off, maybe I'm going to get healthier, feel a little better. And we start going, it's grievous, it's hurtful, it's taking time out of my life. And then I can be doing something else. And so we back up, stop running, stop jogging, stop eating right, throw it away, take too much time, too much pain, no results, right? when it comes to the chastening hand of the Lord and the exercising thereby that God saying if you would put in the time afterward it would yield forth what the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby if you allow the exercise of chastening the work in your life you will begin to see results results what are the results the results in the context of verse 11 the peaceable fruit of righteousness the peaceable fruit of righteousness. You know, who doesn't want peace? The peaceable fruit of righteousness. It's going to produce what he said back in verse 10 and the end of that verse that we might be partakers of His holiness. There's going to be righteousness in our lives and with that righteousness comes peace. You know, that is something you can't afford to buy. And you can't afford to live without. You can't afford to buy it and you can't afford to live without it. But God will give that peace to you if it takes the chasing of the Lord to get it there, but you will not have the peaceable fruit of peace without righteousness. It ain't gonna work. You know what the precursor to peace is? Purity. If there's no purity, there's no peace. You know why a lot of people live in this world without peace? There's no purity. No pure, nobody's pure. What? No righteousness. We're living in sin, and with sin there's no peace. But if we get rid of the sin, get the righteousness of God, get the purity back, the holiness in the context, then God will maybe use chastening to get you there, and you'll never get the peaceable fruit until there's righteousness in your life. You know what God's chasing in you for? He's trying to beat the sin out of you. He's trying to get the disobedience out of your life. Just like you were chasing your child. Cause you shouldn't do that. I'm going to whip you cause you didn't. And I'm going to whip you and it's going to be grievous. It's not going to be joyous to me. It's not joyous to you. By the way, it's not even joyous to me to even see you doing what you're doing. It grieves the Lord to see us living in sin. Just as it does you as a father or mother to see your child living in sin. It's grievous. And it's going to take time to get it out. But if you get it out, it'll bring forth results. Boy, who don't want results? Who doesn't want to come to that point where it has brought peace back in the situation? What is the precursor of the peace? Purity. Purity. Look in Hebrews 7. We studied it when we were back there a little bit. Look at it again. It's been a while since we were in Hebrews 7. Hebrews 7 in verse number 2. Speaking of Melchizedek, look at the principle here in verse 2. To whom also Abraham, you got it? Let me still turn to Hebrews 7. Verse 2, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first, you see that? You see that? First. There's a reason why it's in there like that in your King James Bible. First, being by interpretation, king of what? He's talking about Melchizedek, but it's a principle here. First, he's the king of righteousness. Look what else. And after that also, king of Salem, which is king of what? He's talking about Melchizedek, what is he? He's the king of righteousness. But he's the king of Salem, which is my interpretation, the king of peace. If there's righteousness first, there'll be peace second. Hey, if you want the results of the peaceable fruits of righteousness in your life, hey, you gotta have that righteousness, you gotta have that purity, and if you get that purity, by the chastening of the Lord, taking time to beat it out of you, God can bring forth the results of peace to your soul. And I'll say it again, you can't afford to live without it, and you can't afford to buy it. But thank God, God'll give it. There's results. What's first? It's going to take purity. It's going to take righteousness to have peace. Wouldn't you like to have peace? Look in James chapter number 3, Hebrews James. James chapter 3, there's the principle. It's put out here. What's first? Righteousness, purity, then peace. King of righteousness, first, king of peace. James 3 verse 17, you there? What's the first word? But, now everybody ain't there, or you done quit. It's too grievous to flip that many pages, ain't it? Thought we'd get a ten-minute sermon in and go home. It's greed. No it's not, but it might be. But afterward it'll yield forth some fruit if you'll let it exercise thereby. Amen? Do you know why you don't have peace? You don't have righteousness. Now, that can go two ways. It could be the disobedience of a child of God LIVING IN SIN AND GOD WORKING ON YOU WITH TIME OF CHASTENING TO GET BACK THAT RIGHTEOUSNESS AND PEACE IN YOUR LIFE OR IT COULD BE YOU SIMPLY DON'T KNOW GOD. PAUL SAID IN THE BOOK OF EPHESIANS HAVING NO HOPE WITHOUT GOD, RIGHT? IN THIS WORLD. YOU KNOW IT'S BAD TO LIVE IN THIS WORLD WITHOUT GOD? THE SPEECH, WELL I BELIEVE IN GOD. I BELIEVE IN GOD. I BELIEVE IN JESUS. I BELIEVE HE DIED. YOU KNOW THE DEVILS BELIEVE IN TROUBLE. You know, a lot of people like to throw that at me and say, well, do you know Jesus is your Savior? Well, I believe in God. You know, I go to church, you know, every once in a while. I do things. You know, I read my Bible. I pray. But you know, but have you ever received Him as your personal Savior? Maybe that's why you don't have any peace, and that's maybe why you're substituting the world for your peace. And that's what the world will do. If they don't have peace, you've got to buy it somewhere else. And the way they're trying to buy it is surely not the right way to get it. And they try to live in a numb state with drugs and alcohol and dope and such and so forth as that to try to keep their self in a serene society in their mind because they know deep down in their soul something's missing. You know what I'm talking about, you law center tonight? You know what I'm talking about? I was there. I