Lord, we do want to turn our hearts together towards You. We thank You for Your great faithfulness: for speaking to us and for showering Your blessing upon us. For we confess, we are unworthy people; yet You have loved us, and You have chosen us to be Your people.
We are so thankful that we can gather this afternoon in Your very presence. We thank You that Your presence is our portion, and Your praise is what we long for. May we be conscious of You, and of You alone.
So we commit this time to You. Do glorify Your name. We ask in the precious name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.
After the two messages by Brother Joshua, I feel a bit uncomfortable up here. He shared on this matter of the spirit of humility, and we are all proud people. But thank the Lord, He is dealing with us. He is teaching us how to be humble, and He is very patient with us.
At least for myself, those who are standing here on this platform and ministering to you—some of you call us teachers—I do not think we are teachers. We are in the school of Christ. We are learning Christ together.
Maybe some of us are a little more advanced in the school of Christ, and that is all. But we are all learning Christ together. So, even though we are sharing here, we are all receiving together from the Lord.
Please do not fix your eyes on any person. Let us fix our eyes on the Lord Jesus. He alone has the words of life, and we must receive directly from Him.
During these last few months, while I was meditating before the Lord and struggling about what to share in these two afternoons, the tendency was to look into books written by other servants of the Lord and see what they had to say. And I read quite a bit.
But in the end, the Lord said to me, “You look to Me.” So, in the last few days before the conference, I dropped all those books and simply remained before the Book, to see what the Lord would say to me.
How easy it is for us to rely on other things instead of the Lord Himself.
Now, the theme for my two sessions this afternoon—I did not know exactly how to phrase it as a theme or title—is the faithfulness of God and the coming of His King.
The faithfulness of God in the coming of God’s King.
The book of Revelation ends with grace and amen. If it is grace, God has done all the work. And at the end of the book of Revelation, we simply say, “Amen,” to all that God has done.
So my theme for the afternoon is the faithfulness of God and the coming of His King.
Let us turn first to Luke 18, and take one phrase from the second half of verse 8:
Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?
This is a question posed by the Lord Jesus Himself: “When the Son of man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”
Let us also turn to 1 Peter 1:3–9:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who according to His great mercy begat us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
unto an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
who by the power of God are guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, ye have been put to grief in manifold trials,
that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold that perisheth though it is proved by fire, may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ:
Whom not having seen ye love; on Whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
In Luke 18, we read, “When the Son of man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” If you look through the New Testament, the Lord asked many questions during the course of His earthly life. This is one of them.
What is this faith for which the Son of Man is looking when He comes?
From the reading in Peter’s epistle, we believe that this is genuine faith: faith that has been tried, tested, and purified by fire; faith that is more precious than gold which perishes.
It is the end of faith, not the beginning of faith. The end of faith means the end intended by the Lord for His people: the salvation of our souls.
Anything pertaining to the unseen, the spiritual, and the heavenly requires faith as its foundation.
For in Hebrews we are told that faith is the assurance—the reality—of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen. We also read that without faith it is impossible to please God.
The faith for which the Son of Man is looking when He comes is long-enduring faith, triumphant faith, faith that will ultimately bring us to God’s intended end: the salvation of our souls.
It is to be gloriously saved—spirit, soul, and body. It is the full salvation of God, perfectly worked out and gloriously manifested in sinners like us, saved by grace.
Not only gloriously saved, but gloriously constituted and prepared as a bride adorned for her Husband. That is the end of our faith, not merely its initial beginning.
When we read Luke 18, we notice that the Lord places faith in such high regard. Faith is what He will be looking for when He comes. Therefore, we need to pay attention and take time to consider what this faith is that the Son of Man is seeking.
Faith is more important to Him than anything else. Without faith, we cannot please Him. He did not say that, when He comes, He will first ask how much we have done for Him, how many souls we have saved, how much money we have given to the Lord’s work, or what we have accomplished for Him.
When He comes, He looks for one thing, and that is faith.
Thank the Lord, He told us beforehand because He wants us to be a prepared people when He comes. He wants to find this faith in His people.
In the seven letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3, we find that the Lord was looking for Himself in His churches.
The Body and the Head are one. In those seven letters, if you read carefully, you will notice that in each letter the Lord was looking for Himself in that local church—something in His people corporately that corresponded to His very nature.
God is faithful. Faith and faithfulness are part of the very nature of God.
Is it possible that the Lord is waiting for the church to possess that genuine faith which has been tested, tried, and proved by fire—the faith more precious than gold that perishes? Is He waiting for faith in the church that corresponds to His very own nature?
Then the end will be consummated, and the marriage of the Lamb will take place.
