One of the first things parents do, at least the responsible ones, is teach their children to share, and one of the first words that comes out of a child’s mouth is “No.” The Lord God does not entrust what He wants accomplished to man, it is the Holy Spirit throughout the existence of mankind that reveals the will and Word of God through certain men, and not because He trusts them, “For there is no respect of persons with God.” (Romans 2:11) “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” (John 14:26)
What we read in the Word of God, specifically the King James Bible, is what God wanted to say, there are no errors, no inaccuracies, it is exactly what the Lord wanted people to know about Him. Everything that has come after it is the ideologies of men, their commentaries, if you will, their opinions. Some men can be entrusted to a degree as to how they have expounded upon His truths, others not so much, for many for prides sake and financial gain, as Simon did in Acts 8:18, do not desire for the Lord to be glorified, but for attention to be drawn to themselves in one form or another. They like to say no.
“If ye love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15) No.
“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15) No.
We do not like to be told what to do, and we have imagined a God who understands that who, like many parents think that word is so cute when it comes out of their darling child’s mouth, who believe the Lord is like they are. “I’m going to count to three, and you had better…” And then the child, rebellious and sinful since the day of his birth begins a life of rebellion, not only against the will of God, but against all authority, until the repercussions begin to affect them personally.
This is the path of nearly all of mankind, if there is even a small part of them that realizes that there is indeed a God in heaven, they will obey, up to a point, but only because of the possibility of those adverse effects to themselves, it is a trait that many religious organizations recognize and exploit quite proficiently.
We do not generally fear that which we cannot see, and for almost two thousand years now those without ears to hear and eyes to see have lived in a sort of superstitious existence, and in their own vernacular have repeated the verse “And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” (2 Peter 3:4) Most though have simply gone about their lives, repeating the word “No” when the call is offered, presuming within themselves that they are good enough, that if there is a God, He is a grandfatherly type of being who will understand, who will forgive.
“I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” (Jer. 17:10) The further we remove ourselves from the presence of the Almighty, the less we fear Him, and the easier it becomes to say “No.”
Many on their day of accounting are going to say, “Please, forgive,” but there will be no forgiveness. There will be no mercy, there will be judgment and eternal damnation. (Rev. 20:11-15) All this from not applying the Word of God, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Prov. 22:6) It is in our sinful nature to rebel, we are all born with it, and even after we who have been blessed to be called and chosen by the Lord begin to follow Him, we still have the propensity to disobey, to say “No.”
It is in part one of the reasons for Philippians 2:12, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” It is why we are told to “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2) To “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Tim. 2:15)
“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” (Prov. 16:18) And that pride, that desire to live apart from the Lord, is where the word ‘No’ finds its beginnings.
