Lee Moses
There is no man or woman alive who cannot know certainly that God exists and that He has a will for man. This does not require an existential “leap of faith”; it merely requires use of the God-given powers of observation and reason:
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world (Psa. 19:1-4).
Every time one looks up at the sky, it as if the sky is screaming, “Look, here I am! Though mankind is continually advancing technologically, they will never be able to create anything on the scale of me. There has to be God!” It does not matter one’s language, culture, or background; the testimony which nature provides to God abounds.
God revealed Himself personally to mankind prior to the delivery of the law of Moses, before there were “Israelites,” or “Jews.” Every man or woman has had at least one ancestor to whom God spoke directly. Every descendant of those to whom God spoke had the responsibility of handing down the spiritual knowledge he had received. However, most failed miserably in this regard: “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient (‘fitting,’ ASV)” (Rom. 1:28). When the knowledge of God hindered man’s lifestyle, man chose to refuse the knowledge of God which he had obtained, and refused to obtain any more true knowledge of God.
The Jews had been particularly blessed to have been entrusted with the Old Testament Scriptures (Rom. 3:1-2; Deut. 4:8). However, the Jews chose to abuse the privilege which was theirs to know God. They openly rebelled against Him, yet claimed Him as their God. Instead of obeying God, they cried, “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord” (Jer. 7:4), as though God would continue to bless them merely because He had blessed them so abundantly in the past.
There are still many seen today who choose either to refuse or to abuse the knowledge of God. When most people hear the saving message of the Gospel of Christ, they refuse it—because they do not like what it says, because they do not want to do what it demands, or because they do not want to give up their hedonistic lifestyles. There are others who abuse the knowledge they have been blessed to have of God. When you talk to them about religious matters, they will respond, “I’m church of Christ” (note the adjectival use). To them, this means that they do not have to attend worship or continually serve God in any manner. Once they have been baptized, they have “fulfilled all righteousness,” thus assured of heaven regardless of future obedience or rebellion.
It has been said that “knowledge is power.” It is truly an incredible power one has who knows the truth regarding God—“But as many as received him [Jesus Christ, LM], to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12). But one need continue in that knowledge in order to “lay hold on eternal life” (1 Tim. 6:12, 19). Let no one refuse the knowledge which has been offered with its accompanied blessings; neither let any abuse the privilege of the knowledge of Christ.
