Chapter. 20. Showing the power of Faith to carry through the most difficult work.
our hearts will naturally incline towards God, just as the sun naturally shines. Therefore, let us find comfort in the knowledge that there will come a time when our hearts will be uplifted, and we will no longer need to exert any effort.
Chapter 20 Showing the power of Faith to overcome the most difficult tasks.
Question: What does Faith offer to the soul? Answered in four points. 1. It establishes the heart on the firmest foundation, which is
God's call and promises. 2. It brings in the greatest strength. 3. It provides the highest encouragements. 4. Faith, by its very nature, is a tremendously powerful principle.
The most remarkable manifestation of Faith. Thirteen notable aspects of Faith and the challenges it overcomes.
Now, let us focus on one more aspect from these words. We have witnessed the Faith of Moses in overcoming the obstacle of fear in his work. The great hindrance was his fear of the king's wrath, but through Faith, that fear was removed.
Now, Moses proceeds with the work and departs from Egypt boldly and confidently. From this, we derive the following point:
Doctrine: Faith will enable the hearts of God's people to navigate through difficult tasks and services.
Despite the difficulties and numerous obstacles, Faith will carry them through.
I recall discussing the role of Faith in enduring suffering earlier in this discourse. Now, the argument is that Faith will also guide individuals through challenging tasks, such as Moses' undertaking of leaving Egypt. It was indeed a difficult task for him in many aspects.
Firstly, Moses had to abandon his own country. Egypt was Moses' homeland, and he could have easily lived a prosperous life there. The Egyptians held him in high regard. Thus, for him to forsake his own country was a significant decision.
Secondly, Moses had to lead a multitude of impoverished people into the wilderness, without weapons or provisions. He did not know what their fate would be. Flesh and blood would reason, "Why should I lead these people into the wilderness? What provisions will they have? They only carry a small amount of dough, and if that runs out, what will happen to them?"
Thirdly, Moses might have thought, "Pharaoh is such a formidable man, there is no way to hold him back. What if he follows us with his army and cuts us off? Furthermore, if we go to the wilderness, the surrounding nations may come and attack us." Despite all these difficulties, Moses pressed on.
Faith has the power to carry a Christian through works that are highly challenging. Faith has achieved mighty things in the world and continues to prevail wherever it is present. No difficulty can withstand it. Faith breaks through all obstacles, overcomes resistance, and conquers whatever it sets out to accomplish. All strength is rendered weak before it. We need no further evidence of
the great feats that faith has accomplished in carrying out difficult tasks than what is written in the 11th chapter of Hebrews. Therefore, we need not look elsewhere in Scripture for examples.
Now, you may ask, what is it about faith that aids the soul and enables a Christian to persevere through the most difficult works and services?
There are several factors.
Firstly, faith accomplishes this by grounding the heart on a solid foundation. If a person is firmly rooted on a stable and unmovable ground, they can achieve great things. Similarly, faith sets the heart upon the sure ground of God's call. Faith not only reveals a Christian's duty and what God calls them to do (which can be known through mere knowledge), but it also establishes the heart on God's promises. It brings the authority, majesty, and sovereignty of God in His call to the forefront, and this exerts a significant influence on the heart, enabling it to persevere through difficulties.
Secondly, faith draws upon the greatest strength and infuses it into the soul. It not only makes God's strength available to the believer but also taps into the magnificent strength of God, the pinnacle of His power (using human language to convey the concept). If there is anything particularly glorious in God's strength, faith accesses it to strengthen the soul for God's service. We find support for this in Ephesians 1:19, which speaks not only of the power of God in working faith but also of the power of God that operates in the soul after faith has been established.
Firstly, it is the power of God.
Secondly, it is the mighty power of God.
Thirdly, it is the working of His mighty power.
Fourthly, it is the greatness of the working of His mighty power.
Fifthly, it is the exceeding greatness of the working of His mighty power.
Sixthly, it is the same power that raised Christ from the dead.
This is what generates faith in the soul.
Now, this power is what a believer, once they have become a believer, can access and utilise.
