Substance is Christ!

[JM]

A quote on FAITH:

This heaven-begotten and heaven-born faith, is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen. It is more than a shadow, for a shadow is not the substance of anything, though shadows do prove the existence of substances which cast them, and to some extent may portray the outline or shape of the substance of which they are the shadows, yet they have no substance in themselves. Thus in the ceremonial law, the meats, drinks, sabbath days and new moons were the shadow of good things to come- but the body, or substance, is Christ. And as the faith of the gospel is the faith of Jesus Christ, and as the righteousness which alone can justify us before God is by the faith of the Son of God, who hath loved us and given himself for us, so it must be a substance, in distinction from all shadows, passions or exercises of the natural mind, or energies of unrenewed men.

The christian's faith and hope are inseparably associated, and must operate together in the spiritual exercises of the saints while in their pilgrimage state. Faith is not the substance of hope, but it is the substance of the things hoped for, by the christian. The things hoped for by the new man are spiritual, heavenly and eternal, for it enters within the veil, and is fixed on things which are not seen by the natural perceptions of men. Nothing short of the faith of the Son of God can make real, or give substance to, the things thus hoped for. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him; but he hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit; and all the revelations of the Spirit to us are made to our faith.

Hypocrites may hope, but their hope shall perish;

for it is ideal, having no substance.

But the hope of the christian is a reality, and faith points to Christ as the Hope of Israel, and the Savior thereof, and gives reality to the things hoped for; and until hope shall yield to fruition, it is the substance of the things hoped for, as well as the evidence of things not seen; of eternal things, which are imperceptible to the eye or intelligence of unregenerated men.

"While," says Paul, "we look not on the things which are seen; but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal."

We could not hope, in a gospel sense, for spiritual and eternal things which are not seen, if faith did not present them; hence faith is the substance on which hope is sustained, and just in proportion to the development of faith in us, will be the steadfastness of our hope, so far as christian experience is concerned. When our faith is not in manifest exercise in our hearts, our hope flags, and we approach the borders of despair, and in great anxiety cry out, My hope is perished from the Lord! But the renewed manifestation of our faith, obtaining a victory over the world, says, "Why art thou cast down, 0 my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God." The faith that is born of God will lay hold of and endorse no other doctrine than that of God our Savior; it will point out no other path for the saints to walk in but that which Christ has marked out by his precepts and examples, and it will admit as genuine, no other experience than that which is led by the Spirit of God. And while all other kinds of faith may be attainable by the powers of the flesh, and when attained, can join affinity with other kinds of the faith, that of which we speak can only come from God, and never can be known or felt by any while in an unquickened state, and when implanted in the heart will not amalgamate with the faith of men nor of devils.

 

[etexas]

Very nice!

 

[JM]

Now, faith is no fancy, it is no easy thing to believe. It is the easiest thing in the world to believe; it is the hardest thing in the world to believe. It is the easiest thing to believe, when that faith of God's operation, the faith of God's elect, is standing and moving, and looking, in the light and the operations of the Holy Ghost. Not all the infidelity in our hearts can make it difficult for us to believe when we see light in God's light. And then it will not matter what trouble you have, thus believing you will say: "He will bring me forth." "When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold." (Job 23:10) It will not matter what allurements the world may dangle before your eyes; Christ is the One Object, and after Him you will go. It will not matter what righteousness another may pretend to have; the longing of the soul is to know that sacrifice of Christ; and that it was made for him. All this may be in a person who has not five minutes' comfort in a year, about his own interest. Yea, he may go years and years without any comfortable sense of interest; and yet he is an over-comer for all that. He turns away from the world; he says: "I cannot find any life here." He turns away from his so-called pleasures, for they are death to his soul. He turns away from everything which would teach him falsely, and make him look to, and depend on himself; for he finds this: that none can do him good but that blessed One Who is now in heaven, having entered there with His Own blood. I would press this on your notice, my dear friends, this evening, that this is an important thing, to have faith; the comfort of it will come later. If you have faith it will bring you to God; and there you will confess, and confess, and confess, as long as you live. You will confess with the publican; confess with the dying thief; you will confess with Paul, an injurious person; you will confess with Manasseh, and the worst characters in the Bible; you will confess with them all, that you are a poor, undone, wretched creature; and nothing but faith will bring you to this, the faith that stands in the power of God. This is the purpose of faith, to bring a sinner to God.
J. K. POPHAM