Submitting To God

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,

The evidence of things not seen…….

But 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.

Hebrews 11:1,6

            This being Friday and the Sabbath is coming in two days, a time in which we corporately worship God, and a time for private worship of God; a time of rest, a time of renewal, I shall forego the subject at hand, that is the soul and the doctrine of original sin and take this time to remind all of us that it is not knowledge that saves us from sin, it is not anything that we can do, except to apply faith. God designed man with one thing that is necessary for man and for his immortality, and salvation: FAITH! By faith God gave to Adam the command not to eat of the Tree of Good and Evil, that Tree of Knowledge and this command was for Adam to apply faith towards God that God did not give a command that would be harmful to Adam and no command is harmful to any of His children; in fact even those who are not believers in God, His Son Jesus Christ can benefit, and do in many way, by applying the commands of God in their daily lives, their decisions, the making of laws. The ancient Jewish people, those who had God as their Savior and God, who followed the commands of God; died. Yes, they died, but they died in faith, and faith is not faith unless there be seen that which faith is employed towards, for to see a thing removes the need of faith. God made promises to ancient Jews, and makes promises to us, and we often only see them afar off, in the distance, unseen, but by faith we believe that God will, as He has in all previous promises fulfill those yet not fulfilled. It is by faith we believe, we do not see Jesus Christ, we do not have Him in our presence to touch, to speak too, to ask questions of, but we do have His word for in His word God is revealed, the Saviour Jesus Christ is revealed, and by this word, and all the promises fulfilled, the revelations of God, we have faith which has substance and then our hope has evidence for all those things not seen. E then must believe that God is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Notice this fact, God will not turn a parked car: you and I must diligently seek Him and this we do by studying His word, and those doctrines that are contained in His word. By this we come to know the truth and can see where and when false teaching occurs so that we can avoid such things and aid others to see the truth as well.

            This all begs the question: Do you Believe That the Bible is the Word of God? Inerrant, infallible, and preserved by God even though many have attempted to deconstruct the word of God, or to corrupt the preserved word of God, and that God while allows all these things to occur by not usurping man and his choices and will not leave His children destitute? Do you believe the word of God is true? Do you believe then, if you do believe that the Bible is true, apply His commands in your life? Or, do you pick and choose the ones that suit your desires? If this is so, you believe in God’s word, then are you putting God as the first priority in your life? Will you keep the Sabbath? Will you turn away from those times when people are making crude jokes, or gossiping? It is one thing to speak as though you believe the word of God, it is another thing to demonstrate that belief even if it causes you to be persecuted. Do you believe God? Do you believe that He will care for you until the day you die? The writer of Hebrews gives this advice: “Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not b e dislocated, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing pp cause trouble, and by this many become defiled” (Hebrews 12:12–15).

            We say the word “sin” but do we really know what sin is? The Greek word “hamartia” does mean when taken form “harartema” to miss the mark, but it is more, etymologically it means to not be a witness, not just necessarily an overt act, rather it means that a person is not a witness for God, for His Son Jesus Christ, in his heart, and this leads to overt actions often, for it becomes a governing principle or power. God sees our heart, and knows whether or not our soul is being so defiled by our thoughts and our actions that He only sees a person being deviant from Him. Is grace something your desire from God? Then remove yourself from this culture, and allow God to be the designer of your culture, leave this word and all its sinfulness behind: “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know hat friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, ‘The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously’? But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble’ (James 4:4–6; cf. Proverbs 3:34).

            Learn, study, apply, all Scripture and then God will bless and give grace as you follow Him, this is not to be saved by works, it is to do only that which God requires of His children. Sunday is coming! Prepare now to worship Him.

Therefore submit to God,

            Resist the devil

And he will flee from you.

            Draw near to God

And He will draw near to you.

            Cleanse your hands,

You sinners; and purify

            Your hearts,

You double–minded.

                                    James 4:7–8

Praise God For He Saves Sinners

Richard L. Crumb