Faith is what the Son of Man will be looking for. It is God’s glory to be believed in this unbelieving world. That is His glory.
When He is believed, His purposes can be accomplished. Faith is like a jewel to the Lord because it is something very precious to Him.
You will notice, I am sure, that the New Jerusalem is built with precious stones—tried stones, stones that have been tested and purified through fire.
Perhaps these stones, when they are all put together and formed into that new habitation in the Spirit for the Lord, will speak with one voice: “God’s faithfulness.”
It is His faithfulness that has done it. Therefore, all glory belongs to Him, our faithful God.
Faith is that precious jewel for which the Lord is looking. Faith and faithfulness are attributes of God, but unbelief and unfaithfulness are the traits of fallen man—our life and our nature.
The first thing we must realize is that this faith for which the Son of Man is looking cannot be manufactured by man. We have no faith in ourselves. We cannot manufacture it.
Therefore, the Lord Jesus is called the Author of faith and the Finisher of faith. Faith originates in God Himself. Without the Lord, there is no faith, because He is the Author of faith.
He is the beginning of faith, and He is the end of faith. He is the Beginner of salvation, and He is the Finisher of salvation. We are to live by faith, and daily we experience His saving grace.
This faith came when the Lord Jesus came into this world. When He came, He brought faith to us. When He came as the Son of Man and as the Son of God—when God became man—He brought faith into this world.
At the incarnation, faith was introduced into this world. God intervened in human history.
In Luke 18:8, it does not say, “When the Son of God comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” It says, “When the Son of Man comes.” This shows us that apart from the Son of Man, apart from the Lord Jesus, there is no real faith.
We do not know what it is to believe in God—not one of us does—especially God who is invisible and yet real. We are all blind. We are all spiritually dead to God. Scripture says, “There is none righteous, no, not one.”
But thank God, His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus, came to be a man. He took man’s place, and He lived a life of faith in God and for God. In His life on this earth, He displayed before us the faith for which God is looking.
He lived a life of total dependence upon God’s power, total faith, and total confidence in His God. His Father’s will was His will. Their hearts corresponded with one another; two hearts shared one heartbeat. They were one.
No wonder the Lord Jesus was the Man after God’s own heart.
But thank God, He did not come merely to demonstrate perfect faith before God so that we might look, see, and behold. He came with the purpose of imparting that faith into us.
That is why He came as the Son of Man: to give us faith, so that through Him we might come to God. The Lord is the only way for us to come back to the Father, and the way is the way of faith and grace.
Since the Lord Jesus is the Author and Finisher of faith, and since He was a Man of faith when He was here, He alone knows what faith is. Therefore, as the Son of Man, He is the only qualified Person to discern whether faith is present.
Let us look at two accounts in the Gospels where that faith was found. Brother Joshua used these accounts the other day to show the spirit of humility. I would like to use them to show the faith for which the Lord is looking.
In Luke 7, we have the story of the centurion whose servant was sick unto death. Let us read verse 9:
And when Jesus heard these things, He marvelled at him, and turned and said unto the multitude that followed Him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
When the Lord heard these things, He marvelled. Faith is something that makes the Lord marvel.
It is not how much we do for Him; it is how much trust we place in Him. We often think that, in order to please Him or cause Him to marvel, we must do many things for Him. But here He marvelled because He found faith.
He said to this centurion, “I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel.”
The other account is found in Matthew 15: the Canaanite woman.
Let us read Matthew 15:22:
And behold, a Canaanitish woman came out from those borders, and cried, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a demon.
The Lord seemed to discourage her. In verse 26, He said:
It is not meet to take the children’s bread and cast it to the dogs.
And she said:
Yea, Lord: for even the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.
Then the Lord answered and said to her:
O woman, great is thy faith: be it done unto thee even as thou wilt.
In these two occasions, the Lord used the word great. As we heard last time, the Lord does not use words carelessly. When He said their faith was great, it was great faith according to God’s estimation—not human estimation, but the Lord’s estimation.
God is great. The Lord is great and greatly to be praised. Yet the Lord Jesus said that faith is great.
Faith is great because the object of faith is God, and God Himself is great. Faith makes God known as the great One. Without faith, we cannot please Him. Therefore, when the Son of Man comes, He is looking for that faith.
The centurion and the Canaanite woman had great faith because the object of their faith was God. God alone was great in their eyes.
Faith is the ground upon which God does His work. The servant of the centurion was healed when the Lord spoke the word. The demon-possessed daughter of the Canaanite woman was healed when the Lord spoke the word. There was faith, and the work was done.
