LIVING BY FAITH
C. F. Dadd
I want to direct our attention and our thoughts, dear friends and brethren, to this great matter of faith. We live in a very materialistic world which is not in keeping with faith, whereas the principle of faith is that which marked Christ when He was here. It is said of the Lord in this epistle that He is “the leader and completer of faith”, Hebrews 12: 2. What a challenge it is to me, and possibly to you, as to the principle on which we are living. What
is the principle, what is the basis, on which we are living? I would like to commend to all of us that we should live according to the principle of faith. We have very little about faith in the Old Testament, only one reference where it says, “The just shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2: 4), and we have been reminded this morning of the history of our brother who has now departed to be with Christ, that he really lived according to his faith. What a fine thing, what a fine commendation, that those who have known our brother for many years can speak about his faith. And then Paul says, “The just shall live on the principle of faith”, Galatians 3: 11.
What an interesting reference that is, showing that our lives are not to be empty or without direction but they are to be governed by a certain principle.
The challenge would be to all of us who remain—and we have been reminded that we do not know how long that may be—that we might live according to the principle of faith. Paul said that the life that he now lived he lived by the faith of the Son of God, who had loved him and given Himself for him (Galatians 2: 20). What a fine thing to be able to say that! What a challenge to us today as to whether we can truly say, “The Son of God who has loved me and given himself for me”. Well, I think most of us can say that, but it is a time when we would challenge our hearts. Our brother has gone through in faith and he has died in faith; he lived in faith and he died in faith. And, beloved, this is what I would commend to every one of our hearts, no matter how short the time may be. Many of us in this room are not young any more, we are moving on, we are at the other end of the spectrum, the other end of our lives, and the test is. How will we go out? How will we finish? What a challenge that is to me!
How will we finish? As to the saints in Galatia Paul said, “Ye ran well; who has stopped you?”, Galatians 5: 7. It might be that
we had a bright beginning, but how will we finish? Of our brother we can say, as Paul says in Hebrews 11, “All these died in faith”. What a wonderful commendation! They were not turned or diverted all the way to the end, and they died in faith.
So, beloved, it is for each one of us that our faith in Christ might be strengthened, our faith in relation to all that has come within our range in Christ, the great thought of resurrection, the great thought of what lies ahead of us. We have been reminded that when we see Him we shall be like Him because we shall see Him as He is (1 John 3: 2). That is the outlook of faith, that is the outlook of hope. Hope belongs to the believer. Faith is not the portion of all. So therefore I would commend to all of us that we might just use the example of the life of our brother and let it be a stimulus to us. We were reminded at home this morning that Peter could speak about being Models for the flock (1 Peter 5: 3), and I believe that as we look at the life of our brother there has been the idea of a model, one who went on patiently, consistently, not being diverted, one who went all the way through. What about us? Are we going to go through consistently with what we have been brought into, and our knowledge of Jesus? He, of course, was absolutely consistent, never diverted for a moment in that precious life, even when facing death and that the death of the cross. He said, “Not my will, but thine be done”, Luke 22: 42. Think of those words. So let us all today take a fresh look and let us be stimulated that we might be here as those who live according to the principle of faith. May it be so for His name’s sake.
Words at the burial of Mr. Fitz Ashby, Brooklyn, N.Y.
9 April 1985