FAITH
When God brought Abel into this world, and as the details of his life developed, all was under God's hand with you and me in view. It is a good thing to take account of that, and all that followed that we have read of in the history of Enoch, and of Noah and of Abraham and of Sarah, of Isaac and Jacob, and then of many others in this chapter, of which we have not read: all this was being divinely ordered and arranged with a view to you and me. It is a very impressive thing to think of, that those who live in this day were of such importance in the mind of God, because He is doing such great things in this day in which we live, this day that commenced (I speak of a day as God speaks of days) with the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and will finish with the coming of the Lord. I say God is working out such great things in this day that centuries and centuries before, He took up men and women and worked out in their lives certain principles which He intended in due time to bring to bear upon you and me. And therefore we should be sober - the young ones who have their Bibles and have the privilege of being brought up in Christian homes where they are taught the Scriptures, they should not treat these things lightly: remember that God has given us the Scriptures, and that He has given us the Scriptures because He wants us to be affected by the truth; and impressed by this wonderful fact, which, to my mind, is excessively wonderful, that He should, hundreds of years ago, and over a long period of centuries, worked out certain things in the lives of certain people in order that they might become instruction for us.
But now this history begins with Abel. Abel was a sinner. He was under the penalty of death. All have sinned, as scripture says, and all come short of the glory of God (Rom 3: 23), and Abel was no exception. But what marked Abel was that he obeyed the light which God had given to his parents which doubtless they had passed on to him. And again, let me say to the young people here, whatever you do, obey the light that God has given to you through your parents - and through others who may instruct you in the things of God, for the Scriptures show that disaster follows those who disobey light given from God.
And so Abel would know under the teaching of his parents about when his parents, Adam and Eve, sinned and discovered in the presence of God that they were naked; and naked in Scripture has a moral meaning. It does not mean simply unclothed. It means that things are exposed exactly as they are in the sight of God; and Adam and Eve found, in regard of themselves, that though they had done their best to clothe themselves in a way that they thought met the situation, as soon as they were conscious of the presence of God, by virtue of His voice being heard, they became aware that all things were naked and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom they had to do, and they therefore went and hid themselves.
But then God called them out and spoke with them. I do not go into all the detail. The history is well known, but God spoke with them. He asked Adam a question, and then he asked Adam a second question, and then He asked Eve a question. Let me put it to all here, old and young: if God raises questions with you, do not fail to face them, because when God raises questions, He has blessing in mind for those whom He raises questions with. As you pursue that history, you find He does not raise any question with the devil, with the serpent. He says, “Because thou hast done this, be thou cursed”, Gen 3: 14. He raised no question with the serpent, but He raised two questions with the man and one question with the woman, because, as I say, He had in mind that they should face the truth and then discover that, though they had no hope in themselves, they had to do with a Saviour God. And that is what anyone here may find, even today, even now.
If there should be someone here whose sins are not forgiven, who is not in peace towards God, who has not received the Holy Spirit, then I say all these blessings are available to you now on the principle of repentance towards God and of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This chapter is a chapter of faith, and we are living in a day of faith. Scripture says that “the just shall live by faith”, Rom 1: 17. It is the principle upon which men can live at the present time, in relation to God, we are in a dispensation of faith. Faith looks on to a coming day and the coming world. Do not think that this world is of any attractiveness to God, for it is not. It is characterised by being the world, the scene and the system in which the Son of God has been murdered and cast out. Do not forget that. And not only that, but the present day is characterised not only by the rejection of Christ, but by the rejection also of the Holy Spirit; that is a very serious matter. The position in the Christian world at the present time is excessively serious. I am not extravagant in my language. I would that everybody would get a sense of it, that as to the present world, its position is that the Son of God has been cast out and the Spirit of God has been refused.
Well, now that is the serious position, but then God has another world in view. He is not going to build up anything in connection with this world. He has another world in view, and the gospel is preached so that by reception of the glad tidings, on the principle of faith, you might receive a part in that world.
