FAITH
[p. 305] FAITH
Ephesians 1: 13,14; Genesis 8: 8 - 13; Acts 6: 5; Acts 11: 22 - 24; John 20: 29
By the Lord’s help I would use these scriptures to develop a little the thought of faith, but faith linked with the Holy Spirit. We are told by the apostle Paul, in his first letter to Timotheus, that the dispensation of God is in faith. But the very thought of dispensation involves more than faith, the word “dispensation” there alludes to what is dispensed, quoting from the New Translation; it involves the house of God, the centre down here of His operations. Heaven indeed is our centre, our metropolis, but the assembly is God’s centre here on earth, and those who undertake to operate on God’s behalf must show that they have part in the house and are subject to its order, recognising that God is indeed there. This challenges all operations professedly in the gospel, missionary enterprise, so-called: all evangelical work is unauthorised, except as it issues from the house. What I am saying I know affects much activity which professedly is in the Lord’s name, but God has not changed His mind at all since Pentecost, since the apostolic days, and all gifts were set in the assembly (1 Corinthians 12: 28), and all services were under the Lord.
In the prophet Ezekiel we have a river which typically represents the power in which operations professedly on God’s behalf are to be carried on. He who describes the river was in the inner court of the house, and he saw it there first, coming down out of the house on the right side under the threshold, on the south side of the altar. Then, brought round by the north gate, he sees it issuing forth at the gate looking eastward, and it becomes a great river. These are facts known to most of us, but they deal with what I am saying,
[p. 306] that divine operations centre in the house of God, and all otherwise centred have no divine mandate at all, and that is what the apostle has in mind in saying that the dispensation of God is in faith, but faith working out in the power of the Holy Spirit.
In selecting these scriptures I wish to show how the Spirit is linked with faith, and faith with the Spirit, first in the epistle to the Ephesians, which, we may say, corresponds with the river, not only as ankle deep, but as waters to swim in. The fulness of the gospel is in mind in that epistle, not only the terms, as in Romans, but “the unsearchable riches of the Christ” Ephesians 3: 8. Ezekiel speaks of the river that cannot be passed over; nor is the gospel ever compassed, even by the preachers, it is the glad tidings of the unsearchable riches of the Christ. It is the gospel of God concerning His Son. The more we proceed in it, the greater, fuller, and, we may say, the more infinite, it becomes. So the apostle alludes to the reception of the Holy Spirit, and, in speaking of this matter, I may say that one has for many years been convinced that there are many who have faith and have not the Spirit; and there are those, too, who assume that the Spirit is given automatically as faith exists, which is not true. The Spirit is a gift, it is the gift of God to us — Christ for us, the Spirit to us — and He reserves His right to give in His own way. We can never assume that He acts automatically; He is God, He acts from Himself, acts sovereignly, and as He pleases, always consistently with Himself.
Now, in reverting to the early history of the assembly at Ephesus, tracing the river to its source, Acts 19 brings out the inquiry made of the twelve men that were there as to whether they had received the Holy Spirit since they had believed. The Holy Spirit had been on earth, He had been in the assembly, for a good while, but they had to say, “We did not even hear if the Holy Spirit was come” Acts 19: 2. You can see, therefore, that a certain state in persons is essential to the gift [p. 307] being received; they were believers, but, sad to say, they were not aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit. So it is with many; so much darkness has come into the profession of christianity that some today are even as ignorant as that as to the Holy Spirit, and yet you cannot deny that there is faith in them. So the apostle, in these few verses, alludes, as you will observe, to what happened. He says, “in whom ye also have trusted, having heard the word of the truth, the glad tidings of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, ye have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise” Ephesians 1: 13. Take note, dear brethren, of “the word of the truth”, it is a condition, not only the word of God, but the word of the truth. Truth is a great regulating principle; here “the gospel of your salvation”, of which he speaks, he connects with the word of truth.
There is much that is called gospel that cannot be said to be the word of truth, and I believe that is the secret of so much weakness among christians; the gospel, involving the word of truth, has not been received. The word of truth makes way for the Spirit of truth, and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. As the condition effected in our souls by the word of truth exists, there can be no doubt that there will not be much delay in the gift of the Spirit, but, as I said, it is not given automatically. The gift of the Spirit is for believers, but these things that I am saying are to be observed, they are most important. Another thing is that God gives the Holy Spirit to those that obey Him. Lawless persons and the reception of the Spirit are quite incompatible, and yet we find persons alluding to themselves as having the Spirit and yet moving in lawlessness; not even in the fellowship of God’s Son, or of His death, but standing aside from it, and even having part in other fellowships which are worldly, and not according to God. These facts are not compatible at all with the reception of the Holy Spirit; morally God cannot give His Spirit to lawless persons.
