The "Choice" of Belief; the "Ability" to Choose to Believe - Tim Naab

Let's assume you own a red Ford automobile, the color and make are a KNOWN factor. Is it possible for you to BELIEVE that this red Ford is now a black Chevrolet? The answer to no. It is not possible to CHOOSE to believe it is a black Chevrolet. Why? Because the color and make are already KNOWN. It is impossible to believe something different than what is known to be fact. The mind of man forms a belief on perceived truth. He has no choice but to believe or disbelieve. We can not force ourselves to believe what the mind does not accept as truth. Simply put, we MUST believe what our mind perceives as truth. In reality what we believe, we have no choice but to believe. Try this; choose to believe that your automobile is a different make and color than what it is. You see the futility in this CHOICE. Now apply this same reasoning to scripture. Take for example the story of the blind man that Christ healed. "Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the Sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them. They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet. But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight. And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how then doth he now see? His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind: But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself. These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him. Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner. He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see." (John 9:16-25) These Pharisees COULD NOT believe this man was really blind. It was impossible for them. In like manner, this man's parents COULD NOT disbelieve that their son was born blind. Even though the fact that this man could now see was a known truth, the choice to believe either way was not possible. Man can not choose to believe differently than what his mind knows to be the truth. However, what the mind "knows" may be in error. This error does not change the fact that the man will believe this knowledge to be true. This begs the question, Can an unregenerate man know God? But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not . . . (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). The truth of the Gospel is hidden from those that are lost. If this is true then the lost CAN NOT choose to believe because they can not see the truth. All they are able to "choose" is what they "think" truth is. How about faith? "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." (Hebrews 11:6). Faith can not exist with out belief in God. But, if a lost man is blind to the truth and can not choose to believe then how can this man have faith? Answer: he can't. How does one receive faith. "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Romans 10:17) "Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe . . . " (Romans 3:22) How can we have faith without belief? How does a lost man gain belief? "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." (Romans 10:9). So, is confession belief? According to Romans 10:9 a person must confess AND believe. Confession can be made by a person who does not believe as well as a person who does. The confession that matters is based on belief. So, here we have a paradox, it requires the righteousness of Christ, which is by faith of Jesus Christ given to those that believe, then a confession based on belief and faith. But a lost man is blinded and can not believe therefore can not have faith which means they do not have the righteousness of Christ and all their confession means nothing. Here is the real question: How does a person "receive" belief. The answer is; 1 Chronicles 22:12 Only the LORD give thee wisdom and understanding .. Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing (understanding), and hearing by the word of God ... Romans 3:28. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith ... Hebrews 11:6. But without faith it is impossible to please Him. God makes them a new creature, this produces truth, which they can believe, which endues the believer in the righteousness of Christ by faith of Jesus Christ, which causes the new creation to confess with his mouth. This reveals who God is to this man and also reveals this man to himself. This revelation does two things. 1.) It will cause him to worship God in spirit and in truth for who God is. 2.) It will cause him to despise the man he has now seen because of who he was. This will cause repentance.

"What is the Will? We answer, the will is the faculty of choice, the immediate cause of all action. Choice necessarily implies the refusal of one thing and the acceptance of another. The positive and the negative must both be present to the mind before there can be any choice. In every act of the will there is a preference - the desiring of one thing rather than another. Where there is no preference, but complete indifference, there is no volition. To will is to choose, and to choose is to decide between two or more alternatives. But there is something which influences the choice; something shich determines the decision. Hence the will cannot be sovereign because it is the servant of that something. The will cannot be both sovereign and servant. It cannot be both cause and effect. The will is not causative, because, as we have said, something causes it to choose, therefore that something must be the causative agent. Choice itself is affected by certain considerations, is determined by various influences brought to bear upon the individual himself, hence, volition is the effect of these considerations and influences, and if the effect, it must be their servant; and if the will is their servant then it is not sovereign, and if the will is not sovereign, we certainly cannot predicate absolute "freedom" of it. Acts of the will cannot come to pass of themselves - to say they can is to postulate an uncaused effect. Ex nihilo nihil fit - nothing cannot produce something." (THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD by Arthur W. Pink, Chapter 7, THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD AND THE HUMAN WILL).

The foundation of righteousness is obedience. We are commanded to believe the Gospel. Christ made many righteous by His obedience, Romans 5:19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. It is His obedience or righteousness that is imputed to His people. Scripture says that our rightousness (obedience) is as filthy rages (Isaiah 64:6). Our righteousness is hypocrisy (from the word; upokrinomai; to impersonate anyone, play a part, to simulate, feign, pretend). Isaiah 32:6 for the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. This is what Christ referred to as the leaven (zumh zume dzoo' - may metaph. of inveterate mental and moral corruption, viewed in its tendency to infect others) of the Pharisees. Luke 12:1 in the meantime, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. When we attempt to mix this leaven (our self righteousness) into the "lump" it grows, rises and infects those around us with moral corruption. 1 Corinthians 5:6. Your glorying (kauchma boasting, self-righteousness) is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? No matter how miniscule this leaven is, it will serve its purpose. We may try and hide it but it will make itself known for all to see, Luke 8:16-18. No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick, that they which enter in may see the light. For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad. Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall begiven; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have. From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. (Matthew 12:34, Luke 6:45). To say that a person can dwell, out of ignorance or lack of understanding, which is given by God, on both sides of the line is to say that that person may retain a miniscule portion of leaven, self-righteousness, and also dwell in Christ's righteousness and not leaven the whole lump. ALL who are saved WILL believe the Gospel, which is, JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH alone!