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Date: August 7, 1937Place: SingaporeScripture Reading: Mark 11:24
During the past few evenings we have seen four things concerning the death and resurrection of Christ. We have seen the blood, the flesh, the crucifixion, and the bearing of the cross. We have already seen the first two items in detail, concerning how Christ propitiated our sins with His blood and how He crucified the old man. The blood and the crucifixion are related to our being in Christ. The flesh and the bearing of the cross are related to Christ being in us. The work of Christ can be divided into two parts: we in Him and He in us. In John 15:4 the Lord said, "Abide in Me and I in you." The first two items of the work of Christ relate to "Abide in Me." The last two items relate to "I in you." The blood and the crucifixion relate to what we have obtained in Christ. The flesh and the bearing of the cross, which we will talk about, relate to what Christ will accomplish within us. In order for us to be in Christ, we must believe, and in order for Christ to be in us, we must obey. Believing and obeying are the two most important matters to a Christian.
Believing means believing that we are already in Christ and that we are already one with Him. All that He has is ours, and all of His experiences are our experiences. A living faith believes that all that Christ has is ours. However, Christ being in us requires not only faith but also obedience. We need to obey His leading. Sometimes He works in us by urging us and sometimes by stopping us. Sometimes when we remain still, He lets us know what we should do. Sometimes when we act by our flesh, He stops us inwardly and discourages us from doing what we should not do. The Lord is either urging or stopping us all the time from within. Believing and obeying mean that we are willing to go along with His urging and stopping. Very often we sense a voice that is not quite a voice, a feeling that is not quite a feeling; it is something that we cannot see, hear, or touch, yet something quite visible, audible, and touchable. This something within us tells us what we should or should not do. Often when we talk too much, this something within will stop us. Obedience means obeying this something. It is not just obeying the Scriptures but also obeying this inward leading. In order to live an overcoming life, one must know what faith and obedience are. If there is no living faith or obedience, we will only have doctrines in our mind; there will be nothing in our spirit.
A Christian should receive all that is in Christ through faith and receive all that Christ is in us through obedience. The way of victory consists of two things — faith and obedience. The blood is related to faith rather than obedience because the blood is a work of Christ. Christ's work can only be obtained by faith, not by obedience. Similarly, the crucifixion of the old man is by faith, not by obedience. We must exercise our faith to believe that we are already in Christ.
Tonight let us consider the meaning of a living faith. Only after we know what a living faith is can we exercise this faith. How can we receive the riches of Christ? Everyone knows the word faith, but the faith of many people is not truly faith; their faith does not produce any effect on them. The Bible tells us that the old man is dead. Many people say that they believe this, but their faith is not effectual. They do not seem to have died at all. Let us look into the Scripture to find out what kind of faith is truly faith.
To many people, faith is merely a mental consent; it is not a genuine believing in the heart. In their mind they agree that something is good and logical. Brothers and sisters, never consider this as faith; this is merely a mental reckoning. After one hears a doctrine, he may appreciate its excellence and logic. But knowing a good doctrine does not mean that one has faith in the doctrine.
What is faith? Let us consider what the Lord said in Mark 11:24: "All things that you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and you will have them." This is the only place in the entire Bible that tells us what faith is. We must understand what is being said in this verse before we can know what faith is. This is the only verse in the entire Bible that tells us the way to believe. "Believe that you have received them, and you will have them."
What is faith? Faith is believing that we have already received. It is not believing that we can receive, will receive, shall receive, or want to receive. Faith is believing that we have already received. Perhaps you do not realize how great a difference this makes. If a person believes he can receive, may receive, will receive, or wants to receive, his faith is not real. Only one kind of faith is real — living faith. Only one kind of faith can receive God's promise. Only one kind of faith secures the riches of Christ for us. It is the faith that believes that we have already received. The problem today is that many of God's children think that they have faith and that they will receive. They do not realize, however, that even if they believe ten million times that way, they still will not receive. God does not consider this kind of believing as faith; He ignores it. Only one kind of faith is acceptable to God. The word "have" in Mark 11:24 is a very important word. If we believe that we have received something, we will have it. If we hope that we will receive it, whatever we have is not faith.