[p. 308] I stress this a little at the beginning, because one has felt for years that the weakness among those who are nominally brethren is largely due to the fact that many have not the Spirit, for the reason that they have not received the word of the truth, the gospel of their salvation, nor have they practised obedience, submitting themselves unqualifiedly to the authority of God in Christ. The Ephesians had, and it is a very beautiful account in Acts 19, they received Paul’s word immediately — “when they heard that, they were baptised to the name of the Lord Jesus” Acts 19: 5; that would mean that they were detached from whatever else they had been in. The truth detaches us from what is not of God, and it also attaches us to what is of Him — a dual operation. So that these twelve men accepted baptism to the name of the Lord Jesus, and then Paul laid his hands on them, and the Holy Spirit came upon them. Let us not weaken the words of Scripture in these matters. These men were not sealed as they were baptised, but as Paul laid his hands on them. How careful Scripture is as regards this matter!
Well, having said all that, I want to show from the scripture in Genesis how this period is marked by light — by information or instruction received from the Holy Spirit. This present dispensation is one of faith, and all is to be worked out by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit; the coming dispensation will be one of sight, the Holy Spirit will be there too according to the prophecy of Joel which Peter quotes in the Acts. A consideration of the truth governing the reception of the Spirit will show that we have the Holy Spirit in a peculiarly exclusive way, and we are entirely dependent on Him for what we know; if we are to know divine things we must get our knowledge from Him. That, I believe, enters into this passage in Genesis, the Scriptures being minutely accurate, even in the types — indeed, one wonders at their accuracy. There are two transactions noted here. You will observe that Noah [p. 309] is said to have looked in verse 13. It is a question of sight; he removed the covering of the ark, pointing typically to the coming day when it will be a time of sight, and looked and saw for himself. In the first instance, he did not take off the covering, he was dependent on the dove for the truth he needed. That is a point.
I think we may profitably notice, and accept it as applying at the present time, that if we are to be rightly informed as to anything, it must be through the Holy Spirit. I am not ignoring the ways and means He has of communicating things to us. He uses this and that one whom He has fitted in some way to serve us, but it all comes through the Spirit. Of course it is under the Lord; the economy requires the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Father, in whom the supreme thought of the Deity is presented to us, to be worshipped and revered; the Son in the office of Lord over all the operations; and the Spirit here permanently knowing everything accurately. Of course all the divine Persons know things accurately, but the presence of the Holy Spirit carries the thought of first-hand knowledge of everything, whether in God or here below; He searches the depths of God, and is also conversant with all conditions here, specially among the brethren; so that the instruction comes through Him, and it is well for us if we accept it. There may be signs of the times, these refer to sight, people speak of them and bring in prophetic subjects; but any information or instruction that can be relied upon must come through the Holy Spirit.
We should notice that Noah sends out the dove three times; first she comes back and he takes her to him into the ark; the second time she comes back at eventide with an olive leaf plucked off, meaning that there has been a day’s work, as it were, at eventide, and a result involving instruction; that is, fruit was there, for the leaf was plucked off — it was attached to the [p. 310] tree. Then we find she goes out again and does not return; that refers to the change of dispensation, confirmed by the removal of the covering of the ark, so that Noah is no longer dependent on the dove. We have to understand it in a contextual way. It is not that the Holy Spirit is not needed in the future; He is, but what is meant in the dove not returning is to point out the change; it is then a period of sight, so that Noah removes the covering of the ark. We have not come to that yet. The Lord Jesus will come and translate us to heaven, and it will be no longer faith for us, but sight, as it will also be for God’s earthly people. There will be power in the everlasting gospel, and wonderful results; a great number of believers — real ones evidently — brought in in a short time, too. There will not be a long period such as this is, for the gospel service will be as by an angel flying in mid-heaven. God can bring about things rapidly, and, on the other hand, He may delay and delay and delay, not willing to bring to an end a period in which He has much interest, and not willing that any should perish.
