Why They Just Don't Get It

WHY THEY JUST DON'T GET IT

The ability to see reality accurately and interact with it in an appropriate and functional way, in accord with its true essence--that is a gift possessed only by those in Christ. Only believers in him have a right perception and conception of reality.

That is a strong statement but it is a truth fully confirmed by the Bible and stated or implied in many passages. Some of those passages will be referenced later here, but first it should be noted that there is no room for boasting by anyone about the possession of this ability to see reality as it really is, for Scripture plainly states that this basic necessity of life is freely available to all human beings; it's just that many do not like what this freely available vision shows them, and so they rebel against what they see in reality. Scripture calls them "men who suppress the truth" (Rom. 1:18). They know the truth, but suppress this knowledge because it is not to their liking, especially the truth that there is a God who created them for his own purposes and pleasure and that they are thus not their own (1 Cor. 6:18).

Thus we must distinguish between knowing the truth and reacting to it, either by accepting it as what it is, the truth, or suppressing it instead and preferring a fantasy and unreality. And in case you think that no one would really do this, that is, refuse to accept reality and choose a false reality of one's own imagination--listen to these words of a group of people who did this very thing:

"These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord's instruction. They say to the seers, 'See no more visions!' and to the prophets, 'Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!'" (Isaiah 30:9-11).

It is not just spiritual reality that people reject for false religion of their own making; such rebellion against reality is found in every sphere of life. Alcoholics seek escape from a painful reality; drug addicts not only seek to escape the true reality but seek to create one of their own. It is bad enough when an individual chooses either of these false realities; it is much worse when dictatorial political systems seek to force others to submit to their own false realities as well. But in all such cases, there is always a rejection of the one true reality that God has created. They all come down to the root cause of man not wanting to submit to God, the source of reality.

Romans 1:20 says that the natural, created world clearly shows God's nature in nature and that a person can understand what he there sees as a clear indicator of the true nature of reality. Therefore, there is no excuse, as that passage truthfully declares, for not understanding. If one fails to live in accord with this readily perceived and easily understood reality, then it is because that person deliberately chooses not to see, not to understand, and God is justified in being angry at such blatant rebellion against the truth (Rom. 1:18).

The consequences for suppressing the truth are severe. Rom. 1:21 says that those who do this have "their thinking (become) futile and their foolish hearts . . . darkened." What is worse, they do not even see this horrible degradation of their mind and reasoning abilities. In fact, they become so removed from reality that they think themselves wise when they are, in fact, fools.

This degradation extends beyond the mind, however. Having a deliberate mindset against the truth of reality as revealed by God in nature and Scripture leads inevitably to depravity of the body as well as the mind (Rom. 1:28). So great is this fall from reality that they even rejoice in and approve of vile and filthy habits and deeds, and it takes three whole verses simply to list just some of the depraved sins that come about because of this stubborn refusal to bow to reality (Rom. 1:29-31).

Bodily deeds flow from the mind's thoughts. If the mind is darkened, deceived, and out of step with reality, the body too will become against the natural state of reality, into an unnatural state. Thus all kinds of depraved and unnatural acts come to be (Rom. 1:24-27).

All this unnatural conduct is a natural consequence or result of a mind that is unnaturally against the truth of reality. Their thinking becomes futile (Rom. 1:21), which leads to their hearts (morality) becoming futile and darkened also (also v. 21). Thus they become so out of step with reality that they even think that what is unnatural is natural and that it is alright to do these horrible things:

"Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them" (Rom. 1:32).

God is fully justified in being angry at this upside-down perversion of his created order, as he warns those who take pleasure in perverting what he has created:

"Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness" (Isaiah 5:20).

God has given laws of conduct for human living, and those who follow those laws find that they are a protection from his wrath and from the folly of a blunted mind. But that protection is removed when a person steps out from under the protective covering of the law; then they are susceptible to depraved acts that stem from a depraved mind.

"Since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done" (Rom. 1:28).

A number of important points need to be recognized here. First, notice that it is not that these rebels do not know that these things they do are evil. Verses 18-20, already reviewed, point this out clearly. They do know; it is all plain to everyone who wants to see. Therefore, as that section from Romans one concludes, they are without excuse (v. 20).

Secondly, we see that knowledge alone is not enough; knowing the truth is not enough: One must love the truth. But if there is no love for the truth, then it is easy to find some other way to serve as a basis for the one way God has provided for us to live a sane and productive life. That one way is in his Son, Jesus Christ. That is why Jesus himself said: "I am the way, the truth, and the life . . . " (Jn. 14:6).

There are myriad ways that a person can suppress this universal knowledge of the truth, but they all come down to one: wickedness.

