The Paradox Of Faith

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 11:6

            I picked up from Church the magazine Acts & Facts by the Creation Research Institute that had on the cover, The Paradox of Faith (Italics mine). These last few blogs are all about faith and that faith is necessary for any Christian, and this faith by any Christian is all about having faith in an unseen God. It is faith that to be true, reliable, to lead our lives to be in harmony with the will of God, it must then be absolute. It was pointed out that faith is a gift of God, and that no one, no one, can earn this gift, it is a free gift, therefore, there is nothing a person can do to receive this gift: it is given freely. The paradox is this: We are all dead in our sins (Ephesians 2:1, 5) and being dead in our sins; we have no power to earn faith, or salvation. We are all natural men, in being natural men; infected, so to speak, with sin, original sin that came upon all people by the sin of Adam. Therefore having our souls so infected, corrupted by sin we have no desire for God, or Godly things: “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” (1Corinthians 2:14). Therein lies the paradox, we are dead in sins, and yet to believe in Him we must, “diligently seek Him,” and we do not naturally desire to seek Him. We must believe that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. We need faith, and we cannot earn it, nor can we even expect to have it because the justice of God is that men who are sinner should die. God is not fair! No! God is not fair; He is Just. Why would a Just God give to men anything who are so depraved, so corrupt, so filled with sin that they desire the things of this world and not Him? Woe is us! We want everlasting life, we want all that God can give, and yet, we on the other hand want it our way. We want faith but faith that pleases us and make reasons why this faith is true. But it is not! It is not absolute faith, it is faith built upon the doctrines of a man, or men. We cry out aloud, GOD IS LOVE! We believe that this loving God will not destroy us, and that all men would, in some way, come to him, that all religions are just nothing more than different paths to God. Yes, GOD IS LOVE, but this love does not take away from Him that He is JUST! Yes, God is MERCIFUL, AND FULL OF GRACE! Yet, this mercy and grace does not override God’s justice. Yes, God is patient, but His patience is not His permission, for His patience does not override His justice. God does not save you, or anyone because of His love for you, no, His love for you is activated to you through His Son, Jesus Christ who died upon the cross, a sinless man, dying for the sin of man, and God loves you because He loves His Son, the propitiation for sin. Through Jesus Christ, the Intercessor, the Mediator, God then does what His LOVE, GRACE, AND MERCY, can only do, He draws those He will save. He enables them so that they desire Him. Then by this drawing, and enabling, men and women desire to diligently seek Him, and they grow in their sanctification, that is they grow to love Him more and more, and this love, this sanctification makes cause for the changes that men and women need so that they then are pleasing Him. It is God who gives faith and it is God Who saves, and it is God who loves His children through the lens of love, a love for His Son, who He sent to die for sin, and by this dying God implants in His chosen people, those chosen according to His will and purpose: salvation. It is all God! Yet, we are not to tacitly believe, to do nothing, to not act upon this salvation, this drawing, this enabling, for God uses men and women to be His witnesses so that those God gave faith to will be invigorated to be all that God desires for His children, to take the Gospel to the world so that those who call upon, Him, those who God draws, enables will also become active witness, and be saved, that is show that God has saved them: “For ‘whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved’” (Romans 10:13: cf. Joel 2:32). But how are they to call upon the name of the LORD, and how does God draw men? By His word, and this word is to be preached in all the world, for God according to His promise to Abraham will draw His people out from all nations. Yes, God assigns some men to be preachers. Don’t sit back and think then that you are not to preach. We are all ambassadors, and witnesses for Jesus Christ. Are we not? Do you believe that you have the absolute truth according to Scripture? Then why are you, if you are not, telling others about this gospel? Why are you not being the witness for Jesus Christ? If you had a child that was sick and you knew absolutely that this physician could heal him, would you not tell that child, that person, to go and be healed? “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And who shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things”(Romans 10:14–16)!  The Greek word translated “preacher,” is one who proclaims, and in this case it is the ones proclaiming the Gospel, and is this not what we are, proclaimers, by our office of being an ambassador, a witness for God? Yes! Not everyone will believe! No! God does not call, or enable everyone. Unless God does so they will be a what Isaiah said, “But they have not all obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah says, ‘LORD, who has believed our report?’” (Romans 10:16; cf. Isaiah 53:1). To then, show that that the love of God is in us; those things that we are doing, things that are Godly, not so that we have some pious feeling. Not to have some emotion based upon our doing we by this love of God in us: we preach, we proclaim, we live, and all this according to the truth found in Scripture as God has revealed that truth for His children to come to know, and practice in their lives. Live what you are: A child of God.

