For not all have faith

“Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith.” – 2 Thess 3: 1,2

There are wicked people out there who will oppose the spread of the Gospel. Therefore we are called upon to pray for the word to be given free course to reach many people and to be honored when it does.

There is going to be opposition. Evil people with wicked intentions seek to thwart the Gospel from being heard, from whom, we need deliverance.

Why is that?

“For not all have faith” (2 Thess. 3:2).

Notice the clear words. This does NOT say that all men have faith but some fail to use or exercise it. No, it says not all have it. It is not in theirs. It is not found in them. Those who do possess genuine saving faith in Christ have received this faith as a gift. Not only is salvation God’s gift from start to finish but so is the faith that causes a person to trust Him (Acts 3:16; Ephesians 2:8, 9; Phil. 1:29, Heb 12:2).

Faith comes by the hearing of the word of God (Romans 10:17). Hearing God’s word is the way faith comes. The hearing of the word of God is the mechanism or the means God uses when He gives faith to someone – but not all who hear the word of God receive this precious gift. Some hear the word and refuse to believe it. Yet, some hear it, believe it and are saved.

Who receives it then?

Acts 13:48 tells us, “..and all who were ordained to eternal life believed.”

Jesus said these words to one group, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.”

Did you catch that? Look at the text again and ask yourself, “What was the reason these people did not believe (according to Jesus)”?

The answer is clear: They did not believe because they were not His sheep.

Jesus DID NOT SAY that they were not His sheep because they did not believe, making the unbelief the cause of them not being sheep. No, it was their not being His sheep that was the root cause of their unbelief. He said “you do not believe because you are not My sheep.”

In contrast to this picture, Jesus then says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:25-30)

Child of God, rejoice in your Savior for salvation is truly of the Lord. This trust you have in Him – yes, this trust in His goodness and in His word, even through fierce trials and storms, even through “many dangers, toils and snares” – this faith you have, is not your own doing. It is God’s gift given to you as one of His precious sheep. His sheep hear His voice, know Him and follow Him. All praise to the Great Shepherd of the sheep.

“If the faith whereby I have laid hold on Christ to be my Savior be altogether wrought in me by the Holy Ghost through grace, then I defy the devil to take away that which he never gave me or to crush that which Jehovah Himself created in me. I defy my free will to fling what it never brought to me. What God has given, created, introduced, and established in the heart, He will maintain there.” – C. H. Spurgeon

“No man can give himself faith, neither can he take away his unbelief.” – D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Did you hear the good news?

Imagine the scenario. You have been out most of the day and come home, and using the hand held remote, turn on the television. Its 5:59 p.m. and you turn to a well known national TV channel because you want to catch up on the news of the day.

After viewing a commercial for a skin care product, its time for the news program to air. After the short burst of introductory music, the broadcast announcer says, “Now, here with today’s news is Brian Green…”

Though the TV studio background is a very familiar setting, an unfamiliar face greets you with a smile saying, “Hello, my name is Brian Green, and today, I feel good! Yes, I feel REALLY GOOD! Life is just great right now.”

He continues, “I’ve managed to turn a few things around financially, I’ve lost 12 lbs in weight over the last few weeks and my relationships are so much healthier too. This new job as a news broadcaster, I have to say, is the best career move I’ve ever made. I wish you could have seen me a few weeks ago. My life did not have the same sense of purpose as it does today. I was fairly miserable most of the time. But I tell you, now, there’s definite, noticable spring in my step and I just want you to know, ‘Today is a great day!’ Over to you, Andrea Mckenzie with today’s weather…”

Andrea says, “Yes, thanks Brian, I want to tell folk that the weather today really makes me feel so happy inside. I used to live a long way from here and when I woke up this morning and opened the window curtains I saw the sun shining and I just knew I had made the right decision to move here. It brings such a smile to my face! I always felt there was a piece missing in the jigsaw that is my life and the weather here fills a void in my heart. On days like today, I have absolutely no regrets about moving here…”

By now, I hope you are feeling the utter sense of the ridiculous in the above scenario. Unless you have tuned in to a comedy channel by mistake, you are never likely to witness such a thing on your television screen. But let us ask ourselves why?

The reason is rather obvious isn’t it? It is because the news is objective not subjective. News is the recounting of events outside of ourselves. When we watch the news we hear such things as “today at the JFK airport in New York, a Boeing 747 had to make an emergency landing after one of its engines failed in mid flight…a spokesperson for Boeing said that no one was in immediate danger and no injuries were reported. The plane landed as a precaution…” and so it goes on.

The word Gospel comes from the Greek word euangellion and means Good announcement or good news.

The good news of the Gospel has two aspects to it. Firstly, it concerns what the Lord Jesus Christ achieved by His life, death, burial and resurrection.

1 Corinthians 15: 1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you— unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…

The second vital component of the good news concerns how Christ’s atoning work of redemption is actually appropriated by sinners. This is the good news of grace.

Galatians 1: 6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

Based on the sure foundation of Scripture alone, we are justified by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, all to the glory of God alone.

When a large stone is thrown into a lake it produces ripples in the water that reach to the edge of the lake, so the Gospel, when believed, affects people’s lives in all sorts of ways. If no ripples emerge, we can be sure that no stone hit the water. However, we must never confuse the message of the Gospel (the large stone) with the affects of the gospel (the ripples in the water).

As important and as interesting as it may be to hear news of a changed life, or of how a God shaped void in the human heart has been filled; of finding meaning and purpose to life – these things, as wonderful as they may be, are not the Gospel. They are wonderful affects of the Gospel but not the Gospel itself.

The Good News is the message of Christ and Him crucified, His Person and work – what He achieved in His life, death and resurrection for us sinners. It is an announcement of something accomplished outside of us, in real time, in human history. It reveals the fact that as our God appointed Substitute, He absorbed the wrath of God in our place, so that all who believe in Him, will in no way perish, but instead have everlasting life.

The Gospel is News. When was the last time you shared it?

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes…” – Romans 1:16