Another significant text in this context is Ephesians 3:16, which says, "That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man." What the Apostle prays for is something that a believer, through faith, can acquire and make their own.
Firstly, there is strength in the inner man, surpassing that of the outward. Secondly, it is strength by the Spirit, and the Spirit is a word used to denote strength, and it is strength by God's Spirit.
Thirdly, it is strength by the Spirit with might. One might think it sufficient to say "strengthened by the Spirit of God," which already brings in might. However, it is "with might by the Spirit in the inner man." Fourthly, this strength is in accordance with God's glory. It is such a strength, such a might of God's Spirit that God is glorious in it. It embodies the glory of the might of the Spirit of God in the inner man. And yet, there is an even more elevated expression. Fifthly, it is in accordance with the riches of His glory. Whose glory? The riches
of the glory of the might of the Spirit of God. Whose God? The God who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family of Heaven and Earth is named.
Surely, this strength must enable one to accomplish mighty things, and this strength belongs to the believer, working for them and assisting them in any service. How shameful it is for any Christian to complain about lacking strength in the performance of their duties when such strength is made available to them, and they can access it through faith, employ it, and utilise it as their own?
Another passage that demonstrates the strength brought in by faith is found in Colossians 1:11: "Being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience." If you want to exhibit what is characteristic of a Christian in your life, you must engage in actions that manifest the glorious power of God. What have you done, or are currently doing, in your entire life that demonstrates the glorious power of God? This showcases the glory of a Christian, such that all who witness it may say, "The power of nature could not achieve this, the power of grace could not achieve this, and the power of all creatures in heaven and earth could not achieve this. It is more than an ordinary power of God; it is a glorious power of God that enables them to do this." However, although the power of God is glorious, it is not always exerted to enable people to perform great deeds; sometimes it is displayed in enabling them to exhibit patience in enduring what is placed upon them. Therefore, you must not only be patient like an ordinary person, but be patient in a way that demonstrates you possess a glorious power of God that makes you patient. Perhaps you have experienced hardships and prolonged afflictions, and you have shown patience. But have you demonstrated
patience to the extent that it manifests the glorious power of God within you? Have you exhibited such long-suffering towards those who have opposed you as to reveal the glorious power of God? Faith fetches in strength to empower you to accomplish this. And that is the second aspect of what faith does to carry you through difficult services—it brings in the greatest strength.
Thirdly, in enabling the soul for any difficult work, faith provides the soul with the highest encouragements imaginable—the encouraging promises of God and the uplifting expressions found in the Scriptures. These can breathe life into even the most lifeless spirit in the world. The encouragements found in the Scripture may appear lifeless to the heart, not because there is no life in them, but due to the deadness of the heart. However, faith comes and infuses life into them. In this 11th chapter of Hebrews, faith is commended for raising the dead to life. Similarly, faith receives commendation when it revives a dead promise or encouragement, infusing life into it. We may have read a promise or an encouragement twenty times before, but it remained lifeless. Yet, faith arrives and breathes life into it. The soul can then draw near to it, pressing its face against its face, its mouth against its mouth, and its eyes against its eyes. It becomes a powerful source of revival, enabling the soul for any service.
Fourthly, faith enables the soul to persevere in works that God calls for because faith itself is a powerful and strong principle. It is the most magnificent work that any creature in this world can accomplish. Even the angels in heaven have never been able to perform a more glorious work of its kind than a believing soul does in the essential work of faith. If faith, in its essential act, is the most glorious and challenging work ever done by any creature in heaven
or earth, then it undoubtedly possesses great power to enable the soul to engage in the most difficult and glorious services.
Question: You may ask, what is that essential work of faith that is the most glorious and challenging work ever performed?
