The Simple Thing To Do
God said He created the Earth and all its creatures in seven days. (Genesis 1) There was no one around who could dispute His claim but that hasn’t stopped man from proposing alternatives.
A Bible Study by Jack Kelley
Creation
God said He created the Earth and all its creatures in seven days. (Genesis 1) There was no one around who could dispute His claim but that hasn’t stopped man from proposing alternatives.
The best man has come up with is that the Creation is really an outcome of random chance. The Big Bang and Evolution. They’re called laws of nature, but in fact they violate natural law. Things in nature don’t naturally evolve from randomness, or chaos, into order. In fact they go the other way. The evidence is all around us. Your house, your car, the food you eat, your body, and everything else that’s been created or made or manufactured confirms that absent some kind of preventive maintenance, the natural way is devolution, from order into chaos. Everything breaks down, wears out, rusts, rots, or dies. There’s no way around it. And the best that preventive maintenance can do is retard the process. It can never reverse it, let alone turn something into something else. Order into chaos, order into chaos. That’s nature’s way. Science wants you to ignore this preponderance of evidence and believe that where you’re concerned, natural law was spontaneously reversed for no reason at all so that the amoeba that became the fish that became the monkey could become you.
The simple thing is to believe God.
Salvation
God said we’re saved by grace through faith, not by works. (Ephesians 2:8-9) He doesn’t want anyone bragging that he earned his own way into the kingdom, and knows that we can’t do it anyway. He gave man a set of laws that were impossible to keep but which defined the standard He required of us. Then He sent His Son to keep those laws for us and give His life to purchase an unconditional pardon that frees us from the penalty of breaking them. All we have to do is admit we’re sinners, ask for the pardon, and accept it in faith.
But right from the beginning, man has tried to earn his way into God’s favor single handedly. Multiplying God’s laws with many more of his own, man has made his existence here on earth miserable as he labors to prove that he doesn’t need God’s free pardon, living a life of guilt and fear in a vain attempt to avoid responsibility for his own sins.
The simple thing is to believe God.
Agency
God said that anyone who wants to can choose this pardon and have eternal life. (John 3:16) It’s there for the taking irrespective of merit of worthiness. It doesn’t matter if you’re Jew or gentile, free or slave, male or female, civilized or barbarian. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you’ll be saved.
Man has imposed conditions with out number to this unconditional promise. You must have been predestined by God, belong to a certain denomination, behave in a certain way, give a certain amount, maintain certain standards, avoid certain food or drink, etc, etc. To show the pendulum swings both ways in man’s opinion, some say you don’t have to accept it at all. Just try to behave as best as you can and treat others nicely. You’ll have a chance to work it all out when the time comes.
The simple thing is to believe God.
Security
God says that when you’re saved He immediately sends His Holy Spirit to dwell within you, sealed there as a deposit guaranteeing your inheritance. (Ephesians 1:13) It’s the down payment on His promise never to leave you or forsake you. His Spirit will also guide you and advise you on behavior that’s pleasing to Him, not to earn His favor but to express your gratitude for already having received it. You’re behavior’s still your own choice, and when you misbehave, the Holy Spirit will prompt you to confess so you can be forgiven and your intimate relationship with God preserved.
Man says it doesn’t work quite that way. In the first place, the Holy Spirit doesn’t come all at once. You get a little bit when you’re saved and more when you’re worthy. You’ll know when you’re worthy because you’ll be given a certain Spiritual gift that tells you and others that you’ve made it. And in the second place the Holy Spirit isn’t permanently sealed within you. He’ll leave you if you don’t behave right or decide you don’t want Him any more. And once He’s gone you can never get Him back. Scary.
The simple thing is to believe God.
Abundant Life
God says that you shouldn’t worry about how your life will work out, that He’ll take care of it. (Matt. 6:33) Since He takes care of little birds and flowers, that aren’t worth anywhere near what you are to Him, He’ll certainly watch out for you. “Seek only My Kingdom,” He says, “And I’ll take care of everything. After all I came to Earth so that you could have a more abundant life.”
