Fact, Faith, Feeling /
EIGHT Fact, Faith, Feeling | tae IS IN ALL THINGS a divine order, and a human order, and very frequently these two are opposed to one another.
In the three F's we are considering, this is strikingly the case.
God's order reads thus; lyact:
2. Faith.
3. Feeling.
In man's order this is reversed; 1. Feeling.
2. Faith.
3. Fact.
That is; in the divine order God gives us first the facts of his salvation; then we believe these facts; and then as a consequence, we have the feelings suitable to the facts believed.
But man reverses this order, and says, "I must have the feeling first, and then I can believe in that feeling, and thus I shall get hold of the facts."
Of course this is absurd; but it is avery common temptation, and is the cause of most of the pitiful uncertainty and doubt that characterizes so much of the experiences of Christians.
And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have
92 / The Open Secret the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. —1 Jn 5:11-13 Here we have an illustration of the divine order.
First we have the record, that "God has given us eternal life," and that this life is in his Son; and further, that "He who has the Son has life." Then we are told that if we believe these facts, we shall "know" that we have the eternal life spoken of.
Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to bea liar; because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.—1 Jn 5:10
Notice it is he who believes that has the "testimony," not he that doubts. Most people read this passage as though it said
"he that doubts shall have the testimony, and then he can believe." They put the testimony, the fact, first and the believing second, but God's order is, first believe, and then have the testimony. And we can never reverse this order; for it is in the very nature of things, as well as in the Book. In all earthly things we require the fact before the feeling. No man starts on a journey at haphazard, and then shuts his eyes to feel whether or not he is going the right way. No man sits down to feel whether he has money in the bank with which to pay his debts. "Give us the facts" is always our cry in earthly things.
But when it comes to spiritual things, we reverse this order entirely, and instead of asking "What is the fact?" we say plaintively, "How do I feel?"
By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept / when we remembered Zion. / There on the poplars / we hung our harps, / for there our captors asked us for songs, / our tormentors demanded songs of joy; / they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" / How can we sing the songs of the Lord / while ina foreign land?—Ps 137:1-4
No one can sing a song of rejoicing unless the cause for rejoicing has first been ascertained to be a fact. The Israelites
Fact, Faith, Feeling / 93 did not say, "We will feel happy and sing songs, and then we shall be in our own land." We cannot imagine anyone in his senses doing such a silly thing. And yet many a child of God says something every nearly akin to this. "If I could only feel happy, then I could believe that God is my Father and that He loves me." We can only know that God loves us by his saying so, not by our feeling so. We can only know that our earthly friends love us from their own words. We believe them when they tell us that they love us, and then we feel happy because we believe it.
When the Lord brought back the captives to Zion, / we were like men who dreamed. / Our mouths were filled with laughter, / our tongues with songs of joy. / Then it was said among the nations, /
"The Lord has done great things for them." / The Lord has done great things for us, / and we are filled with joy.—Ps 126:1-3
When their captivity was ended, the Israelites rejoiced without any effort. They could not sing songs of joy in the strange land, but as soon as they were at home again, their tongues were filled with singing. And we are like them; we cannot rejoice until we also know that our captivity has been ended; but when we do know it, our mouths, like theirs, are filled with laughter and our tongues with singing, without any effort.
"T will extend peace to her like a river, / and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; / you will nurse and be carried on her arm
/ and dandled on her knees. / As a mother comforts her child, / so will I comfort you; / and you will be comforted over Jerusalem." / When you see this, your heart will rejoice / and you will flourish like grass; / the hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants, / but his fury will be shown to his foes.
—Is 66:12-14 (Ps 98:1-6) "When you see this, your heart will rejoice." We need to "see" our blessings before we can rejoice over them. The Israelites could see their blessings with their outward eyes, for they were visible and tangible things. But we must see ours
94 / The Open Secret with our inward eyes, for they are invisible and spiritual. Our knowledge concerning them can only come by faith, while theirs came by sight. But faith is inward seeing. To believe a thing on sufficient authority is as real as seeing it.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
—Rom 5:1-2 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
—1] Pr 1:3-6 (Ps 33:21; Ps 89:15-18) Our feelings of joy come from our believing joyful facts.
The facts do not exist because we are joyful, but we are joyful, on account of the existence of the facts.