The Lord, in chapter of Luke 20: 35 speaks of “they who are worthy of that world, and of the resurrection from among the dead”. Are you worthy of that world? You may say, Well, I have no worthiness in myself - quite true, but you can be accounted worthy of that world, and of the resurrection from among the dead, by obedience to the glad tidings. You will find that God justifies you of every charge through faith in Christ and seals you with His Holy Spirit, and that constitutes you worthy of that world, and of the resurrection from among the dead.
Well now, Abel was, as I say, a sinner. I was saying how his parents found themselves naked in the presence of the God with whom they had to do. But then God, it says, clothed them with coats of skin. I know these things have been said many a time before, but they are the truth of God and will bear repetition. He clothed them with coats of skin. To obtain those coats of skin, some animal had to be slain, blood had to be shed, some substitute for Adam and Eve, who were under the penalty of death, had to be found. God Himself found the substitute. He Himself provided the coats of skin, and as clothed with those coats of skin, they were accounted righteous before God. There was not a word of condemnation for them. They were there before God in the virtue of the righteousness that would be accomplished through the death of Christ in due time. God knew it would come to pass. He knew there would be no breakdown with Jesus. He knew that He himself would not turn from His thoughts. He knew that in due time, Christ would die “the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Pet 3: 18), and therefore, in the light of that, He provided for these two sinners coats of skin and clothed them. And in those coats of skin, they were accounted righteous before God, so that they could stand before God now without a tremor. They would say, God himself has clothed us. He will never find fault with what he Himself has provided, and God will never find fault with anyone who puts his trust in Christ, because the righteousness affected for men through the precious death of Christ is divinely provided and is according to divine standards. Indeed, God sets Him forth in testimony as a mercy-seat, that is to say a ground from which in righteousness God can speak to men in mercy and deal with them in mercy. God Himself sets Him forth in that light to make known His righteousness in the remission of sins. That is the position God is taking up at this present time,
Well now, Abel embraced that light and he drew near to God. I have just quoted the scripture that says that “Christ suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God”. That is what God has in mind, not that we should just be saved from perdition, and then go on as far from God as we can. God wants us brought to Himself. Christ suffered for sins, as the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. You all know the parable of what we call the prodigal son, how when the younger son came to himself, he said, “I will rise up and go to my father, and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee; I am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants”, Luke 15: 18, 19. That was as far as his thoughts went.
But God's thoughts, the father's thoughts, went far beyond that. It says, “his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell upon his neck, and covered him with kisses”, v 20. That is what God through the death of Christ has in view, that we should be brought to God and received by God in that wonderful light. The father fell upon his neck, and covered him with kisses. And then the son makes his statement, leaving out what he had proposed to say about “make me as one of thy hired servants”. And the father says to his servants, “Bring out the best robe and clothe him in it, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and be merry”, v 22, 23. For that is how God receives; that is the way God receives those who come to Him in the faith of Jesus.
And so Abel, as I say, “brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of their fat”, Gen 4: 4. The firstlings of his flock, that is to say he recognised that God must be considered first. That is what it means. God must be considered first. Let me ask every young person here, do you consider for God first? Have you considered for God? Have you faced God? Because you stand in relation to Him. He has rights over you as Creator. He has rights over you as Redeemer. I say, have you faced God? Have you considered for God first? That is what Abel did. He brought up the firstlings of his flock and of the fat and it says “Jehovah looked upon Abel, and on his offering”.
And so it says here in these verses that we have read that, “By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained testimony of being righteous, God bearing testimony to his gifts, and by it, having died, he yet speaks”. That is to say, if there is someone here who is not yet accounted righteous by God, Abel would speak to you. He being dead, yet speaks. Abel would say, I took the right way. You can take that way. You can come to God in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, in virtue of his precious death. You need nothing else. You can come that way, and you will find that God will look upon you and receive you and bless you.
