Lessons on Faith: Part 9 of 14: Complete Dependence on the Word of God Only 2

By A. T. Jones

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Faith is complete dependence upon the word of God only, for the accomplishment of what that word says. 

This being so, it must never for a moment be forgotten that where there is no word of God, there can not be any faith. 

This is shown also in the truth that "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Rom. 10:17. Since faith thus comes indeed by the very word of God itself, it is perfectly plain that where there is no word of God, there can be no faith.

This is beautifully illustrated by an instance in the life of David: because David had it in his heart to build a house unto the Lord, the Lord spoke to him by the prophet Nathan, saying, "The Lord telleth thee that he will make thee an house. . . . And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee: thy throne shalt be established forever,"

Then David prayed and said, "Now, 0 Lord God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, establish it forever, and do as thou hast said. And let thy name be magnified forever, saying, The Lord of hosts is the God over Israel: and let the house of thy servant David be established before thee.

"For thou, 0 Lord of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house: therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee.

"And now, 0 Lord God, thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised this goodness unto thy servant: therefore now let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue forever before thee: for thou, 0 Lord God, hast spoken it: and with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed forever." 2 Sam. 7:11-29.

His prayer was altogether of faith, because it was altogether of the word of God: the word of God was the cause of it; the word of God was the basis of it; and the word of God was all the hope of David that the prayer would ever be answered.

He asked according to the will of God, because the will of God was expressed in the word of God. Having asked according to the plainly stated will of God, David knew that his prayer was heard. And knowing that his prayer was heard, David knew that he had the petition which he desired of him. I John 5:14. Therefore he said, So let it be. And therefore also the answer to that prayer was, and is, and forevermore shall be, sure unto David.

And this was written for our learning; that we might know how to pray in faith, and how in prayer to cultivate faith. Therefore, Go and do thou likewise. Because "the knowledge of what the Scripture means when urging upon us the necessity of cultivating faith is more essential than any other knowledge that can be acquired."

RH Feb. 21, 1899 

By A. T. Jones in the Review and Herald periodical in 1899.

Blog Edited by John Foll.

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Lessons on Faith: Part 5 of 14: The Faith of Abraham 1

By A. T. Jones

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"The knowledge of what the Scripture means when urging upon us the necessity of cultivating faith is more important than any other knowledge that can be obtained." 

Faith is the expecting the word of God to do the thing which that word speaks and the depending upon the word only to accomplish the thing which that word speaks. 

Abraham is the father of all them which be of faith. The record of Abraham, then, gives instruction in faith -- what it is and what it does for him who has it. 

What shall we say, then, that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the faith, has found? What saith the Scripture? 

When Abram was more than eighty years old and Sarai his wife was old and he had no child, God "brought him forth abroad and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be." 

And Abram "believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness." Gen. 15:5,6. Abram accepted the word of God and expected by the word what the word said. And in that he was right.  

Sarai, however, did not put her expectation upon the word of God only. She resorted to a device of her own to bring forth seed. She said to him, "The Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her." Gen. 16:2. 

Abram, for the moment, swerved from the perfect integrity of faith. Instead of holding fast his expectation and dependence upon the word of God only, he "harkened to the voice of Sarai." 

Accordingly, a child was born, but the whole matter proved to be so unsatisfactory to Sarai that she repudiated her own arrangement. And God showed His repudiation of it by totally ignoring the fact that any child had been born. He changed Abram's name to Abraham and continued to talk about making him the father of nations through the seed promised and of making his covenant with Abraham and the seed that was promised. He also changed Sarai's name to Sarah, because she should "be a mother of nations" through the promised seed. 

Abraham noticed this total ignoring of the child that had been born and called the Lord's attention to it, saying, "O, that Ishmael might live before thee!"

But "God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed, and thou shalt call his name Isaac, and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant and with his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year." Gen. 17:15-21. 

By all this both Abram and Sarai were taught that, in carrying out the promise, the fulfilling of the word of God,  nothing would answer but dependence upon that word only. Sarai learned that her device brought only trouble and perplexity and delayed the fulfillment of the promise. Abram learned that in harkening to the voice of Sarai, he had missed the word of God, and that now he must abandon that whole scheme and turn again to the word of God only. 

But now Abraham was ninety-nine years old and Sarah was eighty-nine. And, if anything, this seemed to put farther off than ever the fulfillment of the word and called for a deeper dependence upon the word of God -- a greater faith than before. 