Answer: For a creature who, by its very nature, perceives itself as an enemy of God, a wretched and defiled being due to sin, standing guilty in the presence of God, with God's wrath kindled against it,
God's justice demanding satisfaction, and God's law pronouncing an eternal curse upon it—for such a soul to recognize and be aware of this condition, and yet, in this state, to raise itself up, lay hold of the perfect righteousness of a mediator who is both God and man, and to venture its eternal destiny upon that righteousness, offering up that righteousness to God by faith as a complete satisfaction to His justice and sufficient to avert His wrath; and despite the pollution of its own nature, to unite itself with the divinity in the closest union that any creature has ever been united to the divinity, except for the personal union of Christ with the divine nature—this is a glorious work. It is no wonder that such glorious power of God is found in faith. A faith that can accomplish this can do anything. As Christ said, "If you can believe, all things are possible." Therefore, I say to anyone who has low thoughts of faith and considers it a trivial matter, "If you can believe, all things are possible." Truly believing is a greater feat than working miracles. A person can perform miracles and still be damned, but justifying faith unites the soul with God in such a way that it is impossible for the soul to be damned. Hence, it is a greater miracle than any other that has ever been accomplished. Though
God enables angels to perform great things, He has never enabled them to do such a glorious work as this. Moreover, although people
may perceive faith as an easy matter, it is, in fact, the most challenging work in the world.
Firstly, it is challenging due to the impediments it faces. No work encounters greater impediments than faith. The soul sees the enmity between itself and God, recognizes its own impurity, comprehends the strictness of God's law, and understands that God's justice must be satisfied. The soul witnesses God's wrath burning against it and realizes it has nothing within itself to appease God. Nevertheless, faith surpasses all these obstacles. If faith can overcome these hurdles, then surely it can overcome anything. For no obstacle to any service that God calls for can be greater than the impediments faced in the act of believing. Therefore, let us not be deterred by any difficulty or obstacle that lies in our path to any work because no mountain can obstruct us from any work as the mountain that hindered us from believing did, and if faith could break through those impediments, it is capable of breaking through all other hindrances.
Secondly, faith is difficult not only because of the impediments but also because it is the highest duty of all. Just as reaching high is painful to the body, the lofty actions of the soul are challenging to the soul itself. Faith is elevated—the object is high, the act is high, and the end is high. The object is the highest object: the perfect righteousness of a mediator who is both God and man. The act is of the highest nature: it is an act of uniting the soul with the divinity.
Just as the soul departed from God through sin, by faith the soul is made one with God. And the end is high—it is for the satisfaction of infinite justice, the appeasement of infinite wrath, and the acceptance from infinite holiness. No matter how holy God may be, infinitely more than we can conceive, faith procures acceptance for
such a polluted and filthy creature as man from the infinite holiness of God.
Thirdly, faith is difficult because it receives the least assistance from any principle of nature. Other virtues such as patience, justice, and sobriety receive some support from principles of reason and nature, but faith receives no help from any principles of reason or nature.
Therefore, it is certainly difficult. And if it is the most glorious and difficult thing, it will surely enable the soul to perform the most glorious and difficult works.
Fourthly, faith proves to be a strong force in carrying the soul through any service because it enables the soul to engage in a gracious manner in any service that God calls for. This facilitates the work. One main reason our services are difficult is our clumsiness and confusion in carrying them out. We do not conduct ourselves graciously and smoothly. In any outward work, carrying it out in the right manner greatly aids the work. Similarly, if we approached the work God sets before us in the right way, it would help us overcome difficulties. We have ourselves to blame for going about our work untowardly. Just as an apprentice who handles tools awkwardly works with as much strength as another but ends up hacking and ruining the work, a mason or carpenter who follows the proper rules and works in the correct manner completes their work with ease.
Even if there is a challenging part, they know how to handle it because of their skill. On the other hand, those lacking the grace of faith to guide them by the right principles, when they engage in any religious work, complain about the difficulty and how it tires them. It is no wonder they become tired when they do not know the right principles. However, faith, which is generated by the word and nourished by the word, keeps the heart anchored to the word and
gives the soul the ability to apply itself to the rule. Therefore, even though the work may be hard, for someone with faith it becomes comparatively easy and helps them overcome many difficulties that would otherwise hinder them.
