Human Credulity

"The first one to plead his cause seems right, until his neighbor comes and examines him."

Proverbs 18:17

This verse enforces the fact people can make judgments and decisions about what is true with partial information.  Hearing one side of the story is not the whole story, and even when we have heard both sides we continue to operate with partial knowledge of what has happened.  We cannot ever completely know the motivation of people for saying what they did or what they chose to conveniently forget and omit.  The most godly among us can be led astray by lies, be manipulated to believe falsehoods and disobey the truth.  A situation that occurred in 1 Kings 13 demonstrates this well.

A prophet of God was called out of Judah to speak against the idolatrous practices of king Jeroboam in Bethel.  He boldly cried out against the altar in Bethel and the word of the LORD was fulfilled when the altar was split and the ashes poured out.  At the same time the hand of king Jeroboam stretched out against the man of God was withered and he was unable to draw it back to himself.  At the king's request the prophet prayed to God Who restored the hand of Jeroboam to health.  1 Kings 13:7-10 reads, "Then the king said to the man of God, "Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward." ⁸ But the man of God said to the king, "If you were to give me half your house, I would not go in with you; nor would I eat bread nor drink water in this place. ⁹ For so it was commanded me by the word of the LORD, saying, 'You shall not eat bread, nor drink water, nor return by the same way you came.'" ¹⁰ So he went another way and did not return by the way he came to Bethel."

As the prophet returned home a different way according to the word of God, an old prophet met him as he sat under an oak on the way.  After the prophet of Judah reiterated God's command, the old prophet said in 1 Kings 13:18-19:  "I too am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, 'Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.' " (He was lying to him.) ¹⁹ So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water."  Now this is a remarkable thing.  The prophet of Judah would not eat bread or drink water with king Jeroboam by the word of the LORD who did miraculous signs.  Yet because of lies spoken by a fellow prophet who said "an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD," the prophet of Judah disobeyed the word of God he knew was true.  I don't know what is more difficult to reconcile:  that the old prophet would lie with intent to deceive or the one who knew the word of the LORD would be tricked by an alleged angel.

How needful it is for believers to follow the word of the LORD and not be swayed from the truth of the Gospel by pastor, prophet or angel from heaven!  Paul wrote to wavering believers in Galatians 1:6-9:  "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, ⁷ which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. ⁹ As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed."  The secret things belong to God, but what He has plainly revealed is for us to believe and follow.  The Gospel has been clearly established in the scripture for us, and we ought not turn from it due to supposed angelic or prophetic revelations.  The prophet of Judah was mauled to death by a lion after he departed from eating and drinking with the old prophet, and to depart from the truth of the Gospel will be our ruin.

If the prophet from Judah can be swayed by the older prophet who lied, we too can fall prey to deception when we depart from the word of the LORD plainly revealed to us in the scripture.  Our ears test words like our taste buds do food, and it is the word of God discerned by the Holy Spirit which provides guidance if a doctrine is worthy of being swallowed or spat out.  We do not want to be deceived or a deceiver who leads people to disobey, so the Bible is vital as God's established ruler by which all other claims are measured--even those of prophets and angels.  We may never hear or understand the whole story, but the LORD is faithful to reveal enough for us to follow Him in obedience.

The Answer to Life's Questions

As we go through life we can have many questions unanswered, but all these unknowns can be overcome by faith in Jesus Christ, by trusting in Who we do know.  Many times there is no satisfaction gained by receiving an answer:  we hoped for yes, yet the answer was no.  An honest and biblically accurate answer still might make no sense to us.  Also, it is possible for one question we ask to have many correct answers, depending on the context and perspective.  Praise the LORD He is the answer for all of our uncertainties and mental and physical insufficiency, for God is able to save to the uttermost all who come to Him in faith.

Some excellent questions are asked by genuine seekers who do not hail from Christian backgrounds because they look curiously upon what we can take for granted.  I was asked a thought-provoking question recently I had never considered myself:  if God planned to send Jesus as Saviour of the world, why didn't He send Him instead of Moses?  Great caution must be taken in answering a question like this, for God's wisdom is higher than ours and His ways past finding out.  Though our understanding is limited, through the Bible God has revealed Himself to us and thus intellectually satisfying answers can be provided received by faith.  The revelation of scripture enables us to find firm ground beyond the subjectivity of self with clouded motivations.

One answer to this question lies in the fact that without clearly defined sin there was no understanding of need for a Saviour.  Moses justified the killing of the Egyptian who was beating the Hebrew slave to show he believed God had called him to deliver God's people from slavery.  Acts 7:23-25 reads, "Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. ²⁴ And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. ²⁵ For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand."  It was through Moses God gave the 8th commandment:  "Thou shalt not murder."  Without the Law and Prophets God's people would have not realised their sinfulness and need for atonement only Jesus could once for all provide.

