FAITH

Norman J Henry

Hebrews 11: 6; Genesis 13: 10, 14-17; 2 Samuel 7: 18, 19; Ephesians 3: 16-19

I feel the need of raising the matter of faith – there is no grey area in this scripture, it says, “But without faith it is impossible to please him”. It is impossible to please God without faith. There would be no point in having a preaching of this character if faith was not available, because the preaching is for the obedience of faith. So, if faith is not available from God, what is the point in having the preaching? We might as well go to all the things that amuse people about us. But thanks be to God that faith is available, faith is a gift from God.

Chapter 11 has already started the line of faith in Abel and Enoch, then there is this verse inserted, “without faith it is impossible to please him”. Faith is always required on the earth. I do not think there will ever be a time when faith will not be required on the earth. This is the dispensation of faith. In the world to come it will be of sight, but faith will still be required then. The redeemed will not need faith in eternity, but in time we need faith. It is not only for the acceptance but for the obedience of faith in what is presented in the glad tidings, which is how our pathway begins. It also involves coming into a life of faith. Beloved friend, I think we need help about living in that principle, the principle of faith. These persons that are referred to in Hebrews 11 were marked by faith. Abel had a comparatively short life and what he did he did by faith, “By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained testimony of being righteous”, Heb 11: 4. That is how you come into righteousness on the principle of faith. You cannot get righteousness without faith. I trust in the preaching you get a sense of being brought near to God, but if you were to be in the presence of God you could not be there without righteousness. You get that by faith. Abraham had it by faith, he believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness, God has a basis for extending righteousness, on the principle of faith and belief. So, to be in the presence of God without that righteousness that He offers would be an awful thing. You know those who will be there before the great white throne will have no righteousness because they never had faith, that is how important faith is. I raise the matter not only of the reception of faith originally by the offer of God, but also a life of faith. At the very outset faith was required. I know Abel is referred to first in Hebrews 11 because he was the first to die and that was at the hand of a manslayer, an awful thing that took place in the life of Abel. He is a great type, his offering spoke to God of Christ and he died for that. Abel died because he offered a more excellent sacrifice, because it spoke to God of Christ, he knew that something had come in between God and man. No doubt Adam went over it, and Abel would look at these coats of skin and see that the link had been broken, and the only way for the restitution of that link with God would be the principle of a death of another. Thanks be to God Abel took that route. Cain offered of the cursed ground, he had no regard of the change of the circumstances in the life of his parents. He offered what God had cursed. God could not take that, but when Abel took of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat and offered it to God, God accepted it, and it says he “obtained testimony of being righteous”.

That is the first great thing in the glad tidings – to become righteous in the presence of God. It is not yet your righteousness in the way of your walk it is the state of righteousness before God, and therefore you are required to have faith for that. The righteousness presented to you in the time we are in is a much greater level according to God because it involves Christ where He is. He is presented that we might become, “God’s righteousness in him”, 2 Cor 5: 21. In Christ is my righteousness. So I need faith for that. If I am going to be in the presence of God I need other than my own righteousness because as scripture says, my righteousness is as filthy rags (see Isa 64: 6), there is nothing I can use. What can you do with filthy rags? You need a righteousness that is in keeping with God, that God is pleased with. That is why the glad tidings are preached to you today to lay your trust and faith in the Lord Jesus where He is, that you might become God’s righteousness in Him. How is that accomplished? By the work of Jesus – “Him who knew not sin he has made sin for us” (2 Cor 5: 21). How could God do that to His Son, to the One He loved most? He was prepared to take love’s way, that you and I might have that righteousness. I cannot think of anything greater, more blessed glad news for you today, then that God is offering you righteousness in the preaching and it is by faith. The difference in the offerings in Leviticus 16 is that Israel had two goats, first one was killed and the other was let loose, sent into a land apart from men, and Israel will come into things on the principle of sight. That is how they will find righteousness in the day to come. The day we are in is righteousness by faith, so there was one bullock and it was slaughtered as the sin offering so that God was appeased as to sin. If anybody here has not faith, I say to you ask God for it. I cannot say I am here to satisfy you, but I know if you believe in what God presents you will be for ever blessed and happy. You will never go back from it, you will have a joy in your soul. If you fail, you might lose the enjoyment of it, but you will never lose it. That is the glad tidings that God wants to instil into you.

