Now the just shall live by faith: – Hebrews 10:38
THE experience of every believer is, in a limited degree, the experience of the great apostle of the Gentiles, the tip of whose soaring pinion we, who so much skim the earth’s surface, can scarcely touch-”The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.” “Like precious faith” with his dwells in the hearts of all the regenerate. Along this royal highway it is ordained of God that all His people should travel. It is the way their Lord traveled before them; it is the way they are to follow after Him. The first step they take out of the path of sense is into the path of faith. And what a mighty grace do they find it, as they journey on! Do they live? It is by faith. Hebrews 10:38. Do they stand? It is by faith. Romans 11:20. Do they walk? It is by faith. 2 Corinthians 5:7. Do they fight? It is by faith. 1 Timothy 6:12. Do they overcome? It is by faith. 1 John 5:4. Do they see what is invisible? It is by faith. Hebrews 6:27. Do they receive what is incredible? It is by faith. Romans 4:20. Do they achieve what is impossible? It is by faith. Mark 9:23. Glorious achievements of faith!
And, oh, how eminently is Jesus thus glorified in His saints! Was it no glory to Joseph, that, having the riches of Egypt in his hands, all the people were made, as it were, to live daily and hourly upon him? Was no fresh accession of glory brought to his exaltation, by every fresh acknowledgment of his authority, and every renewed application to his wealth? And is not Jesus glorified in His exaltation and in His fullness, in His love and in His grace, by that faith, in the exercise of which “a poor and afflicted people,” a needy and a tried Church, are made to travel to, and live upon, Him each moment? Ah, yes! every corruption taken to His sanctifying grace, every burden taken to his omnipotent arm, every sorrow taken to His sympathizing heart, every want taken to His overflowing fullness, every wound taken to His healing hand, every sin taken to His cleansing blood, and every deformity taken to His all-covering righteousness, swells the revenue of glory which each second of time ascends to our adorable Redeemer from His Church. You may have imagined-for I will now suppose myself addressing a seeking soul-that Christ has been more glorified by your hanging back from Him-doubting the efficacy of His blood to cancel your guilt, the power of His grace to mortify your corruption, the sufficiency of His fullness to supply your need, the sympathy of His nature to soothe your grief, and the loving willingness of His heart to receive and welcome you as you are, empty, vile, and worthless; little thinking, on the contrary, how much He has been grieved and wounded, dishonored and robbed of His glory, by this doubting of His love, and this distrusting of His grace, after all the melting exhibitions of the one, and all the convincing evidences of the other. But, is it the desire of your inmost soul that Christ should be glorified by you? Then do not forget the grand, luminous truth of the Bible, that He is the Savior of sinners, and of sinners as sinners-that, in the great matter of the soul’s salvation, He recognizes nothing of worthiness in the creature; and that whatever human merit is brought to Him with a view of commending the case to His notice-whatever-be it even the incipient work of His own Spirit in the heart-is appended to His finished work, as a ground of acceptance with God, is so much detraction from His glory as a Redeemer-than which, of nothing is He more jealous-and consequently, places the soul at a great remove from His grace. But like Bartimeus, casting the garment from you, be that garment what it may-pride of merit, pride of intellect, pride of learning, pride of family, pride of place, yes, whatever hinders your entering the narrow way, and prevents your receiving the kingdom of God “as a little child,” and coming to Jesus to be saved by Him alone-brings more real glory to Him than imagination can conceive, or words can describe.
It seems that true, persistent, plodding faithfulness is perhaps the hardest part of the Christian walk.