2009 North American Bible Conference     December 25, 2009   “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse”  Romans 1:20   I Believe God that It Will Be just as It Was Told MeFor a very long time, I have had great respected for the apostle Paul as being a spiritual person. He doesn’t present an image of a manly general, but he is still enchanting as a man of knowledge with a brilliant mind. A while ago, as I sat alone in my house reading the book of Acts from the beginning, various thoughts arose in my mind. The Acts of the Apostles tells of how the young Paul didn’t recognize the Church of God and dedicated himself to the persecution of those who proclaimed the way of Jesus. Once you get through the first part of the book, starting from around chapters 9, 10, and 11, the accounts of the apostle Paul unfold little by little, and then towards the end, we are presented with an image of the Paul in his old age. When he went to Rome, he was no longer a young man. As we read the Gospels, we find a description of the circumstances surrounding Jesus’ birth and then there is a brief account of an incident that occurred when He was twelve years old. After that, there is a break of several years and we hear nothing of His life until He reached the age of thirty. Then, when Jesus was about 33 years old, He was crucified and He died. The Acts of the Apostles, however, presents an image of a young man who claimed that he worshiped God, but wasn’t able to acknowledge Jesus and he tried to destroy the Church. The book then tells us that after Paul turned around, he dedicated himself to the mission that God had set before him (the work of spreading the gospel) testifying that he was ready to risk his life for this work. At the end of the book, we see how the elderly Paul wound up his final journey. As I read about Paul’s life, many thoughts arise in my mind. Fears also arise in my heart as I wonder if I, as a young man, would have been able to walk that same path. When the apostle Paul was on board a ship heading for Rome?his final journey?they came up against a great storm. Paul had advised the owner of the ship not to set sail on that day, but to wait a little and take a different route, but seeing that the sky was clear and the weather fine, the owner of the ship decided not to listen to Paul, and in the end they did set sail only to meet with a fierce gale. So all the cargo was thrown overboard, the ship was tossed to and fro, and for several days it was so dark that they couldn’t see anything. Even in the midst of this turmoil, Paul told the people who were with him on the ship that since God had told him he must go to Rome and spread the gospel there, he believed that God would accomplish what He had said. This is different from the way in which the people in this world often claim to believe in God. “Do you believe in God?” “Yes, I do.” The words of people who express their belief in God in this way are very different from the words of the apostle Paul when he said that God had given him a commandment and, in order that this be carried out, he would survive and continue on to Rome because he believed that God would bring about what He had said. As I was reading the Acts of the Apostles, I thought about the nature of my own faith. Then I came across a passage that really startled me. Let’s read it together. Acts chapter 27 from verse 20.   “Now when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us, all hope that we would be saved was finally given up. But after long abstinence from food, then Paul stood in the midst of them and said, ‘Men, you should have listened to me, and not have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss. And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, saying, “Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.” Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me. However, we must run aground on a certain island.’”  Acts 27:20-26   The apostle Paul had to go to Rome in order to stand before Caesar. Previously, an angel of God had appeared to Paul and told him that he would also have to testify of the work of God in Rome (see Acts 23:11). This is why Paul said, “I believe God that it will be just as it was told me,” but let’s think about how we would have acted given the same situation. Before we quibble over whether or not we are saved, we need first to consider whether we believe in God as we should. It is true that when we are saved, faith slips into our hearts and at that moment we are changed. I, too, have experienced this. But does this mean that we then believe every word that is in the Bible? Can we say with confidence that we believe every single word that God has spoken?I am not trying to discuss the merits and demerits of the faith of each individual. We need first to consider what it is to believe in God as is recorded in the Bible. We need to think about the route we took as we came to acknowledge God and how our spirits were saved. As we live as Christians after salvation, it is our task to consider our thoughts in regard to acknowledging God and Jesus Christ completely in the course of our lives. The Bible says, “Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you” (1 Peter 1:10). In certain respects, this thing referred to as “grace” is colossal. When it says here, “receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls,” this “salvation” is like the narrow gate through which you enter into this tremendous grace. Like an umbilical cord, it is the connection to life. That is not to say that “grace” and “salvation” are different. The One who gives us all of this is God.In front of many people, Paul said, “I believe God that it will be just as it was told me.” What is this God like of whom Paul testified?God’s Divine Nature Manifested in All Things