“Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby.” — Hebrews 12:11

It is sometimes said that the Bible should be made more simple. Young people really cannot read the Bible and it is not very meaningful for young people. Have you ever heard that said, my youthful friend? Of course, you do not agree with this propaganda against the sacred Scriptures, do you? And do you know why I am so certain that you do not agree with this? It is because I believe that the Holy Spirit was promised to you no less than to the adults in the church. You are a member, a living member of the Church of Jesus Christ, of His body of which He is the Head. The Spirit dwells in Christ as in the Head and also in you as members of the body. You are Christians and are such only because you are partakers of Christ’s anointing.

You are sons of our heavenly Father; the objects of His eternal love and mercy in Jesus Christ you are. He was pleased and delighted to adopt you as His sons and daughters. And as the children of His in­finite delight He makes you the objects of His special chastening and hardships for Christ’s sake. It is given also unto you, young people, out of mere grace not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer in His behalf (Phil. 1:29). Because you are God’s covenant young people you are different from the children of the world, and you are also to conduct yourselves differently than they. Your citizenship is in heaven where Christ is our Head.

Now to form you and me as the potter forms the clay the heavenly Father as the Father of spirits puts you in His program of spiritual exercises. These are all exer­cises unto godliness. We must hate the lie of false teaching and all external worship and then “exercise thyself unto godliness’’ (I Tim. 4:7). And the Lord gives us the spiritual “workout” so to speak. We are exercised by Him in the warfare of faith and godliness. We are to become partakers of God’s holiness. We are not to be simply some exemplary moralists and legalistic per­fectionists. Nay, we are to share in the holiness of Cod Himself, conformed to His image as sons and daughters. To bring us to that perfection he gives us hardships, affliction and sufferings for Christ’s sake, which he sanctifies to our hearts by His Spirit.

We are, therefore, as covenant youth a very peculiar group of spiritual gymnasts. We must run a different race which is set before us. It is the race of the hope eternal in the heavens. This race is not run by the unspiritual bastard children. Nor do they receive the afflictions and sufferings which God gives to his true children, whom He loves so very dearly.

I know it; I know it! You really do not desire this road of affliction. You do not like to be hated of all men for Christ’s sake. You wince at the thought, that you will not be loved if you confess the Name of the Lord, wherever you are, in word and deed. And it is painful not to be accepted because you confess your Lord over against all the enemies of God’s Word inside and outside of the church of God in the world. It is painful to be in a little church which does not receive any acclaim from the church world because you have doctrines which they reject. It is painful to hold to the Five Points of the Reformed teaching in a church-world where man is put in the center of all things and the God of the Scriptures is rejected. No, that experience for you young people is not joyous. When you meet that young girl, whom you can­not join in life, because she does not love your God, then it is painful to leave her forever because you can only marry “in the Lord.” Yes, the chastening of the Lord is not joyous for the present but gives grief and pain to the flesh.

But, come, my youthful fellow-member in Christ, and see what it works “after­ward.” It is a blessed reward that is ours which the Lord gives us in His spiritual gymnasium. It is the peaceable fruit of righteousness. We must look at the “fruit” of the Spirit in our life. This is good fruit on a good tree. It is the fruit of faith which has been purified from the dross. The final fruit is to enter into the glory of the Lord. Here it is called the fruit of righteousness, that is, a fruit which consists in personal righteousness in the keeping of God’s commandments. This righteousness is merited for us by Christ on the Cross and is ours by the Spirit of grace in our hearts.

You are still young and inexperienced in the gymnasium of your heavenly Father. He will have many trying experiences yet for you to endure with patience. Life will not be easy for you as a Christian. Every­one that will live godly in this world shall suffer hardships. We must pass through many trials into final glory. But to those who “are exercised thereby’” there is the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

The exercise of these trials is that we are forced to study the Bible for the sake of our comfort and hope. It causes us by grace to drink deeply from the waters of life in God’s Word and to eat of the heavenly manna. It whets the spiritual appetite of the young Christian. Think of Luther in his cell as he sought for peace. Think how we will need to search the Scriptures for hope and comfort when we will need to stand up and be counted when Antichrist will come. Yes, we will then be exercised in much prayer, fervent prayer. Did not the apostle Paul pray when in prison? Was he not exercised when he went through all his trials. And cannot he finally say; I have kept the faith, I have run the race, and henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of life, and not for me only but for all who love his appearance.

Accept the chastening of the Lord, Chris­tian friend. You have accepted the chas­tening of your earthly father and profited thereby to be sure. Shall we not much more accept the chastening of the Father of spirits and live. He does all for our profit, our eternal benefit He is the Father, who created the spirits of men and angels, yea, of the very devils in hell. And lie has His lofty design with us.

In the Day of our Lord Jesus Christ our faith must shine forth as the product of His grace. It must be found unto praise and honor and glory of Him. Hence, he exercises us to make our faith strong; he gives us such hardships that we cannot go in our own strength one step but lean on His everlasting arms of mercy in humble trust. Thus we walk life’s pilgrim’s journey in the knowledge, that, although for the present the chastisements are grievous, af­terwards they shall yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

Then we shall thank God forevermore for these afflictions from His hand!