FAITH OPERATIVE IN BELIEVERS
G. B. Grant
John 14: 1–3; 1 Peter 1: 6, 7; 2 Corinthians 1: 23, 24
Two of these scriptures refer to faith while John’s gospel refers to believing. Faith is an essential feature for the believer. It says in Hebrews “without faith it is impossible to please him” (Hebrews 11: 6). The Lord Jesus here was just about to leave His own. It says, “ye believe on God, believe also on me”. The Lord Jesus was saying that to them and He would say it to ourselves, “believe also on me”. That would be the Lord Jesus in His present position. He has gone there as Man, and, of course, those persons that were being left would feel the loss, as we do in His absence; but those that were with Him actually would especially feel the loss. But if there is active faith operating with us there is not a sense of loss, because faith covers the distance between Christ on high and the believer here. In these sections here He speaks much of the presence of the Holy Spirit, but before He begins speaking of that He brings in this matter of believing on Him. In the reading on Lord’s day we were occupied with that. Paul is stimulating other believers by the example seen in himself, having his eye on the goal. That is Christ where He is. How essential that is. Everything around us is governed by sight, physical sight, and that is all that many people have. But the believer has this secret in his soul, of a living link with Christ where He is by faith and by the Spirit. And if you have it value it!
You can at any moment of any day be refreshed in your soul and spirit by turning to the Lord Jesus and to the Father. That is faith operating. Every time you pray faith is in operation. It is not necessarily that you get what you pray for. We are not promised that. Let your requests be made known to God. The point is that you keep holding on to divine Persons in faith. Their timing is perfect. They know what They are doing, we just see a tiny part of the picture. It says of the Lord that He knew what He was going to do (John 6: 6). But our side of it is the matter of faith, continually trusting and having confidence in divine Persons. So in this time, this dispensation, its special feature is the matter of believing and faith, “believe also on me”. What a blessed thing it is to have such a Person as our object. There is what is right in the way of sight even in Christianity. We are all sitting here tonight—that is sight. We appreciate one another.
Fellowship—practical fellowship—there is sight involved in that. Not only that, there is what is in the Spirit in fellowship, the fellowship of the Spirit. There is sight, but there is what is deeper than that. If we only rely on what is outward in the way of sight and fellowship and meetings, and these things are right, we will not be maintained in life. We will not be maintained rightly in Christianity. Underlying it all is the personal link with Christ where He is. It is very attractive that every believer can be sustained through faith and the Spirit as having to do with the Lord Jesus personally, and that daily.
He then goes on to say, “In my Father’s house there are many abodes; were it not so, I had told you—for I go to prepare you a place; and if I go and shall prepare you a place, I am coming again and shall receive you to myself, that where I am ye also may be”. There is the believer’s hope, you lay hold of that in faith. And we have that in our affections in all our journey here, that prospect of being with Christ. He is coming for us. The believer has that as a hope, a sure hope. I have spoken to believers and they are hoping for things, but they are not sure. That is not the true Christian hope. The believer’s hope is a sure thing. He has gone to prepare a place for us, and He is coming again and will receive us to Himself, that where He is, we may be with Him in the Father’s house. How attractive! What a sustaining thing! What a bright prospect to be with Christ where He is. The One whom we have never seen. But we have a living link with Him and we lay hold of this promise and hold onto it.
I read in Peter because it is the proving of your faith. So, therefore, the time we are here we are being tested, “at present, if needed, put to grief by various trials”. There are different kinds of trials that one and another pass through. But in it we need faith, and God is proving our faith. The divine estimation of faith is that it is much more precious than gold. You get the divine evaluation of faith here. It is a divine gift but we need to use it and operate on that principle. Here it is being tested, “though it be proved by fire”. That is the most severe kind of testing. Even if it is tested to that degree faith comes through as it is holding on to divine Persons, proving what They can be. Then “though it be proved by fire, be found to praise and glory and honour in the revelation of Jesus Christ”. So there is a day coming, the revelation of Jesus Christ. That is not the present time, that is a future day. Now it is the time of suffering and testing. But then God’s work will be manifested, and it will be displayed. How tested some dear believers are, giving up their lives for Christ’s sake and for the sake of the gospel. What a portion will be theirs in a coming day! For most of us it is the day by day trials and tests of the Christian. But faith is needed throughout and it triumphs. It comes through the tests because you are not relying on man or yourself but on divine Persons. You see persons going through trials and yet they are made superior to them, and it does not hinder them in their response to divine Persons. How attractive these things are. How great Christianity is.
I read in 2 Corinthians because it deals much with Paul’s ministry. Where I read is the ministers’ view of faith. Paul had faith. He was tested more than any of us ever will be. How many persons were against Paul. Authorities were sometimes favourable, but the Jews would stir up enmity and hatred against him. What trials he went through, even from false brethren.
Paul had received light from God and he held it in faith. But what the apostle is saying here is that he respects faith in others. We have all to do that, respect faith in one another. He says, “Not that we rule over your faith, but are fellow-workmen of your joy—for by faith ye stand”. He was respecting faith in the saints and making way for it. Paul could minister, and what a privilege it would have been to sit under a word from Paul, but that was not enough, it needed faith operating in the souls of the hearers. So you make ministry your own and it becomes effective. You have it for yourself. You could sit under the most wonderful ministry but for your part it could be ineffective because there is not active faith. There was a report of the land and in Hebrews it says, “but the word of the report did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard” (Hebrews 4: 2). Therefore, as we sit under the sound of ministry faith has to be operative, not simply obedience. Paul’s ministry was authoritative and it was right to be obedient to the word. But he is just protecting the saints here and protecting their faith in saying that he did not rule over their faith. Faith is between the believer and God and that is always essential. You respect those that serve and appreciate ministry, but faith and the Spirit are to be operating on our side to get the benefit of what comes to us through persons from the Lord. May the Lord bless these thoughts.
Word in meeting for ministry, Dundee
7 July 2009
Edited and Published by J. Strachan, 59 Frederick Street, Dundee, DD3 9DE, Scotland
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