The God of the impossible
FAITH – THE ATHEIST AND GOD – Dr. Charles S Price
Sometime ago an atheist sat in a meeting I was conducting. He was extremely hard and cynical. He lived alone in the room of a hotel, and his solitude had only added to his hard, critical, unbelieving nature. I preached that night on the subject “comprehending the incomprehensible”. I declared that it was possible to believe the unbelievable: to know the love of God that passes knowledge. The following morning he came to my room and asked for an interview. He was rather argumentative and I told him, when I did not have time for argument, I would be glad to answer any sincere, honest, question which he might put before me.
He said, “I have no faith whatever. I do not believe the Bible, and I do not know if there be a God. I do see a law of order in nature and the universe, but what causes it, or where it came from, I do not know. Now, Dr. Price, your sermon last night was a challenge to my thinking. What I want to know is this: how can a man spend a dollar when he does not have one? How can you believe when you have no belief? How can God expect a man to exercise faith when he does not have any (assuming there is a God)? Where is there any justice in a set up like that?”
”Are you an honest man, and do you want to know the truth?” “What is truth?” was the reply. “What brand of it do you mean? I have never been able to find it, although I have spent a lifetime in search of it”.
On the wall of my apartment was hanging a picture of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. His hands were clasped and His eyes were raised toward heaven in prayer. I walked over to the picture and looked at it for a moment or two without speaking. I intuitively knew he would be looking at the picture too. When at last I turned to face him, I said, “He is truth. He is the way. He is your life and faith. He has in abundance what you say you do not have. You have been trying to get it out of mind, thought, and intellect. He can put it there, as the river of His grace flows through your heart. That is why He came. He came to make men free…. free from doubt like yours…. free from fears and misgivings…. free from unbelief and free from sin.”
“Sounds like a fairy story to me,” he interrupted. “Fine if you can believe it, but how can man or God expect a man to believe what he cannot believe? “
He went away. A week later he came to me and offered his hand. When I looked at his face, I knew the miracle had happened. Into his heart there had come not only the conscious knowledge of sins forgiven, but a manifestation of the sweetness and love of God which had made him a new creation in Christ Jesus……
“Do you know what happened? “He said. “I told the Lord to manifest Himself, if He was there. I asked Him to do something, which would reveal his presence, if He was there at all. I became conscience that He was near me. I realized there was a God – that there was a soul to save. I did not understand it with my mind, but I knew it in my heart. Then I told Him I had no faith to believe, so he gave me His faith, and I believed. The work was done.”
Why not? That is God’s way of salvation. “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name.” When I give an altar call, I invite every man, and every woman, to surrender their heart and life to Christ. If we are saved by faith, how do I know that all can have the faith to receive? How do I know that everyone whom I invite can find eternal life? Some might have faith, and others be entirely devoid of it. The fact that people believe what you say does not mean that they have the faith to translate that belief, or even heart hunger, into an experiential knowledge of sins forgiven.
Nevertheless, I cry “Whosoever will, may come,” because I know that He will impart the faith which is needful to every sincere heart. I have quoted the 12th verse of the first chapter of John: “but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the Sons of God, even to them that believe on His Name.”…..
The same Holy Ghost who convicts the sinner of his sin, will see to it that as the sinner was given enough conviction to convince him of his sin, so he will now be given faith enough to convince him of his salvation. But no man in himself possesses that faith. Are we not told “by Grace are you saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” Poor, wretched, miserable, ignorant, unbelieving humanity could never grow or develop in such corrupt hearts of unbelief faith enough to believe in a Saviour, let alone receive Him. So the Holy Spirit not only imparts the conviction of the need of a Saviour, but also imparts the faith to receive Him.
Never think it was your faith that received Christ as your Saviour. Never say that any act of yours was the basis of your redemption.
It is Jesus who imparts the water of which He spoke to the woman by Samaria’s well. It is Jesus who puts His arms of love beneath the burden on your back and lifts it from your tired weary body. It is Jesus who pours into the lacerated, broken heart the oil of heaven’s joy. It is Jesus who smooth’s the wrinkles of care with a gentle touch of a mothers hand, and it is Jesus who brings you out of the darkness of the night, into the light of his own glorious and wonderful day.
Sing it and shout it. Proclaim it and herald it near and far. His blood – His grace – His power – His pardon -His faith!
A LIVING FAITH
When will we stop our foolish and needless struggles and begin to believe? When will we put an end to our unscriptural mental and intellectual gyrations in our attempt to find a faith we do not possess; for unless we get it from God, never will we possess that faith! We are capable of belief and at the same time absolutely incapable of the exercise of Bible faith. Thousands have wandered into the error of thinking that belief is faith. It is not……. Belief is cold – intellectual. It operates as far as the human goes in the realms of intellect. Many sinful men believe the Bible, but such belief does not save them.
Faith is living. It moves and operates, and sweeps the enemies of the soul before its irresistible march. (Do you need) All the faith in the world? – No! You need only as much as a grain of a mustard seed, IF IT IS GOD’S FAITH! Then mountains will be removed. Your sin-sick soul will behold the glory of the Lord. But it must be God’s Faith. It must come from Him. He must impart it. And He will. That is the gospel of Grace, which I believe.
The Jericho Road, on which blind Bartimaeus was healed, without Jesus is the Jericho Road. With Him it is the shining Highway of Salvation and Healing. Its very rocks cry out His Glory. Without Him, its dust is sordid, its tears are real, and its blindness is so dark; but with Him its dust begins to grow the flowers of Grace and Glory; its tears are turned to pearls; its blindness and darkness is turned to light. It takes the presence of Jesus to work the miracle of the transformation of the Jericho Road……..
If you give me a watch, it is my watch. But I got it from you. There is faith in my heart as I write, but I know where I got it. Not from affirmation – not from will – not from belief – not from mental grasps or understandings – BUT FROM JESUS.
FOR HE IS THE AUTHOR (pioneer; founder; originator ) AND FINISHER (perfecter; completer; finisher) OF OUR FAITH.
—The Real Faith – Dr. Charles S. Price; Logos International Edition Copyright 1972
Interpretation of tongues, Sunday 12th March 2023
“SURELY HE IS THE GOD OF THE IMPOSSIBLE. YOU LOOK DOWN UPON YOUR ILLNESS; YOU LOOK DOWN UPON YOUR SICKNESS; YOU LOOK AT THOSE DISEASES THAT HAVE PLAGUED YOU FOR MANY A YEAR.
BUT THE LORD YOUR GOD; HE WILL GREATLY ENCOURAGE YOU THIS MORNING TO KEEP YOUR EYES FIXED UPON THE LORD JESUS; AND AS YOU FIX YOUR EYES UPON YOUR LORD THERE SHALL COME INTO YOUR VERY SPIRIT A SENSE OF REAL FAITH.
YOU WILL BE PERSUADED BY THE FAITH THAT THE LORD YOUR GOD GIVES YOU THAT NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD.
FOR YOUR GOD IS THE GOD OF THE IMPOSSIBLE AND SO LOOK TO THE LORD AND SEE HIM AS YOUR HEALER; SEE HIM AS YOUR RESCUER; AND REMEMBER; HE IS THE GOD OF THE IMPOSSIBLE.”
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