Message Eleven

Faith and Love

Scripture Reading: Titus 3:15;
1 Tim. 1:14; 2 Tim. 1:13; 3:2-4; Gal. 5:6

1. As the conclusion of 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, the Epistle to Titus concludes with a word concerning faith and love; this implies that, in the current of the church’s degradation, in order for us to be able to effectively stand firm and overcome the downward trend and factor in the church, faith and love are indispensable—3:15.
2. Faith and love are two inseparable, excellent virtues of the believers in Christ—1 Tim. 1:14; 2 Tim. 1:13; Gal. 5:6:
   1. Through faith we receive the Lord, and through love we enjoy the Lord whom we have received—John 1:12; 14:21; 21:15-17:
      1. By faith we receive the Lord and therefore please God; by love we enjoy the Lord and thereby keep His word—Heb. 11:6; John 14:23.
      2. By faith we receive and enjoy the divine life that is revealed and ministered to us in the Gospel of John; by love we love the Lord and those who belong to Him—3:16, 36; 20:31; 21:15-17; 13:34-35.
   2. Faith and love are the reality and expression of the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—in whom we believe and whom we worship and receive—Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14:
      1. This wonderful faith and this super-excellent love are out of the Triune God, who desires to be joined to us to be our everything—Eph. 3:16-19a:
         1. The Triune God passed through the process of incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension and was ultimately consummated as the life-giving Spirit; this all-inclusive Spirit dwells in our regenerated spirit—John 1:14; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 6:17; 2 Tim. 4:22.
         2. When we contact the Triune God through prayer and by looking to Him, by means of our spirit, He infuses Himself into us to become the faith toward Him and the love toward those who belong to Him—Heb. 12:2.
      2. Such faith and love are the rich grace given to us in Christ by the Triune God, not only to be the motivating power and expression of our spiritual life but also to become our breastplate, which covers and protects the vital parts of our being—1 Tim. 1:14; 1 Thes. 5:8.
   3. Faith and love are connected and go together—Gal. 5:6:
      1. Love comes from faith, and faith operates and works together through love:
         1. Faith is active; it receives the Spirit and thus is full of power—3:2.
         2. Faith operates through love to fulfill God’s purpose to complete the sonship of God for His corporate expression—the Body of Christ—4:5-6; Rom. 8:14; 12:4-5.
      2. Love with faith enables us to love our Lord in incorruptibility so that we may have an overcoming church life for the fulfillment of God’s New Testament economy in Christ for the church—Eph. 6:23-24; 5:32.
3. Faith is for appreciating, substantiating, and receiving the unlimited riches of the Triune God—John 1:12; Eph. 3:16-17a:
   1. Faith is given to us by God that by it we may receive Christ, the embodiment of the Triune God, and thereby enter into the Triune God and be joined to Him as one, having Him as our life, life supply, and everything—2 Pet. 1:1.
   2. Faith is to believe and to trust in God and in His word—John 14:1.
   3. The way for us to be saved and regenerated is simply to believe in the Lord Jesus—3:15-16; 1 John 5:10-12:
      1. By faith in the Lord, we receive the forgiveness of sins and eternal life—Acts 10:43; John 3:16.
      2. When we believe in the Lord, we believe into Him—v. 15:
         1. By believing into Him, we enter into Him to be one with Him, to partake of Him, and to participate in all that He has accomplished for us.
         2. By believing into Him, we are identified with Him in all that He is and in all that He has passed through, accomplished, attained, and obtained—1 Cor. 1:30; Eph. 2:5-6; Col. 3:1.
   4. Faith brings us into an organic union with the Triune God; instead of pursuing a great work, we should pursue this organic union—John 15:4-5.
4. Love is for experiencing, enjoying, and living out the immeasurably rich Triune God—Mark 12:30:
   1. Love issues out of faith and enables us to live out all the riches of the Triune God in Christ with those who have believed into Christ with us in order that the Triune God may have a glorious corporate expression—Eph. 3:19-21.
   2. Love is for the believers to minister and transmit the Triune God to their fellow believers so that all the believers may love one another with divine, transcendent love and live a corporate life in Christ—Rom. 12:4-5, 10.
   3. Our love for the Lord must be absolute—Matt. 10:37; 1 John 2:15; Rev. 12:11:
      1. We should not love anyone or anything above Him; whatever we love more than the Lord is an idol—1 John 5:21.
      2. He is the One most worthy of our love, and we must be worthy of Him—Matt. 10:37.
   4. To give the Lord the first place in all things is to love Him with the first love, the best love—Col. 1:18; Rev. 2:4.
   5. “To love God means to set our entire being—spirit, soul, and body, with the heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30)—absolutely on Him, that is, to let our entire being be occupied with Him and lost in Him, so that He becomes everything to us and we are one with Him practically in our daily life”—1 Cor. 2:9, note 3.
   6. Whatever one loves, his heart, even his entire being, is set on and occupied and possessed by—1 Tim. 6:10; 2 Tim. 3:2-4; 4:8, 10a:
      1. Whether there would be a day of glory in the church’s victory or grievous days of the church’s decline depends on what kind of lovers we are.
      2. To maintain the victorious standard of the church, we must be lovers of God and lovers of the good that pertains to God’s economy—3:3-4.