The Faith of Jesus

“Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” Revelation 14:12.

In our study at this time we will reverse the order, and say, Here are they that keep the faith of Jesus and the commandments of God. Here is the patience of the saints. The first experience necessary in order to keep a thing is to get it. So before we can keep the faith of Jesus we must get it. Faith is the gift of God, and no one need say that he cannot have it. “For I say through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” Romans 12:3. No one need say that he cannot have faith; for God has given it to him. God gives faith, and our part is to exercise that faith, and just as in the physical frame exercise causes growth, so exercising what faith we have will cause it to grow.

You will observe that this is a closing message; for the next thing John saw was one “like unto the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle.” What is seen just before the Saviour is revealed?—Those that keep the commandments of God. The commandments and teaching of men have come in to take the place of the commandments of God; but here is to be a people on the earth just before Christ comes, who will keep the commandments of God, and who will not be carried away by the traditions and teaching of men.

WHAT IS THE FAITH OF JESUS?

These people are also to have the faith of Jesus. In this time there is a great deal said about faith, but the subject is not worn out yet. This is to be the faith of Jesus, in contrast with the faith of the devil. Here are they that keep the commandments of God rather than the commandments of men, and have the faith of Jesus rather than the faith of the devil. What is the devil’s faith? It is spoken of in James 2:19: “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well; the devils also believe and tremble.” When Jesus was here in the flesh, the devils said to Him, “I know Thee who Thou art; the Holy One of God.” The devil believes that God exists; he knows it is so, and he trembles at it; but he has not the faith of Jesus. He has the faith that assents to the truth of a certain fact. We may believe that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God; we may believe that the blood of Jesus Christ is able to cleanse from all sin; we may believe that every statement made in the Bible is true; and yet not have the faith of Jesus. We may believe in the creed of the church, which says, “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in His only Son, Jesus Christ our Lord;” we may confess to all that, and believe it as a fact, and yet not have the faith of Jesus.

What is the faith of Jesus as contrasted with the faith of the devil? Let us find out from the word. When Jesus came to the tomb of Lazarus, and said to him that was dead, “Lazarus, come forth,” He knew that He was speaking the word of God. He was sure of that; for He spoke the words of God continually. “The word which ye hear,” He said, “is not Mine, but the Father’s which sent Me.” John 14:24. He knew that the word of God had power to accomplish that which He had spoken, and that Lazarus would come forth. That is, the faith of Jesus is that faith which believes that God’s word will do what it says. It simply lets God’s word be true.

But the word of God is true whether we believe it or not. John says, “Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in Him and in you.” 1 John 2:8. The purpose of the word of God is that it shall be true in us. The word was true in Jesus Christ, and He was the true representative of the word. What the word said, He was. And if the word of God is true in us, it will make us like Christ. We have faith in the word of God when we believe that it is a living word, and that it has power to transform our characters, and to work in us that of which it speaks.

FAITH IN THE WORD

This is the kind of faith that Jesus commended. We read in Matthew’s Gospel that “when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto Him a centurion, beseeching Him, and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldest come under my roof; but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under [not having] authority, having soldiers under me; and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, He marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” Matthew 8:5-10. Here is the centurion, a commander of one hundred men in the Roman army. He says to Jesus, Speak the word; that is all you need to do.

We will say that the Roman authority is Caesar, that the centurion’s name is Julius, and the soldier’s, Alexander. Julius the man says to Alexander the man, “Go;” but Alexander the man says, “What right have you to command me to go? I shall go when I get ready.” That is Julius the man talking to Alexander the man apart from any authority. But Julius the centurion says to Alexander the soldier “Go,” and the soldier goes at once, because Julius is speaking as a representative of Caesar, and really, it is Caesar speaking. You see, then, the difference between the man talking to the man, and the centurion talking to the soldier. The soldier goes, because all the power of the Roman Empire is behind the word spoken by the centurion.

And the centurion said to Christ, I see that you, Jesus of Nazareth, are here, and that you are under authority, representing God. When you speak, it is not Jesus the son of Joseph speaking, but the Son of God; and I know that the word you speak is the word of God, and that it has power in it. This is the kind of faith that Christ commends. The centurion had confidence that Christ was not simply the son of the carpenter, but the Son of the living God, and he believed that the whole authority of God was in the word spoken through Him.

