CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES

Know “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32

The“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

Truth “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” John 1:4

This Month's Theme: 

“I Surrender All!”

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Hebrews 11:6 “ 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.”

The Christians of Jewish ancestry, who are the target of the teaching of this letter, were on the verge of turning their backs on Christ and returning to a dead system of righteousness. Their faith was on the rocks, so to speak. Here the writer of the letter establishes that the faith they had that caused them to convert to Christ Jesus was not blind faith, but that which was based on evidence.

Faith is the by-product of the word of God; just as Paul established with the Christians in Rome .

Romans 10:17 “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

The word of God is that which challenges our intellect with facts to be believed, commands to be obeyed, illustrations to follow, and warnings to heed. This in turn all challenges our emotions in conviction. These are the substance of man; intellect and emotion.

The Hebrew writer also establishes that without faith we cannot please Him! So, we must have faith that conquers our intellect, that we might place our trust in God rather than the wisdom of man. Our emotions must center our love and affections upon God and not upon the things of this world. Finally, most importantly, the will power that drives us must be cleansed and purified by faith.

The greatest reason that so many are not children of God is that they have not been able to crucify their own desires and their own will.

Matthew 10:38 “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.”

Oft times we are far too strong-minded, stubborn, selfish, and self centered to be concerned about doing the will of God.

Luke 9:23 “Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”

Here, Luke expands on the teachings of Jesus concerning the crucifixion of our own desires and states that the very essence of discipleship is the notion of surrender to His will, by faith, in obedience to Him. When we crucify ourselves in essence we put down our own selfish ambitions, desires, and purposes; and make the will of God our purpose in life. Then and only then can we take up our cross and follow Him! However, as long as a man follows after his own will, does what he pleases, rejecting what God would have him do, he is then lost and his heart is impure.

Life is a man hanging from a precipice by a hand hold. All that lies before him is a never ending climb up or a perilous fall to his death. God stretches forth His hand in the semblance of His Son and offers to save. All you have to do is let go of your hand hold and grab His hand for all your worth. You must trust in God !

Sounds easy! It is almost inconceivable the amount of people who dangerously hang on to that hand hold because at the moment it fells good, safe, desirable, or they simply lack trust.

This is what soul saving faith means. It means complete surrender and trust in God. To say, “Not as I will, but as You will” The words of Jesus found in Matthew 26:39 .

In fact, the Son of God has become a pattern of this very surrender to God that we should follow Him in the same way, note:

Philippians 2:5-8 “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death , even the death of the cross.”

Hebrews 5:8-9 “though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered . 9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him,”

The Son of God lived before the world as the Author of eternal salvation in that He completely surrendered to the will of His Father (which included becoming the sacrifice for the sins of man). This is the sort of attitude true faith plants in the heart of men. Note the words of the Apostle Paul to the churches of Galatia :

Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

Paul's personal desires, selfish ambitions, and personal purposes were crucified. No longer did Paul serve Paul, but with a life changing vigor, served Christ. Until faith in one's heart grows strong enough that he will surrender his will in complete submission to the will of the Lord, to do whatever the Lord would have him to do, to be whatever the Lord wants him to be, and until faith is strong enough to conquer and purge one's will of selfishness, self will, self desire, and love of self, faith will not purify one's heart .

•  Implications.

In the opening of this lesson we discussed the meaning of faith as given to the Hebrew Christians ( Hebrews 11:1 ), and the fact that they had to have faith in order to please God ( Hebrews 11:6 ). This entire chapter of this letter was given to these Christians as a description through illustration of soul saving faith. In each illustration it is stated, “By Faith” . This simply illustrates that these individuals surrendered themselves wholly to the will of God in each and every instance.

The illustrations of this chapter of Hebrews were given to Christians, those who were already in a covenant relationship with God through Christ Jesus. This stands in and of itself of the fact that soul saving faith and the surrender necessary to salvation is not a one time occurrence, but an entire life of the same.

Hebrews 4:1 “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it .”

Hebrews 10:26-27 “ For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth , there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.”

If every man or woman in the world disagreed with what the Bible taught, the word of God would still be the truth. What needs to transpire is to get away from the idea that Christianity can be ruled by popular desire, and that spiritual questions can be determined by the wisdom of men. We must surrender to the understanding that God through divine revelation has made His truth known, and that doctrine was preached and recorded by the Apostles of Christ in the New Testament. Thus, we must surrender to that divine wisdom as our only source of authority!

Acts 2:41 -42 “Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. 42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.”

Won't You Surrender All?