Well, then the next thing is that, if we are thus received by God, justified from every charge and embraced in His love, He wants us to walk with Him. That is what Enoch did by faith. It says, “Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him; for before his translation he has the testimony that he had pleased God”. According to the account given us in Genesis 5, he walked with God, and he continued in it perseveringly for 300 years, 300 years measured in days. Notice that if you read Genesis 5, you will find that the lives of those men in that chapter were measured in days. God takes account of our days. If the Lord leaves us here tomorrow, it will be Monday. How are you going to spend Monday? And how are you going to spend Tuesday? Are you going to walk with God? If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and receive forgiveness in His name, God will give you the gift of the Holy Spirit. That means that God Himself takes up His abode in you. Are you going to walk with God? Are you going to grieve Him? Are you going on day by day, grieving the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit of God who dwells in you, or are you going to provide conditions that are congenial to Him so that you can walk with God? That is what Enoch did. He received testimony that he had pleased God, and God allowed him to go on for 300 years. Multiply 365 by 300 - you boys and girls of school age - multiply 365 by 300 and find out how many days Enoch walked with God. How precious those days must have been to God, and how blessed those days must have been to Enoch.
And he went on, on that principle, walking with God, day by day. And one day God intervened and took him. It says “Enoch was translated that he should not see death”, as though God would say, ‘This man is so pleasing to me, I will take him to be with Myself without his dying. Why should I not?’ He could look forward to the death of Christ, the precious basis on which He can act in mercy and sovereignty of blessing to whosoever embraces it. Why should He not? And so in order to show that He had the right to do away with the penalty of death for those who believe, He took Enoch to Himself without Enoch dying. And a day is near when many believers are going to be taken to be with Christ without dying: remember that the day of translation is near. It is a very real thing. The day is drawing near. The day of translation is near. And God will address these things to us, in order that if we have not been concerned about it before, we may be concerned from now on as to whether or not we walk with God,
But then there is Noah, and God warned Noah of impending judgment. That is something that should be mentioned in the preaching, for judgment is near. There is wrath to come. The testimony is to flee from the coming wrath. There is wrath to come. It says that the Lord Jesus shall be revealed “from heaven, with the angels of his power, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who know not God, and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ”, 2 Thess 1: 7, 8. These are things that Scripture speaks of, and they have a present bearing upon us. And therefore I say that there is judgment to come.
Well, now, Noah was warned of God of this, and he “prepared an ark for the saving of his house”. That is what the Lord is doing now. He has furnished the assembly as a place of salvation for the houses of the saints, believing houses. And parents who understand the mind of God, conduct their families on the principle upon which Noah built this ark, he built an ark for the saving of his house. He pitched it within and without with pitch. All around was moral death. He was greatly concerned that nothing of that character should have place inside the ark that he built. And inside that ark, there was every kind of variety of life, and there was life from heaven, and there was abundance of food. Those are the things that you find in the assembly. The assembly is what the Lord has established here on earth as the place where you may find real salvation from the world around, which is characterised by moral death. I know that we have to go through the world. I know that we have to earn our living in the world, and the young people have to go to school in the world. I know that it is a question now of yielding yourself unreservedly to the Lord. He is set to be the Saviour of all those who commit themselves to Him, not only the Saviour in the initial way, as meeting the question of your soul need in relation to God, but then in a practical way. “The same Lord over all is rich”, it says, “towards all that call upon him” (Rom 10: 12), and “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”, v 13. So that He is set for the salvation in a practical way of all those who own Him as Lord and call upon Him.
So now this ark that Noah built is just a picture of the assembly from one point of view. Of course, the Lord has built it from another point of view. Christian parents have to bring up their children on the principles that are set up in this in this ark, see that they hold them in relation to the assembly. It is there that you will find light from God. It is there that you will find among the saints, every feature of life according to God. And it is there that you will find food, true food, and you won't find it anywhere else.
Well, now the state of things in this world is not yet quite as bad as it was in Noah's day, though it is rapidly becoming as bad. But when Noah and his wife and his three sons and their wives went into the ark, they were just eight persons, and they were the only godly persons alive on the earth at that time. The scripture says that the flood that God brought in upon the world of the ungodly, and “few, that is, eight souls, were saved”, 1 Pet 3: 20. That is, the conditions that were arrived at in Noah's day were such that there were by that time only eight godly persons left upon the earth.
