Faith

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 24, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 21.

Faith.—Says the apostle, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Faith is based on the Word of God. That is not faith which is based on opinion, or error, or the belief of the church, or the councils of the "fathers." Belief in all these various things does not connect a man with God vitally. Faith is such confidence in God's Word that it establishes a living relationship between the soul and God. It is not only believing that God is, but that "He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." This establishes personal relationship; for men do not diligently seek God in companies unless they do it as individuals. Faith is individual confidence that God will do just what He says; that His Word will perform all that it commands or implies. It receives that Word as a living thing, in which dwells Christ, the wisdom of God and the power of God; and the power of God in that living Word creates, recreates, molds, changes, transforms, and fashions men after the Divine Image.

Waning Faith.—But this faith, the very faith which Jesus had, is waning among the professed followers of Christ. Too often the shepherds of the flock, instead of preaching the Word as the living Gospel of Jesus Christ, sit in judgment upon it, criticize its manner, its style, its teaching, repudiate its miracles, and condemn its science of salvation. Professing to believe in Jesus Christ, they proceed to undermine the very foundation on which Christ builded. The story of creation is a myth. The world is of evolution, not of creation. By parity of reasoning, man is of evolution not of creation. And, reasoning a step further, "the new man" is a product of evolution, instead of regeneration, re-creation, by the mighty power of the Word of God received by faith. Surely such men should not look for Bible conversions. They can not expect them. Yet if evolution be true, the Word of God is of none effect, and all the great reformations of God were deceptions.

Needed Faith.—God's Word is still effectual. Infinite power is still within it. Faith may still unlock its dynamic resources. The old patriarchs did not believe in vain. The prophets of God spoke not lying visions or false messages. The mission of Jesus Christ, founded in the Word of God, is not a myth. The apostles were not deceived. God's reformations in various ages were not lies. This faith is needed to-day. Noah had, so far as we know, no written word, but he believed and preached God's message, and by it "condemned the world," and through it God saved him and his house. Elijah could believe God, tho he thought he stood alone.

The Word sustained him, and translated him. Nehemiah and Ezra preached the Word, and tho from temporary pulpits of wood, it was mighty in God in restoring Jerusalem and the temple, and in effecting a transformation among the people. They might have reasoned, The great mountain of difficulties in our path will sometime wear away, and then we will build. But God's message was the message of now, and receiving that message, bearing that message, living in that message, working out that message, the great mountain before the servant of God became a plain. The reformation wrought through John the Baptizer, through Jesus and His apostles, was based on the Scriptures as the Word of God. There was no questioning or grumbling. Has God said it?—That is sufficient. Martin Luther and his coworkers, John Wesley and his associates, preached God's Word. God wrought through them all, and souls were regenerated and saved. O, for more of the faith of Jesus and His reformers to-day!