know what I'm talking about, to be lost, having no hope without God, with no peace in this whole world, and reaching for things to try to fill that void in your life that cannot be filled with anything you try. You're trying to buy peace and satisfaction. In a sense, you're seeking for God, which the Bible says no man seeketh after God. What you're seeking for is that peace. You're seeking that tranquility of soul. You're trying to find that satisfaction, and you ain't gonna find it in dope. You ain't gonna find it in liquor. You ain't gonna find it in a career, you ain't gonna find it in money, you ain't gonna find it in a man, you ain't gonna find it in a woman. I don't care what you dug the bucket in the well in this old world, it's not gonna bring satisfaction. You gonna wind up like that woman in the well, just dropping down every day, deeper and deeper every day, trying to find a drink to satisfy your soul. There ain't but one can satisfy your soul, and it's the Lord Jesus Christ. You gotta have righteousness first, then peace. You know what's good? God's righteousness is free as far as salvation is concerned. It's the imputed righteousness of God for you to be born again. God's got to give you His righteousness. The Bible said in 2 Corinthians 5, 21, He that knew no sin, that's only one, that's God Almighty, that is the Savior that you say you believe in. He that knew no sin was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. You got to be made righteous. It's got to be a transaction of God. And unless God saves your soul, you'll die in your sin without God. and ultimately go to the devil's head. But if you would put your faith and trust in the shed blood of Jesus Christ and receive his righteousness, you know what comes with that package deal? That peace you've been looking for. You remember when you got born again? Something flooded your soul that never been in there before. I've drunk a lot of things to try to fill that soul and that void up, but that day God filled it up. Peace. Peace. What does it come first? Righteousness. Righteous. James 3, 17. But the wisdom that is from above is what? First. First what? Pure. Then what? Peaceable. See the process? See the truth? It is first pure, then peaceable. The results, it brings forth peace. Look in Hebrews chapter number 12 again. Everybody wants results. Here's the thing, whether this thing applies to you tonight as a sinner lost without God or as a saved Christian, everybody wants the results. Here's the problem, we don't like the time. How much time is it going to cost me to get to the result? Job comes out on the top in the end, but not before a lot of hardships. Read the book of Job, 42 chapters of all the tribulation that he lived in after the death of his family, after the loss of all his possessions, after his health being attacked. Throughout the book of Job, the ridicule of his friends, all the hardships through that time. Of those 42 chapters of Job, the majority of the chapters are dealing with the hardships of Job. Until you get to the end when God shows up and vindicates Job and the peace shows up back in his life. Takes time. Hardships. That's what it's going to take. It'll be a thorn, I said in the beginning. to keep you humble, it could be a knife to bring forth fruit, it could be the Word of God to clean you up, it could be the whip to keep you heavenly minded and depending on God. But the results will come. I thought he would amen before it was over with. Hebrews 12. Look in verse 13. 12 and 13. So I said it takes time, there's results, but here's the effort. I won't be long. Verse 12 and 13. Wherefore, here's the effort, if the results are going to come, and it's going to take time, what are the efforts? There's got to be effort. Verse 12, Wherefore, lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed. It's going to take effort. In the context of verse 12 and 13, there are three things there that the effort is shown in. Lifting up the hands, which hang down low, the feeble knees, in verse 12, and make straight paths for your what? Feet. So there's hands, knees, and feet. The effort of your hands, the effort of your knees, the effort of your feet. Somebody said that a famous general said, bowing on his knees before war, looked down at his knees and said, if you only knew where I was carrying you, you'd be shaking more than you're shaking. Some of y'all get that tonight. If you only knew where I was going to carry you knees, you'd be shaking more than you're shaking. It's going to take effort. Effort with your hands, you preach it. It's going to take effort with your knees, you preach it. It's going to take effort with your feet. You preach it. It'll work. You know how it works. Amen. It's going to take effort in your life. Lift up, verse number 12, lift up the hands which hang down. Why are they hanging down? You know why they're hanging down? There's no peace. There's no righteousness. You ever want to think about somebody's hands hanging down? You ain't getting that done with your hands hanging down. It's kind of like having your hands in your pocket and nobody working. But you know what hangs down with your hands? Your shoulders. That's what I, when I read that, that's what I think about, somebody drooped over. Lift up your hands and just hang down. Why are your hands all hanging down? Just look how bad it is. Look at the chasing that I'm under. Look at the whip that I'm in. It's just so hard. It's affliction and you're just depressed. Lift them up! Lift them up what? Praise the Lord, amen. Lift them up and go to work, amen. Hey, lift up the hands which hang down. What's he saying? Don't quit. Don't quit. Don't give up. Don't just say, I can't go any further. I can't make it anymore. No, lift them up, amen. Lift them up to God and go forth and put effort in your wall with God, amen. It's gonna take effort. You can't quit. You can't give up because there's a hardship. Keep going. Lift them up. Not only lift your hands up and your knees, your feeble knees, but verse 13, and make straight paths for your feet. Straight paths. Well, what's straight? That's that straight and narrow way. Not that broad way that leads to