242. The Education Of Sons Of God.

Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered. - Hebrews 5:8.

IT is always consoling to us to behold the footsteps of our Lord. When we see him tried, we cheerfully submit to the like trial. When we perceive that in his case an exception to the rule of chastening might have been expected, and yet none was made, we are encouraged to bear our sufferings patiently.

When we see the great Elder Brother put to more rather than less of trial, we are fully drawn to obey the will of God by submission.

I. SONSHIP DOES NOT EXEMPT FROM SUFFERING.

1. Not even Jesus, as a Son, escaped suffering.

· He was the Son, peculiarly, and above all others.

· He was the honored and beloved first-born.

· He was the faithful and sinless Son.

· He was soon to be the glorified Son in an eminent sense.

2. No honor put upon sons of God will exempt them from suffering.

3. No holiness of character, nor completeness of obedience, can exempt the children of God from the school of suffering.

4. No prayer of God's sons, however earnest, will remove every thorn in the flesh from them.

5. No love in God's child, however fervent, will prevent his being tried.

The love and wisdom of God ensure the discipline of the house for all the heirs of heaven without a single exception.

II. SUFFERING DOES NOT MAR SONSHIP.

The case of our Lord is set forth as a model for all the sons of God.

1. His poverty did not disprove his Sonship (Luke 2:12).

2. His temptations did not shake his Sonship (Matt. 4:3).

3. His endurance of slander did not jeopardize it (John 10:36).

4. His fear and sorrow did not put it in dispute (Matt. 26:39).

5. His desertion by men did not invalidate it (John 16:32).

6. His being forsaken of God did not alter it (Luke 23:46).

7. His death cast no doubt thereon (Mark 15:39). He rose again and, thus, proved his Father's pleasure in him (John 20:17).

Never was there a truer, or lovelier, or more beloved Son than the sufferers. "A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief."

III. OBEDIENCE HAS TO BE LEARNED EVEN BY SONS.

Even he in whom there was no natural depravity, but perfect, inherent purity, had to learn obedience.

1. It must be learned experimentally.

· What is to be done and suffered can only be learned in the actual exercise of obedience.

· How it is done must be discovered by practice.

· The actual doing of it is only possible in trial.

2. It must be learned by suffering.

· Not by words from the most instructive of teachers.

· Nor by observation of the lives of others.

· Nor even by perpetual activity on our own part. This might make us fussy rather than obedient; we must suffer.

3. It must be learned for use in earth and in heaven.

· On earth by sympathy with others.

· In heaven by perfect praise to God growing out of experience.

IV. SUFFERING HAS A PECULIAR POWER TO TEACH TRUE SONS.

It is a better tutor than all else, because:

1. It touches the man's self: his bone, his flesh, his heart.

2. It tests his graces, and sweeps away those shams which are not proofs of obedience, but presences of self-will.

3. It goes to the root, and tests the truth of our new nature. It shows whether repentance, faith, prayer, etc., are mere importations, or home-grown fruits.

4. It tests our endurance, and makes us see how far we are established in the obedience which we think we possess. Can we say, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him"?

The anxious question: Am I a son?

The aspiring desire: Let me learn obedience.

The accepted discipline: I submit to suffer.