The Purpose of Discipline

1:05The wise, according to Scripture, love and welcome discipline. Fools hate and reject it. In Proverbs 12:1, we find this. It's a good summary. Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid. Now, kids, some of you just gasped because I said the S-word. Stupid. And your parents have told you not to use that word. And they're right. You should not call anyone stupid. But it's okay when God does it. And God says a person who hates discipline is stupid.

1:48Why is that? Why is a person who hates discipline stupid? Well, it's because discipline is a good thing. Look at what the author of Hebrews has to say about discipline. For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Friends, God's word is truth. So when God tells us about discipline in the Bible, he speaks the truth. Discipline at the time is painful, not pleasant. And we know this from all of life. It is painful when coaches make players lift weights and run.

2:32It is painful when doctors tell patients they need to give up sugar. It is painful when parents spank their children for disobedience. For the moment, discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Disciplined players have the strength and endurance to play well at the end of the game and win. Disciplined patients live. Longer, healthier lives with friends and family. Disciplined children learn submission to authority and self-control so that they are a blessing rather than a burden to their parents and others.

3:15Discipline is something that nobody wants, but everybody needs. And to some extent, the less you want discipline, the more you need it. That was certainly true of Jonah, whom God disciplined for his disobedience. Last week, we began a four-week series through the book of Jonah called Compassionate God. And we saw how God commanded him to go and preach to the wicked Ninevites, the enemies of Israel. But Jonah disobeyed, and instead of going to Nineveh to preach, he got on a boat and sailed in the opposite direction, all while calling himself a man who feared the Lord.

3:56So God appointed a great storm, and the entire ship was about to break apart. Finally, Jonah told the sailors that if they wanted to live, if they wanted to survive this, if they wanted the storm to stop, they would have to throw him overboard, since his disobedience was the cause of their trouble. So they did. They throw Jonah overboard. They asked God to forgive them for this act. And what we saw in chapter one was that Jonah talked the talk. He said that he feared the Lord, but he did not walk the walk. He did not actually obey God.

4:31We saw last week that as Christians, we have to walk the walk. We can't just say we fear God. Our lives and our choices have to match up with our profession of faith. And so in today's text, we heard that Jonah is sinking down into the sea. He is about to die when God appoints this great fish to swallow him alive. This is God's discipline. God had been trying all along to get Jonah to stop, to get Jonah to listen, but he wouldn't stop. He wouldn't listen. He wouldn't repent. Jonah deserved punishment. Jonah deserved death.

5:12But God loved Jonah, just like he loves every one of his children. And because God loved Jonah, God disciplined Jonah. That is what all good fathers do. So this morning we're going to see here in Jonah chapter 2 that God disciplines us for our good and for his glory. Our outline today, God disciplines us to reprove us. God disciplines us to remind us. And God disciplines us to restore us. So let's take a look at verse 17 in chapter 1 and consider that first point. God disciplines us to reprove us.

5:57Look at Jonah 1:17. And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. I don't know if you're scared of open water, things like the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, Lake Bryan. But lots of people are scared of open water. And in the ancient world, people were even more scared of open water. The ocean and the depths that it contained represented chaos and disorder and danger.

6:38In the Bible, it's the dwelling place of sea monsters like Leviathan. In Revelation, the beast emerges from the depths of the sea. In the flood, it was used as a tool of God's judgment. On top of all of this, most people in the ancient world could not swim. That seems far-fetched to us in a society with lots of swimming pools and water sports, but most people could not swim back then. And so we recall last week when Jonah told the sailors, pick me up and hurl me into the sea. The Bible does not even record the response of the sailors, probably because it was not fit to print.

7:19But of course, the sailors eventually relent because there's no other way to stop the storm. And I want you to imagine that moment that Jonah hits the water. The water is churned. Up because of the storm. He has no idea what might be swimming around him or near him. The salty water is burning his eyes and his throat as he flails about. All of God's waves and billows are passing over him, pulling him under. The undertow is strong, keeping him under the water. And at some point, he seems to realize: this is it.