It has been said before that there is not one person who will be in heaven that did not at one time sense that they were lost. A sense of being lost is that you do not have any righteousness; God will have no regard for anyone who does not have righteousness. That is wonderful. Is that not glad tidings to you, something to pin your hope on and get the groundwork in your soul that you have righteousness before God that He is pleased with? Would you want to do that? You will find that the only happiness that you can have is in pleasing God. Those who have gone before are witnesses that they pleased God and they were happy men and women. It says, “For he that draws near to God must believe that he is”. How can you approach God? How are you going to do that? You need faith for that. I think we are apt to forget what is fundamental, the elements of the glad tidings, that God’s dealings with you and me are dependent on faith. I do not mean only the initial faith, but your maintenance of your life is on the principle of faith, “he that draws near to God must believe that he is”. He must believe that God is, not was, not only what God did in creation. You might go back as far as the scripture allows you, to His creational power, everything that has been set up, and then how He came out in Christ, the blessedness of it, came out in His Son. Think of God, manifest in flesh – could you think of anything more wonderful to your heart and mind than that the supreme God dwelling in light unapproachable came out in Jesus. We had reference today to what God was in His being and these relationships that existed in a past eternity which were beyond us and never to be disclosed to us. We know what relationships will be in a coming eternity, thanks be to God for that; that is part of the revelation of God, the economy into which He has come. But here it is just the fact that God has drawn near, made Himself available to you and to me and given us faith that we might believe that He is, “he that draws near to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them who seek him out”. You will never be disappointed if your action is real simple faith, drawing near to God. You will get a reward that earth could not eclipse, it is a reward special from God. He will give you assurance in your spirit, He will give you strength for what lies ahead of you. What life does not have ups and downs, difficulties lying ahead, and sorrows? Who would know the changes in the past week? Things change rapidly. This might be the last preaching. You must leave everything with God, but you know that if you draw near to Him He is “a rewarder of them who seek him out”. He sought you first, He came to you in Jesus seeking and saving that which was lost (see Luke 19: 10). As we often say, He does not need to seek the children, but with us He needed to seek us because our will took us where we went, doing as we wished, without seemingly any restraint. That is the day we are in, when the mind and imagination of men develop not only into utter apostasy from everything of God that He put into creation, but also dropping to the depths. They thought it not good to have God in their thoughts so that they gave Him up in the folly of their minds. They dropped to depths that were beyond understanding. That is one warning about the technology that is within our reach, that we must be very careful of, what is introduced into a household because there are things conveyed in these media that are beyond even the basest thoughts that any may have as individuals. It is a depth into which only Satan can take you. Idolatry did not appear before the flood, but it has been said that idolatry did not have its origin in the heart of man; it came from Satan himself. Satan himself is now entering in, attempting access into the minds and hearts of men and women to spoil them for God. I say that as a warning to you.

In chapter 12 we have the leader and completer of faith, not just the act of faith, but the leader and completer of it (see v 2). Who was that? That was the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, why I brought Him in at this point in speaking about faith is that as long as He was here, that blessed Person who is “God over all, blessed for ever” was here, in a place that was suitable according to the divine mind for man to be in. He took that place in manhood with the limitations and the outward restrictions of manhood, which He accepted. For Him it was coming into the condition where faith is required. It was not just an action of faith, but it was a life of faith. From the very outset of that blessed humanity, there was trust. The prophets and the Psalms make touching references to what was here in Him, given to them by the Holy Spirit. How perfect that life was! He committed everything to God. What a blessed life that was. Perfection. He did not receive faith as a gift, we do. There was a holy humanity there, a perfect unique humanity in the Lord Jesus, but it was marked here by faith. He trusted and looked to God for everything. He referred to God in everything. He prayed to God, He spent the night in prayer. That was the life of the Lord Jesus in perfection and that was the life that eventually was given up so that you and I might have an object for faith in His work at the cross and where He is now in glory.

I just touch on Abraham because in chapter 13 of Genesis you have two men. Abraham had been called in chapter 12. Jehovah says, “Go out of thy land, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, to the land that I will shew thee” (v 1). He is the man of faith. He is moving in obedience. It says he “hesitated not at the promise of God through unbelief” (Rom 4: 20). Abraham was a man that hesitated not; it is the most blessed life, obedience. Mr Darby says the most humble life is that of obedience, because you are obeying the will of another, so it is the manifestation of humility. This man Abraham was a man who obeyed. We read first of Lot, “Lot lifted up his eyes”, God had not told him to lift up his eyes. God at this point did not expect too much from Lot, He left Him to choose it. Even Abraham said to him, you look to the right or to the left, whatever way you take we will take the other. I suppose Abraham knew the tendency, because earlier it says, “the Canaanite and the Perizzite were dwelling then in the land” (v 7). Maybe Lot had come somewhat under the influence of these tribes. It comes to the point where Lot lifted up his eyes searching for something that he could attach his view upon. It says, “it was thoroughly watered … as the garden of Jehovah”. What did he see on earth as he lifted up his eyes and looked towards Sodom and Gomorrah before it was destroyed? It says, “the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt, as one goes to Zoar”. He is trying to liven up his outlook, but really there was no faith in it. God had not told him to lift up his eyes, neither are you or I told to lift up our eyes on all this type of thing. It says in verse 14, “Jehovah said to Abram” – He knew that Abraham would obey Him – “Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward and eastward and westward”. What a variety this man was told to see. If you have the eyes of faith, the outlook of faith, everything becomes so impregnated with well-being and good. He did not see the world in all the desperate conditions of Sodom and Gomorrah that shortly were coming under the judgment of God, as is this world with its depravity. It was such that God had to deal with it as a witness for all time – it says as to those who would live afterwards an ungodly life, it was there to be a testimony of God’s judgment against ungodliness. That is what Lot saw and added that he thought it was as the garden of God. There is no link with it. How depraved. Here Abraham is looking up, God is giving him the eyesight of faith. He is a man that lifts up his eyes. In chapter 18 he lifted up his eyes to see the heavenly visitors. In chapter 22 he lifts up his eyes again, to the mountain that God had told him. What faith was in this man, he was working in the line of promise and he walked these steps of faith of “our father Abraham”. He is set out as an example to you and me. Why should we trust our own intellect? Trust in God and believe His word and do His will. The doing of that requires faith.

