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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 12, 1877

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 49, No. 15.

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FAITH

By A. S. Hutchins

BY ELD. A. S. HUTCHINS.
TEXT: “Have faith in God.” Mark 11:12.
Faith is the foundation of the Christian religion. Without faith it is impossible to please God. “For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Heb. 11:6. Faith is also the stepping-stone to all Christian graces. Peter, after speaking of the “exceeding great and precious promises” given unto us, that we “might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust,” says: “And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.” 2 Pet. 1:5–7. Faith also enters into every branch of the religion of the Bible. There is no point in the experience of the child of God where its influence and power are not needed, till faith is lost in sight, till the glories of the soon-coming kingdom burst upon the vision of the redeemed host. “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” Faith in God credits the divine record: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” It bows to him as the Author of life with all its privileges and blessings. It leads us to recognize him as the supreme Ruler of the universe, to render cheerful obedience to his voice, and to obey his law, which is holy and just and good.
It prompts us to accept with gratitude the plan of salvation, so graciously provided for the redemption of man, through the atoning blood of his dear Son. It leads us to behold him as “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world;” and as penitents to fall at his feet, as the only source of pardon, of light, life, and immortality. “For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12. By faith we are cleansed from the defilement of sin, and pardoned from its guilt, and brought to the enjoyment of justification and peace through our Lord and Saviour. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Rom. 5:1, 2.
Through faith the child of God commences his journey to Mt. Zion; by faith he proceeds in the narrow way, fighting the good fight, gaining victory after victory, going on from strength to strength, till the warfare is over, till the race is run. Relative to the promises of God, and the future glories and blessings to crown the victors, faith is the ground, or confidence, of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith never stops to reason. It takes God at his word, and makes all his promises real without a possibility of a failure. “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him amen, unto the glory of God by us.” 2 Cor. 1:20. The Scriptures abound with evidences of the strength and efficacy of faith. They also set forth the weakness and instability of unbelief. Unbelieving and faithless Israel brought upon themselves distresses and miseries, punishments and captivities, with a loss of the favor of the Most High, who had wrought for them such signal victories, and crowned them with manifold blessings. The judgments of God fell upon them, and many were overtaken by speedy destruction.
Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and a long list of other worthies, are mentioned by Paul as men of faith. The victories which they gained through faith, the blessings they secured, and the work accomplished by them, are also on record. As we read of the triumphs of faith, who would not be found of those who have faith in God? Who would not overcome, and in the glorious coronation of the saints of God receive “a crown of glory that fadeth not away?”
We may here mark the distinction between faith and presumption. One writer says of the latter, “As it relates to religion in general, it is a bold and daring confidence in the goodness of God, without obedience to his will.” Mr. Webster defines faith thus: “Evangelical, justifying, or saving faith, is the assent of the mind to the truth of divine revelation, on the authority of God’s testimony, accompanied with a cordial assent of the will or approbation of the heart; an entire confidence or trust in God’s character and declarations, and in the character and doctrines of Christ, with an unreserved surrender of the will to his guidance, and dependence on his merits for salvation.”
A steady faith in God and his promises led Israel through the channel of the Red Sea in safety, while the presumptuous Egyptians in attempting to follow them without any faith in the Most High, or any promise of protection from him, went into the embrace of death. Consistent faith in God and in his requirements and declarations ever leads one to act in the highest degree harmoniously with his divine will. Faith is strengthened and increased by good works, or, in the language of James, “faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.” In Luke 17, we have on record a case where the disciples prayed unto the Lord for an increase of faith. The Saviour introduces the familiar illustration of the master and his faithful servant, manifestly teaching, if we would have our faith increased, that we should do as did this servant. He is represented as denying himself in proof of his fidelity to his master, whose interest lay first and deepest in the heart of the servant. The moral lesson taught for Christians is, that personal interests and conveniences are not to be heard and served before the interests of the cause of our heavenly Master. There is no principle more plainly taught in the word of God than this.
