Book 2 of Musings Faith in God
Faith is obedience to God's Word, trust in the power of God's unchanging promises and warnings, and reliance on His goodness and His faithfulness, and in His ability to express his goodness, faithfulness, and wrath toward each one of us.
When we think back to the original problem in the Garden of Eden we note that the issue was obedience to God, Adam and Eve's assessment of God's character, and God's attitude and intentions regarding them.
"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:4-5)
Notice what is implied here. First, God had said "You will surely die."
But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." (Genesis 2:17)
Satan declared, "You will not surely die."
The accuracy and reliability of God's Word is at issue today. The Apostle Paul warned us repeatedly of the destruction we will reap in the Day of Resurrection if we Christians continue to behave according to the lusts and passions of our sinful nature.
"We will reap corruption," Paul declared. "We will not inherit the Kingdom of God." "We will die spiritually." We will receive the things we have done in our body while living on the earth."
Yet the litany continues: "You will not die, you are saved by grace. Profess belief in Christ and you will inherit the Kingdom. You will receive a body like that of Christ and govern the nations. The New Testament may say that you will die if you continue to sin, that you will not inherit the Kingdom of God, that you will reap corruption, but don't worry, none of these things will happen to you."
"You will not surely die." These words may be heard in the Christian churches every Sunday morning. Is Satan preaching from the pulpits of America?
So the first demonstration of faith is obedience to God, with the understanding that severe punishment follows disobedience, and great rewards accompany strict obedience.
How stern was the punishment meted out to Adam and Eve?
Loss of access to the Tree of Life, to bodily immortality.
The realization that they were in a shameful condition.
Painful childbirth for the woman, plus subjection to her husband.
Dismissal from Paradise and the painful toil of tilling land that bears thorns and thistles.
The beginning of the forming of the sinful nature, including guile and rebellion.
Passing down to their descendants a sinful, guileful, rebellious nature and thousands of years of agony.
When God says you will surely die, He means this in every possible aspect of fulfillment.
We need to understand this thoroughly today. What the New Testament declares is going to happen to sinning Christians is going to happen. Not one warning will be made null and void by the preaching and teaching of a self-seeking ministry.
If you are not living as a cross-carrying disciple you might give some thought to doing so. It appears that rough times are ahead for the United States of America.
There is another dimension of Satan's pronouncement: "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God knowing good and evil."
This often is Satan's way-to mix truth and error.
It is absolutely true that to understand what is good and what is evil is to be like God. This is the truth.
The lie is the inference that God did not want Adam and Eve to be like God; that it would be good for them at that time to understand what is good and what is evil; that God desired to withhold from them that which is good.
The biggest lie here is the lie that is at the root of the Antichrist world system. It is that we cannot depend on God to bring us to joy. We must reach out and take that which in our opinion will bring us joy. God is not to be trusted to take care of our needs and bring us to joy because His intention is to deprive us and leave us in our misery.
Every person born into the world faces this choice. Do I plan my own life in terms of my own goals and desires, or do I seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness?
I imagine Satan faced this choice. He had to decide whether to trust God to fulfill his desires and set him above the other creatures of God, or to take matters into his own hands. Satan chose not to trust God to bring him to joy but to set forth to accomplish his own goals. The result has been unimaginable suffering for the peoples of the earth, as Satan has filled them with his own self-seeking.
There is no third alternative. Either we live our life according to our own wisdom and desires, or else we turn over our life to God.
My guess is that most Christians in America are in the middle. Part of their life is given to Christ. Part has been kept back for their own use.
Do you remember what happened to Ananias and Sapphira who kept back part of the price of the land?
God does not like mixtures, we learn from the Old Testament. Jesus said much the same thing when he spoke about being neither cold nor hot. It appears as though God likes us to be single-minded, to not be serving God part of the time and serving ourselves part of the time.
But if we are to make the effort to serve God only, we must have faith. By faith I mean that God will do what He has promised. He will reward those who are obedient. Their cup will run over. But those who are disobedient will dwell in a dry land.
We must be absolutely obedient to God's written Word, and also to His Word spoken to us personally.
