The Things of Faith

There are the things of sense, the things of fancy y and the things of faith. The first pertain to our feelings and emotions, the second to our imagination, the third to the invisible realities revealed to us in the Word of God. The things of faith may be distinguished from the things of sense by the fact that they are “things not seen” by natural perception; and from the things of fancy by the fact that they have an actual existence. We know that the things of sense have a being from the evidence of sight, or touch, or hearing, as the case may be. And we know that the things of faith have an actual existence from the testimony of Scripture; we know it by faith, which is not only “the substance” — foundation, or ground of confidence — of things hoped for,” but the “evidence” or proof,” of things not seen.” But the things

of fancy have no substance, no foundation. What the senses are to the body, or to the “outward man “faith is to the” inward man/* We are persuaded of the presence of a visible object when we see it; so we are assured of the reality of some spiritual fact when we believe it. And the warrant of our believing it is the testimony of Scripture,

By keeping these distinctions in mind we shall be enabled to guard against two evils — the ever-changing, miserable up-and-dovn life of feeling, on the one hand; and the uncertain and dangerous course of fanaticism, on the other. The true path is the path of faiths which is always on the ground of Divine testimony, and “shineth more and more unto the perfect day.”

Faith has to do with things “hoped for” — the promises of God (future) — and with” things not seen — the facts (past and present) revealed in God’s Word. Let us now consider some of the things of faith presented to us in the New Testament.

I. — The “Righteousness of Faith.”

This is the first thing we must know. It is the first, both in order and in importance. If we are wrong here, we are wrong altogether. What is the righteousness in which you seek to be accepted before God? There is only one righteousness that can justify us in His sight, and that is the ‘^ righteousness of God.” And yet how many are deluded with the idea that their own works may contribute to this righteousness! It is the righteousness of God (Rom. iii. 21, 22), because God has provided it; because Christ Himself is made of God unto us righteousness (i Cor. i. 30), and is called “the Lord our Righteousness” (Jer. xxiii. 6), It is the “righteousness of Faz7A,” because it is “unto all and upon all them that believe” (Rom. iii. 22); we receive it, not by working, or feeling, or realising, or supposing, but simply by believing. Let us never lose sight of this fundamental truth of our religion, but ever

keep in mind the Apostle’s great aim and desire “that I may be found in Him” (i.e. Christ), “not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Phil. iii. 9).

II. — The “Joy of Faith” (Phil. i. 25).

The kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost “(Rom. xiv. 17). It is a Divine command that we Rejoice in the Lord alway *’ (Phil. iv. 4), and when God says “alway He does not mean sometimes merely. And yet how impossible this seems to many Christians! Simply because they confound the things of sense, of feeling, with the things of faith. Rejoicing in the Lord is the “joy of faith — a joy arising, not from outward circumstances and inward emotions, but from certain spiritual realities appre-C^e e|)tng£l of dfatti). 29

hended by faith. The believer’s heart is often gladdened by the outward and manifest blessings which God pours out upon him. There is the joy of Christian fellowship; the joy of seeing souls brought to the Saviour; the joy of being made useful in His vineyard. But these are not strictly the things of faith. They have passed into another sphere, so to speak. We first receive God’s gifts, by faith. We believe in their reality, we accept them, and we act as if we saw and felt them, because we take God’s testimony as equivalent to the testimony of our senses. But when the promises, which we received and obtained by faith, are fulfilled, so as to be present to our senses, then they pass out of the sphere of faith into the region of realisation, of sight and feeling.

Let us suppose two atmospheres, one above the other; the upper one let us call the region of faith, the lower one the region of sense. It is to be feared that many of God’s children are walking more frequently in the lower atmos-

phere of sight and feeling than in the upper one of faith. And so we see constantly, when God removes those blessings and gifts which are visible, all their joy goes! Proving that it was not the joy oi faith, but the joy of sense, they were living upon. But the believer’s true sphere is the upper one — he ought never to forsake it — “for we walk by faith, not by sight.’* How clearly and beautifully St. Peter puts it, “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice, with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (i Pet. i. 8). That is the joy of faith.’’ Take, again, that passage in Hab. iii. 17, 18, “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the fiock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls “— everything in the things of sense calculated to cause sadness and gloom —” Yet,” says the prophet,” I will rejoice,** Unbelief would have said * there-Cle CD||tns8 of Jfait. 31

lore ‘I am cast down — 1 cannot but be miserable.” But faith says “Yet I will” — not simply hope or trust, but — “rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” This is the joy of faith:’

To rejoice on account of our attainments, or of our victories, is not “the joy of faith”

We read of the Seventy how that they “returned again with joy, saying. Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through Thy name “(Luke x. 17), But this was not to be the ground of their j oy Triumph over Satan, through Christ’s name, should fill us with gratitude; but in the very hour of victory there is a danger of secretly cherishing a boastful spirit. Self, in some subtle form, will seek to enter in.” Rejoice not,” said our Lord, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” He would not take away their joy — only He would have them rest it, not on the things of sight or of sense, but on the things of faith. It would then

be a joy that would be abiding and permanent.