Well, things are not as bad as that, yet, thank God. You may say, well, the days are difficult, and it is very difficult to follow the truth in all the detail of it and be faithful to it. But the days are not so difficult as they were in Noah's day, and the Lord is faithful, and the Lord will certainly prove faithful in the support of all those who are prepared to obey the truth. And so it says that Noah prepared an ark, “oracularly warned concerning things not yet seen, moved with fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his house, by which he condemned the world”. He condemned it. You say it is testing to keep up separation. That is quite true, but it is essential that those who fear God should be separate from evil. It is essential, and by maintaining separation, you condemn the world. You are serving God in that respect. You are bringing to the notice of men that they are going on with that with which you, as fearing God, can have no part in whatever. You are thus being used by God to convince the world, or at any rate, to condemn the world, so that God will be justified in bringing in judgment on the world because it will have had abundant testimony rendered to it by the saints - and you may be among them - that is characterised by that which calls for the judgment of God. You remember what the Lord, on one occasion, said to His brethren, before they had been brought to believe on Him, He said to them, “The world cannot hate you”, John 7: 7. But, He says, “me it hates because I bear witness concerning it that its works are evil”. But then later on, He says to the disciples, he says that “if ye were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, on this account the world hates you”, John 15: 19. And therefore I would say affectionately to believers here, and young believers especially, do not take on any ways of the world, in speech or otherwise that would mark you out as one of the world's own. You do not want to be recognisable as one of the world's own. “If ye were of the world, the world would love its own”. You do not want to be recognisable as one of those because ye are not of the world. The Lord says, “but I have chosen you out of the world, on this account the world hates you”.
And so following on this as to Noah, it brings in Abraham, and Abraham is the first one in which real, definite separation to God is set out. It is an essential principle. Separation to God is essential. God set it out at the very outset of His operations. It says that God said, “Let there be light. And there was light … and God divided between the light and the darkness, and he called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night”, Gen 1: 3, 4. You can see that God instituted the principle of separation from the very start, the very beginning of His operations, He introduced this principle and he called the light Day and darkness He called Night. There was no similarity between those two. If you say day, you say day, if you say night, you say night, and you cannot possibly confuse the two. And that is the idea, that there is no mixing of light and darkness. And so God separated. He divided the light and the darkness, and “he called the light Day and the darkness he called Night”.
Well now, Abraham, it says, “being called, obeyed”. Abraham is called the father, a father of us all. That is he is the father of believers, one from whom believers should learn. “Abraham, being called, obeyed to go out into the place which he was to receive for an inheritance, and went out not knowing where he was going”. That is faith. We are told in the second epistle to Timothy that we are to pursue righteousness. That is the first thing: righteousness is what is right in the sight of God. It applies in every sphere of life. Pursue what is right in the sight of God, what is right in regard to the religious world around us, what is right in your business world, right in the sight of God, what is right in your family life, your relations as a father to your children, or your relations as children to your parents. Pursue what is right. Pursue righteousness. That is the first principle with God. Then the next principle is faith. Pursue faith. Now it says “Abraham, being called, obeyed to go out into the place which he was to receive for an inheritance, and went out not knowing where he was going”. It is a question of obedience. Sometimes people say, I have not the faith, but that is not the point. You are not called upon to produce the faith that is required. You are called upon to obey: the question is the obedience of faith. You will find support for the path as you obey, and not until you do obey. Mr Raven said that God gives us light for the next step, He does not give us light for the whole path. He gives us light for the next step. That is to say, He maintains us on the principle of living and walking in faith.
