(Jeremiah 32:40) “I will make with them an everlasting
covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in
their hearts, that they may not turn from me.”
“I will put my fear
in their hearts, that is, work in them gracious principles and
dispositions, that shall influence and govern their whole conversation.
Teachers may put good things into our heads, but it is God only that can put them into our hearts, that
can work in us both to will and to do.” (Matthew
Henry)
God
is the one who initiated His plan before the foundation of the world; He
careful plotted it out prior to our existence. This is an undisputed fact for
we are taught this in scripture; “For those whom he
foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order
that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he
predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and
those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these
things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:29-31) – We see God involved from start
to finish, from predestination to glorification. (AND) “even as he chose us in him before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he
predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his
will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us
in the Beloved.” (Ephesians 1:4-6) –
God’s initiated His plan prior to the foundation of the world. The
brilliance of our God on display, praise His name, Amen! We see men with brilliant
minds from time to time, but God’s brilliance is absolute and one day we will see
Him for who He is, in all His glory and what a day that shall be, even so come
quickly Lord Jesus.
The
church at Thyatira was in a real trouble, not that any sinful action overlooked
is a small thing. As I examine the state of that church there are a few things
that jumped out at me; there were most definitely some save amongst the
unsaved; there is commendation given and if this was false there would not have
been a call of repentance. God recognised Thyatira as one of His or else it
would not have been addressed. The ongoing debate between the Calvinist and the
Armenian is fiercely contested amongst believers throughout the globe and you know
where I now stand on the matter. Once I believed that we could loose our
salvation, but now I am persuaded that if God has done the work in a persons
heart, the only true God who disciplines the child in rebellion or even if they
have simply been deceived by the wiles of the devil, or when their own sinful
desires raises their heads once again this will not be their end; if God has
begun the work in that individuals life I am convinced He will get them home
and safely to heaven. Where the differences between the son and the bastard becomes
muddled at times is the perceptions of men’s cunning tongues. Because some
claim Christianity does not mean they are in fact Christians; (see Matthew 7:21) - Although we break covenants; divorce
a case in point. God will never break a covenant, this would be impossible, God
is so pure and righteous it is impossible for Him to lie;
“so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled
for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before
us.” (Hebrews 6:18)
This
is where discipline is vital in a believer’s life and God is pro-active when it
comes to the discipline of His children. I am forever grateful for the
discipline He has put me through to teach me the way of the Christian. Lessons
learnt and trainings still pending, praise God for that, without it I would be
living amongst the pigs in their pen of slop in a dying world without any
eternal hope. Discipline brings with it a Godly fear that will move us toward
God and not from Him. We may even struggle in some areas for the rest of our
lives, but we will never relax, we will be driven to find grace to overcome.
This is the mind-set of a child of God, the bastard will continue without any godly
fear through the throes of their sin and we see it clearly here amongst some of
those in the church of Thyatira.
If
you ever visit a farm which stocks sheep and goats and you speak to the farmer
he will be quick to tell you that sheep are far more manageable. Goats are unruly
by nature and often run riot, however you will at times see the goats mingling
with the sheep. Most churches will be stocked with sons of God as well as illegitimate
children; true believers and those who claim that they are Christian when in
fact they are not. True believers will make mistakes but God will bring them
around and He often uses discipline to do this in their lives, we need it. But
the bastard will fall by the wayside. They will not find true repentance; we
must not confuse worldly sorrow with repentance or even blatant rebellion as we
see it in the church of Thyatira. “But I have this against you, that you
tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and
seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed
to idols. I gave her time
to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.” I
therefore conclude that she was never truly saved!
Lord
willing in the next post we will unpack the instructions to the church at Thyatira.
Signing
off
Tyrone
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