WHY GOD MUST DEMAND FAITH (Part One)

By Bob Myhan

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any have, from time to time preached and written on what the Bible teaches alien sinners to do for the salvation of their souls. Few, however, have dealt with the probable reasons that God demands what He demands of alien sinners. Was God being arbitrary in commanding alien sinners to believe, repent, confess their faith and submit to water baptism? Or did His infinite wisdom dictate that these things should be required? While it is certainly not necessary for the alien sinner to understand God’s rationale, it can expedite his conversion if reasonable answers can be given to whatever questions he might have in this regard.

    Why does God demand faith in His Son Jesus Christ as a condition of salvation? This writer suggests that faith is the right and proper attitude toward God. It is not merely "important" that we have the right attitude toward God, it is "essential." The reason is that "without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him" (Heb. 11:6).

    To "diligently seek" God, in the context, is to "diligently seek [to please] him," for this is the thing under consideration. Only those who (1) believe that God exists and (2) believe that God will reward “those who diligently seek Him" can please Him because they are the only ones who are diligently seeking to please Him. It is their faith that pleases him, but only in so far that it is manifested in their diligently seeking to please Him. A personal faith that does not diligently seek to please its object is a "dead faith" (James 2:14-26).

What is faith? Faith can best be understood in contrast to knowledge and opinion. With rare exceptions, every human being is born with five external senses, by means of which he receives information from—and knows certain things about—the world around him. He sees forms, smells odors, tastes flavors, hears sounds, and feels textures. Form, odor, flavor, sound, and texture are all properties of matter. No one can perceive these properties without the use of his senses. But through his senses, one knows that matter exists. However, it is obvious that man is more than mindless matter. There is the one who gathers information and there are the physical senses through which he gathers it. There is the inner man [spirit] and the outer man [body]. The apostle Paul spoke of this two-fold nature when he wrote, "...though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day" (2 Cor. 4:16). To sum up, we know that matter exists through the use of our senses and we know that spirit exists through the use of reason. Or, to put it generally, we know the things that we immediately perceive via the physical senses and we know the things that we necessarily infer from what we immediately perceive. Knowledge, therefore, is consciousness of facts.

From the existence of the physical creation [matter], we necessarily infer the existence of a Creator, which must be spirit. Since matter exists, spirit must also exist because nothing comes from nothing. If nothing ever was, nothing would ever be. We infer the fact that the Creator is intelligent from the fact that man is intelligent; intelligence could not be the product of non-intelligence. However, there are limits to what we can know about the Creator, via inference alone. For example, you may examine a watch and know that someone designed it and manufactured it. But, regardless of how closely you scrutinize the timepiece, you can know nothing of the person(s) responsible, except that the person(s) had the wisdom and ability to design and/or manufacture a watch. Just so, we cannot know the Creator simply by looking at the creation. We can only know that a being greater than man had the wisdom and the ability to design and create the universe. If we are to know the Creator, the Creator must reveal Himself to us. To put it another way, we must “experience” the Creator in order to “know” the Creator. &

[To be continued]

THE MAN OF PSALM 1

By Jeff Smith

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any Bible expositors and commentators have labeled Psalm 1 "The Preface Psalm" because it thematically introduces the entire compilation of the 150 Psalms. If we were to attempt to describe the Psalms as a collection, we could say they instruct the reader in the way of living righteously before a holy God while warning us to shun wickedness. In the opening psalm, we are reminded of a familiar O.T. theme: the righteous will ultimately prosper while the wicked will ultimately perish. Some of the psalms were written by servants of God who forgot this truth. They complained about the righteous suffering at the hands of the prosperous wicked (Psalms 37 and 73 are examples).  However, the anonymous author of Psalm 1 reminds us of the eventual end of both the righteous and the wicked. In such a reminder, we are taught about a man we should all seek to become.

    Man is said to be “blessed” when he refrains from anything associated with sin. To be “blessed” means to be happy or fortunate (cp. Deut. 33:29). Jesus expressed the similar thought in Mt. 5:3-12, in what we have come to call “The Beatitudes.” What is most compelling to us in Psalm 1 is how such a man is blessed. He is blessed because he refuses to get caught up in sin’s tangled web. Notice the three-fold description in v. 1:

1. He does not walk in the counsel of the wicked

2. He does not stand in the path of sinners

3. He does not sit in the seat of scoffers

    There seems to be some progression of thought in this verse. The “blessed man” will not live or behave in a way advised by sinners (walk). He will not stop and contemplate the road he knows takes him away from God (stand). And he most certainly will not stop and fellowship those who scoff or mock a holy God (sit). All this does not suggest he will refuse all contact with sinners. Such a man knows he must make contact with the lost to save them (cp. Mt. 5:13-16; Jn. 17:15-19). Rather, it emphasizes where he chooses to spend his time. He knows sin always leads from bad to worse.

    The “blessed man” has no time for sin because “his delight is in the law of the Lord” (v. 2). It is upon God’s will for him that he “meditates” (lit. ponders by talking to himself). To “meditate, does not mean we allow a passing or fleeting spiritual thought to rush through our minds occasionally. The idea for this word is of the beast who chews the cud over & over again (cp. Phil. 4:8). It is to constantly have the word of God foremost in our thoughts. Such a one who does so is “firmly planted” as a tree by its life-giving source (v. 3). He is unmovable due to God’s provisions...and he enjoys it. He even relishes in it (cp. 1 Jn. 5:2-3).

    Those who choose to be wicked are not so “blessed.” They are like chaff, waiting to be blown away at judgment. Such transgressors have a terrible fate awaiting them (vv. 4-5). The Great Judge is keenly aware of the status of every man, be he “wicked” or “righteous” (v. 6).

    Much like what Jesus taught about two paths in Mt. 7:13-14, we see the challenge of 2 ways in Psa. 1. We can be blessed (v. 1) or perish (v. 6). We can seek counsel of the wicked (v. 1) or delight in the law of God (v. 2). We can be fruitful (v. 3) or barren (v. 4).

Are you like "The Man of Psalm 1”? &