The Consequences of Believing Not, by D. Davenport

Since we know that Christ died for our sins and that God convicts human beings of that reality toward the purpose of getting them to repent (change their minds) and trust the Gospel.....then we also know that the overwhelming majority of people will reject God's conviction and be lost forever.

We know this because most of the Earth's seven billion are not trusting Christ as the only way to find the status of Justification before God. They may classify themselves as Agnostics, Atheists, or Religionists but they do not have a testimony based upon Paul's gospel as outlined in First Corinthians--trusting in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ ALONE for salvation.

This is obvious but what can be more confusing is finding out WHY billions of people refuse to believe God and be rescued (the literal meaning of the word saved) from the debt and penalty of their sin. We know from Romans that salvation is a free gift so the question of WHY people reject salvation becomes even more perplexing.

I'm convinced that there are two explanations for why people refuse to accept the free gift of salvation.

1. Darkened Understanding.

The first reason is intellectual. People know that they are sinners alienated from God through unrightenousness) and often know that Christ died for their sins but they DONT know that salvation is a free gift offer apart from any works, commitment, effort, intention, or preparation on their apart.

Romans 4:5 "But to him that WORKETH NOT, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness."

Unfortunately, most people think that God is going to REQUIRE something of them other than understanding (faith) and trust (the will)to receive salvation. They put the decision off and surmise that they're going to "get serious" with God at a future date.

2. The Human Will.

The second reason is intentional.

2 Corinthians 4:4 "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."

This passage is often misinterpreted sequentially-- it is often erroneously understood to say that Satan blinds people's minds and then they believe not. This aligns itself with the so-called Calvinistic theory of Limited Atonement.

The conclusion is mistaken on several levels--first of all Calvin never taught Limited Atonement or Regeneration as it is taught in Reformed churches today.

Secondly, the actual sequence is that individuals first BELIEVE NOT and THEN are BLINDED.

The implications of this are wide-ranging and devastating. For one thing, no person is ever guaranteed another chance at believing again after they intentionally BELIEVE NOT. How do they know that God will ever convict them to trust the Gospel at another time and place in their lives?

Furthermore it seems obvious that there are all types of ways of BELIEVING NOT. A few things that come to mind are refusing to seek God, refusing to read the Bible, refusing to ask questions, intentionally sinning in such a way as to shipwreck their conscience, etc.

There are billions of individuals who have BELIEVED NOT God in their own individual way throughout history and for many of them they may never be under God's conviction again---Satan was allowed to blind their minds and they will never recover them.

A good example of this is found in rejecting Intelligent Design and concluding that mankind evolved accidentally through the convergence of chance plus time.

Besides the fact that such a theory is mathematically, physically, statistically, and practically preposterous......

It comes as a surprise to people to find out that such thinking is anything but recent--Paul refers to it in the first chapter of Romans:

Romans 1:20, "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are CLEARLY SEEN, being understood by the things that are made, [even] his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:"

21 "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified [him] not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened."

Paul is making the simple point that no one can gaze at the Stars and conclude that there was no Intelligent Designer. It takes an act of intellectual and spiritual suicide to do so and this is exactly the point that God makes over and over again in the Bible.

That GOD.....CREATED.....are considered self-evident truths throughout the Bible--there is no man-made theorem or statistical model that is needed to make such a conclusion.

Therefore, it is clear that men and women of all ages make the same mistake over and over again--they BELIEVE NOT the evidence that is set forth before them and become BLINDED to recieving further truth.

The topic of why people reject the Gospel leads to all sorts of other interesting questions which may not have easy answers. We know that salvation is offered as a free gift and that the most wicked sinner that calls on the Name of the Lord shall be saved.....but the Bible seems to suggest that if an individual rejects whatever amount of light is given then it seems less likely that they will "feel" convicted and be converted: 2 Timothy 2:25 "In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; "

At first glance this verse may seem to support the Calvinistic theory of "Regeneration":....the every man is so totally depraved that God has to "infuse" the decision to choose God.

Actually, both of the verses that we have considered have set forth the reality that man hardens his own heart and mind with the result that it becomes more and more difficult for God to "get through" and convict him of his status as a sinner.

"GIVE THEM REPENTANCE" may sound completely along the lines of "Sovereign-Grace Theology" but in the balance and context of scripture we find men God striving with sinners and sinners rejecting God, their consciences, truth, the Scriptures, and the amount of light given to them (exposure to Biblical thought)in such a way that renders them almost "cut off" from God's conviction. They do this of their own free will.

In such cases, peradventure, God may continue to strive with men or He may not. Either way He will not overwhelm their free will in my opinion. A person can be under conviction and come away UNAFFECTED.

Although it is a matter of trans-administrational truth, The Rich Young Ruler is such an example. He was given the genuine offer to "inherit" the Millenial Kingdom and told specifically how to do it, but chose not to. God did not harden his heart nor did God fail to regenerate him.

John 3:19 "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. "

This statement is true of all men and women- about loving darkness- but we also know that some individuals choose to accept Justification by faith alone and others CHOOSE to either:

1. Try to supply their own righteousness

2. Reject or ignore the reality of their own sin

3. Reject any light whatsoever regarding spiritual issues

Either way, their UNDERSTANDING suffers as a result of their FREE WILL.

This is to BELIEVE NOT and the result is that their MINDS ARE BLINDED.

Many of these people may seem to be highly intelligent, educated, and successful by the worlds standards. Some of them have the designation "Doctor" in front of their names, teach in the most prestigious university or seminaries, etc.

But they are blind. If it is true that man's greatest need is God then it is also true that man's greatest need is to realize his CONDITION.

In 100 out of 100 cases, every man is born into sin, lives in sin, decides to sin, and is condemned by sin. And every sinner needs a Savior. The result of BELIEVING or responding to conscience, evidence, or conviction leads to light which leads to understanding which leads to repentance (changing of the mind apart from works) which leads to Justification.

The result of BELIEVING NOT leads to confusion which leads to darkness which leads to misunderstanding which leads to spiritual blindness which leads to death.

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