Look at the birds
of the air,
for they neither
sow nor reap
nor gather into barns;
yet your heavenly
Father feeds them....
Matthew 6:26a
There are times in every one's life where confusions abounds. Distraction enters the mind when events seemingly are irrational. There seems to be no purpose for what occurred. In fact, it is hard to believe that there is a God who is Sovereign and in control; a God of Providence. In our confusion we are distracted and even there is a question of whether or not there is a God? If sanctification occurred in all its completeness at the time that God calls us and instills in us the Holy Spirit, we would not have questions; we would just accept what happens. This is not the case; sin abounds in the lives of men and must be removed and that by daily walking with the Lord by reading His Word, praying for the help needed, and finally by exercising the truths given to us in His Word in our every moment of life. For some men their questions become theories that are in order to explain these difficulties. For the Rationalists it is: "Any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification," opposing the Empirical view: "A theory of knowledge that asserts that knowledge comes only or primarily via sensory experience." A popular view that has been a theory of God for centuries and is well known today as a view of one of our Presidents; Thomas Jefferson (right or wrong is not part of this discussion). That view is Deism: "A view that gives way to a belief in a God, but this God is assumed that He is too exalted to concern Himself with even the smallest detail(s) of His creatures." Possibly you have had some thoughts regarding God in the same manner as the Deist. For the Deist God made the world and all the laws that govern and determine His creation. God gave to man the power of free agency, the stars, planets, suns, etc. with all the necessary properties; therefore God leaves the world to be guided by those laws that have been established and the effects of man's free agency. God never inserts His control and the world runs as though a watchmaker made a watch then sits back and watches it run allowing the watch to operate within the laws established. All things are said to pass by virtue of those laws and the operation of causes, that which He created at the beginning and set into motion. As with the watchmaker there was a need to wind the watch and when it began to operate then he left it alone to operate within the laws of nature, and the watch design. God does not in the view of the Deist determine or operate the natural causes; therefore the reason one season is propitious and much fruit, vegetables, and vegetation growth occurs and another season is the reverse, according to this theory is that things are the way they are due to the blind operation of natural causes. In other words, all happens by chance, God has nothing to do with them.
Many people have fallen prey to this theory of God because they do not know God, nor do they attempt to know Him by reading God's Word on the matter, or that they attend churches that are so liberal (at least in some manner) that even their leaders are in some form; Deistic.The Scriptures are plain and clear that man in his naturalness cannot know God: But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:14). Those theories of men who attempt to reason for the operations of the universe and in their own live faces the very first problem that they cannot overcome: "For 'who has know the mind of the Lord (cf. Isaiah 40:13) that he may instruct Him?' But we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16). Without the mind of Christ operating in our lives we too then become fodder for false theories regarding God's Sovereignty and Providence.The Mind of Christ comes only to those He has called and enabled and with the baptism of the Holy Spirit by means of the acceptance, by a man, that Jesus Christ is his savior, and repents of his sins. Only God can reveal Himself to man and man can know of God only by the power of the Holy Spirit: "But God has revealed them to us (who are the "us"? it is the church of God as noted in 1 Corinthians 1:2) through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. for what man knows the things of man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God" (1 Corinthians 2:10-11). The prophet Isaiah gives us the way to God: "Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near" (Isaiah 55:6). It is God through His Son Jesus Christ that we are drawn to Him: "And I, if I am lifted up form the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself" (John 12:32). Notice two things in this Scripture; "people is italicized because it is added to clarify the meaning; and that the "all" is not every individual, this is a collective form and means certain ones of all types; but most important, Jesus will draw those His Father has given to Him: "My father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand" (John 10:29).
Do not allow your confusion to stay confused: read His Word, pray to God for help and direction. Associate with a true Bible believing and teaching Church. The Scriptures are everywhere found to speak of God intervening in man's affairs and that He controls the universe. It is God who supplies the wants and needs of His creatures, not even a hair can fall without His notice. God controls the destiny of His creatures, His purpose will be accomplished. But, you ask, how can I know that God has called me? How can I know that God has me in His hand? A simple test, if it be a test, is this; do you desire to know God? Do you immerse yourself in His Word? Do you apply His Word in your life? Are you truly repentant for your sins? If so, then God is enabling you and drawing you to Him, yet, we must choose Him, and to choose Him is by the enabling of the Holy Spirit. Growth in sanctification may at seems slow, failure seems to happen much too often: God forgives the repentant heart and it is the heart that He sees and judges, for if you are truly repentant; then God forgives.
Therefore whoever hears
these sayings of Mine,
and does them, I will liken
him to a wise man.....
Matthew 7:24a
Today, know that Jesus has the power to forgive sins.
Richard L. Crumb
Many people have fallen prey to this theory of God because they do not know God, nor do they attempt to know Him by reading God's Word on the matter, or that they attend churches that are so liberal (at least in some manner) that even their leaders are in some form; Deistic.The Scriptures are plain and clear that man in his naturalness cannot know God: But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:14). Those theories of men who attempt to reason for the operations of the universe and in their own live faces the very first problem that they cannot overcome: "For 'who has know the mind of the Lord (cf. Isaiah 40:13) that he may instruct Him?' But we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16). Without the mind of Christ operating in our lives we too then become fodder for false theories regarding God's Sovereignty and Providence.The Mind of Christ comes only to those He has called and enabled and with the baptism of the Holy Spirit by means of the acceptance, by a man, that Jesus Christ is his savior, and repents of his sins. Only God can reveal Himself to man and man can know of God only by the power of the Holy Spirit: "But God has revealed them to us (who are the "us"? it is the church of God as noted in 1 Corinthians 1:2) through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. for what man knows the things of man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God" (1 Corinthians 2:10-11). The prophet Isaiah gives us the way to God: "Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near" (Isaiah 55:6). It is God through His Son Jesus Christ that we are drawn to Him: "And I, if I am lifted up form the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself" (John 12:32). Notice two things in this Scripture; "people is italicized because it is added to clarify the meaning; and that the "all" is not every individual, this is a collective form and means certain ones of all types; but most important, Jesus will draw those His Father has given to Him: "My father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand" (John 10:29).
Do not allow your confusion to stay confused: read His Word, pray to God for help and direction. Associate with a true Bible believing and teaching Church. The Scriptures are everywhere found to speak of God intervening in man's affairs and that He controls the universe. It is God who supplies the wants and needs of His creatures, not even a hair can fall without His notice. God controls the destiny of His creatures, His purpose will be accomplished. But, you ask, how can I know that God has called me? How can I know that God has me in His hand? A simple test, if it be a test, is this; do you desire to know God? Do you immerse yourself in His Word? Do you apply His Word in your life? Are you truly repentant for your sins? If so, then God is enabling you and drawing you to Him, yet, we must choose Him, and to choose Him is by the enabling of the Holy Spirit. Growth in sanctification may at seems slow, failure seems to happen much too often: God forgives the repentant heart and it is the heart that He sees and judges, for if you are truly repentant; then God forgives.
Therefore whoever hears
these sayings of Mine,
and does them, I will liken
him to a wise man.....
Matthew 7:24a
Today, know that Jesus has the power to forgive sins.
Richard L. Crumb
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