“And seek ye not what ye shall eat and what ye shall drink, neither be ye of a doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after; and your Father knoweth ye have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Luke 12:29, 30. We have fallen upon perilous times. Professed Christians talk much of faith and of the great joy they experience that they are to reach Heaven by their faith. Self-denial, cross-bearing, and the suffering part of religion, are kept out of sight. The way from earth to Heaven is pictured as being so pleasant and flowery that one might almost imagine the passage there to be not unlike being seated in a palace car, on a through train, with a free ticket to Mt. Zion. As we look at the picture one would almost conclude the apostle beside himself when he wrote of his experience at Macedonia: “Our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.”
“How changed, alas! are truths divine For error, guilt, and shame! What impious numbers bold in sin Disgrace the Christian name!”
Talk to many at the present time of unpopular truths, of persecutions, and of suffering with Christ, and they know nothing of it. They wilt under such a gospel as the up-rooted plant wilts under the rays of the burning sun; or they will lift their heads in triumph, and tell you they know from their feelings that they are accepted of God, and that they shall be saved if they believe in Christ. Talk to them of the perpetuity of the law of God, show them from the Bible their obligation to hallow the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and you may meet the inquiry, “Do you think the Lord requires me to keep the seventh-day Sabbath after enjoying sanctification for years, while observing the first-day as the Sabbath?”
We marvel at the blindness of nominal professors in view of these things, and many others, not pleasant nor best to mention. But what of professed Sabbath-keepers, claiming to believe in the near coming of the Lord, who know as little of the present work of the third angel, and feel and manifest as little interest in the advancement of present truth as such do? What about those who have been numbered with Sabbath-keepers for years, and yet their interest has never been enlisted on the subject of systematic benevolence, nor have they felt any interest in Tract and Missionary work? What of those who have no experience in giving of their means to help send out the truth, or spread it among the nations of the world? When the divine mandate goes forth, “Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice,” will the faith of such men save them in that day? To them a good meeting is soon draped in mourning if you talk on these points. Lay down the great principles of sacrificing, of giving freely of their means to advance the interests of the cause in its various branches, and they will begin like ancient Israel to murmur and complain. Now have such persons faith in God? To my mind the strongest evidence of faith in God and in his work is to be ready to do present duty, and to do it cheerfully, at whatever sacrifice it may be. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” How shall we manifest the mind which was in Christ Jesus? Shall it be by faith alone? The sacrifices, the sufferings, and humiliation of the Redeemer of the world, are written upon the pages of inspiration. There too we read of his acts of love, of his labors amidst hunger, want, privations, and reproaches. “My meat,” said he, “is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish his work.” We follow him in his mission of love till upon the cross he bows his head in the agonies of death, and cries, “It is finished.”
I appeal to you, my dear brethren, how shall we carry the evidence to the world that we have a living connection with the head of the church, that with him we do suffer, if we shun responsibilities, sacrifices, sufferings, and self-denial every time we possibly can? Says Jesus: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.” Luke 9:23, 24.
A multitude will be deceived in the Judgment of the great day. Jesus bears witness: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven.” To the young man, Jesus says, “If thou wilt enter into life keep the commandments.” And again, in speaking of the Father’s commandments, he testifies, “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” Rev. 22:14. By our works, and not by our faith, we shall be judged. Faith, which lies at the very foundation of the Christian religion as an indispensable handmaid to good works, accompanies these, and prompts to them, till our work is done. But in the Judgment, as the record of our lives opens before us, we shall be judged according to that we have done, “whether it be good or bad.” Eternal life is suspended upon the course that men take in this brief life. The mass of rich men will be deceived by their riches. The blinding and stupefying influences of sin, too, will conduct thousands of the poor to swift destruction.
Says Paul, “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.” 1 Tim. 6:17–19. “Have faith in God.” Professed commandment-keepers may talk of their faith as do popular religionists, while they neglect to do the very things which present truth enjoins; but they will find this as the leaves of the barren fig tree—“Ye shall know them by their fruits.” “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
The true church in its last work will so relate herself to the Lord of hosts, and to his cause, in her work of faith and in her labor of love and in the patience of her hope, that in the highest degree the following words will to her be appropriate: “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” The faith of the remnant church will reach from shore to shore; the most convincing evidence of which will be accompanying works, as she fights the good fight of faith, and lays hold on eternal life.