7:52This is how it ends. This is how I die. Then all of a sudden, Jonah's surroundings change completely. He's not dry, he's not on land, but something has changed. He's not in the water anymore. And whether Jonah knew it or not, he was inside the belly of a gigantic fish. And he was going to be in that belly of that gigantic fish for three days and three nights. I want you to think about that. Imagine how dark it was.

8:27If you've ever been in a place that has no light at all, it is eerie. Imagine what it felt like. Imagine what it smelled like for 72 hours. And that, of course, is the point. God is reproving Jonah for his disobedience. Now, in our culture, we don't use the word reprove much. You don't really hear that outside of the Bible or outside of church today. So let me give you the definition of the word reprove. To reprove is to reprimand or censure.

9:04It's to state that someone has done wrong with the implication that there is proof of such wrongdoing. So let me give you a few biblical examples. Proverbs 3. My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights. Look at Proverbs 29, verse 15. The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bring shame to his mother.

9:41So to reprove is to reprimand. It's to state that someone has done wrong with the implication that there is proof of that wrongdoing. Now we know that Jonah had disobeyed God. He had done exactly the opposite of what God had commanded him to do. And he did not seem to feel bad about this at all. He ran away. He took a nap. He openly confessed that he was disobeying and running from God. He seemed clearly to prefer death to repentance. Jonah needed reproof, and hence the great fish.

10:21The great philosopher Mike Tyson once said: Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. And in the same way, everybody's tough until they're confronted with death. Jonah was bold and brash about his disobedience. He bragged openly to the sailors about what he was doing. But as we heard in the reading, as he is sinking down to the bottom of the sea, when the bars are closing in on him, when he is about to die, he was not so tough anymore. He wanted to live. And our merciful God wanted him to live also.

10:59But God needed to discipline Jonah, his wayward child. He could not leave Jonah to himself. He was bringing shame to his heavenly father through his disobedience and sin. And so God reproved him. He arrested him. He stopped him in his tracks. He set him in the belly of a fish to bring him to his senses. That he was not on the path to blessing and life. He was on the path to suffering and death. That is what all sin and disobedience does. It sets us on the path to suffering and death, not blessing and life.

11:35So, friends, when we are in sin, we can respond just like Jonah. We can run away. We can lay down and go to sleep in the midst of the storm going on in our life. We can openly tell others, I am running away from God. We can even get to the point where we would rather die than repent of the sin that we are participating in. And when we get to the sin, That point in those moments, what we need is God's loving intervention.

12:07We need his loving discipline, his loving reproof. We need him to stop us in our tracks, to help us see what's going on, to open our eyes to the evidence of what we're really doing, to reprimand us, and to get us going back in the right direction, back on the path to blessing and life. Friends, you might be in that spot this morning. You might be in a place where you are in need of God's loving intervention, his loving discipline. You might already be experiencing his loving intervention, his loving discipline. Don't begrudge him for that. If you are able to sin without discipline and consequence, that is not evidence of God's love. Because no heavenly father allows his children to go on disobeying him without discipline. No earthly father allows their children to go on doing those things. God loves those he disciplines and disciplines those he loves. So he disciplines us to reprove it, to reprove us. He did it for Jonah's good and for his own glory, and he disciplines us. He reproves us for our good and his own glory as well.

13:27Let's take a look now at chapter 2, what we'll consider. That second point, God disciplines us to remind us. Good verse 1. Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying, I called out to the Lord out of my distress, and he answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. Ah, those six simple words that begin this chapter. Then Jonah prayed to the Lord. That does not seem like a big deal, especially for a prophet of the living God. But we have to remember that this is the first time Jonah has prayed in the entire book.

14:14Jonah is a book filled with irony, and we see that in the contrast between Jonah's response and the pagan sailors' response in chapter 1. Look back at chapter 1, verse 5. Look at what the pagan sailors do. The storm hits, and verse 5 says, Then the mariners were afraid and each cried out to his God. Go down to verse 6. The captain goes down into the belly of the ship and he tells Jonah, Arise, call out to your God. Perhaps the God will give a thought to us that we may not perish.

