Message Eleven

The Faith as the Gospel and
the Goal of the Gospel

Scripture Reading: Gal. 1:23; 6:10; 1 Tim. 1:4; Jude 3; Matt. 26:6-13

1. Like Paul, we should announce the faith as the gospel—Gal. 1:23:
   1. The faith is the contents of the complete gospel according to God’s New Testament economy; hence, it is objective—1 Tim. 1:19; 2:7; 3:9; 4:1, 6; 5:8; 6:10, 12, 21; 2 Tim. 3:8; 4:7; Titus 1:13:
      1. The faith denotes the contents of the New Testament as our faith, in which we believe for our salvation—Acts 6:7; 1 Tim. 6:21; 2 Tim. 2:18.
      2. In Galatians 1:23 the faith implies our believing in Christ, taking His person and His redemptive work as the object of our faith.
   2. Faith refers to the act of believing in the gospel, in God, and in His word and deeds; hence, it is subjective—1 Tim. 1:2, 4-5, 14, 19; 2:15; 2 Tim. 1:5; 2:22.
   3. Galatians gives us a revelation of the faith as the gospel in certain basic principles—1:11-12, 23; 2:5, 14:
      1. Fallen man cannot be justified out of works of law—v. 16a.
      2. Under God’s New Testament economy we are not to keep the law; rather, we are justified out of faith in Christ—v. 16b.
      3. We are dead to the law, we are alive to God, and we have Christ living in us—vv. 19-20.
      4. In God’s New Testament economy we have life and live by faith—3:11.
      5. The gospel was preached to Abraham; the New Testament economy is a continuation of God’s dealing with Abraham—vv. 8-14.
      6. We receive the promise of the Spirit through faith—v. 14.
      7. In Christ we are a new creation—6:15.
   4. God’s economy is initiated and developed in the sphere of faith; faith is the unique way for God to carry out His New Testament economy with His chosen and redeemed people—1 Tim. 1:4; Heb. 11:6.
   5. The objective faith produces subjective faith—Gal. 1:23; 2:20; 3:1-2, 5:
      1. Faith is a matter of seeing a view of the contents of God’s New Testament economy—Heb. 12:2.
      2. Because we have seen a revelation regarding the contents of God’s economy, we spontaneously believe in what we see—Eph. 3:9.
   6. Through the faith as the gospel, we are members of the household of the faith; this household is composed of all who are sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus—Gal. 6:10; 3:26.
   7. We should hold the mystery of the faith—the things which constitute the gospel—in a pure conscience—1 Tim. 3:9:
      1. The mystery of the faith is mainly Christ as the mystery of God and the church as the mystery of Christ—Col. 2:2; Eph. 3:4.
      2. A serving one should hold the mystery of the faith with full understanding in a pure conscience for the Lord’s testimony—1 Tim. 3:9.
   8. To keep the faith is to keep the entire New Testament economy of God—the faith concerning Christ as the embodiment of God and the mystery of God and the church as the Body of Christ and the mystery of Christ—2 Tim. 4:7c.
   9. The faith has been delivered once for all to the saints, and for this faith we should contend—Jude 3.
   10. We need to arrive at the oneness of the faith; the speciality of the church is the faith, which is composed of our beliefs concerning the Bible, God, Christ, the work of Christ, salvation, and the church—Eph. 4:13.
   11. On the foundation of our most holy faith and in the sphere of it, we need to build up ourselves; as we build ourselves up in our most holy faith, we build ourselves up in a faith that is both objective and subjective—Jude 20.
2. The goal of the gospel is that, like Mary, who did “what she could,” we would pour out upon the Lord Jesus what is most precious to us, even our most costly and valuable spiritual treasure, “wasting” ourselves upon Him—Matt. 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9:
   1. Being grateful to the Lord and loving Him, Simon the leper spread a feast in his house for the Lord and His disciples in order to enjoy His presence; a saved sinner would always do this—Matt. 26:6-7.
   2. The gospel of God causes genuine believers to have a great change in their concept of value; whereas others reject the Lord, we treasure Him and value His surpassing worth and supreme preciousness—Mark 14:3; Matt. 26:7; 1 Pet. 2:4, 6-7.
   3. Mary received the revelation of the Lord’s death through His words, and thus she grasped the opportunity to pour out upon the Lord the best that she had; to love the Lord with our best requires a revelation concerning Him—Matt. 26:2, 12; 16:21; 17:22-23; 20:18-19.
   4. The Lord desires that we allow Him to have the first place in all things—Mark 14:7:
      1. The Lord Jesus should have the first place, the preeminence, in our love, in our tripartite being, in our Christian life and church life, and in everything in our personal universe—12:30; 14:7; Col. 1:18; 3:4, 11, 17.
      2. To give the Lord the first place in all things is to love Him with the first love, the best love; in order to give Him the preeminence, we must be willing to be adjusted, to be broken, and to be made nothing so that the Lord can have a way in us, through us, and among us for the building up of His Body—Rev. 2:4; Gal. 6:3; Eph. 4:16.
   5. We must love the Lord Jesus and grasp the opportunity to love Him; to love the Lord is to appreciate Him, to direct our being toward Him, to open to Him, to enjoy Him, to give Him the first place, to be one with Him, to live Him, and to become Him—Matt. 26:11; 2 Cor. 3:16; Mark 12:30; Col. 1:18; 1 Cor. 6:17; Phil. 1:20-21a; S. S. 6:13.
   6. Mary did “what she could”; this means that she gave up her all, lavished all on the Lord, and kept nothing in reserve—Mark 14:8a.
   7. Mary anointed the Lord’s body “beforehand for the burial”—v. 8b:
      1. The word beforehand introduces the factor of time that should cause us to consider if, in our love for the Lord, we are pouring out our best upon Him today.
      2. When we see the Lord face to face, we will love Him as never before, and we will pour out everything for Him, but it will be the most blessed for those who have poured out their all upon the Lord today—Matt. 26:7; Mark 14:3; John 12:3.
   8. The disciples considered Mary’s love offering to the Lord a “waste,” but the Lord intends that the gospel should cause believers to come to Him and “waste” themselves on Him—Mark 14:4; Matt. 26:8 and footnote 1.
   9. “Wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what this woman has done shall also be told as a memorial of her”—v. 13:
      1. “This gospel” refers to the gospel of the Lord’s death, burial, and resurrection—Mark 14:9; 1 Cor. 15:1-4.
      2. The story of the gospel is that the Lord loved us, and the story of Mary is that she loved the Lord—Matt. 26:13; Gal. 2:20; Mark 12:30:
         1. We must preach both the Lord loving us and us loving the Lord; one is for our salvation, and the other is for our consecration—John 3:16; 2 Cor. 5:14-15.
         2. The gospel tells us how the Lord loved us, but the loving story of Mary stirs up our love for the Lord; thus, there needs to be a mutual love, and this must accompany the preaching of the gospel—Matt. 26:13.