THE E N G ’ S BUS I NE S S
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By Herbert E. Kann
A Message delivered in the Church of the Open Door at the 1945 Torrey Memorial Conference N OW FAITH is the substance of things hoped for, is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Heb. 11:1,6). Many times I have read these passages with out fully uhaerstanding their message. One day as I sought to analyze from the Scriptures the whole subject of faith, I made three amazing discoveries, "The Faith” Faith refers to the entire body of recorded Scripture. In Jude 3 we are exhorted to “ earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” Now here is something that God has delivered to men, not that which men have given tQ God. He has imparted something to us which He calls the faith, which is the Biblical revelation portraying God’s plan of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. This truth is enlarged upon in 1 Timothy 4:1: “Now the Spirit speaketh ex pressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.” Here the doctrine of the faith is contrasted with the doctrines of devils. In 2 Timothy 3:8 we have the account of the rebellion of Jannes and Jambres against Moses, which occurred in the court of Pharaoh. These men withstood the words, the doctrine, the teaching of Moses, and Paul uses that incident as an illustration of the manner in which men today resist the truth. “Men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith." So, very clearly we see that the faith refers to this body of Scripture. Faith As a Law We find “faith” active as a law, which is a condition of salvation. In Romans 3:27 we read that God is today granting life to men not on the principle of the law of works, but on the principle of the law of faith. Having summed up the matter in the third chapter of Romans, Paul asks this question: “Where is boasting then? It is ex cluded. By what law? of works? Nay; but by the law of
faith." Men have constantly sought for righteousness before God by the law of works, but God has completely closed that door, declaring to men the ineffectiveness of that principle as a means of salvation. He declares that “By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin,” and this indicts all the world as guilty before God. We must remember that by whatever method man can be saved, it must be able to bear the scrutiny of the just and holy law of God. Salvation by the law of works is impossible because of sin, but when God gave His Son to die sub- stitutionally on the Cross, Christ met the demands of justice concerning our sins. His work satisfied the re quirements of the law of works for us and freed God to grant salvation by the law of faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Faith of the Heart There is personal faith by which the heart of man is surrendered to complete trust in the Word and char acter of God. There are times when the promises of God in the Scriptures are crystal clear; in these we trust, and our hearts are thus yielded to the control of the Word of God. There are other occasions when search- ; ing the Word fails to reveal what we should do in the face of some problem. The saint may be brought safely through this kind of testing if he will first wait upon the Lord and take no action until circumstances forbid his waiting any longer. Then he may make his prayer to the Lord, expressing his trust in the character of God and his determination to try the door which seems most clearly indicated as God’s will. Further, he may trust God to stop His child—if that be His will—by closing that door. The wonderful thing about faith is that any way you consider it, it is not a leap in the dark. It is trust in God’s Word and in His holy character. Bringing these facts now to Hebrews 11, we see that “faith is the substance of thihgs.” What “things” ? The things of the Scripture. “Things hoped for” refer to personal trust. Finally, this is the' principle, or law, by which God is working today as seen in the words, “But without faith it is impossible to please him.”
the evidence of things not seen . . : But with out faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he -
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