It Is One Thing To Believe In God; It Is Quite Another To Believe God

This quote from R.C. Sproul “It is one thing to believe in God; it is quite another to believe God” is so true. Sproul’s point is that a lot of believers in God won’t accept what God clearly says in His word. My examples …

Many denominational people believe in Jesus but refuse to accept what Jesus said in Mark 16:16a – “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” They just can’t bring themselves to accept that truth, even though they know Jesus said it.

Many church goers believe in God, but wishful thinking causes them to disbelieve it is possible to fall from grace even though God said in Gal 5:4 – “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.”

Christians by definition are supposed to believe what Christ taught but most refuse to accept what He said in Matt 5:34 – “Swear not at all” (same thing is said by James 5:12).

Many believe in Christ but the last thing in the world they are going to do is follow His teaching in Matt 5:39 – “whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” Instead, their false manta is always going to be “we shouldn’t start a fight, but it’s certainly okay to defend ourself.”

Christians claim to be the true followers of Christ, but most just can’t bring themselves to believe what Christ said in Mat 12:31, that there is one sin that can’t be forgiven – “All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.”

I know a number of gospel preachers that certainly believe Jesus died on the cross for our sins (I Cor 15:3), but they flat out deny “the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa 53:6c) and “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt 27:46). For some reason it is okay to directly contradict those passages about the death of Christ, but not okay to deny Mark 16:16a?

An appropriate concluding passage here I think would be Isa 55:8-9 – “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

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