“Faith cometh by hearing,” and it is no use for us to talk about faith apart from the word of God. The fact that we desire something with all our heart, is not the least evidence that it will be done. Faith is confidence in God’s word, dependence upon God’s word, letting God’s word be true. Faith is seeing Christ in His word as the power of the living God, and believing with all the heart that He will do what He says. Faith is not sentimentalism, not merely a belief that something is true; it includes submitting and yielding wholly to the word of God. See to it whether you have the faith of Jesus or the faith of the devil. He believes that the Bible is true, and believes it more fully than many who make a high profession! He knows the Bible is wholly true. He knows it is true but he does not allow it to be true in him. He is a lie; his whole life is a lie; he is a falsehood from the first to the last; and so is everyone whose character is like his, and whose faith goes no further than his. Our very characters are a lie if they are not in harmony with the word of God.

Before a person is converted, he has the choice of saying, “I am true; I am righteous,” and thus making God a liar, or of saying, “God only is true,” thus making himself a liar. The Scripture says, “Let God be true; but every man a liar.” Romans 3:4. Every unconverted person must make his choice between calling God a liar, or admitting that he is one.Sin is being false, and that is what makes the devil wholly false, because he is a sinner from the beginning; he is a liar, and the father of lies. God says, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” We must let Him be true and say, “I have sinned.” But when we come to that experience in that way, there is something more to be said. When Nathan came to David to reprove him for his sin and said to him, “Thou art the man,” David answered, “I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.” 2 Samuel 12:13. Let God’s word be true. When the Lord says, “You have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” answer, “I have sinned.” When we make that confession, He says to us again, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” To this we must say, “It is so, and let God’s word be true in us.” And so we will keep saying, “Amen,” not in word simply, but in our lives. That is faith, living, divine faith.

FAITH IN THE WORD BRINGS A REFORMATION

This faith brought the reformation of the sixteenth century, and it is the faith that is to work the reformation of the nineteenth century. In Luther’s time the church had covered up God’s word, and was giving the people its own teaching, just as it is doing to a large extent now. It was Luther’s work to bring the word to the people and let them feed upon it. The word of God is seen constantly in Luther’s writing. Faith in God’s word, that faith that believes God’s word regardless of any outward circumstances whatever, brought the Reformation. Our test will come on the same point. The word tells us that miracles will be wrought to sustain falsehood. The people who depend upon outward circumstances for evidence of their acceptance with God, are the very ones who are preparing themselves to be taken captive by the devil at his will. He can bring outward signs. The word says that he will make fire come down from heaven in the sight of men.

When the earth is removed, what shall we stand on? The word of God will be the only sure foundation, but if we do not learn how to stand steadfastly on that word, we will not be prepared to risk it in that day, and we will be of those that come before the Lord in fear. We need to become accustomed to living in the presence of God, to seeing Him who is invisible, and then, when He becomes visible, it will not frighten us in the least. This is the faith of Jesus,—the faith that believes that God’s word is true, that lets God’s word work in its power in us, and that submits entirely to that working. No man can have faith in Jesus who is not willing to give up all for Him. He gave us everything, and He takes everything.

Making an acrostic of “faith” may help to impress these thoughts on our minds.

F-Forsaking.

A-All.

I-I.

T-Take.

H-Him.

The faith of Jesus means, Forsaking all, I take Him, and let Him be true in me. Being a saint is simply being a true man; being a sinner is simply being a liar. Christ is the faithful and true witness; Christ is the true vine; everything about Christ is true. To be like Christ is to be true; to be different from Christ is to be false.KEEPING THE COMMANDMENTS

Now let us turn to the other thought. “Here are they that keep the commandments of God.” But it is just as true with the commandments, that we must get them before we can keep them, as it is with the faith. How do we get the commandments?—In the same way that we get the faith,—God must give them to us. “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord: I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people.” Hebrews 8:10. He must give us the commandments before we can keep them, and He must give them to us in His own way, by writing them in our hearts. “Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in the fleshy tables of the heart.” 2 Corinthians 3:3. The commandments were first written with the finger of God on the tables of stone, thus foreshadowing the work of writing them on the heart by the Spirit of God. Compare two scriptures: “But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.” “But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.” Matthew 12:28; Luke 11:20. One says the “finger of God,” the other the “Spirit of God.” God wrote with His own finger on the tables of stone, and He says He will write His commandments in our hearts, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God.This was foretold when He wrote them on stone. Moreover, as He wrote them on stone, He writes them now,—with His Spirit; and His writing in our hearts is to be just as eternal as His writing on stone. He that doeth the word of God abideth forever. He that keepeth My sayings shall never die.

