FAITH AS LEADING TO SPIRITUAL INCREASE
[p. 202] FAITH AS LEADING TO SPIRITUAL INCREASE
2 Thessalonians 3:4; John 2:11
I desire to speak about faith. I was endeavouring to show last evening at Teignmouth how God, being a Spirit as the Lord tells us, looks for spiritual results. I would now add that these results necessarily depend on faith, the dispensation being a dispensation of faith. So the ministry of John, calculated as it is to induce spirituality in the saints, emphasises the need of faith; and he specifies what that faith which he aims at would involve. For if one has faith one should know and be able to give account of what it is to him, what it involves for him.
We are apt to be extremely vague in regard of faith, but John specified what he expected to be the result of what he wrote. Having written his twenty chapters, the last one being an appendix, he adds, “Many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name”, (John 20:30,31). Hence such an one as profits fully by John’s book would be able to give an account of his faith, not merely the articles of it. The necessity for writing out a creed only indicated and confessed that faith had waned. Faith is not what is written as the articles of a creed; it is what is held as a matter of light in the souls of God’s people. So John says triumphantly in his epistle, “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith”; that is, a system of truth in regard of God and of Christ held in the souls of God’s people as a matter of light was the victory. The necessity for writing a creed only admitted that faith, for those who needed such a creed, had ceased to exist.
[p. 203] The gospel of John comes in to re-establish what has ceased to exist in the public body. What we are faced with all about us in the public body of nominal believers in Christ is that which appeals to the natural eye, the natural mind, the natural imagination; faith has ceased to exist.
I read these verses from Thessalonians because the apostle could speak there of the beloved Thessalonian believers as not only having faith, but increasing in it; the time of decrease had not yet come. At this point I would raise the question with each one here as to whether he is on the increase or on the decrease? Many of you will remember that Matthew, who treats of the kingdom of the heavens, and the assembly in relation to the kingdom of the heavens, speaks about decrease in fruitfulness of the seed from a hundred to sixty, and from sixty to thirty, whereas Mark reverses the order, and speaks of increase from thirty to sixty, and from sixty to a hundred. That is, Mark 4 presents increase, and Matthew 13 presents decrease. Now which is it, beloved brethren, with us? Of the Thessalonians it is said that their faith grew exceedingly, and their love one toward another abounded.
In Numbers 29 we have an account of the feast of tabernacles, according to the light in which that feast is presented in that book. It is also presented in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, but it is presented in a peculiar way in Numbers, where the number of bullocks with which the feast was to begin was thirteen, as if the Spirit of God would call attention to the full result of the testimony in His people, a large result for God. But I would ask you to notice that the number decreased day by day until it reached seven; a very humbling consideration, and yet is it not what one finds with many of the people of God? A bright beginning, a full result for God, and then, alas! decline after decline until that number is reached below which, if we go, we have to be regarded as on [p. 204] the line of apostasy! For if we go below seven we have lost spirituality altogether; we have lost what is divine, and have fallen to what speaks of man and his power, the number six. Let us be on our guard as to that. If you get down to the number six you are in dreadful company, for that number multiplied is the number of the beast. Thank God the number seven saves us from that; and if there is one here tonight who is on the verge as it were of giving up the seven and descending to the six, I would both warn and encourage you. I would warn you as to the descending line on which you are; and, on the other hand, I would encourage you to make the most of what you have in your soul, however little it may appear.
The Lord says, “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed”; He encourages the disciples by that; much more can be accomplished by that than the Antichrist can accomplish, although he may control the navies and armies of the world. For by that faith which is as a grain of mustard seed the Lord says, “Ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove”, (Matthew 17:20). I would encourage you, therefore, to use the little faith that you have. But John is not content with that, nor is any one who seeks to serve Christ; he wants increase. The Lord looks for increase, and the Thessalonians are commended in that it could be said of them that their faith increased exceedingly, and their love one toward another abounded. I would dwell on those words, exceeding increase and abounding love! Do we not see something like the thirteen bullocks in these beloved Thessalonians? They had the apostle for three sabbath days, and this was the result! Faith increasing exceedingly, and love toward one another abounding! What a result that was for God! How well the apostle understood what he meant in writing to them as “the assembly of Thessalonians in God the Father”! There was a portion for God in that company. The gospel of John is intended to produce such increase as that.