That is, I believe, a helpful link in our subject and will keep our minds steady in our walk here, that we should not be deceived by what the eye sees. We shall be more dependent on God and on the Holy Spirit, so that we may get the true thoughts of God about everything, as the apostle says further about the Spirit to the Corinthians, “Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” 1 Corinthians 3: 16. The keenest prognosticators of things that are occurring, if they have not the Holy Spirit, are very untrustworthy; whereas those who have the Spirit of God get, not only direct teaching in words, but feelings and sensibilities, and acquire a certain way of assurance as to everything. “Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” — one of the greatest facts is thus presented to us; not only that the Spirit is here, but He dwells in the [p. 311] saints in a certain connection, that is, in relation to the assembly.
Another scripture that helps us in this way is Leviticus 16. Many of us will have noticed that on the great day of atonement there is no scape-bullock; there is a scapegoat; and the epistle to the Hebrews enlightens us as to the bullock: “The Holy Spirit also bears us witness of it”, Hebrews 10: 15. The Holy Spirit is a witness to us as to the sacrifice of Christ. It is to faith; the scape-goat is for sight. The new covenant is quoted immediately to bring out that forgiveness of sins is involved in it. So it is not what we see, for Christ has been taken out of view; “a cloud received him out of their sight” Acts 1: 9; hence the period of faith, and the Holy Spirit makes good what the absence of a scape-bullock means. The Holy Spirit witnesses to us, so that the believer today has more sense of real forgiveness than men will have in the future; it is through the Holy Spirit in us. The witness to us is by the presentation of what is in the Scriptures, but nevertheless there is the Holy Spirit; it is not what we see, but the Spirit confirming our faith.
I want to go on to speak of the other scriptures a little, so as to point out how faith works with the Spirit, and, before proceeding to Stephen and Barnabas, I would call attention to Thomas. The Lord singles him out to bring out the truth that I am stressing now. He says to him, “blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” John 20: 29; there is a peculiar blessing attached to faith. The Lord had in His mind this present wonderful period, and every one of us surely would seek to understand the blessing to which the Lord refers. In connection with that, I want to point out how absenting ourselves from the gatherings of the brethren tends to weaken our faith, to make us sceptical. There is much more scepticism than many of us will admit. The questions that are being asked constantly indicate a certain amount of scepticism in the saints, and I [p. 312] believe what would remedy that, to a large extent, is adherence to the meetings — “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together” Hebrews 10: 25. Thomas absented himself; I do not say that he did it deliberately, but he was not at the first meeting mentioned; that is the point. It is very easy to find excuses if I am absent from the meetings; very little, too, alas, often holds us back, but the scepticism that is often apparent is undoubtedly largely due to holding ourselves apart from the gatherings of the saints where the Spirit operates.
According to what has been said, normally the gatherings of the saints involve the temple, the presence of the Spirit of God. Even the meetings for prayer bring in the sense of the presence of God by the Spirit. “But ye, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life”, Jude 20, 21. Praying in the Holy Spirit — I cannot afford to be absent from such a meeting for prayer. Of course private prayer is most important, but where the Holy Spirit is present, as in the meetings for prayer, the advantage is special. So in all the other gatherings of the saints. How often people slip away for a holiday from a meeting like this, for instance, turning their backs on it for a little bit of relaxation. What do they see on the beach? I am not saying that the ocean is not a testimony to the power of God, not that physical gain does not accrue from contact with it, but people see things there that damage their souls.
I am speaking now of how easily we slip away from our greatest advantages by which our faith is confirmed, and where the Holy Spirit can affect us in a living way, causing our hearts to rejoice. The believers at Antioch, after Paul and Barnabas had been there, are said to have been filled with joy and the Holy Spirit; that is the true effect of the gospel. Not only joy, as with Philip’s converts in Samaria; without the Spirit that would not [p. 313] last, and hence the Spirit soon came. But at Antioch, where Paul and Barnabas preached, the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. I am bringing these things in so that we may see the greatness of all we are brought into, and how easily we may miss it and the blessed features of it, and become sceptical. Thomas was sceptical, avowedly so — he said, “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe” John 20: 25. He was avowedly sceptical, and how often one notices people indicating unbelief as to the things of God, and they exhibit no sense of shame in it. Faithful attendance at the meetings, dear brethren, will greatly help to promote faith, and also joy in the Holy Spirit.