The word of God is the very life of God, and this word being in our hearts keeps us through eternity. The word of God, written with the Spirit of God on the tables of the heart, will never change. It is His character. But God never puts anything into our hearts, and He never allows the devil to put anything into our hearts to stay there, unless we consent to it. God will never write His law in our hearts unless we consent. We will suppose now that God is going on with His work of writing His law in our hearts, and He writes, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me,” and you say, “I submit to that.” He writes again, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth; thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments;” and you say, “That is all right.” He writes the third commandment, and again you say, “I submit.” Then He begins to write the fourth, but you start and say, “O, no; do not write that; I cannot let that come in.” What happens?—He writes no more; and by your refusal to let Him write the fourth commandment, you rub out what He has written, and the law of God goes out of your heart. He does not write one portion of His law in our hearts contrary to our consent. We are to study the law in Jesus Christ, who kept His Father’s commandments, and then we are to submit to it, that the very life that was manifested in Jesus Christ shall be manifested in us. It is more a question of our submitting, and letting that life manifest itself, than of our manifesting it.

Christ the Living Law.

Writing the law in the heart is simply having Christ dwell in us. Christ was the living law, the law in life. Christ’s Spirit is the Spirit of that divine-human life that lived in obedience to God’s commandments. That is the Spirit He puts upon us, His other self dwelling in us. The law of God is ministered by the Spirit of God. When that comes into the heart, it is Christ Himself; it is “Christ in you the hope of glory.” And when Christ comes into our hearts, He is the living law, the law of God worked out in character. Christ dwelling in our hearts, means bringing the character of God into our lives. Keeping the commandments of God is manifesting the character of Jesus Christ.
Now a word as to obeying the commandments of God. Keeping the commandments of God is obeying the commandments, but there is an infinite amount of attempting to obey the commandments that is not keeping them. But righteousness does not come by the law. Some people hang the law upon the wall, read it over, and then try to do what it says. They have a terribly hard time, and then do not do it. Why?—because they put it up there. That is not where God puts it. He says He will put it in your heart, and you are to keep it there. “Out of the heart are the issues of life.” Do you suppose that out of a heart where the law of God is written, can come murders? God has told us what is in the natural heart. He say, “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.” Mark 7:21,22. That is what God sees in the natural heart, but does man see all that? “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.” Man says, I am no murderer; I am a very moral man. I go to church regularly, nothing of the kind is in my heart. But those very things are there. Unless Christ is there and has cast them out, they have come in and defiled the temple of the soul.
But when Christ, who is the living law comes in, the law is written on the tables of the heart. And when Christ comes in, all the evils of the natural heart are cast out by His holy presence. When we submit to Him, He writes His law in our hearts and lives. Religion cannot be communicated as a theory. Religion is life. When Christ writes His law in our hearts, it is by writing it in our lives, and when this is done, murder and deceit are cast out! That is writing the law in the heart; that is putting the very life of Christ as our life, so that our life manifests His life.
It is a terrible mistake to think that keeping the commandments of God means to take the law, look at it, and then make up our minds that we will do it. That means only failure and discouragement. It is when we see that Christ is the law of God which we are to receive, and when we receive Him, that the law is written in our hearts, and our lives are brought into harmony with that law. The law of the Lord is holy, just, and good. We cannot make our lives holy, but Christ can do it for us. Oh, that we might see in its true light the privilege of being in harmony with God’s law. It is the privilege of being like Christ, the privilege of leading a true life, the privilege of communing with God, who created all things through Jesus Christ. It is the great privilege of humanity to be in harmony with God’s law.

Object of Christ’s Life on Earth.

The whole work of Christ was to show the perfection of God’s law, and to make it possible for us to be in harmony with it. And when we have Christ’s life and teaching to show us what the law of God is, it is perfectly amazing that so many will allow the devil to cheat them out of the privilege of being in harmony with that law. To be like Christ, to be like God, to lead a true life, to be exalted, to be brought into communion with God,—this is indeed a privilege. There are those that say, but if I live in harmony with the law of God, I will lose my situation, and what will my family do? But there is nothing that can happen to those who are in harmony with the law of God, except what God permits. If He takes away one thing, it is to give a better thing in its place. It may not mean more money, but what of that? Does not God care for His own? “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matt. 6:33. That is what God says. Let God be true, and every man a liar. Faith makes God’s word true, and believes what He says, and sees nothing except the word of God.

God Cares for Those Who Are True to Him.

God is caring for His people in these times. There is abundant proof that those who observe the seventh day, even in these hard times, are better situated financially than the average people. God will care for everyone who is true to Him. He spread a table in the wilderness to show us that, if necessary, He can bring bread from heaven and water from the rock. Trust God to do it. The time is right upon us when we shall need to trust Jesus Christ and His word to keep us in food and clothing, to keep us temporally and spiritually, and those only will be safe who are hidden in Jesus Christ. That is literally coming to pass, and those who do not trust in Jesus Christ will perish. God is warning us, trying to win people away from the destruction that is to come. Submission to Him in all things is our only safety now. “Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”

The Law Kept in Christ.

