THE NEED OF FAITH
E. E. Hoyte *
I have been thinking of this Thessalonian assembly, this locality, and what was in it, of which the apostle takes account and speaks. They had qualities that increased. Paul says, “Your faith increases exceedingly, and the love of each one of you all towards one another abounds”—
remarkable! I was thinking much of the sifting that is proceeding at the present time. Our brother touched upon the sickness among us, and so on.
This assembly had a good start, an excellent start: they “turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to await his Son from the heavens”, 1 Thessalonians 1: 9. The first chapter of the second epistle shows these same conditions, faith proceeding with them, happy conditions, loving one another. This matter of faith, dear brethren; I feel we need it. It was disbelief in those persons of whom our first brother read in Numbers 14. They disbelieved God; they did not believe that God could carry them through; it was lack of faith. But Caleb was a man rich in faith; he had a store-house of it. He said, “Jehovah is with us”.
The tests we are going through are kind of keen, and they are sifting us. Believe it or not, in our localities we are being sifted. I do not know how you regard it, but the Lord is thinking of us. He said to Peter, “Satan has demanded to have you, to sift you as wheat; but I have besought for thee”, Luke 22: 31, 32. That is the word; the
* with Christ July 1980
sifting was going on in them all, in all the apostles, but the Lord said, “I have besought for thee that thy faith fail not”. How quickly Peter was recovered—he went out and wept bitterly.
Some of us do not see our errors; we refuse to adjust them, to think about them; we just shake it off. Peter went out and wept bitterly. It says, “The Lord is indeed risen and has appeared to Simon”, Luke 24: 34. The Lord had said, “I have besought for thee”. Dear brethren, the Lord has us in mind in this sifting. Are we qualified, are we equal to it? We need faith. That is what the Lord says to Peter. He did not say he was not a follower. Peter said, ‘I will die for you’. ‘You will die for Me?—The cock shall not crow today before you have denied Me thrice’. Peter intended to do it, you know; he drew his sword; but he was in a position in which he was weak. The Lord was facing death; how much the Lord faced; only He could face it, dear brethren—and He says, “I have besought for thee”.
I just thought of adding a word to what our dear brethren have been saying in relation to faith and love. We see the condition of this assembly, this locality. Paul says, “We ought to thank God always for you because your faith increases”; notice that. If you looked in the first epistle you would find in the first chapter “We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you at our prayers, remembering unceasingly your work of faith, and labour of love, and enduring constancy of hope” (1 Thessalonians 1: 2, 3). Now the thing is that they continued; they did not retrograde. But they were being tested; in this epistle a dark background of apostasy sets in. But here is a local company that is in the gain of faith. There is a little weakness with them; it seems as if they were misdirected in some way; at any rate they were being tested and the sifting was proceeding. The apostle says, “We ought to thank God always for you”.
I stop, but I just wanted to bring the idea of faith in, dear brethren. At one time the apostles said to the Lord, “Give more faith to us” (Luke 17: 5); they felt the need of it. How much more we do, dear brethren, in these times. This second epistle is something to consider—what is being restrained, and what is going to be taken out of the way to open up the whole channel of evil, when the lawless one shall be revealed. But with faith on our part, the Lord will bring us through. He says, “I also will keep thee out of the hour of trial”, Revelation 3: 10. So we need faith. May the Lord help us.
Word in meeting for ministry, Brooklyn, N.Y.
10 April 1979