Fear Not, Only Believe. The Assurance of Faith

There is an easy optimism, that imagines that it is faith in God, and has a right and is able to claim every promise in God’s Word. It does not understand how inseparably the words “Repent” and “Believe” are bound together. It has never learned how throughout Scripture a chief element in faith in God is a sense of impotence and utter helplessness. We want to speak here, as our book closes, on the place faith must have if we are indeed to go forward in the certain hope that in our own life, in the Church around us, and specially in its ministry, God’s mighty power will be manifested, in working that deep, intense, living vitality which we are longing for. If we are to appropriate the words, “Fear not, only believe,” as really spoken by our Lord to ourselves, we must note well the attitude of the man to whom they were first given.

We find here Jairus in great trouble; his little daughter is at the point of death. He falls at Christ’s feet, and beseeches Him much to come

and lay His hand on her. Jesus went with him.

But all at once there was an interruption, with the woman who touched the hem of Christ’s garment, and Jairus fears lest they may come too late. His worst fears are realised. There come messengers to say: “Thy daughter is dead; why troublest thou the Master any further?” It was to such a man in his deep distress, beseeching Him greatly to come, and now brought to utter hopelessness by the tidings of her death, that Christ spake the word: “Fear not, only believe.” The soil had been broken up deep; the heart was prepared to believe; Christ’s precious word entered in and took possession. If we are bearing the burden of a dead or a dying Church, if we are going to take part in the work of rousing her and lifting her up into the abundant life that there is in Christ, we need nothing so much as a word like this. It will bring us the joyous assurance, day by day, that Christ is with us, that He will work through us and that we can count upon Him to give the blessing.

But we must take the place that Jairus did, falling at His feet, beseeching Him greatly, graciously, and mightily to interpose. Even when the tidings come, “There is no hope, death reigns, all our efforts are in vain,” we are still to be of good cheer and hold on to His word. “Fear not, only believe,” must be our watchword. But only — I say it once again — only to the man who tarries at Christ’s feet in prayer, and looks to Him alone. There we shall learn that throughout all Scripture it is faith, in the midst of seeming impossibility, that waits and claims the fulfilment of the promise.

Think of Abraham, “who waxed strong through faith, giving glory to God, being fully assured that what He had promised, He was able also to perform.” It is as we persevere in prayer, and take hold of definite promises, and beseech Him greatly to fulfil them, that we shall through every obstacle hold fast our confidence to the end. We may find that as time goes on, as the insight into the deadly state of the Church grows deeper, and as experience teaches us how very hard it is to rouse Christians to the full meaning of, and the full surrender to, the claims of Christ, our hearts will often fail us for fear and grow faint. But if we have made our covenant with Christ that we dare not go back, but are determined to hold on, we shall find that just one word from our Lord hidden in the heart, and lived on day by day, will give strength in time of greatest darkness.

Just think of the words of Christ in regard to what appears to man to be impossible. He had said of the young ruler, “How hard it is for the rich to enter heaven.” The disciples had said, “Who then can be saved?” Christ’s answer was, “With men it is impossible,” but, He added, “with God all things are possible.” And elsewhere He said, “All things are possible to him that believeth.” These words are a three fold cord that cannot be broken.

First, “With men it is impossible.” It seems easy to say, and yet how difficult to realise it, and act it out. What is it that hinders the Church in this day from falling on its knees and beseeching God by His Holy Spirit to give revival? Nothing but this: men do not consider that the work that they have got to do is impossible with man. They consult, and organise, and labour, oh, so diligently, and yet the members decline by the thousand. And they cannot see that the work of winning men to become members of Christ and His Church is a work that God alone can do through men who have yielded themselves to the Holy Ghost. What a day that would be if the Church were to fall down before God, and bow in the dust with the cry: O God, it is impossible with man.

We should then be prepared for the second lesson, “But not with God,” — “all things are possible with God.” At first sight this word also appears easy to accept. We are so sure that there is nothing impossible with such a God. And yet when we ask whether God’s servants really believe it, and in the joyful confidence that He is going to do it, wait upon Him and expect His working, we soon find out how hard it is to get such an impression of God’s power and His readiness to work out in us what He has bidden us to do. God is so little of a reality to us. How few the men are who take time with God that the blessed sense of His holy presence can fill their hearts and strengthen them in their work.

Oh, all ye who are beginning to take the state of the Church to heart, and to bear it as a burden before the Lord, be not surprised if you have found it a hard thing. Fully to grasp the truth in regard to the objects of your labour and your prayer, “With God all things are possible,” learn the lesson of bringing that blessed truth into contact with your daily prayer and your daily work. Let its light shine into your heart, on your sphere of labour, on the Church around you, on the feeblest and most hopeless part of the Church, until all your thoughts have this as their keynote, “But not with God.” “All things are possible with God.” He is able to rouse the Church out of her apathy, and lift Christians into the abundant life.

But now comes the third and most difficult lesson: “All things are possible to him that believeth.” It is something great to really believe that all things are possible with God. And yet the soul may be troubled as to how and when it may come. This word of Christ throws the responsibility on ourselves. It is to him that believes that God makes all things possible. When Christ spoke that word to the father of the lunatic, the man felt so deeply his responsibility, if he should not have the needful faith, that he cried out, “Lord, I believe, help Thou mine unbelief.” And Christ heard that prayer. He is still waiting, when our hearts shrink back from the thought, “Is it going to depend upon me whether this mighty God will do the impossible thing? I dare not bear the burden of this responsibility,” to strengthen our faith. He Who helped the father of the lunatic child, He Who said to Peter, “I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not,” Jesus Christ, who became man to bring us into fellowship with the omnipotent God, He will give us the confidence to believe that it is God’s will: “If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will.” Let us live in fellowship with Christ, Who spake these words; He will enable us to receive them until they become the joy and the strength of our heart.

If I have not succeeded in this little book in giving a deep impression of the sore need of the Holy Spirit and its power that the state of the Church demands, I should feel that I had failed of my purpose. But I should be still more disappointed if I were to part with the reader without having helped him to the confident assurance that God is able and willing in answer to prayer to work revival, and to fill the hearts of many of His children with a measure of the Holy Spirit such as they have never known. As we look out upon a Church so feeble and faithless as we have seen, do let us listen to the voice of Jesus as He says, “Fear not, only believe.” What I have already said, I say again:

The Church around you may be in a dying state, with no possibility of being reached by human effort. I beseech you, Look up to God; tarry before Him in prayer until stronger desire is stirred, and faith rises to link itself to His omnipotence. Believe in the power of our Lord Jesus, and in His tender relationship to you, watching over your faith. Believe in the power of the Holy Ghost, the promise of the Father, the birthright of the Church, surrounding you on every side, and longing to get possession of you and those for whom you are praying. And so let the study of the state of the Church give you a knowledge of God and a trust in Him, beyond what you have ever known or thought.