It was perfectly plain that now there was no possibility of dependence upon anything whatever, but the naked word only; they were shut up absolutely to this for the accomplishment of what the word said. All works, devices, plans, and efforts of their own were excluded, and they were shut up to faith alone -- shut up to the word alone and to absolute dependence upon that word only for the accomplishment of what that word said. 

And now that the way was clear for "the word only" to work, that word did work, effectually, and the promised "seed" was born. And so "through faith," through helpless, total dependence upon the word only -- "Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised." 

And "therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable." Heb. 11:12. 

And thus was fulfilled the word spoken to Abram, when God "brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them . . . . So shall thy seed be."

This is a divine lesson in faith. And this is what the Scripture means when urging upon us the necessity of cultivating faith. For this was imputed to Abraham for righteousness, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith. 

Yet "it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him, but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed,  if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification." Rom. 4:23-25. 

And all "they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham." All they who, excluding -- yea, repudiating -- all works, plans, devices, and efforts, of their own, depend in utter helplessness upon the word of God only to accomplish what that word says -- these are they which be of faith and are blessed with faithful Abraham with the righteousness of God. 

O, "understanding how to exercise faith: this is the science of the gospel"! And the science of the gospel is the science of sciences. Who would not strain every nerve to understand it? 

 

RH Jan. 24, 1899    

By A. T. Jones in the Review and Herald periodical in 1899.

Blog Edited by John Foll.

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Lessons on Faith: Part 4 of 14: Depend on the word of God to do what it says

By A. T. Jones

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Faith is the depending upon the word of God only, and expecting that word only to do what the word says.

Justification by faith, then, is justification by depending upon the word of God only and expecting that word only to accomplish it. 

Justification by faith is righteousness by faith, for justification is the being declared righteous. 

Faith comes by the word of God. Justification by faith, then, is justification that comes by the word of God.  Righteousness by faith is righteousness that comes by the word of God. 

The word of God is self-fulfilling, for in creating all things, "he spake and it was." And when He was on earth, He stilled the raging sea, cleansed the lepers, healed the sick, raised the dead, and forgave sins, all by His word: there, too, "he spake, and it was." 

Now the same One who, in creating, "spake, and it was", the same One who said, "Let there be light, and there was light," the same One who on earth spoke "the word only," and the sick were healed, the lepers were cleansed, and the dead lived -- this same One speaks the righteousness of God unto and upon all that believe. 

For though all have sinned and come short of the righteousness of God, yet we are "justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth . . . to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God." 

In creating all things in the beginning, God set forth Christ to declare the word which should cause all things to exist. Christ did speak the word only, and all things were. And in redemption, which is creation over again, God set forth Christ to declare the word of righteousness. And when Christ speaks the word only, it is so. His word, whether in creating or in redeeming, is the same. 

"The worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." Once there were no worlds, nor was there any of the material which now composes the worlds. God set forth Christ to declare the word which should produce the worlds, and the very material of which they should be composed. 

"He spake, and it was." Before He spoke, there were no worlds; after He spoke, the worlds were there. Thus the word of God spoken by Jesus Christ is able to cause that to exist which has no existence before the word is spoken, and which, except for that word, never could have existence.

 

In this same way precisely it is in man's life. In man's life there is no righteousness. In man there is no righteousness from which righteousness can appear in his life. But God has set forth Christ to declare righteousness unto and upon man. Christ has spoken the word only, and in the darkened void of man's life there is righteousness to everyone who will receive it. Where, before the word is received, there was neither righteousness nor anything which could possibly produce righteousness, after the word is received, there is perfect righteousness and the very Fountain from which it springs. The word of God received by faith -- that is, the word of God expected to do what that word says and depended upon to do what it says -- produces righteousness in the man and in the life where there never was any before; precisely as, in the original creation,  the word of God produced worlds where there never were any worlds before. He has spoken, and it is so to everyone that believeth: that is, to every one that receiveth. The word itself produces it. 

"Therefore being justified (made righteous) by faith (by expecting and depending upon the word of God only) we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Rom. 5:1. That is so, bless the Lord! And feeding upon this blessed thing is cultivating faith. 

RH Jan. 17, 1899

By A. T. Jones in the Review and Herald periodical in 1899.

Blog Edited by John Foll.

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