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forced to relay this message: "For
®w the Lord would have estab–
lished your kingdom over Israel for
ever. But now your kingdom shall
not continue; the Lord has sought
out aman after his own beart ..." (1
Sam. 13: 13-14).
Two Positlve Examples
But there are others who set a much
more positive examp1e of faith. One
of the most outstanding was Job.
Upon Satan's instigation, God
allowed Job to be stripped of every–
thing. If any man cou1d have begun
to disbelieve God, it was Job- he
had every reason to question the
system, or the generally accepted
idea that if you're righteous, God
has to bless you. Job was a tru1y
righteous man, yet within a short
period of time all his children were
killed, his cattle and crops de–
stroyed, his body affiicted.
Humanly speaking, he had every
reason to reject God, but he ne':'er
did! He had faith, not in the idea
that God would bless him because
of bis good deeds, but faith that
God knew what He was doing in
Job's life! Job finally carne to the
place where he deeply felt God's
greatness and overwhelming power,
instead of just intellectually ack–
nowledging God's power in the af–
fairs ofmen.
Job believed the word of God,
and he clung to it with all he was
worth in spite of all that he could
see around him. Humanly speaking,
he probab1y had ample evidence for
chucking it, modifying it, reasoning
around it. But he didn't. He hung in
there. And when all was said and
done, he obtained a great reward.
Not just.the restoration of his physi–
cal fortune (God gave him double
what he had before), but a place in
His Kingdom.
Jesus Christ, of course, is the
prime example of faith in the Bible.
The fourth chapter of Matthew de–
scribes His temptation by Satan.
Satan tried to make Him disbelieve
the Word of God, and the Scripture
says
th~t
it really was a temptation–
not just sorne kind of exercise Christ
went through to teach us a philo–
sophical or religious lesson. Christ
was actually tempted-tempted to
disbelieve the Scripture. He was
tried as a human being, but, as you
32
read in the account, He resisted the
temptation.
Do You Belleve God?
The book of Hebrews says that we
are compassed about with a cloud of
witnesses-faithful men and women
who believed God, and acted on
their belief. "Since we are sur–
rounded by so great a cloud of wit–
nesses ..."-what should we do?
" ... Let us also lay aside every
weight, and sin whicb clings so
closely, and let us run with per–
severance the race that is set before
us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and
perfecter of our faith, who for the
joy that was set before him endured
the cross, despising the shame, and
is seated at the right hand of the
throne of God" (Heb.
12: 1-2).
The Bib1e tells us to "consider
him who endured from sinners such
hostility against himself, so that you
may not grow weary or faint–
hearted. In your struggle against sin
you have not yet resisted to the
point of shedding your blood" (ver–
ses 3-4). We are encouraged to be–
lieve God's promises, accept His
correction, and "lift [our] drooping
hands and ,strengthen [our] weak
knees, and rnake straight paths for
[our] feet," because God has prom–
ised us a fantastic future. We will
come to "the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem, and to in–
numerable angels in festal gather–
ing, and to the assembly of the first–
born who are enrolled in heaven,
and to a judge who is God of all,
and to the spirits of just men made
perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator
of a new covenant, and to the
sprinkled blood that speaks more
graciously than the blood of Abel."
With all this ahead of us, we are
warned: "See that you do not refuse
him who is speaking" (verses
12-
13,
22-25).
This is what God is outlining- the
promises of eternal life. That is
what's in front of us- not a tempo–
rary covenant or blessings that have
to do with temporal life on this
earth and that end with death. He is
faithful .to keep His word, and He
promises that if you follow what He
says, you'll be in His Kingdom.
What about you- do you believe
God? And if you do believe, what
are you going todo about it?
O
IF 'OlJ'DUKE
DKf\0/V
fV1C)RE
Many
hundreds
have
written
asking
if
we
have representativas
in their
local areas to counsel
wlth
them
personally
and
to an–
swer their questlons.
The answer is yes, we
do.
The Worldwide Church of
God
stations
personal representativas
(most are ordained ministers) in
the
United
States and many
other
areas
of
the
wortd.
These
local
miniSters
will visit you, lf
Invitad.
directly
in
your own
home.
$o
ff
you
have spil'ifual matters
1o
QiSc!JSS
or questions to
ask
..about blbllcal topics such as
re–
J*Itaoce,
baf>tism,
etc.,
please
fe~l
free to wrlte to us
and
r~uest
a
Pf'MJ.te
appolntment.
WorldWide
malHñg
addresses
and
J)hOne
numbei'S are as
follows:
• United
States: P.O. Box 11
t ,
Pasadena,
California
91123
(01'
simply
diat thls
toll-free
mamber In the
continental
U.S.: 1-800-423-4444. Read–
ers in catifornia,
Alaska alld
Hawaii
may
e~
213-577-5225
collect.)
• United
Kingc;tom, Europe,
India
arid
Afrlca:
P.O.
Box
111.
St.
Albans,
Herts.,
Englanct (Or
d1811his
nutnber in
U.K.: Raes.
létt
[092
76J
2670.)
•
~
Zealand
and
Paclfic:
lsfes:
P.o .
Box
2709, Aucklahd 1,
NéW
Zealand
(Or
dial
AUck-
4-reverse
the
The
PLAIN TRUTH July 1977