Hebrews 12:2 says that we need to look away to Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith. We need to look away from everything other than Jesus. Many things are distracting us. When some of the young people came to the full-time training, they may have had their own thought about how wonderful the training was. Then after coming, they may have been disappointed. It is the same with the church life. You may look at the saints and the situation in your locality and be very disappointed. But I would ask, “Where is a church that can satisfy you?”
According to the record of the New Testament, no church is that good. All the churches established by the apostle Paul became degraded. When Paul wrote 2 Timothy, he told his young co-worker, Timothy, that all the churches in Asia had abandoned his ministry (1:15). In the same way, we are still suffering from a rebellion among us which began in September 1987. When Paul wrote 2 Timothy, he was ready to be martyred (4:6). At that time he declared, “I have fought the good fight; I have finished the course; I have kept the faith” (v. 7). By reading 2 Timothy, we can see that nothing in Paul’s outward environment and situation was encouraging. Everything was disappointing. This shows that we need to learn how to walk and suffer by faith.
To learn to walk by faith, to suffer by faith, you have to look away from all things. Do not look at your roommate. Do not look at the elders. Do not look at the old sisters. Do not look at me. Look away unto Jesus. This is because only Jesus is. All the others are not. Anyone other than Jesus is nothing, so do not look to anyone except Him. We trust in the Lord. We do not trust in anyone else. Only He is. So look away from all things which are not, unto Jesus who is. This is faith. Jesus is the Author and Perfecter of our faith, so our faith is just Jesus. He is the origin and the completion of our faith.
First Timothy 1:4 speaks of “God’s economy, which is in faith.” Anyone who has a plan to do something would not tell you that his plan is in faith. But the Bible tells us that God’s economy is in faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11:1). God’s economy is a kind of plan concerning things not seen by us. I have been in the center of the work in the Lord’s recovery for over sixty years. I saw many people come into the recovery with a big dream. After they came in, they looked around and saw nothing. There is nothing here but Jesus! We need to look away from everything that is nothing, unto Jesus.
Ephesians 3:17 tells us that Christ is making His home in our hearts “through faith.” Christ is making His home, His building, in our hearts with Himself as the material. If you were to tell an unbeliever this, he might say, “Who is Christ and where is Christ? How can He make His home in you?” Christ’s indwelling is mysterious and abstract. We apprehend it not by our physical senses but by the sense of faith.
God’s righteousness is revealed in the gospel out of faith and to faith (Rom. 1:17a). The righteousness of God is a great thing, and the New Testament stresses it. In Matthew 5:20 the Lord said, “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall by no means enter into the kingdom of the heavens.” In 2 Timothy 2:22 Paul charged Timothy to pursue after righteousness first, with the ones who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Then 2 Peter 3:13 tells us that righteousness will dwell in the coming new heaven and new earth. Righteousness is very crucial, but it is revealed to us only out of faith and to faith. This means that if you are going to enjoy the righteousness of God in the gospel, you must be a person of faith. We can be such a person through contacting the Lord by calling on Him.
Genesis 15:6 says concerning Abraham, “And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” Such a faith is the top righteousness. God is righteous, and He is for righteousness. He wants us to practice righteousness, and our initial righteousness is faith. You must have faith as a start of your righteousness before God.
Also, Hebrews 11:6 says that if you are seeking God in such a faith, God will give you a reward, a prize. This shows how important faith is. We must have this faith exercised within us. Then we have God’s righteousness revealed to us, and we have the initial righteousness before God. If we have this exercise of faith, God will reward us.
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4 that he spoke by the spirit of faith. He said, “We...believe, therefore we also speak” (v. 13). If you do not believe that Christ is making His home in your heart, how can you go to tell others? You have to believe that Christ lives in you and that if you die with Him through the cross, He is now as the resurrection working Himself into you. This is all by faith. If you do not believe in these things, how can you speak to others? The reason that you do not prophesy, that you do not speak for the Lord, speak the Lord forth, and speak the Lord into others, is mainly because your exercise of faith is short.
The way to receive such a faith is to contact its source, the Lord, the processed and consummated God, by calling on Him, praying to Him, and pray-reading His word (Heb. 4:16; Rom. 10:12; 2 Tim. 2:22; Eph. 6:17-18). We have to come forward to God’s throne of grace to receive mercy and grace. This means that we have to contact God to receive faith. This is the only way. It is not necessary to have a separate time to contact God. At any time, anywhere, you can contact Him. Just call on Him and say a little word to Him. Then you will receive faith. This faith links you with God and imparts, transfuses, God into you. In this way you will have the living faith. Actually, that is God Himself moving within you. Then you will become a man of faith.