150712 To Believe God

Genesis 15:1-6 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” ² But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” ⁴ And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” ⁵ And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” ⁶ And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

Several years before this incident Abram (who would later be named Abraham) had been called by God to separate himself from his family and then go to a place God would show him. God’s promise to him was that he would make him a great nation, bless him and make his name great. This would be done so that Abram would be able to be a blessing. In fact, God promised that in him all the families of the earth would be blessed. At that time Abram, and Sarah his wife, were already well past the age of child bearing. Abram had now reached the point where he began to waver. So God appeared to him and strengthened his faith.

There was never any doubt in the mind of Abram that God existed since he had met God personally. How could he doubt the existence of God? God had been guiding his family toward the Promised Land and had brought him to Haran. It seems they had begun to settle there. So God moved them on towards Canaan in a direct encounter with Abram. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed Haran. Several years later he still did not have an offspring and God needed to confirm his covenant.

Abram believed God. Turn with me to James 2:21-23. Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; ²³ and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God^.

James sees that Abraham believed God not just when he was called and confirmed but when he went on to place his son on the altar before God. Everyone should know the story. When Abraham and Sarah were well beyond the age of child bearing God gave them a son named Isaac. Now, aside from the main thrust of our story, Sarah laughed when she heard that she would bear a child in her old age. “Isaac” means “laughter” so she could always remember she had laughed at God every time she spoke her son’s name. When Isaac was a young man Abraham was told by God to offer him as a burnt offering. The writer of Hebrews tells us that Abraham believed that God was able even to bring Isaac back from the dead if necessary. You see, the promise had been that his descendants would be named through Isaac. Isaac had no children, as yet, so God could not let him die, or remain dead, until he continued the family line through him. Many people deny that God would call on Abraham to do such a thing. God knew what the results would be and prepared a way out of it before he began. It was Abraham who needed to know that he believed God. When Abraham had exercised such great faith it was counted to him as righteousness. His entire life was built upon believing God. Not just believing “in God”. When Abram needed encouragement…

God confirmed his promise. Let’s look at the confirmation in Genesis 17:1-2. When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, ² that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.”

Many years had passed and Abram and Sarah still did not have a son. There was Ishmael but he was the son of Sarah’s maid, Hagar. His birth is a sad interlude in the life of Abram. Please notice that Abram still had the responsibility of walking before God and being blameless. His life was a life of faith. God is not ashamed to be called the God of such a man.

We all make mistakes and sometimes fail to live up to the standards that God has given us. I can imagine how, year after year, Abram had wondered how, and when, God would keep his promise. Abram had broken with his family and followed God into a foreign land. He continued to believe God but he did struggle with the fact that he was well past childbearing age and certainly Sarah was too. As he came toward the time when the child needed to be born God stepped in once again to strengthen his faith. In this reconfirmation of the covenant…

God named him Abraham. Read on Genesis 17:3-6. Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, ⁴ “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. ⁵ No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. ⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you.

Abram fell on his face before God. God reconfirmed the covenant by giving him a new name. The name “Abram” means “exalted father” but the name “Abraham” means “father of a multitude”. Not just a multitude of people but a multitude of nations would come from him. Today they are fighting each other in the Middle East. Paul assures us that Abram did not weaken in faith. He goes on to say that no unbelief made him waiver concerning the promise of God. As he gave glory to God he grew strong in his faith knowing that God was able to do what he had promised. (Romans 4:19-21)  Now…

What does this have to do with us? Let’s turn in the New Testament to Galatians 3:7-9. Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. ⁸ And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” ⁹ So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

The sons of Abraham not of the flesh but instead they are those of faith. So that everyone who believes God will be counted as a descendent of Abraham. We are reminded that when God said “In you shall all the nations be blessed” he was speaking of Jesus. The blessing which is extended to all the world is extended through the line of people who have faith as Abraham did. So that everyone who believes in God and who put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is a physical descendent of Abraham, will be counted as a spiritual descendent of Abraham.

We are not told exactly what Abram believed when he lived in the land of Chaldea. At some point in his life, God revealed himself to Abram in such a way that Abram could “believe in God” and once he believed in God he could begin to believe God and obey him. Knowing that God exists caused him to be willing to put his faith in the things that God told him. We need to remember that Abram had no Bible! He could not turn to the written word as we can he could only count on what God told him face-to-face. We also need to remember that some twenty-five years passed in Abram’s life from the time he set out to follow God until his son, Isaac, was born! Just like Abraham…

We must believe in God. Let’s look at Hebrews 11:6. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Belief in God is essential for us to please God. We must believe that he exists. One hindrance to a person’s spiritual life is a failure to recognize the existence of God. Fortunately, a vast majority of people on earth believe that God exists. That fact alone is a step along the road to salvation. Perhaps the best-known verse in the Bible is John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