" . . .men who suppress the truth by their wickedness" (Rom. 1:18).

Evil deeds dull the mind, and the more the body engages in evil deeds and wickedness, the duller the mind becomes until the evildoer's life is totally bankrupt morally and the mind completely futile in its thinking (Eph. 4:17).

"They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts" (Eph. 4:18).

Here is seen that the entire process of degradation and depravity works both ways. Not only does rejecting and suppressing the knowledge of the truth in one's mind lead the body into ever greater sin and depravity; greater indulgence in sin leads to deepening darkness of mind. It is a vicious circle and downward spiral:

"God created people to be virtuous, but they have each turned to follow their own downward path" (Eccl. 7:29 NLT).

"Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more" (Eph. 4:19).

The connection between ignorance of this truth about not being able to see reality when it is so plainly revealed to us and the cycle of ever-increasing inability to see it, is further declared in Peter's words of warning to "not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. (1 Ptr. 1:14). He says further that these sinful desires "war against your soul" (1 Ptr. 2:11). Later, Peter again stresses the ignorance that this rebellion engenders, saying that "it is God's will that by going good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men" (1 Ptr. 2:15).

Notice that Peter does not recommend arguing with those who are living in ignorance of the most basic fundamentals of reality by their ungodly lives. He does not say to battle words with words but with deeds. Talk is cheap; a life living out the truth is costly--and powerful refutation to those who have only words and who twist the meaning of words to justify their ignorant view of reality.

Peter builds on this concept by telling wives that if their "unbelieving husbands do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, when the see the purity and reverence of your lives" (1 Ptr. 3:12).

In his second letter, Peter further confirms that evil desires cause the corruption seen in the world (2 Ptr. 1:4). The blindness and inability of a darkened world to see its own miserable condition is again contrasted to the light of the knowledge of Christ, calling it "a light shining in a dark place" (2 Ptr. 1:19).

Just how dark the lost souls of a lost world are is seen by Peter's description of them as men who blaspheme in matters they do not understand (2 Ptr. 2:12). This same ignorance of reality was seen when men killed Jesus, the very Son of God, the God of glory:

"None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Cor. 2:8).

"The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor. 2:14).

It is of the utmost importance that we have the Spirit of God, for without him, we cannot understand reality. This being so, the supreme question then becomes, "How do I obtain the Spirit of God?" It can be done in one way only: through faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "I am the way . . . (Jn. 14:6).

There is no other way. If one does not have Jesus, that person does not have the Spirit of God within him and he will not be able to understand reality, because all of reality stems from God, the highest expression of that reality. But if you have Jesus, who is God, you have that Spirit of God:

"He who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in Spirit" (1 Cor. 6:17).

Having this Spirit of God is necessary both for physical life and spiritual life. Unfortunately, most people in the world receive only the physical life and they settle for that, when they could have the even greater spiritual life that God offers to all in his Son, Jesus Christ.

"As you do not know the path of the wind, or how a body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the maker of all things" (Eccl. 11:5).

Those without the Spirit of God understand the physical process of human procreation (to an extent), but this knowledge is to their detriment, as they turn this blessing from God into a curse that destroys them in their lust to pursue this blessing from God on their own terms:

"They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only sovereign Lord" (Jude 4).

"These men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals--these are the very things that destroy them" (Jude 10).

Yet, such people could have the dual gifts of the Spirit, physical life and spiritual life as well, if they wanted to, instead of settling only for the physical. For God freely offers this to all and provides the Spirit to all who will accept him in Christ. Then they can have the fullness of life (Jn. 10:10) that Jesus came to bring them.

"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness" (2 Ptr. 1:3).

God has provided, yes, but too often people, even his own people, try to appropriate what he has provided in their own way instead of submitting to his ways. In Numbers, chapter 14, God's people are told to go into the promised land, God's provision for them. But they are frightened by the reports of giants there, so they refuse and desire to return to slavery in Egypt instead, where, at least, they think, they are safe. But, by allegory, there is no safety in slavery to sin, only a false and deceptive peace, for the enemy ceases attacking then only because they are already in his camp, already captured by him; they are safely his, not God's.

So God is rightfully angry with such for refusing his provisions for them and not trusting him to take care of them. Instead, they want Egyptians, their slave masters, to provide for them, for then they can see and feel and taste what is provided for them, in contrast to God's promises to provide for their souls, spirits, and bodies.

