FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH
FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH
It is the strain that tests the strength of every one. The trying of our faith is the fruit of our sufferings, and hence “blessed is the man that endureth”. “The proving of your faith works endurance”. We understand very little of our history here if we do not observe that we are subjected to a trial by fire, with regard to every advance, or new activity of faith. If we stand the test, the faith is [p. 175] assured, and there is decided progress. There is another step in advance; another round of the ladder is reached; so that “your faith groweth exceedingly”. The stability of our gain must be tested. Satan is opposed, and at every new step he has new toils and obstructions to hinder and throw us back. When we are defeated, and if we do not recover ourselves, the step we had taken was not in faith; and when it is so, the check we have received too often suggests a retreat, and that to more than one step backwards, in order to reach some point where we think rest can be assured, because we have become disheartened and weary of the conflict. However, even when there is faith, there is often much self-confidence, as with Peter, and the self-confidence having been exposed by the test, the danger then is that we drop to the rear, discouraged, instead of going on with more distrust of self, but more dependence on God. Hence the Lord says to Peter, “I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not”.
There were two great marks of progress in Israel’s history, which is typical of ours: one was growing in dependence as pilgrims in the wilderness; the other was going on and possessing the land. We reverse this order, because it is as we are enjoying possession in heaven, that we are more really pilgrims on the earth; but we shall find that progress is ever marked by this twofold action: one, relating to what we need; the other, relating to God or His calling. Now these two act and re-act on one another. As I am enjoying the wealthy place, so am I the more unfeignedly dependent on God in the place where I have nothing — the wilderness. I am braving the wilderness because I am a possessor of heaven. If I recall the leeks and onions, or lust after quails, I am neither in dependence, nor am I feeding on the corn of the land.
As it was with Israel, so it is with us; the chief opposition was to hinder them from entering the land. With us it is not a mere place, but the place where our [p. 176] Saviour, our Head is; and unless we are in spirit with Him there, we have no sense of His power enabling us to act for Him here where He is not. Now the ten spies lacked faith; they had with their natural mind surveyed the glory of the land, just as many now admit the excellency of a truth, but they had not faith to encounter the difficulties in the way. This is one sure mark of declension. Not to admit the truth would be regarded as simply ignorance; but to say, We see it, and yet from natural wisdom and prudence to refrain from acting on it, is like Israel appending to their intelligence the fatal warning, “We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we”. Judicious advice! but utterly without faith; and this is the worst kind of declension. On the other hand, Caleb counts upon God, rises above all the discouraging counsel, and declares, “Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome”.
Where there is faith there is always progress; and also an apprehension that “greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world”. The cautiousness of the fearful is regarded by the unbelieving as great prudence, whereas faith proposes that we should go up at once. No difficulty is too great for faith, and in the power of it we press on till we reach the proffered blessing. The more sure I am of attaining anything, the more steadily and unflinchingly I persevere until I reach it. Lose the hope of attaining it, and then the hands will hang down, and the knees become feeble. And not only so, the effect of this discouragement is to make one retreat backward into the world, and to awaken the desire in the heart to return to Egypt. God’s ways with His people now are the same in principle as they were with Israel. There are many believers now who are not clear out of Egypt, real and true it may be, but still occupied with the work of deliverance, and not in the sense of full justification, not yet joying “in God through our Lord Jesus Christ”. There are others again who are happy in their deliverance,
[p. 177] and have accepted their responsibility to be here for Christ, but who, though in a measure seeing God’s calling, have not faith in the possibility of reaching it here in any degree. But there are also some, though alas! in the minority, who, counting upon God, can say like Caleb, “Let us go up at once, and possess it”. With these there is progress, while with those who stop short of it the marks of declension are continually manifest. The Caleb now is the one who is in the mind of God and whose heart is in the course of His action. He is in the company and fellowship of the Holy Spirit, who is here to testify of Christ. Difficulties disappear before the faith of the christian Caleb; he enters into the heart of Christ; he is consciously one with all saints in heavenly places in Him; he knows that Christ’s one central interest is here, that it is as dear to Him as ever. I may be able to describe with great clearness the glories of the church’s calling, and yet from want of faith be so taken up with the difficulties of reaching it, that I discourage many, and in the long run disclose my own unbelief in what I had in word commended; and this is the case with many. But if I am truly a Caleb, I prefer Christ, the perfect One in the perfect place, to all else; and as I progress I count all things but rubbish, that I may win Christ; and the more I know of Him, the more do I enter into His interests; so that Paul could say that he was ready to be offered upon the sacrifice and service of the church’s faith. If Christ retains the same love that He had at the first (and who would dare to deny that He does?) surely it is a surpassing favour to be entrusted in any measure with His confidence respecting it. His love has not waned because so many have not answered to it. The one who presses on is sure to be favoured with some of His thoughts about it, for “no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church”. If one is not in His confidence there are no communications from Him as to His present thought about the church.