It’s not enough just to believe in God. The Bible tells us specifically that there is no other way to the father except through Jesus Christ. In order to have eternal life — to hit heaven and miss hell — is to believe in Jesus. God showed his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). And yet believing in Jesus is not just a matter of knowing that he exists. At the end of John chapter 3 there is a verse that challenges us it is Verse 36.  Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

When John says “believes in the Son” in order to have eternal life he’s talking of more than “head belief”! We know that because he goes on to say that if we do not obey the Son we will not see life. This verse is not quoted very often because it includes the words “the wrath of God remains on him”. People today don’t like to talk about the wrath of God. But folks we need to remember that when Adam and Eve fell into sin and were driven out of the Garden of Eden they came under the wrath of God. Everyone who descended from them — and that is literally everyone — are born under the wrath of God. So that we must only believe about God we must also believe God. Jesus himself said, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.” (John 14:1) We must believe in God…

And we must believe God. Turn with me to 1 John 5:9-13.  If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. ¹⁰ Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son.

“Believing in” is the first step along the way to salvation. C. S. Lewis, who is well known as a Christian writer, was brought up in such a way that his early belief about God was wiped out through his education. But God was not through with him and put him in contact with several Christian writers and thinkers.

As a result of those contacts he tells us in his autobiography, “You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, (college) night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.” That belief in God was the first step. Two years later, Lewis converted from theism (belief in God) to Christianity.

We must believe in God, but even more importantly, we must believe what God tells us about his Son, Jesus Christ! Remember, we must confess with our mouths “that Jesus is Lord” and that is more than just believing about Him. It is believing that he is and that he rewards those who trust him. We must believe that God raised him from the dead. Romans 10:10 tells us, “for the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.’”

More than 90% of the American people believe in the existence of God. That is an encouraging figure until we recall the words of James, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe — and shudder!” You see, the demons had a personal knowledge of God because they had existed with him before the creation as part of his angels. So to believe that God exists does not change a person at all. It is simply the first step. More than that, we must believe what God says about Jesus. God says, “… If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised from the dead, you will be saved. Such belief will change our actions so that we will obey him. When a person believes God they will obey him! Have you believed him? Today could be the day of salvation.

All scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

150705 God’s Got It

Romans 11:33-36 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ³⁴ “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” ³⁵ “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” ³⁶ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

In my lifetime I have never seen so much division and confusion in the American public as we have today. We need to remember that God is in charge! The psalmist tells us that “His kingdom rules over all” (Psalm 103). We need to remember also that in the end every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:10-11) God is sovereign he rules over all. Nothing at all can come into our lives — any of our lives — without passing by God first. The confusion in our society grows out of the fact that most people, even though they believe in the existence of God, deny his authority over them.

Yes, God is in charge, and we are responsible for our actions. God has guided us from conception and will guide us until death. Many times in life we are taken by surprise. We find ourselves unable to imagine what will happen next. God knows in advance and…

God is never taken by surprise. Turn with me to Isaiah 46:8-10. “Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, ⁹  remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, ¹⁰ declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’”

We wake up in the morning and sometimes wonder what our day will be like. We go through the day often wondering what will happen next. For many of us life is really just one series of surprises after the other. It may be that you have discipline enough to control your day to some extent but the things you do not know will always be changing for you.

God does not wake up in the morning and he never wonders what the future holds. It is as though all of life is spread out before God and he sees the end as well as the beginning. It is just as though we have a ground-level view of things that are happening around us and God has a satellite view so that he sees the whole picture. Our God is the only living God who knows all things and guides all things. The ancient saying by Thomas à Kempis is, “Man proposes, God disposes.”

No matter how much planning and effort we put into a project only God knows what the results will be. We must put effort into each of the things that he guides us to — we are responsible for our actions. Even though we can take action that seems to change our direction the Bible teaches that…

God determined our course before birth. Turn with me to Jeremiah 1:4-5. Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Jeremiah is called “the weeping prophet” because he had such a heavy heart for his people. We see in this passage that God began his relationship with Jeremiah by teaching him that God formed him in the womb. Before he was born God had already appointed him to his ministry. Even though he believed he was inadequate for the job God assured him that he was chosen.