Created“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20) I have probably read this verse from Romans more often than any other verse in the Bible. When I was first saved, it was the letter to the Romans that was clearest to me, but the more I read this letter, the more difficult it became. I also read Romans chapter 1 many times, but every time I read it, I came across parts that I couldn’t fully comprehend. Even when we read that His eternal power and Godhead are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, we generally think of power purely in the ordinary sense of the word. The sun rises and sets, the wind blows, and the four seasons pass by. When we see these great changes in nature, we are aware that these things would not be possible if God had not brought them about. While we may think a lot about the power of God, we tend not to think much His Godhead. “Godhead” means God’s divine nature. When it comes to the nature of a person, we think not only of that person’s strength, but also his habits, talents, the way he talks and so on; we think of the various complexities of that person’s nature. Yet, when we read the above verse, we think only about God’s power. As we sing the hymn, “O, Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder” (Hymn #40), we think deeply about God who created the beautiful world of nature and who has the power to run it, and we look up to Him. Nevertheless, we tend not to think about the fact that from the beginning of the history of mankind to the end of time, everything has come forth from God and returns to Him, as the Bible says, “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things” (Romans 11:36), and that God speaks to us and teaches us about the many things of the past and the present, and the many things that will occur in the future.When we read passages that talk about what God has created, are we simply going to think that God is great? These days there are many people who are referred to as artists. Some of these people just dip their brushes in paint and throw them at a canvas. They do this numerous times and in the end the paint covers the entire canvas. These finished canvases are considered works of art, exhibited and sold for huge amounts of money. Others paint their own entire bodies and roll over their canvas. This they also regard as a work of art. Then people who consider themselves critics and people in the know take these paintings and interpret them. My first thought when I look at such paintings is, “What was this artist thinking that led him to paint like that?” On the other hand, when I look at beautiful paintings, paintings that bring a warm feeling to the heart, paintings that evoke the warmth of images from childhood, I think, “There seems to be something lyrical and harmonious in the heart of this artist; a certain longing nostalgia for days gone by.”It’s the same when it comes to music. When I listen to some music, it gives me a headache; there may be one note followed by a very long interval of silence before the next note is played. Many people discuss genres for such music and even write papers on the mental world of the composers. When we listen to music, we might take a guess at the nature of the composer; if the music is complex, we imagine that the composer’s mind must be complex, and when we listen to a concise yet beautiful melody, we think that the composer’s mind must be lyrical. God has also produced many creations in the world. Many of His creations have been set out so that we can see them with our human eyes, touch them, and feel them, but there are also a tremendous number of His creations that are invisible to us. Yet amongst the mountains, the fields, the soil, the trees, the birds and all the things that God has created, there are no two the same. No two grasses or trees in this world are exactly the same. Even in a huge lawn of grass, you will not find any two blades that have formed in exactly the same way. It is impossible. Also, if we compare two trees of the same variety, they may look similar, but they will be different. Pine trees, for example, have similar shapes and characteristics and so they have been classified as being the same, but they are actually all different. It’s the same when it comes to birds and other creatures; even though they may be of the same species, they all differ from one another in appearance. Amongst the billions of people on earth, there are many whose faces look similar, but even twins are not exactly the same. Have you ever thought about this? The Bible tells us that God created the world and then, in order to rectify man’s mistake, He determined a course of history for mankind, and within that course of history, a nation by the name of Israel emerges. God gave the laws to the people of that nation in order that mankind might find Him through them, He disciplined them and He blessed them, and He spoke through the history of that nation. Such matters are recorded in detail in the Bible and when we read through the Bible from beginning to end, we can see the nature of God.It is to those people who do not know God that the words from Romans chapter 1 verse 20 apply: “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” God’s image and nature are revealed within the Bible, but the people who ignore this, and don’t want to accept it will stand before God in the end and, as the Bible says, they “will be speechless.” They won’t be able to make any excuses, because the God of which the Bible speaks has also revealed Himself through the things that He has made to enable them to consider Him, even if only vaguely. What do we first think of when we hear that God created the world or when we evangelize to someone and talk to them about God’s creation? It is on

정회원으로 가입하시면 전체기사와 사진(동영상)을 보실수 있습니다.