We must trust in the power of His promises-that there is no other authority or power that can hinder the fulfillment of what God has promised. And His promises and warnings never, never change.
A chief aspect of faith is our trust that God is good. He is not seeking to prevent us from being like Him, or to cause us to be deprived or distressed, as Satan implied to Adam and Eve.
I tell you, if God were like Satan it would be far, far better that we never had been born or come into existence. Can you imagine how we would fare if God were treacherous, malicious, torturing us at his pleasure?
Satan always is telling people that his way is best and will bring them joy, whereas God desires they be miserable. The exact opposite is the case. Whoever trusts in Satan can look forward to unremitting agony. Whoever trusts in God can look forward to the fullness of joy.
God's promises to us are fabulous. But let us remember, for we appear to have forgotten this in America, that His warnings are terrible in their import. As Jesus said, "Fear Him who, after your body is dead, has the power to throw you into Hell."
The Book of Hebrews warns us that the Christian who continues to live according to his sinful nature, realizing he is doing this, makes himself the enemy of God. He shall experience the wrath of the Consuming Fire of Israel.
Under Levitical law, a Jew could offer his animal and be forgiven, providing his sin was unintentional. There was no provision for intentional sin.
It is true under the new covenant. The sacrifice of Calvary does not make an atonement for intentional sin. There is only a fearful looking forward to fiery judgment that will destroy the adversaries of God.
There is no atonement that will annul the guilt of someone who sets himself or herself against God and sins willfully and knowingly.
If an individual, not being a Christian, not knowing about God, sins deliberately, and then becomes a Christian, he or she can repent and be forgiven.
But if a Christian, knowing he is sinning against God, continues to behave in this manner, he is in danger of God's wrath. The tree that does not bear good fruit, the fruit of the image of Christ, is cut down and thrown into the fire.
If we as a Christian are sinning and cannot help ourselves, Christ will assist us if we ask Him to.
But if we are arrogant, declaring that God cannot see our sin, or grace is forgiving us, or we are saved by faith and not works, or whatever other confusing doctrine we can find to excuse our conduct, and continue to live according to our sinful nature, we stand in clear danger of being blotted from the Book of Life-no matter what contemporary teaching maintains.
There is much traditional teaching in our day that is in error. We need to go back to the Bible and find out what it means to be a Christian.
God is angry because of the unrighteous behavior in His churches as well as in the earth. His wrath will not be suspended forever. There must be heartfelt repentance in the churches if we and our nation are to survive the next twenty years.
Sometimes we may agree that God's intentions toward us are good, but we wonder how He can follow through and do what He has promised. Perhaps Satan will prevent God from helping us. Perhaps the powers of Hell will come against us and we will experience much pain and trouble, even though we are trying to serve God.
Please know this: God has all power. Christ created Satan in the beginning. Christ holds the keys of Hell and death. Christ has all authority and power in Heaven and on the earth, as well as power and authority over the dark regions beneath the earth's surface.
There is no authority and power as great as that of the Lord Jesus Christ. God has given all things into His hands. When we seem to suffer defeat or are afflicted, it is not because Satan has gotten past the angel of the Lord who protects us. It is because Christ is teaching us dependence on Himself.
All that Satan accomplishes by his malicious actions turns to our good when we are serving the Lord.
All of our human enemies, as they are seeking to harm us, always bring us closer to the Lord. Christ is watching every word spoken against us; every action designed to hurt us.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, comes near to us apart from the Lord's permission.
As for our enemies, both spirit and physical, they cannot do anything but help us as long as we dwell in Christ. No plague comes near our dwelling.
The only way in which Satan can get at us is by deceiving us so that we sin. Balaam understood that he could not curse Israelites unless he could get the warriors to fornicate with the Moabite girls.
Satan cannot get past the angel of the Lord who is protecting us unless he can deceive us into stepping outside of the protection.
God is good. God is faithful. He is bringing us to perfect joy, and there is no power that can hinder Him from doing what He has determined.
His goodness is certain and His wrath is certain.
If we are wise we will conduct our life in such a manner that our end will be fullness of joy in the center of God's Person and will.
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Hebrews 11:6)