I will not explain this verse now even though I feel it would help you. Let me first tell you what it means to "believe that you have received them, and you will have them." Suppose there is a sinner and you preach the gospel to him. You tell him that he is a sinner and that Jesus Christ has accomplished the work of redemption for him. Then you try to find out whether he has believed. He tells you that he wants to believe, that he wants the Lord to forgive his sins, and that he wants to come to God through Christ. After you hear this, you may feel that your word has produced some result. You may be very delighted and ask him to pray for forgiveness of his sins. He may then pray, "O God, please forgive my sins. I am a sinner and I deserve to die. Thank You that You sent the Lord to die for me and shed His blood for me. Please forgive my sins through the Lord Jesus so that I can be a saved person." How would you feel about this kind of prayer? Is it not a very good prayer? A sinner who can pray like this should be qualified for salvation. This is indeed a model prayer. However, this cannot be farther from the truth. He is really saying that he believes that God will save him and that God will forgive his sins. How terrible this is! By saying that God will do this and God will do that, he is, in effect, pouring cold water all over you. He says, "I fully believe. I believe that God will save me. I believe that He will forgive my sins." Do you think this person is saved? Everyone knows that such a person is not saved, and none of his sins are forgiven. He only believes that he will be saved. He thinks that he fully believes. Actually, he does not have any faith at all. What is faith? It is saying, after one prays, "Thank God, my sins have all been forgiven by the Lord! Thank God, I am already saved!" Perhaps he will say this with tears in his eyes. This is faith. It is not believing that we will have something or we can have something, but that we already have it. It is not believing that our sins can be forgiven or will be forgiven, but believing that our sins are forgiven. This is the only faith spoken of in the Bible.
What is faith? Faith is not believing that we can have something or will have something. Real faith is believing that we already have it. It is not that we will have it, but that we already have it. How amazing! Many people are clear at the time of their salvation what faith is. They believe that they are already saved, not that they will be saved or forgiven. But when they hear the next step of the truth, they give up the faith that they had before. At the time they are saved, they believe that they have already received. But when it comes to the next step of the truth, they can only believe that they will receive. Friends, we have learned one lesson of faith already. Every saved person has learned one lesson of faith — they believe that they are already saved. But after they are saved, they have no faith concerning Christ's work in the other areas.
Let us now turn to the matter of deliverance from sins. Six years ago, a person attended our meetings in Shanghai. He was a board member of an independent church, and he was from a wealthy family. Ninety percent of the pastor's salary came from him. He was an important person in that church. He not only donated a great deal of money, but he was also very zealous. He often attended our Bible study meetings. One morning he came to my home. I had no sooner asked him how he was when I saw tears rolling from his eyes. I asked him what was bothering him, and he said, "Mr. Nee, you do not know me. You think I am a zealous person and that I love the Lord. You do not know what kind of person I really am. Although I am zealous and love the Lord, I have a sickness. I have a terrible temper. It only takes a very small thing to make me so angry that I smash anything that is in my way. Afterward, I realize that this was not proper Christian behavior, and I ask God to forgive me. But after I pray, I still get angry and smash things when my employees do something wrong again. I act the same way toward my family. I am a Christian, but I do not look like one. Although I confess my sins, I still lose my temper after my confession.
"I tell my employees that they have to `work' on the Lord's Day. What I mean by `working' on the Lord's Day is attending church services. But since I lose my temper at least once or twice a day, they do not believe in the Lord even though I have pleaded with them. When I preach to them, they talk behind my back, saying, `He says he believes in God and that he is a Christian, but he is no better than anyone else. Why should we believe?' When I hear this, I am very saddened. If they perish in the future it will be because of me. I pray to God to forgive me. I have even resolved to not lose my temper anymore. But this has not worked. My temper is getting worse. Last night the whole neighborhood could hear me. A very minor thing provoked me to throw around everything in the shop; even the glasses were broken. My financial loss is not that important. The most difficult thing for me to bear was when my employees said, `How can a Christian behave in such a terrible way?'