[p. 178] We must begin with Christ. If I do not come from Him in heaven, I am not qualified to maintain suitably for Him here. It is by His power only, and as I am consciously in heavenly places in Him that I can keep the unity of the Spirit. The church cannot be my object but as Christ is my object. Hence I must be in spirit where He is, and learn Him there, before I can be here for Him according to His mind, or before I can make His interest — the church — my interest. According as I am His friend He will instruct me as to His interests here; and the saints, the first circle of His interest, must be the paramount circle to me.
An unfailing mark of declension is a renouncing of the truths which at one time were owned and advocated. All that were in Asia went back. Demas went back. They renounced the truth they once held, and we invariably find that the most advanced truth is the one first surrendered, or if not wholly surrendered, there is a timidity in the advocacy of it, which discloses that it is not held in the courage of faith which divine light always gives. If it were the brightest thing known to the soul, it would be the one most insisted on, as we see it was with Stephen and with others. A man cannot repress the brightest light that fills his soul, and therefore the babe with the unction can soon discover where there is real food. There can be no better proof of progress than there being food in due season for those dear to the heart of Christ, and every one may be tested by the nature and character of his supply for the saints. The soul that is progressing is invariably occupied with Christ; the old man is increasingly superseded; consequently the things that are behind are forgotten.
Now as Christ is known in glory, there must be a marked devotedness to His interests here in keeping with the purpose of His heart to present us to Himself a glorious church. It is by learning Christ in glory that I learn what the church must be to suit Him; and this is a great step in advance. The step in advance is the one [p. 179] most opposed, the one beset with the fiercest trials; the one where the unbelief is found out, but where the man of faith proves the goodness of God. Thus the measure of everyone’s faith is disclosed sooner or later. If my heart is growing in the knowledge of the Lord’s present interests, I am, while more devoted to them here, looking out more eagerly each day for the goal. The better I am running in the race here, the more the end of it is before my heart. I am cheerful in the present, because of His favour and support, and I am buoyed with the prospect of soon seeing Him face to face. When there is a secret cry, ‘Who shall show us any good?’ while openly asserting that the desolation is complete, there is at the bottom a desire that it should be so, that there may be a good excuse for retreating from the conflict. For in progress, as I have said, every fresh step is the one where your faith is tested; and if my heart is not simply with Christ, I say it is impossible to go on, and there is the wish to return to Egypt. It is remarkable how dispensational platitudes or criticisms will be embraced and be discussed while the conscience shrinks from the sight of the onward step which, if accepted, must necessitate an increased forgetting of the things behind. One may speak of anything but of the Man of God’s purpose. What He did for us, or what we shall be in heaven hereafter, will be listened to and welcomed, but what is refused is that He is the One to supplant the old man, and thus connect us with Himself where He is; so that I am to live here in the scene of my own natural life, in the manner of His life, entirely for Him, and His interests. This only is true progress.
May the Lord lead us all fully into it.