Another example is found in the person of John the Baptizer. He was conceived by divine intervention in the life of Zachariah and Elizabeth. While John was in his mother’s womb, Mary came to see her. Inside Mary was the unborn Christ child. When Elizabeth heard Mary speak the baby, John, jumped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

These examples remind us that life begins at conception. The unborn child is as human as he/she will ever be. Just as God told Jeremiah that he was formed in the womb by God and even before that God knew him. I believe that God knows all of us in advance. In fact…

Our salvation was known by God from eternity. Turn with me to Ephesians 1:3-6. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

There is no doubt in this passage of Scripture that God has blessed us and that he chose us before the foundation of the world. The names of all those who come to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Those names were written there before God created the world. Not only does God know our salvation he knows what we will do in our day-to-day life. Before the beginning of the world…

Our work as believers was known by God. Turn with me to Ephesians 2:8-10. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

This passage of scripture is quite familiar as a reminder of how we are saved. But it also goes on to show that we were created in Christ Jesus for good works. Those works do not save us but are evidence of our salvation. Everything that we do in obedience to Christ was prepared by God before our salvation. God knows in advance what we will do in every area of life.

We must realize that God does not make up plans suddenly. He knows the end from the beginning and he will accomplish all his good purposes. Knowing this should greatly increase our trust in him, especially in difficult circumstances. Yet, we find ourselves struggling with what might be rather than resting in what God knows surely will be! The harder it gets the more we need to trust God knowing that he knows everything and will bring about what’s good for us. He knows our work…

Yet, we are responsible for our acts. Turn with me to James 1:12-15. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. ¹³ Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. ¹⁴ But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. ¹⁵ Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

God has made us responsible for our actions. That is a characteristic of our personality that is given to us by God. As James tells us, we must never say that God tempts us. God cannot be tempted with evil and he doesn’t tempt anyone.

When Adam and Eve rebelled against God in the garden by eating the fruit they each one blamed someone else. In fact, Adam, indirectly, blamed God for his actions. His “excuse” was that God had given him the woman to be with him and she gave him the fruit. Therefore, if God had not given the woman then Adam would not have sinned.

Be sure my friend that when a person is tempted he or she is drawn away by their own desire and that desire will give birth to sin. We need to always head it off as soon as it starts. There is great danger in playing around, mentally, with things we know are wrong because…

Our actions have real results. Let’s look at James 4:2b. You do not have, because you do not ask.

Obviously, our not asking causes us not to have. In the same way, if we dare to ask, we can receive from God what we need. So our action had something to do with our receiving. “God has ordained that our actions do have effects. God has ordained that events will come about by our causing them. We do not know what God has planned even for the rest of this day, to say nothing of next week or next year. But we do know that if we trust God and obey him, we will discover that he has planned good things to come about through our obedience!” Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, page 334.

If we realize that something evil might be about to happen and do not use reasonable means to avoid it we may find, in fact, that our lack of action was the means that God used to allow them to come about! God has ordained that prayer is a significant means of changing the course of events. When he puts on our heart a need, or a person, we must remember the words of James, “You do not have, because you do not ask”. Jesus also said, “Hitherto you have asked nothing in my name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24).

God knows what will happen — before it happens. However, we are responsible for our actions and God has ordained that…

We must act in order for others to be saved. Turn with me to 2 Timothy 2:10. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

Here Paul speaks of “the elect”. And many people have taken the position that since God chooses some people to be saved then we have no responsibility for their salvation. This is a false teaching and the source of a lot of Christian ambivalence about witnessing to others. There is no doubt in my mind that God has determined beforehand who will be saved. He doesn’t have to determine who will be lost because that’s the condition we are born in. The Bible speaks of our being dead in trespasses and sins and it is God who made us alive.

This concept was taught consistently by the apostle Paul. And he certainly did not believe that we had no responsibility for the salvation of others. He reminded Timothy that he endured everything for the sake of the elect. We can see from this that, though they are elect, Paul had a responsibility to live a life that honored Christ and bear a witness to that Christ for these “elect” to be saved. In fact, Paul said that he would endure everything for the sake of the elect so that they, “the elect”, may obtain salvation.

We see from this that Paul believed, and taught, that much had to be done by God’s people in order for God’s will to be worked out. Paul was willing to endure anything including all kinds of suffering so that the word of God could go out and the elect be saved.

When we face difficulty we need to remember that — God’s Got It! Therefore we can take action that will result in good things in our lives as well as those of our friends and loved ones. That action may include praying for them, or it, and then taking whatever action is available to us. Believing in God’s providence encourages us to join with God and what he is doing. I don’t know about you but I certainly want to be in on what God’s up to.

For those who would throw their hands up in despair please remember the words of the chorus “Our God is an awesome God, he reigns from heaven above, with wisdom power and love, Our God is an awesome God.” Throughout Scripture we see that God knew what would happen in advance and understood the consequences. Bill Gaither put it this way: There is an unseen hand to me, That leads through ways I cannot see, While going through this world of woe. This hand still leads me as I go. I'm trusting to the unseen hand, That guides me through this weary land, And some sweet day I'll reach that strand, Still guided by the unseen hand.

Are you trusting in that “unseen hand”? It is the hand of God and you can trust him to take you through to the end.

All scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.