LIVING BY FAITH -
Continued…
We have heard many
people tell how hard they found it to do right. Their Christian life was most
unsatisfactory to them, being marked only by failure, and they were tempted to
give up in discouragement. No wonder they get discouraged. Continual failure is
enough to discourage anybody. The bravest soldier in the world would become
faint-hearted if he had been defeated in every battle. Sometimes these persons
will mournfully tell that they have about lost confident in themselves. Poor
souls. If they would only lose confidence in themselves entirely and would put
their whole trust in the One who is mighty to save, they would have a different
story to tell. They would then "joy in God through our Lord Jesus
Christ." Says the apostle, "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I
say, Rejoice." Phil. 4:4. The man who doesn't rejoice in God, even though
tempted and afflicted, is not fighting the good fight of faith. He is fighting
the poor fight of self-confidence and defeat.
All the promises of
final happiness are to the overcomer. "To him that overcometh," says
Jesus, "will I give to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame
and am set down with my Father in his throne." Rev. 3:21. "He that overcometh
shall inherit all things," says the Lord. Rev. 21:7. An overcomer is one
who gains victories. The inheriting is not the overcoming; that is only the
reward for overcoming. The overcoming is now. The victories to be gained are
victories over the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of
life, victories over self and selfish indulgences. The man who fights and sees
the foe give way may rejoice; nobody can keep him from rejoicing, for joy comes
spontaneously as the result of seeing the enemy give way. Some folks look with
dread upon the thought of having to wage a continual warfare with self and
worldly lusts. That is because they do not as yet know anything about the joy
of victory. They have experienced only defeat. But it isn't so doleful a thing
to battle constantly, when there is continual victory. The old veteran of a
hundred battles, who has been victorious in every fight longs to be at the
scene of conflict. Alexander's soldiers, who under his command never knew defeat,
were always impatient to be led into the fray. Each victory increased their
strength, which was born only of courage, and correspondingly diminished that
of the vanquished foe. Now how may we gain continual victories in our spiritual
warfare?
Listen to the
beloved disciple:
I am crucified with
Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life
which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me, and gave himself for me. Gal. 2:10.
Here is the secret
of strength. It is Christ, the Son of God, the One to whom all power in heaven
and earth is given, Who does the work. If He lives in the heart to do the work,
is it boasting to say that continual victories may be gained? Yes, it is boast;
but it is boasting in the Lord, and that is allowable. Says the psalmist,
"My soul shall make her boast in the Lord" and Paul says, "God
forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world." Gal. 6:14.
The soldiers of Alexander were reckoned
invincible. Why? Was it because they were naturally stronger and more
courageous than all their enemies? No, but because they were led by Alexander.
Their strength was in his leadership. Under another leader they would often
have been defeated. When the Union army was fleeing panic- stricken before the
enemy at Winchester, the presence of Sheridan turned their defeat into victory.
Without him the men were a quaking mob. With him at their head they were an
invincible army. If you had listened to the remarks after the battle of the
soldiers who served under those and similar leaders, you would have heard the
praises of their general mingled with all their rejoicing. They were strong
because he was; they were inspired by the same spirit that he had.
Well, our Captain is
the Lord of hosts. He has met the chiefest foe of all and has vanquished him
single-handed. Those who follow Him invariably go forth conquering and to
conquer. Oh, that those who profess to be His followers would put their trust
in Him and then, by the repeated victories that they would gain, they would
show forth the praises of Him who has called them out of darkness into His
marvelous light.
John says that he
that is born of God overcomes the world, through faith. Faith lays hold of the
arm of God and His mighty power does the work. How the power of God can work in
a man, accomplishing that which he could not possibly do for himself, no one can
tell. It would be as easy to tell how God can give life to the dead. Says
Jesus, "The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound
thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth; so is
everyone that is born of the Spirit." John 3:8. How the Spirit works in a
man to subdue his passions and to make him victorious over pride, envy, and
selfishness is known only to the Spirit. It is sufficient for us to know that
it is done and will be done in everyone who wants that work wrought in him,
above all things else, and who trusts God for the performance of it.
We cannot tell how
Peter was enabled to walk on the water when the waves were rolling about him,
but we know that at the command of the Lord he did it. So long as he kept his
eye fixed on the Master, divine power enabled him to walk as easily as though it
were solid rock underneath, but when he looked at the waves, possibly with a
feeling of pride in what he was doing, as though he himself was doing it, fear
very naturally took possession of him, and he began to sink. Faith enabled him
to walk on the waves; fear made him sink beneath them.
Says the apostle,
"By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were compassed about
seven days." Heb. 11:30. Why was that written? For our learning,
"that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have
hope." Rom. 15:4. Why, is there any prospect that we shall ever be called
upon to fight armed hosts and to take fortified cities? No, "for we
wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places." Eph. 6:12. But the victories which have been
gained by faith in God over visible foes in the flesh are placed on record to
show us what faith will accomplish in our conflict with the rulers of the
darkness of this world. The grace of God, in answer to faith, is as powerful in
these battles as in those, for says the apostle:
For though we walk
in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are
not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting
down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge
of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. 2
Cor. 10:3-5
It was not physical
foes alone that faith enabled the ancient worthies to conquer. We read of them
that they not only "subdued kingdoms," but "wrought
righteousness, obtained promises," and, most wonderful and most
encouraging of all, "out of weakness were made strong." Heb. 11:33,
34. Their very weakness became strength to them through faith, because the
strength of Christ is made perfect in weakness. Who, then, shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? since it is God that justifieth, and we are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. "Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" "Nay, in all these things
we are more than conquerors through him that loved us." Rom. 8:35, 37.
Lessons on Faith –
A.T. Jones & E.J. Waggoner
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