Faith is the ground upon which the Lord does all His work. Everything the Lord does is according to the principle of faith. Without faith, He will do nothing—not because He has no power, but because He will not do it apart from faith.
Consider Genesis for a moment. Creation is an act of faith because God has faith in Himself. When God said, “Let there be,” there was. God has faith in Himself.
What, then, is faith? Faith is simply God. God alone is faithful.
Let us turn to Mark 11. In verse 22, the Lord answered and said to them:
Have faith in God.
I understand that the original text may be rendered, “Have the faith of God.” The Lord is saying to us that only God has faith; only God alone is faithful. He is full of faith and faithfulness to Himself. Trust Him. You can do no wrong by trusting Him.
The whole Bible is a gigantic record of the great faithfulness of God. The entire Bible is a great testimony to His faithfulness.
When the Lord says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end,” He is saying to us, “From A to Z, I am faithful. From the beginning to the end, I am the faithful One. From the first to the last, I am faithful.”
In Revelation 1, the Lord Jesus is called the Faithful Witness.
We who are believers, individually and together, are called a household of faith. But, brothers and sisters, in many ways we are still unbelieving people.
We believe what we want to believe. We are very selective in what we believe. If we do that, the Lord can never be Lord of all in our lives, individually as well as corporately as His people.
Let us look first at what the Lord says of Himself in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 7:9:
Know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God, Who keepeth covenant and lovingkindness with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations.
Oh, God is a faithful God.
Now turn to Numbers 23:19–20:
God is not a man, that He should lie;
neither the son of man, that He should repent:
Hath He said, and shall He not do it?
Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?Behold, I have received commandment to bless:
And He hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it.
That is our God.
In the New Testament, Titus 1:2 speaks of:
The hope of eternal life, which God, Who cannot lie, promised before times eternal.
He cannot lie. There are two things our God cannot do: He cannot lie, and He cannot deny Himself, because He is faithful.
Let us turn to Romans 4 and consider Abraham.
Many of our local church conditions are often much like Abraham and Sarah in their old age: no quickening power, a body as good as dead, and a womb that is dead. Many church conditions are a reflection of Abraham and Sarah in old age.
But, brothers and sisters, Abraham’s body may have been dead and Sarah’s womb may have been dead, but our God is still alive, and He is still well. As churches, we need to believe that.
Romans 4:16–17 says:
Therefore it is of faith, that it may be according to grace; to the end that the promise may be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all,
as it is written, A father of many nations have I made thee; before Him Whom he believed, even God, Who giveth life to the dead, and calleth the things that are not, as though they were.
In English, the tense is important: “I have made thee a father of many nations.” Not, “I will make you,” but, “I have made you.”
Abraham’s eyes were not fixed on himself or on Sarah. He fixed his eyes on his God.
Later, in Romans 4:21, we read:
And being fully assured that what He had promised, He was able also to perform.
I believe that corporately, as churches, we need to take hold of some of these words of the Lord and truly believe them. Often, corporately, we are in impossible situations. Without God’s word and faith in Him, we will never get through.
The One who promised will also perform it. The One who promised is the same One who fulfills it.
Then, of course, Philippians 1:6 is very familiar:
He Who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ.
That good work is what we have been sharing about this week: the preparation of the church as a bride for the Bridegroom. The Lord is preparing us to be the bride for His Son.
The day of the Lord Jesus Christ is the day when He comes for His bride. Paul, under the Holy Spirit, wrote this in faith: “He will surely complete it.” That is faith.
Let us turn to Hebrews. This particular verse deeply affected me when I read it recently. I had known it for many years, but it had never taken hold of me as it did then.
Hebrews 2:11 says:
For both He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren.
As I was reading and meditating upon this verse, I told my brothers and sisters in South Jersey that sometimes I am sure they feel pretty ashamed of me.
If you do not know me, you may think I am all right. But when you know me, you may feel ashamed of me. Yet the Lord says, “I am not ashamed to call him brother.” Now, that is a statement of faith.
You may not be what you ought to be now, but the day will come when you will be. The Lord says, in effect, “I am not ashamed, because even though they are not what they ought to be yet, they will become like Me. They are My brethren. I am the Firstborn; they are My brothers.”
I am sure that in a local assembly there are saints whom you are afraid to call brother because of the way they behave or conduct themselves. You say, “How can I call him brother? Look at the way he lives.”
It takes faith to call him brother. Perhaps the Lord is waiting for you to call him brother, and then He will do the restoring work in his life.
When I read that verse, I was truly touched. My brothers in South Jersey still call me brother, and thank God for that. It is a great thing.