This is a crucial lesson that we who live in these last days of earth need to recognize and appropriate unto ourselves. For Scripture warns us that in the end, the times will be very bad, with devastation wracking the earth, and food and other necessities of life in very short supply. Who will we trust and look to then for providing these things so necessary to life? Many, many in the world will fall for the coming man who would be ruler of the world, because he will indeed provide food and a plentiful supply of cheap goods for these devastated people all over the world. It will be a great temptation then, just as it was ages ago for the ancient Hebrews, to allow our bodily desires to govern our lives instead of trusting the Spirit of God to enable us to rise above such basic concerns. For Jesus said:

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Mt. 6:25-34).

"Jesus declared, 'I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe'" (Jn. 6:35,36).

Again and again, we see Scripture declare that seeing is not believing. God reveals himself to all in his grand creation of the universe and Nature, yet man refuses to see and believe because he does not want to submit to God as the Lord of that creation, nor believe in the words of Jesus that he will provide both physical and spiritual bread in the world in the last dark days. He himself is that bread (Jn. 6:35). We have his word on that.

But that is not enough for some. In a word, they have no faith in the Word, just as the ancient Hebrews had no faith in God's word of promise. They did not believe that what God said would come true. Therefore, God was angry with them for their lack of faith and trust in him, even after all the miraculous provisions he had provided for them in the wilderness.

"That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways'" (Heb. 3:10).

"So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief" (Heb. 3:19).

This is borne out in the account of Numbers 14, for after being told to go in and take possession of the land--God's provision for them--they refused, out of fear and unbelief. Then when God became angry over this, and told them their punishment would be to be sent into the wilderness, they rebelled yet again, by refusing to go into the wilderness and instead, now saying that they would indeed go into the Promised Land!

Do not lightly pass over this extremely important lesson here and fail to recognize what it means. These people became their own god! It is not enough simply to obey God; he must be obeyed and thus worshipped (for obedience is a form of worship) with a right heart and spirit (Jn. 4:24). Jesus illustrated this truth in his parable of the publican and the sinner or tax collector. The publican was proud of his obedience to God and boasted of it to him. And, in truth, he had obeyed all the commandments--except the most important one of all, that of loving the Lord God above all else, with all his heart. Outwardly, he was faultless; but inwardly, where it really counts and where only God can see, he failed.

So too, did the Israelites in the wilderness at the edge of the Promised Land. They were so close to actually being within the Promised Land, just as the publican was, for obedience is really the key to being able to enter. But that obedience must be to all God's commandments, especially that first, all-important one. That is why Jesus said that the work of God that we must do (obey) is to believe in the one he has sent, Jesus Christ. For only in believing in him do we truly obey God's commands.

Jesus himself is our chief example of this, for when he was baptized, Scripture says that immediately he was driven by the Spirit of God into the Wilderness. What? He is God's Son, sent into the world to deliver it from slavery unto sin. Now God tells him to go away from the world into the wilderness? How can he save the world by going away from the world? But that is God's word to him, God's way.

"'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts'" (Is. 55:8,9).

And so, because Jesus loves his Father with all his heart, he obeys and goes into the wilderness. Here we see that it is not just obedience that is outward, as in the publican, that matters, but obedience from the heart, as in Jesus. This is the kind of obedience God desires. He did not find it in the Israelites of old. They sought to obey God on their own terms, not his. This is not obedience; this is rebellion. Therefore, "they were not able to enter" (Heb. 3:19).

"It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience" (Heb. 4:6).

Hebrews 3:19 says that they were not able to enter because of their unbelief. Hebrews 4:6 says it was because of their disobedience. There is no contradiction here. To believe is to obey, to obey is to believe. The two cannot be separated. That is what the book of James is all about.

This being the case, that in that day of old a whole nation was unable to enter into the promised land, "therefore God again set a certain day, calling it today . . . there remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God. . . . Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience" (Heb. 4:6,7,9,11).

It is my urgent plea to all who read this that you will not fall by following the example of disobedience into a land of false reality, but will wholly grasp and cling to the one, true reality that proclaims Jesus Christ as the Creator and Savior of the reality in which we find ourselves, that is, that we are sinners in need of that Savior, who will bring us to the full realization of our need and his supply. If you are presently living in any of the many false realities that are so popular in this world, I urge you to reject them and accept the one true reality, Jesus Christ, by praying this prayer:

God, who created the reality in which I exist, I accept that you have provided a way, one way, in Jesus Christ, for me to participate fully in this one, true reality. Lord Jesus Christ, I surrender to you as the Lord of all reality in general and that reality in particular that is myself. I am a sinner in need of you as my Savior, and I accept you as my Lord and Savior, trusting in what you did on the cross to make me acceptable to God--not anything I can do, for my good deeds are as filthy rags in your holy sight. Thank you, Jesus, for dying on the cross for me, and I ask you, Holy Spirit, to cause me to grow in this new faith in my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.