Seven propositions about discipline from Hebrews 12:4-11
1. God disciplines his children (5-7,10)
2. God disciplines all his children (6,8)
3. God disciplines only his children (6-8)
4. Discipline is training: God disciplines his children for their good (10-11)
5. Discipline seems unpleasant and painful (11)
6. God’s children should endure God’s discipline (5,7,9)
7. God’s disciplining his children compares to human parents’ disciplining
their children (5,7-10)
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1. Christian, don’t think something strange is happening when you face
suffering in this life. God disciplines his children (3-6).

• In the midst of life’s hardships, consider Jesus, who endured
  opposition from sinners (3).
• In your struggle against sin you have not yet shed your blood (4).
• Remember the scriptures: the Lord disciplines and chastens everyone
  he accepts as a child.]

2. Christian, we glory in our sufferings because we know what it produces in
us (7-11).

• The necessity of parental discipline (7-8)
• The right response to it (9)
• The benefits of nurture through divine discipline (10-11).

3. A call to Christian action in the face of suffering - individually, and as a
church (12-13).

* This sermon owes a debt to D.A. Carson’s “How Long, O Lord? Reflections
in Suffering and Evil”