Corporately, we are familiar with Matthew 16:18:
I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
Brothers and sisters, if the Lord says He will build it, what do you think? Will He do it or not? Amen, He will do it.
How can He do it? How can He help but do it?
Whenever I hear negative things about the church, I agree that there are many things that are not honorable. But is the Lord, as God, totally helpless—not even able to carry out what He promised to do?
We need faith in spite of what we see. We need to see beyond the obvious. The church is not merely a human or physical thing. The church is heavenly; the church is spiritual. It takes faith to see the real church.
Let us turn to Revelation 21, near the end of the Bible. Revelation 21:5–6:
And He that sitteth on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.
And He saith, Write: for these words are faithful and true.
And He said unto me, They are come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
“He who sat on the throne”—that is a great statement. There is power and authority there. He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.”
He said to John, “Write it down. Record it. Put these words down as a testimony to My faithfulness.” These words are faithful and true. God is true to His own word, and He is faithful to His own work.
Then He said, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega. I am the beginning and the end.” He has done it.
When the Lord says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” He is saying, “From the beginning to the end, I am the faithful One. What I have begun, I will surely complete. Trust Me.”
Finally, let us turn to John 5 and learn some lessons together from the healing of the infirm man at the pool of Bethesda.
Let us read John 5:1–9:
After these things there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porches.
In these lay a multitude of them that were sick, blind, halt, withered.And a certain man was there, who had been thirty and eight years in his infirmity.
When Jesus saw him lying, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, He saith unto him, Wouldest thou be made whole?The sick man answered Him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
Jesus saith unto him, Arise, take up thy bed, and walk.
And straightway the man was made whole, and took up his bed and walked.
This man had been in that condition for thirty-eight years. Some commentators say that this is a picture of the history of Israel in the wilderness, because they wandered there for about forty years. If that is true, then there are lessons for us, because the history of Israel and the history of the church are parallel.
The first question is this: Was there faith in this man? The Son of Man was looking for faith when He was on earth, and when He comes again, He will be looking for faith. Was there faith in this man?
I believe so. His faith may have been weak and feeble, but faith was there. I think the Lord noticed it.
When the Lord entered that area, there was something in that man which drew Him. The Lord came into that place and was drawn to that man. What was it that drew the Lord to him? I believe there was something there—perhaps weak and feeble—but it was faith.
After thirty-eight years in that condition, he had not given up. That speaks of faith.
Some of us have physical difficulties. I myself had a bad back for some years. I tried all kinds of doctors and all kinds of cures, and eventually I gave up. There are things that you simply give up on.
But this man had been in that condition for thirty-eight years, and he held on.
Brothers and sisters, our local assemblies are places where our faith is tested and challenged. Enduring faith is the faith that remains there.
When we remain there in faith and hope, healing is on the way. In due time, He came, and the man was healed. The sad thing about many a situation is that, when something goes wrong, people depart. Once they depart, faith is gone.
But can the Lord hold us together? If we all place ourselves in Him, He can. He holds all creation together by the power of His word, and He wants to hold us together in the Son by His very life.
Can His life do it? Brothers and sisters, hang on there.
It is faith. That faith may be as small as a mustard seed. That is all the Lord requires.
We often say, “I have no faith.” When we say that, we may mean that we are not able to fully trust the Lord in a particular matter. But even when we say, “I have no faith,” there may still be some reservation in us.
When you can say that you have no faith and rejoice that the Lord has all faith, then you have found your faith in the Lord Jesus. We have no faith in ourselves; we are faithless people.
As 2 Timothy says, even though we are faithless, He remains faithful.
The Lord is not afraid when you say, “I have no faith.” But in your acknowledgment that you have no faith, hold on to Him. Hang on to Him.
The second thing we notice about this man is that his heart was right, but the eyes of his mind were fixed on something else.
Faith has to do with the heart. But sometimes we get our minds and our hearts mixed up. Often our hearts are turned toward the Lord, while our minds are wandering around. We get the two mixed up.
Therefore, the mind needs to be renewed, and the soul needs to be redeemed. Mind and soul are to be made one in the new creation.
This man’s heart was toward the Lord, but his mind was fixed on something else. His mind was fixed on the water, waiting for the water to move. He was waiting for a man to come and help him.
That is another problem in many of our local fellowships. When we have problems, we look to human help. We are always looking for a quick solution.
Someone has experienced a similar difficulty, so we go to him. Perhaps he can help us. I remember several years ago when three young brothers from San Francisco drove all the way to the East Coast seeking help.
They had read in one of Watchman Nee’s books that many local assemblies came into being through the labor of workers. Workers labored among the saints, and therefore a church came into being.