Well, I want to show how Stephen and Barnabas exemplify this matter of faith and of the Spirit. They refer to what I may call crises in the history of the saints; these are coming up constantly and they call for faith and the Spirit. The first crisis was the murmuring of the Hellenists against the Jews; the Hellenists, having come from a distance, assumed they were not as favourably treated as those near by — a very common thing — but they were murmuring. Even if there is some cause for it, murmuring is a naughty element among the brethren; it is foreign to the assembly, viewed normally, and what is needed to meet it is faith and the Holy Spirit, and that was what marked Stephen. The direction of the apostles was that the people should choose out men full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, and Stephen is mentioned first; he is said to have been “a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit” Acts 6: 5. A crisis usually brings out a man like that. In a small measure today, of course, it is to be looked for, for God is never taken by surprise; He is always ready, and Stephen was the man; there were six others. Stephen and Philip stand out, although Philip is not said to have been full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; there is a certain shortage [p. 314] in him as compared with Stephen, even as to the results of his preaching; the Holy Spirit does not come in immediately, but still, he was a wonderful man, and wrought miracles and caused great joy in Samaria.
Now it is said of Stephen that he was “full of grace and power”, as he “wrought wonders and great signs among the people” Acts 6: 8. See what a man he was. He is one of the most remarkable servants of God, and he began as a deacon. We are not given any account of his work as a deacon, but the man is placed before us in the Scripture, and he is a model for us in crises: one ready under God’s hand for an occasion, and the Spirit of God directs the minds of the saints to him. Full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and full of grace and power; and then his countenance was as the face of an angel. That is the man; the Spirit of God causes him to stand out before us. Let us not lose the sense the Spirit would give us in directing our view to Stephen. He is a man of glory, a man who goes “from glory to glory” in his service.
Now Barnabas also comes in with peculiar distinction; he is introduced before Stephen, as a son of consolation; that is another thing, a man that can comfort the brethren, a son of consolation. We much need that, too; brethren who are going on — even the brightest of us — need consolation. The apostles evidently had consolation in Barnabas. You can picture him coming up with his money, laying it at the apostles’ feet. As a Levite he should not have had land; but the thing is done publicly, he is not hiding anything. He is now ministering consolation to the brethren, and proving what he is, a work of God; and opportunity for service suited to him is near. It is no longer a question of crises, such as we have in chapter 6, but a great work of God among the nations; the assembly characteristically has ears for that. It has not ears for all the things that occupy those of this world, but it has ears for all that God is doing. The Spirit of God sees to it that all [p. 315] who would have information as to His work will get it. So the assembly sent out Barnabas to Antioch; he was a suitable man, evidently with God, and ready for a particular service. God is with him. If God is not with us we do not succeed; however much ability or prestige we may have, we do not succeed if God is not with us. The Lord says, “without me ye can do nothing” John 15: 5.
So it is said of Barnabas, as he shows his genuine interest in the work of God and its results, “for he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith” Acts 11: 24 — the Holy Spirit is placed before faith here. So that we have Barnabas where he should be; he shines perhaps more at this point than elsewhere. Observing the work of God, in many being added to the Lord, he rejoiced in it, and the Holy Spirit tells us “he was a good man”. Very few of us can be so designated, I am afraid, but Barnabas was “a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith” Acts 11: 24. He was the man for the moment; he was like the golden taches of the tabernacle, a man who can link things on unjealously. He would not say at Antioch, The work here is nothing compared with that at Jerusalem! No, he would make the most of the work at Antioch, it was a wonderful work in his eyes, and he said in effect, I am not equal to it, another is needed. He knew where that other was, and he went and brought him: “he went away to Tarsus to seek out Saul. And having found him, he brought him to Antioch” Acts 11: 25,26. That is the idea, dear brethren, unjealous conditions, marked by the Holy Spirit and faith, so that the work of God is linked together and prospers. Barnabas and Saul taught a large crowd, we are told, in the assembly. They had a right thought of the assembly, and that is what is so needed. In preaching and teaching we are to have the assembly in mind. The assembly that was in Antioch was the fruit of this work; and then the service of God in that town: that is, the great levitical position is among the gentiles; there were those who ministered to the Lord and fasted, and under those conditions [p. 316] the Holy Spirit is seen as at liberty. He had been at liberty, of course, in Barnabas and Saul, but I want to point out, as to what is called missionary work, that it is a question of the Holy Spirit being at liberty to move in sending out servants. It is a remarkable thing that it was the Holy Spirit who selected those who were to undertake the first missionary enterprise in the service of the gospel, and in doing so He recognised the assembly. It is a question of the conditions and firsthand knowledge of the conditions, and how the Holy Spirit acts in those conditions. As I said at the beginning — and it is urgent that it be accepted — no one has any mandate for preaching or teaching aside from the recognition of the assembly of God. This is the period of the dispensation of God which is in faith. The Scriptures teach that the assembly is essential to it, and those taking part in it nominally who disregard the assembly are disqualified.