Spiritual facts can only be known by believing God's witness concerning them.
We accept man's testimony, but God's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his
Son.—1 Jn 5:9
If we are willing to accept man's testimony concerning the facts which come within the range of man's knowledge (and of course we do this every moment), we surely ought to be willing to receive "God's testimony" concerning the facts that come within the range of his knowledge. We could not have a moment's peace in our life among men, if we refused to receive their "testimony," and we can never have a moment's peace in our life with God as long as we refuse to receive his witness.
Suppose we should meet every statement of our fellow men
Fact, Faith, Feeling / 95 with the assertion that we could not believe what they said until we had sat down and looked inside to see whether we felt it was true! And yet this is just the way many treat God!
The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. The man who has accepted it has certified that God is truthful.
—Jn 3:31-33 What we could not know because we are "from the earth,"
Christ knew because he came from heaven; and what he has seen and heard, he has testified to us. We can only know of heavenly things therefore by believing his words.
Then Jesus cried out, "When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it.
I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say."—Jn 12:44-50
We see, therefore, that in all our relations with God, we must follow his divine order of, fact first, faith second, and feeling last, if we would be right.
Let us then trace this divine order in regard to some of the most vital points of Christian experience.
1. That God loves us.
The fact For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. —Jn 3:16
96 / The Open Secret This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.—1 Jn 4:10
The faith And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.—1 Jn 4:16
The feeling And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.—Rom 5:5
The great torment of many Christian hearts is that they do not feel as if God loved them or they loved him. The trouble is that they are beginning at the wrong end, the end of feeling instead of the end of faith. We never can love him, until we first know that he loves us.
We love because he first loved us.—1 Jn 4:19
We are all the time reversing this, and thinking that he will love us if we will first love him. But it is a hopeless attempt; love must begin with God, and we can never originate it ourselves.
2. The forgiveness of sins.
The fact Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.—Acts 13:38
The faith Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.—Acts 13:39
The feeling Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom
Fact, Faith, Feeling / 97 we have gained access by faith into the grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
—Rom 5:1-2 The fact is preached to us. We believe the word preached.
And as a result we have peace.
But some may ask, Is the fact true until we believe it? Are my sins forgiven before I believe that they are? Certainly they are.
In the heart of God there is always forgiveness, like the mother, whose forgiveness always awaits the sin of her child.
But this forgiveness cannot reach us until, we believe in it. Our faith does not induce God to forgive us; it is not in any sense the cause of our forgiveness. Faith is only the hand by which we lay hold experimentally of the forgiveness that is already ours in Christ.
I write to you, dear children, / because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.—1 Jn 2:12
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.—Lk 24:45-47 (2 Cor 5:18-21)
God ts reconciled to us; he fas forgiven us; our sins do not separate him from us, but only us from him. We are not reconciled to him, it may be, but he is always reconciled to us.
Therefore our forgiveness is a fact in the mind and heart of God towards us, before we believe it; and we do not make it true by believing it, but we believe it because it is true. And peace is the result of the believing, not the believing the result of the peace.
3. Eternal life.
The fact And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.—1 Jn 5:11
98 / The Open Secret The faith Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.—Jn 3:1415
The feeling Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.—1 Pr 1:8-9
God has given us eternal life in Christ. Christ is, as it were, a great reservoir of life, out of whom each one of us may take by faith all of life that we need.
In him was life, and that life was the light of men. ... Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.—Jn 1:4, 12 (1 Jn 1:1-2; Rom 6:23)
We do not have to create this life, norearn it, nor buy it. We can only receive it as a gift, just as we received our human life.
And our receiving is by faith; or in other words by believing that it has been given, and that we have it.
For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.—Jn 6:40
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
—Jn 11:25-26 4. The gift of the Holy Spirit.
The fact And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.—Jn 14:16-17
Fact, Faith, Feeling / 99 God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.—Acts 2:32-33 The faith On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If a man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.—Jn 7:37-39 The feeling But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.—Jn 4:14
On the day of Pentecost this gift of the Holy Ghost was given to the church. It was "poured out" upon the church, as the sunlight is shed forth upon the world.
Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who are in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.