These brothers said, “There are believers here, but there are no workers. How can we be a local testimony when there is no worker to come and help us?” So they drove across the country to ask whether workers could be sent to San Francisco to assist them.
Wherever they went, people poured cold water on them. Finally, they were told, “Go back, young men. Go back and wait upon the Lord and pray. If the Lord sees that you need workers, He will send them to you.”
Brothers and sisters, when we look to man for help, we often experience disappointment. But if we look to the Lord, and if He sees that help is needed, He will send His help—not necessarily the help we are looking for, but His help.
This man was looking for help, but the Lord entered into the picture, stood before him, and redirected his heart and mind toward the Lord Himself. Then the Lord spoke: “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.”
The Lord is very gracious. He took the initiative. Is that not wonderful? Sometimes we are faithless, but He remains faithful.
Often we have no desire for Him, but somehow He creates a desire in us for Him. Therefore, He is the Author. Everything has to begin with Him.
As Brother Colin said, if anything is going to end up with the Lord, it must begin with the Lord.
The Lord took the initiative and came to this man. He said, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.”
I was thinking, brothers and sisters, thirty-eight years is half a lifetime. You may say, “It is too late to wait.” But it is never too late with the Lord.
Whatever assembly you are from, you may have been struggling for years and getting nowhere. Yet it is never too late. The Lord knows. The Lord knows what He intends to do, and the Lord will speak His word.
The Lord spoke only two sentences: one was a question, and the other was a command. And the thing was done.
When the Lord said, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk,” He asked this man to do the impossible.
This is another difficulty in local assemblies: we wait until we think we can do something, and then we do it.
We may have a problem in our fellowship, and we wait for ourselves to be totally crucified before we act. But, brothers and sisters, that day will never come in that way.
In serving with your brothers, you learn what the cross is. There is no self-crucifixion apart from the practical dealings of life together.
The Lord asked him to do the impossible. Faith is always faith in God’s power. That is all.
If it is possible for you and me to do it, there is no need for faith. Why trust God?
The Lord said, “Rise,” but the man could not rise in himself. He had no strength. He had not taken steps for thirty-eight years. But he listened to God’s word, looked to the Lord’s face, and strength came into him. He rose up, took up his bed, and walked.
It was by His power. This man’s faith was in the faithfulness of God Himself. What God has said, He will also perform. That is all.
We often hear that it is not our faith that moves mountains; it is God who moves mountains.
Someone said that the reason the Lord told him to take up his bed and walk was to make certain that he understood that he was completely healed. When the Lord says you are whole, you are whole. When you are healed, you are healed.
There was no room for uncertainty concerning his complete healing. The Lord said, “Take up thy bed,” so that he would not lie down again in case of a relapse. There was no relapse. He was completely healed.
Before, he was waiting for people to carry him into the pool. Now he had strength to carry others. He no longer needed to be carried.
Brothers and sisters, some in fellowship are waiting to be carried. That is our problem. The Lord says, “Rise up and walk. Do not wait for others to carry you. My strength is sufficient.”
Finally, in John 5, let us turn to verse 17. These are words from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Himself, spoken in connection with this infirm man:
But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh even until now, and I work.
This verse came to me recently in a fresh way and became very powerful and precious to me: “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”
The Lord never ceases to work.
That is why the Lord did His works on the Sabbath. Sin ruined God’s rest, and God has to work to recover His rest.
The Lord is simply saying, “I have not given up on you. I am still working on you.”
My Father is working, I am working, and the Holy Spirit is working. We will work in you until you are ready. We will work in you until you are fully prepared.
The only condition is that we allow Him to work.
The Lord is working all over the world. The question is whether we are willing to let Him do the work, until we can enter together into His Sabbath and His rest.
That rest will not come until the Bridegroom and the bride are joined together.
Brothers and sisters, we need faith. We need to believe in our faithful God. What He has set out to do, He will surely do.
God can never be disappointed. He can never be disappointed. What He has set out to get, He will get.
May we have faith in Him. He is faithful. He is faithful to Himself. He wants us to trust Him, and He Himself will come to that which is on His heart.
Therefore, all glory belongs to Him. That is why, at the end of Revelation, we end with grace and amen. It is the work of grace. Everything is grace from beginning to end.
Lord, do it and finish it. May it be so.
Father, we confess that our words are so feeble and so weak. We pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to speak in our hearts.
We pray, Lord, that You will give us a willing heart for You to do Your work. Give us faith to really believe You—not to question You, but to trust You—until You finish that work which delights Your own heart.
Unto You be praise, worship, Lord, and adoration, Lord Jesus.