14:49In verse 7, the sailors cast lots, which is them asking for spiritual direction when they don't know what to do. If you go down to verse 14 and look there, The sailors pray, O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you. And then the final verse in that section, verse 16, then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

15:22Friends, no less than five separate times, these pagan sailors pray, they encourage prayer, or they seek spiritual direction. Five separate times. And these are unbelievers. What about Jonah? What is he doing this entire time? Running from God, taking a nap, excusing his sin, asking to be killed. Never once does he pray to God. Why doesn't Jonah pray to God? Is it a lack of information? A lack of training? Does he need a class on prayer? Of course not. It's not a knowledge problem for Jonah. It's a heart problem. Jonah does not want to pray. And friends, we have all been in that place before. When we are in sin, we do not want to talk to God. We want to be away from God. Jonah does not want to pray. His sin, his rebellion, his disobedience has hardened his heart toward the Lord. The point where he asks to be killed. But, friends, this is the moment that things begin to change. Getting thrown into the sea was part of God's discipline, and God is going to use this to remind Jonah of the truth. If you look at verse 3, Jonah notes that his rebellion got him cast into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded him. In verse 5, if you look there, Jonah recalls that the waters closed in over him to take his life, and the deep surrounded him. He notes that the weeds wrapped around his head at the root of the mountains. That is the deepest part of the sea.

17:14Jonah had fled from the Lord, and as he hit the bottom of the sea, Jonah himself hit rock bottom. This was the lowest point. He could run no further. In verse 6, he confesses that he felt the bars closing in on him, that he was going to die and spend forever in this watery prison. And that, after all, is what Jonah deserved. Punishment for his rebellion. But at this point, what happens? What happens when Jonah is at his lowest point, when he is at rock bottom?

17:55He remembers the Lord. In verse 2, Jonah says, I called out to the Lord out of my distress. He answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. The sea was so deep and so low and dark, it felt like Sheol, the place of the dead. In verse 4, Jonah says, Then I said, I am driven away from your sight, yet I shall look again on your holy temple. Jonah seemed to understand that he was being disciplined, that he had been driven out of God's sight, so to speak. But he also seems to remember that God is merciful and that God would save him. Look at verse 7.

18:45Jonah says, When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you into your holy temple. Oh, friends, Jonah had seemingly been doing everything he could to forget God. But now, as his life is slipping away, as he is at the end of himself, when he can hold his breath no longer, he remembers God and prays. And if you look at verse 8, we see exactly what Jonah remembers. Look at verse 8. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. Salvation, he says. In verse 9, belongs to the Lord.

19:36So finally, after all his running, Jonah remembers God. God is the one who saves. You can love idols, you can serve idols, but idols will never love you back. They will not listen to you, they will not answer you. God alone exhibits steadfast love. He is willing and able to save all who cry out to him for salvation. And at the bottom of the sea, when he is moments away from death, Jonah remembers God and his wonderful attributes. And friends, that is the second purpose of discipline. God disciplines us to remind us of what is true.

20:24See, one of the reasons that the book of Jonah is in our Bibles is because God wants us to understand that we cannot outrun him. I mean, think about this whole preposterous situation. You cannot try harder than Jonah did to run away from God. You cannot be more stubborn than Jonah. And yet, as Jonah sat on the sea floor, where was God? Right there. After all of his efforts, after all of his running, after all of his stubbornness, after all, Trying to get away from God, he had put exactly zero inches between himself and God.

21:10God was right there. Reminds us of Psalm 139. Look on the screen. The psalmist asks, Where shall I go from your spirit? Where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. Some of you have been running from God for a long time.

21:50You have been running away through a series of choices that you have made. And you might think that you are too far away, that you could never come back to God, that you could never get back to God. But my friend, all you have to do is turn around. All you have to do is turn around. That's what the word repent means. It means to turn. If you will simply remember the Lord and repent, if you will simply turn around, you will find that he has been there the whole time.

