SOMETHING TO PONDER

We have heard that without saving faith you cannot believe. Since faith must come first, is it possible to have saving faith and still not believe in God?

Hebrews 11:6 - And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Let's remember those words. 'Believe that he exists' and 'seek him'.

Ephesians 2:8,9 - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast.

So here we have it. It says that we have received our faith from God and not from ourselves (so that we can't boast).

He gave us our faith and we did nothing to create the faith in ourselves. God is the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).

More to the point, those verses say that the faith he gave us was his decision alone. He chose us. We did nothing to warrant this gift of faith. God acted freely upon us for a reason known only to himself.

So let’s go back to the original question. Since having received saving faith from God, is it possible to NOT believe in what Jesus has done for us. In other words, if you have saving faith could you still resist God to believe? Is that possible?

John 6:44 - "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day."

Let's think this through. Before you have been reconciled to God (payment made for your sins against him), you were spiritually dead. A stinking corpse. With that in mind, how does a corpse, someone dead in their sin, choose life? Where is the desire? How many choices does a dead person get to make?

The Bible answers that in Romans 8:8 - "Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God."

A dead man can do nothing to please God. Not only can a dead man not please God but he can't and doesn't even look for God. He is dead in his sins.

Romans 3:10, 11 - As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.

So if no one seeks God how do we come to believe?

Ephesians 2:4,5 - But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.

So the dead had to be made alive in order to live for Christ. What did the dead person do to be made alive? Nothing. It was by the simple unknowable will of God that he made you alive. That is called grace. An undeserved gift.

Do we know why he chose us and not someone else? No, we do not know why.

Romans 9:18 -21 - "Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?" Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?."

Some might say, but God loves everyone doesn't he?

Romans 9:13 -16 - "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy."

So it doesn't depend on man's desire or effort? What if we were to ask God to explain himself? What might his response be?

One telling example from the Bible in the book of Job gives a glimpse into the mind of God. Job wanted to know why he was being tormented. God's reply was lengthy but revealing. Here is a small example of that reply.

Job 38 - "Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? ... Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! .."

In other words, God was saying to Job, "Who are you to ask me? I am creator."

When did God decide who will be chosen for salvation?

Ephesians 1:4 - "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love, he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-- to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves."

And also in John 15:16 - "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last."

The Bible is clear. We can see that God chose us while we were still dead in our sins. That God, in his unknowable reasons, made us alive before we were able to choose him. That God created in us saving faith after he had made us alive in him.

Once God gave us saving faith, we were willing and finally able to choose to believe in him. Where we had no will as a dead man we now have the free will to obey God and believe in him. With saving faith, belief will naturally follow. Thanks be to God.