In 2 Samuel David had great thoughts in mind. He had set out what I suppose he thought were the best ideas that he could engender before God and God eventually says, you cannot do it. You are not allowed to do it. You might say his hopes were dashed. David had fought the battles of the Lord, he had the support of the Lord. He comes to this point where he thinks things should change, but God says, “I went about in a tent and in a tabernacle” (v 6). Why should that change? David had certain right thoughts, but he was not permitted to execute them. Not only does God say, what is in your heart to build will be built, but it will be a man of peace that will build it, no doubt looking forward to Christ in type. David now comes to his own house, “also of thy servant’s house for a great while to come”. We need to have faith as to our households that God will operate. That is what this dear man of God is saying, “yet this hath been a small thing in thy sight”. I say to you, friend. Submit yourself to God. It is the line of faith that God will honour, and you will be preserved to the end if you do so. It says here, “and king David went in and sat before Jehovah … And is this the manner of man, Lord Jehovah?” – I wonder what impressions filled his soul at that point? Jehovah had given him support. He never lost a war, there was probably no commander like David, he never lost a war, he was always successful because he depended on his God. It comes to this point and he goes into the presence of God and he gets another impression in the presence of God, “he is the rewarder of them that seek him out”. That was what David proved. God the rewarder of them that seek Him out and it says, “Is this the manner of man”. Who was it that God was conveying to him? I think He conveyed to him impressions of Christ. God also did it to Abraham when Isaac was weaned. Something that came into Abraham’s soul – “he saw my day and rejoiced”, John 8: 56. Here David says, “is this the manner of man”, he gets an impression of Christ in the presence of God. There is nothing like it!

In Ephesians it is important to see that the Spirit links on with faith. That is another thing we need. You do not get the Spirit without faith. The gift of the Spirit is referred to in two connections, one is by request and the other obedience. You ask a thing of God and you have faith for that, and the other basis is that you obey. Those are the two things which are used to secure the blessed gift of the Holy Spirit which is offered in the glad tidings. You cannot obey unless you have faith. It shows how the groundwork is faith. When the Holy Spirit came down at Pentecost it was to a believing company, persons that had faith. You will not get the Spirit without faith. You might say, I am having a job walking my life, I am stumbling here and there, not keeping away from evil, not getting power to overcome and so on – well, you need the Spirit to do that, and I would say to you make sure you have faith and if you have faith then ask God for the Spirit. Here at the most exalted point of Ephesians 3 we have this reference to the Father who is supreme in this economy, “to be strengthened with power by his Spirit” (the Father’s spirit), “in the inner man”. An unbeliever knows nothing of the inner man. It refers to something that is there of the Spirit, “that the Christ may dwell, through faith”. When we take up response to God in eternity there will be no reference to faith, that will not exist, but faith is needed here. “That the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts, being rooted and founded in love”. Is that not a settled state to arrive at? God has met everything in Christ in His work, in the shedding of His precious blood. Now as persons here, as having received the Spirit and being the subjects of His operations, you arrive at something very settled. That is a fine thing to end with in the preaching, something settled. If your conscience is disturbed, I do not apologise. You will go outside and there will be nothing here or in any country to help you. It might have a little more light about it, but it is morally the same, it is set against faith and set against the conviction of the soul. Even Agrippa says, “in a little”. There is no reference that that man ever became a Christian. He was nearly there, persons can be convicted and still be lost, but you are in a state that God can work in. God is working when the conscience is aroused. In Ephesians there is a settled state and there is a full response to God. Think of this, “able to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height”: that is further than Abraham saw. Abraham did not see as far as that. Here it is a much greater, more exalted place that the believer is brought into in our time, settled in our relations with Christ, “that the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts, being rooted and founded in love”. I cannot think of arriving at a greater result through the preaching, that you are settled, “and to know the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge”. Can you think of getting an impression of that? To know the love of the Christ. How He loves as God, how He serves. The love of a perfect Man, His love for God is conveyed in that, but think of the love of the Christ which surpasses knowledge. It is so great. He is so great. His love is so great! He was prepared to go to the depths to save me from going there so that I might share in these realms, these heights above. That is the glad tidings and these things it says, “which surpasses knowledge; that ye may be filled even to all the fulness of God”. That is not infinitude, we remain creatures, but it is what is presented in Christ. The fulness of God is in Christ. I cannot think of anything greater in the glad tidings than to be brought into it, the Holy Spirit linking with faith in the present time so that we will touch the highest thoughts. May we all be encouraged to review, to look into our lives and see that our lives are truly lived in faith. May it be so for His Name’s sake.

ORMOND BEACH

14 January 2004