It is ironic Jews who had been given the Law would cling to Moses and reject Jesus, and by God's wisdom this provided an opportunity of salvation to Gentiles who were aliens from the first covenant and commonwealth of Israel.  Are not the ways of God past finding out?  The grace of God revealed by the Gospel is the sort of thing that intrigues men and angels, for it is written in 1 Peter 1:10-12:  "Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, ¹¹ searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. ¹² To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven--things which angels desire to look into."  Supernatural beings were incapable of discovering what God graciously has revealed to sinners by grace.  What a treasure we have in the Bible and the Holy Spirit who helps us comprehend what God has said!

There is much we don't understand, but God has all in hand.  In the trillion microscopic cells of the human body unseen by the naked eye there is a command centre, vast assembly lines, means of transportation and waste plants--all operating without our knowledge to promote the health of the body.  We can only begin to explain what is happening by making comparisons to what we see, and God made it to work silently and seamlessly.  Is there anything too hard for God?  If other human beings can "talk over our heads" in their field of expertise, wouldn't God even more so when it comes to life and eternity?  Praise the LORD He has the answers and unknowns overcome through faith in Him.  We don't need to know everything because we know and trust the One who does and has revealed Himself to us by grace.

A Tale of Four Beliefs

There are degrees of belief, and not all belief translates to saving faith.  Jesus arrived in Cana of Galilee, the place where He previously performed his first public miracle by turning water into wine.  A nobleman came to Him and begged Jesus to come quickly and heal his dying son.  Jesus remarked as a matter of fact in John 4:48, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."  The man may not have come to Jesus at all unless he heard of the previous miracle Jesus had done.  It meant He believed Jesus could heal His son, not that He followed what the supernatural sign pointed to:  that Jesus was the Christ, the promised Messiah and Son of God.  The words of Jesus would prove prophetic.

John 4:50 says, "Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your son lives." So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way."  The man believed the word Jesus spoke to him, and his belief was evidenced by obedience to leave.  He did not continue begging for Jesus to return to heal his son because Jesus affirmed his son lives.  The burden of worry lifted, the nobleman began to head for home.  John 4:51-53 continues, "And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!" ⁵² Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." ⁵³ So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives." And he himself believed, and his whole household."

After the nobleman was met by his servants with the wonderful news his son lived, as Jesus had said, he asked them precisely when his son began to mend.  They confirmed it was the same hour Jesus had proclaimed, "Your son lives."  This was a sign to the nobleman Jesus indeed was directly responsible for his son's healing, and thus "he himself believed."  The man believed at first Jesus could heal his son, then he believed the word Jesus said, and then "he himself believed, and his whole household."  Having believed that Jesus was the Christ, the man joyfully shared the truth with his son who was healed and his whole house.  They all believed as the man did, having heard his eyewitness testimony and seeing the miraculous healing firsthand.  Genuine faith makes the truth known to others so they might believe themselves.

It was a watershed moment when the man himself believed who Jesus was, for salvation through the Gospel begins here.  It is not enough to believe a man named Jesus lived, spoke the truth and performed miracles if we do not believe ourselves in Him.  Jesus gave the man everything he needed to place his faith in Jesus Christ as LORD and Saviour, and He does the same for us.  He has given us the testimony of the word of God and believers who share the truth about Jesus.  No one is without excuse to believe today in Christ, as Paul said in Acts 17:30-31: "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, ³¹ because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead."  If the Law, Prophets, and resurrection of Jesus will not convince us, then we will not believe--even the testimony of the Man risen from the dead.

Preaching to the Converted

Today I read a statement that grabbed my attention.  In describing a political speech a reporter mused, "It sounds like he is preaching to the converted."  The ironic thing is as one who preaches I can say with absolute certainty the converted need preaching as much as the unconverted, for this is a way God has designed for people to know God and grow in grace.  While a Gospel presentation may be tailored to an unbelieving audience for salvation, going on with God is important too.

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:17-21, "For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. ¹⁸ For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. ²⁰ Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? ²¹ For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe."  Contrary to the views of some, the Gospel is not merely the starting point of our walk with Jesus but guides us in following Jesus faithfully.  Being washed in the water of the word renews our minds, reveals our need for God's grace, skewers selfishness and prompts us to seek our Saviour.  We who are saved ought to work out our salvation, exercising ourselves unto godliness.

The church needs to be under the preaching of God's word, including the choir.  The best preachers are those who sit personally under the preaching of scripture by the Holy Spirit to their own hearts first before they present it themselves.  Preachers do not sit in the place of high and lofty knowledge insulated from the folly of men, for they themselves are mere men numbered among the most foolish and weak.  If a preacher does not realise this about himself, he will be a fraction the preacher he could and ought to be.  God is able to speak divine truth through the weakest instruments even through silent, small creatures like the ant.  These faithful workers caught the attention of king Solomon and taught him lessons, a man filled with the wisdom of God.  Having responded to the word of God we read out of sheer need, we are thus equipped to present it as truth we have tested ourselves as eyewitnesses of God's faithfulness.

The converted need preaching as well as the preacher, for unto us which are saved it is the power of God.