Now this was set out in Abraham. He was called to go out. His nephew, Lot, did not go out. He did at first, he went out with Abraham, and then he parted from him, and eventually was found settling down in Sodom, the inhabitants of whom were wicked and sinners before Jehovah exceedingly. Think of a godly man like Lot being content to live in a wicked city. And there was Abraham, his uncle. He went out, he separated himself. That is the principle that obtains and governs the life of those who know God, that they separate themselves from evil. And so it says, “he sojourned as a stranger in the land of promise as a foreign country, having dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise”. Abraham was not concerned about making a fortune or making a name for himself in the world, which was so evil the sight of God, he was concerned about going out, separating from it, and not only so, but impressing that character upon his son and his grandson. He dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. And so I say to the young people here again, if you find that your parents are not encouraging you in worldly ambition, if you find that they are setting before you that the great thing to govern us is this, that we have been redeemed, that we belong absolutely to God and to Christ, and that we are here for God's will and to support his testimony and for nothing else; if you find that your parents are putting these things before you, do not resist it. Do not resent it, they are putting before you divine principles, and as you allow yourself to be governed by them, you will be blessed. You will rest assured that if you consider for God, God will consider for you. He never accrues Himself unfaithful. He will always consider for those who consider for Him. The point is that we are to be here as those who do not belong to this world, because Jesus is not here. That is why everything is dependent on the position in which Jesus stands in relation to things, and He is not here. And therefore Christians are not expected to find their life or their range of interests in connection with this world. What they are here for is to fill out their part in life as governed by the will of God and ministering to His pleasure, and finding their real interests in the assembly of God.
So, now Abraham set that out, and he “dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations of which God is the artificer and constructor”. God has got a city in mind. The assembly is, in fact, the city of the living God. But He has a real, glorious city in mind, which is coming into display before long. And every believer in the Lord Jesus, sealed with the Holy Spirit, is an essential part in that city. It is not only that you belong to it, but you are an essential part of it. It is composed of those who are brought to Christ during this period, this dispensation, and every believer, as say, is a constituent part of that glorious city.
Well now men in the world like to belong to a city. The freedom of the City of London is regarded as a great honour to be conferred on the person. Even Paul, on one occasion, speaking as a man, said that he was a citizen of no mean city, referring to Tarsus, understanding that people like the idea of being connected with a city. But now God says, ‘I have got a city for you which is great and glorious enough to eclipse the greatest of the cities of men’. Their city, their cities have no foundation, no moral foundation. They are just built up on the will and pride of man. That is what they are built up on. Make no mistake, I am just speaking soberly. That is what the cities of this world are built up of, the pride and will of man, and it is inevitable that they shall come down. In fact, Scripture says that they will, in the book of Revelation, it says in the visions given to John in Patmos that “the cities of the nations fell” (Rev 16: 19), and that is what they will do. But God has a city, to which He invites every one of us. In fact, He tells every one of us here that as coming to Christ, receiving the glad tidings, being sealed by God with his Holy Spirit, you are an essential constituent part of that city. And it has foundations. It is founded in righteousness, established in the blood of Christ. And it is founded, it will never pass away.
And then it brings in the thought of Sarah, that she had faith. She represents, as we often say, what we call the subjective side of the truth. And that is then what comes about through faith. God looks for what is substantial in every one of us, but it is not produced by our looking at ourselves or our being occupied with what is going to be produced in us. It is arrived at by having an object outside of ourselves, and that is Christ. It says, “by faith also Sarah receives strength for the conception of seed”. That is to say, what was produced in Sarah was result of Sarah's faith that she had in her heart, by faith she had the light of Isaac, the promised seed, the seed that God promised her. And as a result, this came about in her.
Well, one ought not to pursue the subject, because our time is going. But I would just end by referring to this last paragraph that we read. It says, “All these died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them from afar off and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and sojourners on the earth”. And now it says, “if they had called to mind that from whence they went out, they had had opportunity to have returned; but now they seek a better, that is a heavenly”. And what is the result? “God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for He has prepared for then a city”. And now, I would urge myself, and all those who are here, all the believers here, young and old, alike - and young ones especially who have got, as people say, life before them. You look at things as God looks at them, and not as men look at them. If you are still at school, you have probably got a master or mistress whose business it is to advise the pupils as to careers and all that sort of thing. Well, take account of things as God looks at them. That is what I would say. Take account of them as God looks at them, and remember that you have been redeemed, that God and Christ have got an absolute right over you, and that the only reason why you are here in this world is to fill out your days according to the will of God and minister to His pleasure. And do not be captivated by the world that is so shortly going to be set aside, but set yourself to have a living interest in the world that is going to abide; and you will find that God is not ashamed of you to be called your God.
May the Lord bless the word to you.
LONDONDERRY
1959
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