Freedom is Good News Part 118

“You have faith that there is one God.  Good!  But even the demons believe that and shudder.” (James 2:19)  This is quite an interesting verse.  And one that should make us stop and think about our belief system.  There are many people in our society that say they believe in God and they will even say that they believe in the God of the bible.  But this same bible tells us that this kind of belief is no better than the belief of Satan and his minions. 

In our previous article I mentioned that Jesus says in John 8:39, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works Abraham did.”  Are you a child of Abraham?  In Romans 4:11 we read, “So then, he (Abraham) is the father of all who believe …”; and again in Galatians 3:29 “And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.”  Well, only you can answer the question as to whether you are Abrahams offspring or not, and only you can answer the question as to if you are doing the works that Abraham did. 

Friends and brethren, this is an important discussion.  We have been considering the scripture in Rev. 17:4 concerning the “called, the chosen and the faithful”.  Each one of these concepts builds upon the next – for how can you be a chosen one of God if you have never been called and to whom are you to be faithful if God has not chosen you?  Can you begin to grasp the depth of all this?  Those who are “called, chosen and faithful” are those who will accompany our Savior in the last days as Satan is being defeated and Christ is beginning the process of setting up the Kingdom of God on this earth!!!

Let’s consider the word “faithful”.  First, let’s notice it does not say “faithsome”.  OK, my computer is telling me that I just made that word up; but you get the point, our faith must be full and not just partial. 

Remember the incident in Mark 9:14-28, where a certain man asked Jesus to cast a demon out of his son?  The man’s words were, “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”  Jesus’ response was, “If you can?  Everything is possible for him who believes”.  And immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe help my unbelief!”  Jesus cast the demon out of the child but the father’s reply is one that we all share: “I believe, help my unbelief!”  Our God is loving and kind and merciful and full of grace toward His children, He does help our unbelief but we must do as the father did and ask.  This subject of faith is not an easy one.  The word itself is tied in with the concept of obedience. In the book of Hebrews we see that when the Israelites sinned in the wilderness and refused to enter the promised land, they were punished for their unbelief: “And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient?  So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.” (Hebrews 3:18-19)

Oh yes – there is still more to come.  We are just coming to the part where the rubber meets the road!!