I thank my God, making mention of you

            Always in my prayers, hearing of

Your love and faith which you have toward

            The Lord Jesus and toward all the saints,

That the sharing of your faith may become

            Effective by the acknowledgment of

Every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.

                                                Philemon 4–6

Praise God: He gave us freely faith

Richard L. Crumb

Faith: The Free Gift Of God

For Christ is the end of the law

for righteousness to everyone

Who believes…..

But what does it say?

‘The word is near you,

in your mouth and in your heart’

(that is, the word of faith which we preach):

that if you confess with your mouth

the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart

that God has raised Him from the dead,

you will be saved.

For with the heart one believes unto

righteousness, and with the mouth

confession is made unto salvation.

Romans 10:4; 8–10

            Many are taught that everyone who believes will be saved, that is to purport that this verse (Romans 10:4) speaks about those in the future: it does not! The Greek word for believes is: πιστεύοτι, a present tense indicative word, and the meaning by it being present is just that: whoever is presently believing will be saved. How then does one come to believe? By faith! How does then one get faith? Is this faith that is necessary for one to believe impossible due to the fact of original sin that all men are infected with, and have not then the ability by any works, that is to believe by means of their own ability. It is impossible, for to be able to choose faith by your own ability is to do works and Scripture is clear that works does not give a person faith, or salvation. Paul, in verse 17 of this chapter tells this: “So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the world of God” (Romans 10:17). Now let us think upon this fact: you must hear the word of God to have faith, and faith then is activated to you by the grace of God: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 1:8). True faith never, established by works, not of doing, even if you think what you are doing is of God. Some think that they are believers by going about attempting to heal people. There are those who speak of raising the dead, (even though there is no proof of that actually happening). Speaking in unintelligible words, etc., no faith is to believe, to be converted and this by the word of God, the Gospel, and the Gospel that people need is that they are sinners and in need of a Savior and that Savior is Jesus Christ who died for sin upon the cross. The confession of our mouths is this Gospel of Jesus Christ, not His works, although they are proof of Him being God, and this confession must come from your heart that God, the Father raised Him from the dead. To be converted is to have made a vow, an oath, a promise to do and to behave in a certain manner, that is, we who confess that we are Christians must then act as Christians, and our model is Jesus Christ, and led then by the commandments of God. We must be submissive to God. There is confusion by those who have ingested the culture of this age; a culture that does not believe in absolutes and a culture that believes everyone have a truth. Many have swallowed the lie that there is no such thing as an absolute, an absolute truth, and this belief affects by undermining a person’s faith. This is a watershed issue; that there are no absolutes, no absolute truth. Fact: If attempting to land a vessel upon the planet Mars, for instance, and the mathematics enabling the vessel to hit its target is incorrect by even a minute measurement, it will miss the planet. If our theology is off by even a minute understanding, we will miss the truth and then led into doctrines that are not doctrines of God. We will be confessing, that is even if we do confess, that which is not of God, rather it will be of our own making, or that of another whose theology is askew. This dichotomy of thought, the division that is not of Scripture, will then have major consequences, first for the believer, then for the hearer. A believer will not be able to fully, if at all, answer any reasonable and rational question by the unbeliever and will not be able to defend their faith. Answers will be missing, and the Gospel will not be accepted, and even the elect will not have their faith, this free gift of God given to His children have any power in their life. There is an urgency to train Christians how to fight this war against truth, and for you, the Christian to be able to stand.

            Do you have fear? Is your fear that you will be ridiculed, or maybe that you would lose face, a job, a position, etc., and if so then your faith is not in God, or in His word: “For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame” (Romans 10:11; cf. Isaiah 28:16). We, as ambassadors of Jesus Christ, those who have converted and then by this conversion have vowed, takes an oath, a promise that is based on that vow, that oath to speak the Gospel to whomever who will listen, or ask: For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for th same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For ‘whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved” (Romans 10:12–13; cf. Joel 2:32).

            May you, and me, be what God has called us to be: His mouth, His feet, His witness. What do we have to fear? Nothing! We are already legally in heaven. We are a blessed people, and we are to be a blessing to those around us, both believers and non–believers. This is being a Christian and having faith, this free gift from God.

How beautiful are the feet of

            Those who preach the

Gospel of peace. (Isaiah 52:7)

            Who bring glad tidings

Of good things. (Nahum 1:15)

                        Romans 10: 15b

Celebrate the Glad Tidings and Peace

Richard L. Crumb

Faith And Truth: Two Sides Of The Same Coin

Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God

for Israel is that they may be saved.