In speaking of faith, I would remark, just for a moment, on the correspondence between those who have it and the tabernacle in the wilderness, as to their external position in this world; and the correspondence of such with the building of Solomon as to their apprehension of what is before God. These two things run together in the history of the Christian. The first letter to the Corinthians presents to us what corresponds to the tabernacle in the wilderness. There is nothing outwardly imposing in that position; inwardly all is infinitely precious, but externally it is weakness, it is despicableness. The apostle went to Corinth and he found there Aquila and Priscilla, and he allied himself with them because they were of the same craft, they were tent-makers. Now what are we to look for to earn the respect and approval of the world if the vessel of the light from God is just a common tent-maker, and if he identifies himself with those of his craft? He made no effort to avoid the humility of such a path; on the contrary he identified himself with the two that he found there who were of his craft; they were craftsmen, not professional men, as we speak, but ordinary tradesmen.
Now what are we to expect from the world if the vessel of the light by which we are to be governed, is nothing more than that? The apostle, whatever education he had, determined not to let it be known there, in order “that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God”. (1 Corinthians 2:5) It was a question of “your faith”, and he would not bring in anything that would recognise the flesh, or that the flesh could recognise. Then again he says,
“Consider your calling, brethren”; whom has God called in your city? God had chosen the foolish things, the weak things, the ignoble things and the despised. But what were those things? The Lord had said to Paul, “no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city”, (Acts 18:10). They were the people of the Lord, they belonged to Him, and they were in the mind of the Lord, the material for the tabernacle; that which should stand the pressure of the enemy, and hold things for God notwithstanding it. And the apostle further says, “God hath set forth us the apostles last ... ... for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men”. And he also says, “We are made as the filth of the world, and are the off-scouring of all things unto this day”, (1 Corinthians 4:9,13). Think of that for a moment! How it dissipates all pretence to be anything in this world! And all that was in order that the faith of the Corinthians should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. The power of God should be there in spite of the fact that they were the most despicable lot, as one might say, that could be culled out of the city. Not, indeed, but that there were some noble; he says “not many noble”, for God always reserves the right to be sovereign, and the nobility are men and women as much as the common people; nevertheless these are the facts.
When we come to the second letter the apostle says, “I know a man in Christ ... ... such a one caught up to the third heaven”, (2 Corinthians 12:2). What a change from tent-making. He is a man in Christ there; he belongs to the system that God has in His mind, that God has set up in Christ. He is, so to speak, a “cedar”; a man in Christ is fit for the building in the land, and that is not outwardly despicable; it is “exceeding magnifical”. The first letter to the Corinthians induces the acceptance of littleness in [p. 207] this world outwardly; the second induces faith as to the greatness of things before God, and that you are essential to that greatness, you are a part of it. Think of “a man in Christ”! The apostle knew such a one as that; and he says, “of such a one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities”. As regards what he was doing here he would be in keeping with the position of the tabernacle; but as regards what he was before God he would glory in it, for it was “a man in Christ”. He had said earlier, “If any one be in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold all things have become new: and all things are of God”, (2 Corinthians 5:17,18). That is what faith lets us into.
As regards his outward position, Paul says, “I will not glory, but in mine infirmities”. But then in the acceptance of these infirmities, the power of Christ rests on him. The shittim wood, so to speak, would be there, the power of endurance. If you look at the list he gives in 2 Corinthians 11, of the things which he endured, you will see what power of endurance there was in that vessel. He ends with this, “in a basket I was let down by the wall”; think of the humiliation involved for the flesh! And so he says, “I escaped his hands”. That is the principle of the tabernacle; you escape from the power of the enemy. But how? In extreme littleness and despicableness. He remained, so to speak, intact for the service of God, but he was let down in a basket. These are truths which the flesh has no relish for. I know that in myself and in learning it in myself I know it is true in you. The Holy Spirit would bring these things to bear upon us, for that is what Christianity involves. It is an order of things of outward littleness, but inwardly the saints are connected with a vast and blessed system of things in Christ which will remain when all that is about us [p. 208] shall have passed away, for the works of God remain while the works of men disappear for ever.