These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It's only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: / 'In the last days, God says, / I will pour out my Spirit on all people. /
Your sons and daughters will prophesy, / your young men will see visions, / your old men will dream dreams. / Even on my servants, both men and women, / I will pour out my Spirit in those days, / and they will prophesy.'"—Acts 2:14.18
Not only a few disciples, but "on all people" was the Spirit shed forth, and all who will receive the gift, may have it.
When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"
Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the
100 / The Open Secret name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.—Acts 2:37-39 The Holy Spirit, like the sunlight, is free to all. The world is full of sunlight, but the plant in a cellar dwindles and dies for lack of it. What is needed is not a new outpouring of the sunlight, but the placing of the plant in the sunlight which is already poured out. It is not that God must give anything more, but that we must receive more of that which he has already given.
Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.—Eph 5:18
"Be filled" yourselves, with that Spirit which fills all the earth around you. Do not ask for more of the Spirit, but let the Spirit have more of you.
This is the fact; that the Holy Spirit zs given. Faith believes this, and by believing receives; and after faith comes the conscious sealing.
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.
—Eph 1:13 (Gal 3:2) 5. The presence of God.
The fact ... teaching them to obey overything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age.
—Mt 28:20
Where can I go from your Spirit? / Where can I flee from your presence? / IfI goup to the heavens, you are there; / if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. / If I rise on the wings of the dawn, / ifI settle on the far side of the sea, / even there your hand will guide me, / your right hand will hold me fast. / If I say,
Fact, Faith, Feeling / 101 "Surely the darkness will hide me / and the light become night around me," / even the darkness is as light to you. / For you created my inmost being; / you knit me together in my mother's womb.—Ps 139:7-13 The faith The Lord Almighty is with us; / the God of Jacob is our fortress.—Ps 46:7
I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, / my God, in whom I trust."—Ps 91:2 (Ps 46:1) The feeling Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way / and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea.—Ps 46:2
God has said, / "Never will I leave you; / never will I forsake you."
/ So we say with confidence, / "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. / What can man do to me?"—Heb 13:5-6
What he "has said," we may indeed "say with confidence," therefore our faith must assert unswervingly that fact of God's abiding presence with us. And as a result of this faith we shall sooner or later realize a conscious feeling of his presence. He is not present because we feel it, but we feel it because we believe the fact of his presence.
This divine order of the three P's, i.e., first fact, second faith, third feeling, applies to every aspect and every stage of our experience in heavenly things.
No amount of feeling is good for anything unless it is the result of faith in a divine fact; which fact is true anyhow, whether we believe it or not.
Let us get our facts then. And let us once and for all give up every idea that our feelings are the test and measure of these facts.
The facts, when believed in, will control our feelings; but no amount of feeling, no matter how fervent, can control the facts, so much as a feather's weight.
102 / The Open Secret A Christian who had had a very joyous experience in a meeting, came to the minister the next day looking very downcast and said, "In your meeting yesterday I was filled with joy, and I thought I should never be sad again; but nowit is all gone and I am in the depths. What is the matter with me? Has
God forsaken me?" "Did you ever pass through a tunnel?" asked the minister. "Certainly I have," replied the man, "but I do not see what that has to do with it." "When you were in the tunnel did you think the sun had been blotted out and existed no longer?" continued the minister. "No, of course I did not," said the man. "I knew the sun was in the sky just the same, although I could not see it just then. But what has that to do with my experience?" "Were you very much depressed while you were going through the dark tunnel?" "No I was not, I knew I should get out into the light again soon." "And did you get out?" asked the minister. "I am out now!" exclaimed the man joyfully. "I see what you mean. The facts are just the same, no matter how I feel, and I am to rejoice in the facts not in my feelings, I see! I see!"
Let us reject then the clamorings of our feelings which declare that God's facts are but dreams of the imagination, and let us take our stand without wavering on the unalterable verities of "God's testimony," receiving it with at least as much confidence as we accord to the witness of men, and resting our souls absolutely on what he has said.
In hope, against all human hope, Self desperate, I believe; Thy quickening word shall raise me up, Thou wilt thy Spirit give.
The thing surpasses all my thought, But faithful is my Lord; Through unbelief I stagger not, For God hath spoke the word.
Fact, Faith, Feeling / 103 Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees, And looks at that alone; Laughs at impossibilities, And cries—"It shall be done!"
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