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 2.
Faith -- Elevators Can Let You Down
When a young man once looked at me and
said, "I find it hard to believe some of the things
in the Bible," I smiled and asked, "What's your
name?" When he said, "Paul," I casually
answered, "I don't believe you." He looked at
me questioningly. I repeated, "What's your name?"
Again he said, "Paul," and again I answered,
"I don't believe you." Then I asked, "Where
do you live?" When he told me, I said, "I don't
believe that either." You should have seen his reaction.
He was angry. I said, "You look a little upset. Do
you know why? You're upset because I didn't believe what
you told me. If you tell me that your name is Paul, and
I say, 'I don't believe you,' it means that I think you
are a liar. You are trying to deceive me by telling me
your name is Paul, when it's not." Then I told him
that if he, a mere man, felt insulted by my lack of faith
in his word, how much more does he insult Almighty God
by refusing to believe His Word. In doing so, he was saying
that God isn't worth trusting -- that He is a liar and
a deceiver. The Bible says, "He who does not believe
God has made Him a liar," (1 John 5:10). It also
says, "Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of
you an evil heart of unbelief. . ." (Hebrews 3:12).
Martin Luther said, "What greater insult . . . can
there be to God, than not to believe His promises."
I have heard people say, "But I
just find it hard to have faith in God," not realizing
the implications of their words. These are the same
people who often believe the weather forecast, believe
the newspapers, and trust their lives to a pilot they
have never seen whenever they fly in a plane. We exercise
faith every day. We trust our car's brakes. We trust
our history books, our medical books, and we trust elevators.
Yet elevators can let us down. History books can be
wrong. Planes can crash. How much more then should we
trust the sure and true promises of Almighty God. He
will never let us down . . . if we trust Him.
I have often heard cynics say, "The
Bible is full of mistakes." It is. The first mistake
was when man rejected God, and the Scriptures show men
and women making the same tragic mistake again and again.
It's also full of what seem to be contradictions. For
example, the Scriptures tell us "with God, nothing
shall be impossible" (Luke 1:37). We are told that
there is nothing Almighty God can't do. Yet we are also
told that it is "impossible for God to lie"
(Hebrews 6:18). So there is something God cannot do!
There's an obvious "mistake" in the Bible.
The answer to this dilemma is to be found in the lowly
worm.
Do you know that it would be impossible
for me to eat worms, although I have seen it done. I
once saw a man on TV butter his toast, then pour on
a can of live, fat, wriggling, blood-filled worms. He
carefully took a knife and fork, cut into his moving
meal, and ate it. It made me feel sick. It was disgusting.
The thought of chewing cold, live worms is so repulsive,
so distasteful, I can candidly say it would be impossible
for me to eat them, even though I have seen it done.
It is so abhorrent, I draw on the strength of the word
"impossible" to substantiate my claim.
Lying, deception, bearing false witness,
etc., is so repulsive to God, so disgusting to Him,
so against His holy character, that the Scriptures draw
on the strength of the word "impossible" to
substantiate the claim. He cannot, could not, and would
not lie.
That means that in a world where we
are continually let down, we can totally rely on, trust
in, and count on His promises. They are sure, certain,
indisputable, true, trustworthy, reliable, faithful,
unfailing, dependable, steadfast, and an anchor for
the soul. In other words, you can truly believe them,
and because of that, you can throw yourself blindfolded
and without reserve, into His mighty hands. He will
never, ever, let you down. Do you believe that?
 The
next section is:
Evangelism -- Our Most Sobering Task
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