Fifthly, faith enables the believer to carry out difficult works because through faith the believer is deeply connected to God, the supreme cause of all things. By faith, the significant tasks undertaken by the believer are conducted between God and them. The main difficulties in any work often lie in dealing with secondary causes, but if there is clarity between the supreme cause and the agent undertaking the work, it can proceed with ease. Just as in the affairs of a country, if one has to navigate through numerous lower-ranking officers, the work can become quite challenging, but if the business is conducted directly with the king and everything is clear, it can be accomplished smoothly. Similarly, all the business of a believer is transacted between God and them, and faith keeps the soul connected to the supreme cause, facilitating the work. This naturally brings about ease in service because the supreme cause does not depend on any inferior causes, whereas all inferiors depend on it. The supreme cause is fully capable of working without any intermediaries, and no inferior cause can resist its working. In fact, it is a remarkable aspect of the glory of the supreme cause to work above and beyond all inferior causes. Faith, having to deal with the supreme cause, is not as intimidated by difficulties as others might be.
Sixthly, faith further helps overcome great difficulties by removing and addressing the internal obstacles within the spirits of individuals. If these internal difficulties are resolved, external difficulties lose much of their power. We often complain about many external difficulties in a work, but the truth is that the greatest
difficulties lie within our hearts. Faith possesses a unique efficacy in removing and addressing these internal obstacles. Unruly passions, distracting fears, the reasoning of flesh and blood, spiritual lethargy, sluggishness, misguided intentions, foolish presumptions, false confidences, reliance on unreliable supports—these and other internal difficulties can be effectively dealt with by faith. By addressing and removing them, faith easily overcomes any external difficulty. Therefore, when faced with a challenging task, focus not only on removing the external difficulties but also on addressing the internal ones.
Seventhly, the eighth aspect of the power of faith is that it aligns the work assigned by God with the believer's spirit. Regardless of the nature of the work, if it is a work of godliness, faith has the power to align the heart with that work, creating harmony between the disposition of the heart and the task set by God. When this alignment occurs, the work progresses smoothly. If someone is assigned a task that does not resonate with their principles, they will struggle to carry it out efficiently. However, when a person is assigned work that aligns with their principles, they can approach it with joy and complete it readily. As mentioned in Nehemiah 4:6, the work progressed because the people had the right mindset for the task, despite its difficulty.
Eightly, Another power of faith is this: faith has the ability to utilize difficulties to further the work, and therefore it possesses even greater power to overcome difficulties. Faith can bring forth water from a rock; it can turn the mountains that stand in the way into advantages to uplift the heart. We have a remarkable passage in Hebrews 11:3-4, where it is stated, "Out of weakness they were made strong." It means that they were not made strong while being weak,
but that their weakness itself was used by faith to strengthen them.
Thus, faith is not only capable of strengthening the weak but also of taking advantage of weakness to provide strength. It can transform hindrances into opportunities. As God has promised that all things shall turn out for good, faith can seize hold of that promise and turn every hindrance into a means of advancement. Faith possesses an alchemical skill; those who possess such a skill can extract gold from stones or iron. Similarly, faith can extract gold from iron and stones, from things that appear to be the most adverse and contrary. It can draw assistance from them.
Ninethly, Faith aids against difficulty because it operates through love, and love possesses a great deal of power to carry through difficulties. As Bernard of Clairvaux said, "Much water cannot quench love." The force of love is powerful. The Apostle also declared in 1 Thessalonians 1:3, "Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love." Love is strenuous; it can compel one to overcome difficulty. Therefore, since faith makes extensive use of love and ignites it, it possesses significant power against difficulty.
Tenthly, another aspect in which the power of faith lies is that before we embark on the work, it assures us of certain success. When we know beforehand that the outcome will be good and certain, it helps us overcome any difficulty, no matter how challenging the work may be. It is the lack of hope in success that dampens the spirit. However, this must not be misunderstood. Faith does not always guarantee specific success. If we insist on guaranteeing specific success beyond what the promise entails, it will hinder faith. Instead, faith assures us of success in a general sense.