p. 4 | THE COST OF UNBELIEF by G.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Oct 31, 1906

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 32, No. 42.

THE COST OF UNBELIEF.

By G.

IT is impossible to compute what men lose through unbelief of the Gospel. Nothing so blinds men to their best interests as unbelief of the Word of God. The people who were contemporaneous with Christ on earth allowed a golden opportunity to pass by rejecting Him as their Saviour. The Jews were looking for Messiah, but would not believe in Him when He came, altho He fulfilled all that was said of Him in the Scriptures which they professed to believe. Even in the way of mighty works for their temporal benefit, they lost much more than we can imagine. On occasion of a visit to Nazareth, the people who had known Him from childhood spurned His claim to being a prophet, and the record says, 'He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.'

In the book of Malachi it had been prophesied that Elijah the prophet would be sent as the forerunner of the Lord (Mal. 3:1; 4:5, 6), and the people were also expecting some one to come in this capacity. And of John the Baptist, Jesus said, 'If ye will receive it [believe his message], this is Elijah which was for to come.' The blessing that was to come through Elijah was that he would 'turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers'—through his message of the coming of Messiah. Of course such a message to a believing people would create a sentiment of joy and gladness in all, parents and children alike. But they didn't believe, and therefore lost the blessing.

Christ laid down this rule, 'According to your faith be it unto you.' So the blessings of His appearance to those among whom He mingled were limited to their faith. Thousands of people were healed of physical ailments who never received anything in the way of spiritual help, because that was the extent of their belief in Him. Because they saw Him heal others they believed He could heal them; but they did not believe in Him as a Saviour from sin and as a fountain of eternal life. So they got just what their faith claimed, and no more. They lost eternal salvation through unbelief. Many believed that He could feed them with loaves and fishes who rejected Him when He offered them the bread of heaven.

The same principle holds good in those who have a measure of faith in Christ as a Saviour. Their blessings are limited by their faith. His promise is, 'Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.' But the Spirit, through the apostle James, tells us, 'Ye ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.' All such asking is unbelief, for there is no selfishness in true faith.

Again James assures us that he who asks of the Lord must 'ask in faith, nothing wavering.' Of the wavering man he says such an one 'is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.' Such a man is unstable in all things; he could not imbibe, and therefore could not profit by, the spiritual blessings of God. 'Let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.'

The great aggregate of loss to the unbeliever, in contrast with the gain to the believer, is briefly summed up in these words of our Saviour: 'He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.'

Surely unbelief is an expensive privilege—a costly choice. G.