For I bear witness that they have a zeal for God,

but not according to knowledge.

For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness,

and seeking to establish their own righteousness,

have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

Romans 10 1–3

            Once again, as in Romans 9:1–3, Paul shows his heart, that he had a great desire and prayers to God that Israel, that nation that he was of nationality, that this nation, his nation, would be saved. Paul does not say they salvation is theirs, only that it was his desire. Is this not true of us; we desire that someone, a family member, or even that our nation would be saved, but we may pray, and we may desire, but, this does not mean that salvation comes to them. Why? Do they not have the law? Yes! Do they not believe in Jehovah? Yes! Do they not have zeal for God? Yes! Give me zeal and $2.50 and I can buy coffee at Starbucks. Zeal is not either good or bad. Zeal has as its foundation our belief(s). The Roman Catholic Church had zeal, so much zeal that they would put to death those who opposed their doctrine. Islamic people will do the same and have much zeal, enough to take time each day to pray five times facing towards Mecca. Mormons have zeal, so much so that their young men travel on bikes propagating their faith. Jehovah Witnesses have a zeal, so much so that they go from door to door preaching and inviting people to come to believe as they do. It is good to be zealous, but that zeal must be based upon truth. Our faith must be based upon truth. So once again, what is truth? Paul makes mention that the Jews had a zeal fo God, but their zeal was misplaced for they lacked a zeal according to knowledge. They developed a theology outside of the truth because they were ignorant of God’s righteousness. They sought to establish their own righteousness, seeking that which they believed was pious and good. Yet, in the end they did not submit to the righteousness of God. Their truth was their truth, but not truth according to God and His righteousness. They had the law, and this law not only pointed out to them their sinfulness, and their need for a Savior, and yet, they missed what the law pointed to: “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4). When anything, or anyone, replaces the righteousness of God, Jesus Christ, and this with any other belief or doctrine; then they are ignorant, and have missed God’s righteousness. Many so–called Christian Churches have developed, preach, teach, and practice doctrines that are not of God, rather they are that which they have developed and have submitted: their own righteousness. Our faith, our belief, cannot be truth faith or belief is it not based on truth. So what is truth?

            Pontius Pilate governor of Palestine asked this question: “Pilate said to Him, ‘What is truth” (John 18:38:a)? Many today ask this same question, only in a sarcastic manner. Can you answer this question? Moral faith must have as its basis truth, but not someone’s truth, rather actual truth. Jesus gave us the answer: Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and for now on you know Him and have seen Him” (John 14:6–7). Faith, faith based upon truth, that is what is needed and that truth is Jesus Christ who admitted that He was God in those passages, not some representation of God, rather that a person who has seen Him has seen the Father. Now, we cannot see Jesus physically, therefore we see Jesus, God, and the Father through our belief and that belief has as its support, its basis on the thing that Jesus said and did: “Jesus said to him [Philip} ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has send the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father” Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak of My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does th works. Believe in Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves” (John 14:9–11). We do not know all the works that Jesus did, but we do know from His words that those works were due to the Father working in Him. Many use this passage to promote the use of supernatural works, things like going about healing, raising the dead, speaking in some gibberish language, etc., but is this what Jesus is speaking about? NO! Jesus said: “Must assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father” (John 14: 12). Greater works? HUH! How can this be, did not Jesus raise the dead? Yes! So how can a person do greater than that? They can’t! Therefore, this passage cannot mean what churches: i.e., Bethel Church of Redding teach, some form of supernaturalism, no, context does not allow for this interpretation. Jesus did the will of His Father, and we too, that is, if we have true faith, a true belief of God, and this He did by giving a “new commandment.” “Little children, I shall be with you a little longer. You will seed Me; and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ so now I say to you. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:33–35). Was there not a commandment to love God, and ourselves? Were not Christians commanded before to love another? Yes! “Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourselves” (Matthew 22:37–39). Jesus is going away to the Father to prepare a room for the children of God and now those left behind until His return have a special commandment to love, and to care for one another. This is the greatest that we can do and while doing so we are witnesses for God, and this is what we witness to, and that upon which our faith rests: Jesus Christ, the righteousness of God.

I was sought by those who

            Did not ask for Me;

I was found by those who

            Did not seek Me.

Is said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’

            To a nation that was not

Called by My name.

                        Isaiah 65: 1–2

 Place You Faith In The Truth

Richard L. Crumb