Take another illustration: Paul and Silas in the prison at Philippi. What is their condition as regards the things of sense? The most gloomy and miserable. They had been roughly handled, cruelly beaten, thrust into the inner prison, and their feet made fast in the stocks. And at midnight, at the darkest hour, what did they do? They prayed and sang praises.** Here, then, was not only earnest desire hut joy — iand a joy that sprang not from the things of sense but the things of faith.

The secret of this joy lies in living upon the facts revealed to faith — and not being so influenced by the things of sense as to be cast down when they are discouraging, and elated when they are bright and prosperous. None of these things move me,’* may be the true testimony of every child of God who really walks by faith. The things that do move him are those which are revealed

to his soul in the Scriptures by the Holy Spirit.

If our joy is the “joy of faith,’* it will be an even and abiding gladness of heart, because He who is the source and ground of it is “the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.”

HI. — The “Trial of Faith.”

There are various kinds of trial. There is the trial of the sincerity of our love (2 Cor. viii. 8), the trial of our work (i Cor. iii. 13), the trial of our hearts (i Thess. ii. 4); but all these are intimately connected with out faith. “I have prayed for thee,” said our Lord to Peter, “that thy faith fail not” (Luke xxii. 32). It was a trial of his sincerity, of his love, of his courage, but, more than all, of his faith, and especially after he had fallen. So the same Apostle writes (i Pet. i. 7): That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though 34 lie €f)ingfi of dfait*

it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ.”

But are all trials, trials of Our faith? In the history of God’s children, much of the suffering they have to pass through is the consequence of their own disobedience. Take, for instance, the greatest example of faith we have given us in the Word of God — the greatest human example — Abraham. We have, in his history, the most wonderful illustration of the trial of faith; but we have in that history also a very striking example of a child of God suffering on account of his own unfaithfulness. So that we must distinguish between those trials which are sent of God, to prove or test our faith, and those trials which are sent to chasten us for our sins.

We see Abraham, in the twenty-first chapter of Genesis, in deep sorrow. He was severely tried when the command came: Cast out the bond-woman and her son; for the son of this

bond-woman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.” That Abraham felt this trial we know, from the words, “And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight, because of his son.” But all this bitter suffering Abraham might have been spared, had he not previously stepped out of the path of implicit obedience and simple trust. He was here enduring the chastening which the sin recorded in chap. xvi. had brought upon him, in hearkening to the voice of Sarah, instead of waiting only upon God for the fulfiment of the promise. Are not many of our trials of this character?

But there are other trials which are sent, not as chastisements for our sins, but as tests of our faith, for its exercise, its manifestation, and its strengthening. To this class of suffering belongs that which was unquestionably the greatest and most severe of all Abraham’s trials. It comes to him towards the close of his life. God had fulfilled His promise, and had given him a son. All his hopes were

bound up in that son; for God had said: ‘’I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him “(chap. xvii. 19). He expected, therefore, that that son would grow up and become the father of many nations. And yet the Divine command comes to him: “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” Here was a trial which was emphatically a trial of faith. It was a test to prove whether he could still continue to believe the Word which Jehovah had spoken.

See the extreme difficulty of Abraham’s position. The Divine command seemed to be in direct conflict with the Divine promise. If he obeys the command, how could the promise be fulfilled? If he holds fast to the promise, how could the command be obeyed? Here, then, was the trial of his faith. He must obey, and believe. Do what God says.

and trust Him to fulfil what He had promised. As to how God would keep His promise, he had nothing to do. The trial lay in this — a temptation to doubt the possibility of the promise being fulfilled if the command were obeyed.

We see that the trial of faith implies a promise; the object of the trial being to prove the tenacity with which we cling to that promise, in spite of everything that tends to shake our confidence. It may be that some who read these pages are passing through this very trial; it may be they are being tenipted, in a very special way, to doubt the certainty of those precious promises which God has given us pertaining to godliness. As, for instance, that He is able to make all grace abound toward us (2 Cor. ix. 8); able to keep us from falling (Jude 24); able to save to the uttermost (Heb. vii. 25); that He will supply all our need (Phil. iv. 19); that He will keep him in peace whose mind is stayed on Him (Isa. xxvi. 3); that sin shall not have

dominion over us (Rom. vi. 14); that He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think (Eph. iii. 20).

How many a child of God continues weak and timid because, instead of being occupied with what God has promised, he is considering how it can be fulfilled. But, as we have seen, we have nothing to do with the how; it is enough that God has given us His Word. Whatever, therefore, may be the nature of the suffering or trial through which we have to pass, let us ever account that God is able to fulfil all His promises (Heb. xi. 19). Let nothing ever lead us to doubt the certainty of His Word, though we may be utterly at a loss to understand the manner in which He may see fit to accomplish it. We shall then be able to testify, with Joshua of old: Not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof.**