Although we cannot keep the commandments till we get them, that does not mean that the precepts of the law will not be lived out in our lives. That is just what will be done. No man can do it of himself; but we are to receive the law of God in Jesus Christ and to obey the law of God in Jesus Christ. Then it is that God dwells with us, and the law is written in our hearts.
“Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” It is because they keep the faith of Jesus that they keep the commandments. “Thy word have I hid in mine heart,” said the psalmist, “that I might not sin against Thee.” And “sin is the transgression of the law.” Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega, the A to Z; and when we hide Him in the heart, we hide the Word of God in the heart; and what we keep as a living law turns about and keeps us.
“Behold, I come quickly; hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” We are living just before the second coming of Christ. Through the faith of Jesus Christ, let God’s word be true in our character. God wants us to keep His commandments because they are what will keep us. Christ said, “I know that His commandment is life everlasting,” and that is why He could say, “If a man keep My saying, He shall never see death.” John 12:50; 8:51. The work of Christ has changed into a sleep the death that came as the result of Adam’s transgression. “If a man keep My saying he shall never see death;” for he has within him the living Word. “He that doeth the word of God abideth forever.” He may fall asleep, but he will never see death. But those who do not keep God’s commandments will see death from which there is no wakening.

The Patience of the Saints.
“Here is the patience of the saints.” “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” Heb. 10:36. We have need of patience. “For yet a little while, and He that shall come, will come, and will not tarry.” Those that have been keeping His commandments and waiting for Him, have need of endurance, for there is yet a little while.
“The just shall live by faith.” There are three places in the New Testament where this scripture is used, and the emphasis used in each case is different. “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, the just shall live by faith” Rom. 1:17. There the emphasis is placed on being righteous.
“But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God it is evident; for, the just shall live by faith.” Gal. 3:11. There faith is emphasised.
, the just shall live by faith.” Gal. 3:11. There faith is emphasised. “Now the just shall live by faith; but if any man draw back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him.” Heb. 10:38. Here living is the leading thought. The keeping of the commandments has been going on, yet here is a time when Christ seems to delay. If we live by faith, we shall live through all the destruction about us. “A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.” “The just shall live by faith.” “Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.” That is the promise of God to us, but He also says, “Ye have need of patience.” “Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.” Job endured, although he could not see the reason for it. But in that trial of Job God was working out before the universe the fact that His love can keep a man when all temporal blessings are taken away.
In the 18th chapter of Luke we have the case of the widow and the unjust judge recorded as instruction for us, with reference to the delay of the coming of the Lord. This is the time above all others, just before the coming of the Lord, when we are not to faint. “And he spake a parable unto them, to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint; saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man. And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary [or opponent]. And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.” To get rid of her he would vindicate her of her opponent at law. “And shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.”

Distressing Times Ahead.

We are in the time of trouble foretold in God’s word. These distressing times we see about us are but the beginning of these things. “This know also, that in the last days perilous [or hard] times shall come.” 2 Tim. 3:1. Are we not seeing hard times, hard times financially and spiritually? And these times on which we have entered, though there may be times when they will brighten, will grow worse and worse. The slight revival financially in these colonies is not permanent. God has sent out His message to prepare a people for His coming, to gather out a people who will understand these things. Men’s hearts are already failing them for fear; they are saying, What do these things mean? “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” We shall see violence and murder. That is the devil’s work. We shall see in this world a situation such as the human mind has never conceived of; we shall see a situation that will strike terror into every heart that does not know Jesus Christ and the power of His salvation. We can see it coming.
In that day God’s people cry unto Him for deliverance; but He seems to put off the day of delivering them, because we shall have come to that time when the deliverance of God’s people means the death of their adversaries. The deliverance of God’s people from their foes can only be followed by the coming of the Lord Jesus and the destruction of their enemies. God is so slow to pour out His wrath upon those who have rejected Him, that He seems almost to have deserted His people. But God will “avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them.”
“But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified; for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by. Then said He unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. But before all these they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prison, being brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake.” Luke 21:9-12. Notice what they are brought up for. Because a man is hated, it does not follow that he is a Christian. He must be hated for “My name’s sake.” Because the world does not like a man, it does not follow that he is a Christian. It must dislike him for the same reason that it disliked Christ. Those that are Christians will be reviled because they are in harmony with Christ’s life and character. “And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it, therefore, in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for My name’s sake. But there shall not an hair of your head perish. In your patience possess ye your souls.” Verses 13-19. In your endurance acquire your lives. We are living just before the coming of the Lord. “For yet a little while, and He that shall come, will come, and will not tarry.” It is in our endurance that we acquire our lives. Before the coming of the Lord, there will be a people who will be fulfilling His will. Our place is to be one of them. Our place is to be one of those of whom the Lord can say, “Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”

November 2, 1895, Armadale Camp Meeting