22:26The second that Jonah remembered God, the Second that he turned, God was right there, ready to hear him, ready to save him. So, however long you've been running, however hard you've been running, whatever series of choices that you have made that have gotten you to where you are today, whatever discipline that you have endured or that you might have to endure because you've been running, God, understand that God is disciplining you to remind you. All you need to do is remember and return.

23:07So, we've seen that God disciplines us to reprove us, and God disciplines us to remind us. Now, let's consider that final point: God disciplines us to restore us. Look at verse 8 again: Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed, I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord. And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

23:51Over the past few decades, discipline has fallen on hard times. Parents are hesitant to discipline. Their children. Teachers are hesitant to discipline their students. Coaches are hesitant to discipline their players. Even supervisors at work are hesitant to discipline their employees. There are many reasons for this, but one reason that parents and teachers and coaches and supervisors are hesitant to discipline or have stopped doing it altogether is because we mistakenly equate discipline and punishment. Discipline and punishment are related terms, and in the English language, they're almost used synonymously. But discipline and punishment are not the same thing in the Bible.

24:49Punishment is retributive in nature, it is carrying out vengeance on a wrongdoer when they have committed an offense. So you break the law, you break a command, you break a rule, if you behave in a certain way, if you fail to do your job, you are going to pay a price, which often means you're going to lose something. You lose a privilege, you lose a benefit, you lose your job. Punishment is an end in and of itself. You get punished for doing something or for not doing something, but there is no greater end in mind.

25:30Is the end. It's an end in and of itself. But, friends, discipline is different. And that's because discipline is not punitive in nature. It's not retributive. It's not an end in and of itself. Discipline is not about vengeance. It's about correction. It's about growing in wisdom. Discipline is not an end in and of itself. It's a means to an end. And that end, the end of discipline, is restoration. Consider how the Bible talks about the purpose of discipline. And what I want you to notice in these verses I'm about to show you is the relational context that all of them are set in.

26:20Notice that it's about restoration. Look at Job 5 on the screen. Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves. Therefore, despise not the discipline of the Almighty. For he wounds, but he binds up. He shatters, but his hands heal. Look at Proverbs 29:17. Discipline your son, and he will give you rest. He will give delight to your heart. And then Hebrews 12, verse 11, once more. For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Brothers and sisters, discipline is not punitive in nature. It's not an end in and of itself. Discipline is corrective in nature, and its end is restoration.

27:25So, back to Jonah. Why did God send the storm? Why did God allow the sailors to hurl Jonah into the sea? Why did God send a huge fish to swallow Jonah alive? Was it punitive? Was it to punish Jonah, to execute vengeance on him? Of course not. God is not punishing Jonah for his sinful disobedience because good fathers do not punish their children. They discipline them for their good that they might grow in wisdom and holiness.

28:04God is disciplining Jonah. His goal is restoration. And so we see in verse 10, after Jonah has prayed to the Lord and promised to pay his vow to the Lord as a prophet, what happens? Look at verse 10. And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. Friends, God disciplines us to reprove us, remind us, and ultimately, To restore us, God restored Jonah to his calling as a prophet. He restores us to our calling as Christians. He disciplines us out of love because he's a good father. But he never disciplines us to punish us because there is no punishment left for the children of God. Jesus bore all of our punishment on the cross when he took his place for our sins. He bore all of our punishment so that we could receive all of Jesus' reward through faith.

29:10So, brothers and sisters, we've seen today that God disciplines us to reprove us, remind us, and restore us. God's discipline stops us in our tracks and helps us to turn around, to get off the road that leads to suffering and death, and to get back on the road that leads to blessing and life. God disciplines us for our good and for his glory. So, friend, let me ask you: Has God been trying to get your attention in some way?