So, as I said, John writes his gospel in order that the saints should have faith, and faith that involves that they apprehend the Christ and the Son of God; and that there should be a definite result from that faith, namely, that they should have life in His name. And so we read, “This beginning of signs did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him”. His disciples had already believed in some sense; the passage does not tell us to what extent they believed on Him through this miracle. The extent of their faith is not specified; but I dwell upon this as the initial sign, so that you may from this one trace out the others. This is the initial one, and it is marked by the result intimated by the apostle, namely, that the disciples believed on Him. Now I wonder if we have believed on Christ in such a way as to get something definite by it, or have we believed on Him in a general way?
The scene presented in John 2 is well known to most of us; it is a marriage scene, and what marked it was that there was a deficiency. Many of us here can bear witness to that which is testified in the passage, that there is a deficiency. But what I would call attention to is that at the outset, in connection with this primary sign, the Lord repudiated natural claims. Now I urge upon you that natural claims war against faith. Unless we take up and hold natural relations in faith, they war against the faith we have. If light comes into my soul, God intends that light to govern me in every relationship in which I am set; no relationship must be allowed to militate against faith. If you allow your family relationships to militate against the faith you have, you are in a serious plight. The faith you have is to govern you in your family relationships, and in your business [p. 209] relationships as well. Faith dominates nature, otherwise nature will quench faith.
At this marriage, we are told, that the mother of Jesus said, “They have no wine”. But did He not know? Is nature able to add to what is spiritual, to what is of faith? No; the Lord says, “Woman, what have I to do with thee?” He was not on the ground of nature. He says, “mine hour is not yet come”. The resumption of His relationships with Israel must be deferred, for “he came unto his own, and his own received him not”. (John 1:11) So His mother submits; and she “saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it”. Thank God for that submission of nature! Nature became subordinated to Christ; that is the divine order. She takes her true place, and she suggests to the servants that His word is to rule. Have you come to that? If you are to be in the good of John’s gospel that is where you must begin; He must rule.
Now we are told in John 2 that “there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim”. They acted on His word. Whilst His relation with Israel is deferred, the blessings of Israel, and much more beside that one would love to trace, the blessings of the millennium, are already available to those that are subject to Christ. What they will have, we have now; but how? By the disallowance of nature and submission to the word of Christ. The word of Christ is to take effect in my soul, for that answers to the waterpot of stone, and it is to be filled up to the brim; that is, Christianity is a time of fulness. In the Lord becoming man all fulness dwelt in Him; He was “full of grace and truth”; and Christianity is to be marked by that. The waterpot is to be filled up to the brim, and as it is filled it [p. 210] becomes wine. You get millennial joys already in the acceptance of the word of Christ.
This was the beginning of signs, and it sets forth the bringing in of millennial joys before the time, on the ground of the disallowance of nature, and the recognition of the authority of the word of Christ. It was a manifestation of the glory of Christ. “He manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him”. The signs were done “in the presence of his disciples”. Why did He do them in their presence? Why not in the presence of the world? Ah! He wanted to have disciples who had faith. There are very few real believers; there are believers and believers. John seeks to bring about a state of faith which is expressed in this, that the one who has it, apprehends the Lord Jesus as the Christ and as the Son of God; and, in apprehending Him as such, he has life, but he has it in Christ’s name. I have life in my soul in His name; it is not held independently, it is held in His name, but it is held in the faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
I would urge on you, and on myself, the importance of seeing the place the gospel of John has in view of bringing about increase in the last days. It meets the tendency to decrease; so that I believe in the end we shall have the seven full baskets of fragments; that is, the full result of the ministry of the Spirit in those who have faith in the Lord as the Christ, the Son of God.
May God bless the word!