Articles
Confidence in Knowing
Near the end of his life, the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, saying, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:7, 8). Paul was confident that he had a reward, and he could write with confidence about his future reward, but not simply because he had “kept the faith”; he could be confident because he had faith!
When we are introduced to the man who would later be called Paul, he clearly did not believe in Jesus; he was, in fact, presiding over the stoning of a man who did believe (Acts 7:54-8:1). Paul was converted to the truth after he came face to face with the one whom he had denied (Christ, Acts 9:1-22), and he immediately began preaching Jesus as the Christ. Because of this face-to-face meeting with Jesus, he could no longer deny the truth and be called honest, and this truth convinced Paul beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus was indeed the Christ and Son of God. That conviction was only further strengthened by the revelation given to Him by the Holy Spirit (cf. Eph. 3:1-7), and the miraculous power given to him by that same Holy Spirit. He saw with clear eyes the power of God and the truth that Jesus was the Christ, and that conviction gave him confidence to go and preach that message boldly and to not fear even the threat of death (Acts 21:13). Again, let it be noted that Paul's confidence was not in self, but in the truths revealed to him by God; his confidence — his faith — was in God and Christ.
Faith in God and Christ, for us, comes through the word of God (Rom. 10:17), the Bible; and this faith is a confidence and trust in God and Christ and their words, based on the fact God “cannot lie” (Titus 1:1, 2), and the fact “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8). We do not have to worry about God changing His mind (Mal. 3:6), and we do not have to worry about Jesus judging us by something other than the words He has spoken (John 12:47, 48). The Christian's confidence and trust in God and Christ is one that can give them the courage to stand against any opposition, and endure any trial.
But to have this level of confidence and trust — the same confidence and trust Paul had that a reward awaited him — we must first know the word of God. Without knowing what God's word says, we cannot know the promises He has made and the surety of His word. Without knowing His word, we cannot have faith, and without having a deeper knowledge of His word, our faith will be small and weak. Consider, then, the benefits of a thorough knowledge of God's word.
Knowing God. Yes, every Christian should already know God before they become a Christian, but is that knowledge of God sufficient, or should we learn more about Him, and get to know Him even better? Would you expect a man married for 30 years should know his wife a little better than the day he married her? It is that deeper knowledge of one another that strengthens a marriage, and it is when spouses get to the point they "don't really know" the other that the relationship is in trouble.
So, how well do we know God? When Paul said Christ would come with flaming fire for vengeance, he noted it would be to “those who do not know God” (2 Thess. 1:8); I am confident He meant more than just a passing knowledge of God's existence and attributes. God wants all men to know Him like some people know the statistics of every baseball player in the major league for the last decade, like some people who can identify every Oscar® "Best Picture" winner since the inception of the Academy Awards, and like someone who truly loves Him “with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matt. 22:37). But how can we do that if we don't know Him?
It is in God's word, the Bible, that we find God loved us enough to send His only Son to die for us, that we might believe and be saved (John 3:16); it is in God's word we find that He wants none to perish (2 Pet. 3:9), and all “to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:3, 4). We have to put forth the effort to gain that knowledge, however. He has revealed what we need to know (Deut. 29:29), but we have to search “the Scriptures daily” (Acts 17:11) to learn what God demands of us.
Knowing Our Hope. I will be completely open here: It is beyond my comprehension how those who do not have hope in Christ make it in this world. If this life is all we are living for, how meaningless and miserable it would be! If this life is all there is, then we are all hopeless.
But in God's word, we find reason to endure this sin-filled world. It is there we find the hope of the resurrection from the dead (1 Cor. 15:20-57), the promised “inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven” (1 Pet. 1:3, 4), and God's promise of eternal life (1 John 2:25). If we did not know God's word well enough to know about our hope of being resurrected and these promises of eternal life in heaven, how miserable and depressing this earthly life would be! It is these promises that give us hope — a confident expectation — that we have something better awaiting us.
Knowing the Answer to Temptations. The Christian's life is not just about awaiting the eternal reward; much of it is facing trials and temptations that are meant to dissuade us from following the path of righteousness and meant to cause doubt that the path we are taking is the right and safe way. The devil is constantly trying to distract us, but he is also throwing hurdles in our path and trying to frighten us away from the path and trying to lure us away from the path by offering the wide, smooth one (cf. Matt. 7:13, 14).
If our “adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5:8), and he will even tempt our Lord (Matt. 4:1-11), he will try to tempt you and me, too, and he will use our own desires against us (Jas. 1:13-15). So how would we lowly, weak creatures ever hope to be able to withstand such an adversary? How can we do this on our own?
The first thing we need to admit is we cannot do it on our own; we need help — and we have it! In the account of Christ's temptation, He gave us the means to “Resist the devil” so “he will flee from you” (Jas. 4:7): what is written in God's word! Each time the devil tempted Jesus, He answered, “It is written”; that is the answer to our every temptation, too. When Paul wrote, “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Cor. 10:13), he was talking about the escape made possible by answering with God's word! It is when we do not know God's as thoroughly as we should that we do not find that “way of escape” and our desire “gives birth to sin” (Jas. 1:15). Knowing God's word will enable us to resist successfully, and respond with words our enemy cannot defeat. Remember it is “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:17) that is our weapon of choice, and the one that will bring spiritual victories over our adversary.
Do you know God's word?
—— Steven Harper