Man says you have to figure out what you what you want and then strive to get it. Work hard and sacrifice much, and you’ll be rewarded. The stress you feel from the job, and the difficulty you have staying connected at home are just part of the deal. And when you become successful, if it wasn’t all you hoped it would be, well everybody feels that way. The more you have the better you’ll feel. Stay at it.
The simple thing is to believe God.
Forgiveness
God says to forgive as you’ve been forgiven, that nothing someone does to you can ever approximate what you’ve done to God. (Matt. 18:32-33) And since He’s forgiven you unconditionally, you should do the same. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger. Don’t give the devil a foothold. “Vengeance is mine,” says the Lord. “It’s mine to repay.”
Man says some folks don’t deserve to be forgiven. Make them prove that they’ve earned it before you let them off the hook. Besides maybe it’s you. Maybe you’re just too weak, too naive. As you become more skeptical, less trusting, you’ll find people won’t take advantage so often. Don’t get mad, get even.
The simple thing is to believe God.
Tithing
God says that every good and perfect gift comes from him, (James 1:17,) including our prosperity, (Deut. 8:18) and we should give back a tenth of all He’s given us. (Malachi 3:10) He says that this will release even greater blessing for us as long as we do it with no strings attached. He’s looking for signs of our gratitude for past blessings, not our greed for more. Keep doing it and pretty soon we won’t be able to count the blessings.
Man says you worked hard for your money and it’s yours to do with as you please. Why give any of it away to a bunch of do-gooders who’ll just waste it on people who don’t deserve it. Give enough to keep them off your back, if you must, but not so much as to cramp your lifestyle.
The simple thing is to believe God.
Prophecy
God said he would never do anything without first revealing it through His servants the prophets. (Amos 3:7) For over 6000 years now He’s had a perfect record of first saying what He’ll do and then doing it.
But many scholars call predictive prophecy a sham and go to great lengths to try and disprove its reliability. When history documented that thirty-five verses of Daniel chapter 11 contained 135 fulfilled prophecies, scholars tried to prove it was written after the fact.
As a result the Book of Daniel became the most thoroughly validated Book in the entire Bible. And yet some still deny its authenticity, in spite of the fact that Daniel also predicted the rise of Alexander the Great and named the exact day that Jesus would ride into Jerusalem as Israel’s Messiah, His Crucifixion, and the city’s subsequent destruction.
Zechariah prophesied that the Messiah would ride into town on a donkey, then be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver and the money thrown into the Temple for the purchase of a potter’s field. Micah prophesied that He would be born in Bethlehem, Isaiah that He would be born of a virgin, Amos that the sun would go down at noon on the day He was crucified. The list goes on.
In spite of this some of the very men and women who make a career of studying the Word of God resort to extreme measures in their attempts to convince us that God’s unreliable at best and at worst a liar. And to what end? If they were diplomats and worked this hard at undermining the principles on which our country is founded, they’d be charged with treason. If they were managers who were committed to destroying the public’s perception of their company’s product, they’d be fired for insubordination. But since they’re Christians we call them scholars. “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,” Paul wrote, “And the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” He was quoting the Prophet Isaiah.
The simple thing is to believe God.
Conclusion
These are harsh and perilous times and we need someone who’s utterly dependable to help us through. When the hurricane’s threatening to blow you down, and the flood waters are rising fast, you don’t want to be worrying whether the One you’re praying to is committed to your protection.
When your neighbors are publically planning your destruction and take every olive branch you hand them and turn it into another excuse to attack, you need to know that the One who promised you the land you’re standing on is Someone who keeps His promises.
When your eternal destiny hangs in the balance, you need to be certain that the One Who says He surrendered His life to redeem yours really did.
The End of the Age is upon us. It’s time to stop debating and start believing the simple truth of the Gospel. God is Who He says He is and He did what He says He did. And in the 6000 years of man’s relationship with Him, not one of the 12 billion of us who’ve walked this earth has ever been able to successfully refute this. Conversely, proof of His existence is so far beyond the limits of mere probability that it’s no longer debatable, so belief in Him is a choice we make. It’s time to choose and be done with it. Like my favorite bumper sticker says, “God said it. I believe it. That settles it.” It’s the simple thing to do. Selah 09-25-05