destruction. You know what that broad way has brought us? It's brought destruction to your life, spiritually speaking. It's brought the chastening hand of the Lord because you've got off the path. And God said, you've got to get back between the ditches. And I've got to get you back over here, make straight paths for your feet. Are you walking far off? It's going to take effort. Why? I'm going to get my feet back in the path. I'm going to get back in the row. We're going to keep going. You know, after you get out of the row, take a plowman. Somebody plowing, and they're in the row, and you're plowing the rows between the fruit. You got rows of fruit and you got plows in the middle. You plow through there so you can fertilize and keep the weeds out. Plowing. You know what I'm talking about, y'all farmers? You know what happens if you get out of the plow row? You get into the fruit. Then you start tearing up your tomato plants, or your corn, or your okra, or your squash, or maybe a watermelon. Surely you don't want to tear up a watermelon. But you get out of the ropes. You start tearing up the fruit. You know what a lot of us have done in our Christian lives? We've got out of the rope. And we're tearing up the fruit. What? The fruit of righteousness. That peace. We're tearing up all the fruit. All the things that we could be doing for God are becoming nothing. We've got out of the rope. Amen. Make straight paths for your feet. Stay in the straight and narrow way. There's nothing good walking away from God. You've got to exercise. It's going to take effort in the straight path. Straight pass. Hold your place here real quick. Proverbs 4. Psalms, Proverbs, Proverbs 4. Straight pass for your feet. Proverbs 4.25. Look, look. You looking? Oh, look back to verse 23. We got to go there, don't we? Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a forward mouth and perverse lips. Put far from thee, let thine eyes look right on. right on, straight paths, let the eyelids look straight before thee, ponder the path of thy feet, let all thy ways be established, turn not to the right hand nor to the left, remove thy foot from what? There it is! Make straight paths for your feet, look back at Hebrews 12, quick! Make straight paths for your feet! Verse 13, Make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way. Be turned out of the way. If you don't make straight paths for your feet, and you don't keep an effort, the lame, the lame, the Bible says, the lame shall be turned out of the way. Now who is the lame? Well there's only two aspects it could be. The lame could be the individual being the one that's being chastened. You can be the lame one that'll be turned out of the way, or it could be someone observing you through the chastening. If you go back to Hebrews chapter 12, verse number 1. So it could be you or it could be someone around you. When you get turned out of the way, guess what? Somebody lame is going to be turned out of the way. Turned out of the way? Did you catch that? Is that what your Bible says? Turned out of the way? Well, what way are they going to be turned out of? John 14, 6, Jesus said, I am the what? Wait, so if they turn out of the way, they'll be turned away from who? Jesus. Right? Who will? You could, or somebody watching you. Here's God trying to get you so you can get someone else, but here you won't make straight paths for your feet, you're going to do your own little thing, and you're turning others out of the way. Look at it again, verse 13. Make straight paths for your feet, Lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be what? Healed. You know what's going to heal it? You know what's going to heal it? You getting back going. Someone said, well I had knee surgery. Well, you know what they say do? As soon as you can get going, get to moving that thing. Because the moving of it is going to help produce the healing of it. You've got to get back going. If you don't get back going, it's going to stiffen up and you'll probably never walk again. You get some kind of affliction in you that's possible for healing to come in that thing, you've got to move it. You've got to exercise that shoulder, that rotator cuff. You've got to turn that neck when you get things. It's got to be an exercise. It's got to be a movement. It's that movement that's going to bring forth the healing. You know why a lot of people are not getting the healing? They're not moving. They're sitting back thinking, well, it's got to get better sometime. He says, lift up your hands, your feeble knees, your feet get in the path, and that's going to bring forth the healing in verse 13, but let it rather be healed. You know what the leper says, 2 Kings 7, verse 3, when they found out that they were going to die, starvation? It's what they said, 2 Kings 7, verse 3, at the end of that verse. He said, why sit we here? Why sit we here until we die? The leper said, hey, you know what? We're starving. There's nothing to eat. We're lepers. We're outside the city. We don't fit in with anybody. Kind of like you sin and it's lost without God tonight. You don't fit in, you're outside, yet leprosy of sin's got you. Saint of God may be living away from God tonight. Why sit we here until we die? Why sit there and draw up and die? Why not get up and go? Get up and go what? Get up and go confess your sin. Get up and go accept Jesus. Get up and do something that the exercise might bring forth the healing to your soul. Lord, you can be like the lepers. Thought, they didn't. They got up and they got the fruit, man. You talking about with God working a miracle? Somebody just taking God by faith and said, you know, we can sit here and die or we can get up and do something. By the way, if you get up and accept Jesus Christ by faith like that, you'll get a miracle you never thought you could imagine. And saying to God, you'll get back where you need to be, where you've been longing a long time, and it'll be sweeter than you think it is. You can't imagine. So why sit we here and die? The exercise of chasing. It takes time. There'll be results, but there'll be no results in that time span unless there's some effort. Heads of Balnazzar Club.