29:48If you are a Christian, has God been trying to get your attention in some way? Are you experiencing pain or sickness? Are you experiencing sorrow in a relationship? Difficulty at work or school? Do doors seem to be closing in your face? Does every answer seem to be no right now? If that's the case, let me be clear. You may be fully obedient to God. Those things are not necessarily the discipline of God. Those things may be the fact that we live in a fallen world. And you are experiencing the trials of living in a fallen world as a Christian. That is entirely possible. Particularly if you've searched the scriptures, if you've prayed, if you've examined your life, if you've invited others to examine your life, and you can't see any sin or disobedience as far as you know.

30:50But it could be that those things and others that I've mentioned, those things that you are experiencing, it could be the loving discipline of God for disobedience. Remember, in the New Testament, God put Ananias and Sapphira to death for lying. Paul says that some of the Corinthians died because they took the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner. God can and certainly will use lesser things than death to stop us in our tracks and turn us around. God can and does use pain and sickness, the end of relationships, difficulty at work and School and scores of other things to reprove us, remind us, and restore us.

31:37Oh, but brothers and sisters, remember that if you are experiencing the discipline of God, it is evidence that you are loved by a good and perfect Heavenly Father. He loves you. That's why this is happening to you. He desires your good and his glory above all. And so, if you are a believer and you are experiencing the discipline of God, respond with humility and thankfulness. God will never leave you or forsake you. He is saving you from sin's power today, and he will save you from sin's penalty in the end. Thanks be to God for that.

32:21If you are not yet a follower of Jesus, my friend, God is calling you to follow Jesus today. And maybe you've thought to yourself, you know, the reason that I haven't started following Jesus is because God has not given me a sign. And if that's been your response to Jesus, you need to know that there are lots of signs that you've been given. The Bible says that all of creation points to the fact that there is a Creator who made all of this. The Bible says that you've been given a conscience, an innate sense of right and wrong that tells you when things are sinful or things are good.

33:01The Bible is filled with story after story of God's grace toward you and toward all sinners. And yet you may still be in the place where you're saying, I won't follow Jesus until he gives me a sign. And if that's true, you are not alone in wanting that. In fact, many religious leaders in Jesus' day wanted a sign as well. Look on the screen at Matthew 12. Then some of the scribes and the Pharisees answered him, saying, Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you. But he answered them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

34:08Friends, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is your sign to follow him. His sinless life was attested to by hundreds of people and is attested to in the Bible, in these historical recordings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. His death on the The cross is testified to by hundreds of people, real people in human history. The tomb being empty and people interacting with Jesus in a real body with flesh and bones that ate and talked and walked is testified to by hundreds of people in history. You have your sign in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and he is calling you to himself today.

35:01So please don't ask for another sign. Accept the sign that God has already given. That just as Jonah was in the belly of a real fish for three days and three nights, so Jesus was in the heart of the earth in his tomb from Friday to Sunday on Easter weekend. And he rose from the grave, not spiritually, not in hearts and minds, not in a hopeful wish, but in fact, in flesh, in reality. And his resurrection is the proof that his claims are true, that he is the eternal Son of God, that he is the Savior, and that if you repent and believe in him, you will be forgiven and you will be reconciled to God. That is your sign. So if you aren't yet following Jesus, put your faith in his life, death, and resurrection today. Turn to him and become a child of God who will be both loved by God and disciplined by God for your good and for his glory.

35:59Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your loving discipline, that you will not allow your children to go on pursuing our own ways, turning our backs on you, running from you, ignoring your commands. But you, in love, will pursue us, you will discipline us, you will bring us back to yourself, and that is often painful. We thank you, all of us who are Christians, for the ways we've experienced your loving discipline in our own lives, that you have kept us from our own devices.

37:02I pray for Christians who are experiencing your discipline in some form even now. God, would you grant them repentance? Would you help them to see, as Jonah was finally able to see, your loving pursuit. And God, we pray for our friends here today who are not yet believers in Jesus. We pray that they would see. The sign that you have given in Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, that they would put their faith in him, their trust in him, their confidence in him this morning, that they would turn from their sin and receive forgiveness and eternal life through faith.

37:51In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.