Ch. 4
Who Are the False Sons of God
"Wherefore. . let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with. patience the race that is set before us, LOOKING UNTO JESUS, the author and finisher of our faith;... For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.... 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" (Heb. 12:1-3, 5, 6).
When we repent and come to the Lord with a whole heart, He places a hedge around us so that we walk in peace. Should We find ourselves not walking in peace, the powers of darkness are attacking us. The hedge has been removed because of some sin which has broken God's commandment of love (His law). This is God's discipline and reproof on a Christian who sins. A Christian will want to repent, so he asks the Holy Spirit what sin he has committed, because a true believer loves Jesus more than any sin. The Holy Spirit, at some point, will reveal to US the sin. Then, because of the cross and the blood of Jesus, because of Jesus Christ's victory over sin, and because He became our sacrifice for sin, the blood of Jesus will cleanse us from this sin. We are then forgiven, and we are no longer transgressors of God's law. The powers of darkness have no more ground, so they have to back off and the hedge of protection and peace returns.
As we learn to walk in the blessings and peace of God, we become more and more sensitive about avoiding sin. This is the discipline that leads us to purify our hearts and love others as Jesus has loved us: "If ye endure chastening, God, dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? BUT IF YE BE WITHOUT CHASTISEMENT, WHEREOF ALL ARE PARTAKERS, THEN ARE YE BASTARDS, AND NOT SONS" (Heb. 12:7, 8).
False sons refuse to give up their love for the flesh nature of Satan. They devise ways to enter heaven without denying their flesh. They justify themselves with their form of godliness because they still love the world and the flesh. They are not led by the Spirit of God. This is the fallen away church today. False sons do not know about this peace of God, nor do they know about the fear of God. Since they walk in a false security, they do not know they have to purify their hearts. Therefore, as they continually break God's law, the powers of darkness are able to bring more and more bondage, until they are destroyed; all because they did not choose the nature of God. "Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High: Therefore He brought down their hearts with labour; they fell down and there was none to help. Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted" (Ps. 107:10, 11, 17).
"Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of Spirits, and live (eternally)? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness (have a pure heart)" (Heb. 12:9, 10).
We are obedient children led by the Spirit of God to be perfected in love arid holiness: "As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as he which hath called you is holy, SO BE YE HOLY IN ALL MANNER OF CONVERSATION; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, PASS THE TIME OF YOUR SOJOURNING HERE IN FEAR (that ye may not be destroyed)" (1 Pet. 1:14-17).
It is a painful thing to die to the flesh and to submit to the chastening of the Lord. We have to totally depend upon God. We become broken vessels. It does not look like victory to the world and to those who love a form of godliness: "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." (Heb. 12:11)
Discipline causes us to yield the peaceful fruit of "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such things there is no law." (Gal. 5:22,23) This is the body of Christ which fulfills the law by submitting to discipline in obedience to the Spirit of God. This is the only way we can have a pure heart. This is sanctification and the walk of peace. "Pursue PEACE with all men, and the SANCTIFICATION WITHOUT WHICH NO ONE WILL SEE THE LORD." (Heb. 12:14)
Paul encouraged the Thessalonians about the opposition and trials which were coming upon the churches of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the fire which we go through to become vessels of gold and honor.
Paul said, "For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God... for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen" (1 Thess. 2:14). "[We] ... sent Timotheus... to establish, and to comfort you concerning your faith, that no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto... when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulations; even as it came to pass, and ye know. For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your FAITH, lest by some means the TEMPTER have TEMPTED YOU, and (you fall away from the faith so) our labour be in vain. (1 Thess. 3:2-5).
Paul was fearful that they would not stand in the trials and persecutions to be perfected in love. He feared that through the temptations, trials and pressures of the powers of darkness, they would turn from the faith back to the ways of the flesh. Therefore, they could not be perfected in love to become complete, holy and blameless.
An example of this is in the parable of the Word: "Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root (Jesus), WHICH FOR A WHILE BELIEVE, and in time of TEMPTATION (by the powers of darkness) FALL AWAY" (from being perfected in love) (Luke 8:11-13).
They fall away from being perfected in love when the tempter can cause their hearts to turn from God to love other things more than God. This is how we fall away from the faith. We see another heart which fails to be perfected in love in the following verse: "And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this present life, and bring no fruit (of love) to perfection" (Luke 8:14). They love the world and the ways of the world more than God. They are not perfected in love to bring godly fruit to maturity.