"I know my sin. I cannot sleep all night. I do not want to be like this. Why does it keep coming back? Today is the Lord's Day, and it is my turn to give a message. I told myself that I have to behave today and not lose my temper. If I lose my temper, I will not be able to give my message. But in the morning my wife gave me a bowl of hot soup. She could stand the heat of the soup, but I could not. I was so angry that I threw the bowl at her and had a big argument with her. There is no way I can give a message today.
"I am a Christian, but my temper is like the devil. I really do not know what to do! This is why I came to you today. Mr. Nee, please think of a way to help me! No matter what it takes, you have to help me to get rid of this temper." He was very sad as he spoke, but as I was listening, I kept on laughing. He said, "Mr. Nee, you have to help me." He was crying as he was speaking. But the more he cried, the more I laughed. He said, "Mr. Nee, I am really miserable!" I said, "You are miserable, but I am very happy." He said, "I really do not know what to do." I said, "Nothing could be better." He said, "Mr. Nee, do not make fun of me." I said, "I am very happy because this is a sickness which only the Lord can heal. Some people can heal themselves, and some people can only be healed by others. The Lord can heal your sickness. He will surely heal you. Although you feel that you have a terrible temper, the Lord is mightier than your temper. A temper such as yours can be healed by the Lord in an instant." He said, "It is not so simple! You have never seen my temper. If you had seen it, you would know that it is not so easy." I said, "It would not matter even if it were ten times worse. The Lord is able to heal it."
I told him to read Romans 8:2 and then asked him, "What does God's Word say?" He said, "God says that the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death." I asked, "Where does the Spirit free you from the law of sin and of death?" He said, "In Christ." I asked, "Are you in Christ?" He said, "Although I am bad, I must admit that I am still in Christ." I said, "What does the Bible say if you are in Christ? The Bible says that the Spirit has freed you in Christ from sins. What kind of sins is He freeing you from? From your temper. The Spirit has freed you in Christ from sins. Why are you still not freed?" He said, "It is my hope that God will free me today." I then asked, "Does the Bible say that the Spirit will free you? No, God says that the Spirit has freed you in Christ. What does the word "has" mean? None of us say that we have taken our meal tomorrow; we only say that we have already taken our meals. The word "has" means that something is accomplished, that the things mentioned are accomplished facts."
I went on and said, "The Bible says that the Spirit has freed you in Christ from the law of sin and of death. Are you freed from your sins?" He said, "No, I am not." I said, "If you have not been freed, does that mean God's Word is not true? God says that in Christ you have been freed. Yet you say that you have not been freed. Is God's Word reliable or is your word reliable? Are you saying that God is a liar?" He said that he would never consider God's Word to be lies, and that he believed in all the Scriptures, but that honestly he had not been freed yet. I pointed at him and said, "God is not afraid of your temper. Even if your temper were ten times worse, God would not be afraid of it. But all the sins you have committed in all these years are not as serious as the one you have committed this morning. This morning you have committed the biggest sin — the sin of unbelief. No other sin is worse than the sin of unbelief. You have an evil heart of unbelief within. You must ask God to remove this evil heart of unbelief so that you can believe." Next I said, "I have to prepare myself because I have to give a message this morning. You should ask God to forgive your sin and to remove your evil heart of unbelief so that you can believe. I am going upstairs and will leave you in the sitting room. You should pray to the Lord here and ask Him to deliver you so that you can believe." Then I went upstairs. After half an hour, I came down and asked how he was doing. He said, "Mr. Nee, everything is fine! I am fully freed, and I am truly freed. Thank God!" Then he went home.
Brothers and sisters, the faith this person had was a living faith. No one could deal with his temper. But on that morning when he believed, his temper was gone. I did not see him for nearly two months after that. One day I met him on the tram. I asked him how things were going. He said, "Thank God, I am free." After six months, I saw him again and asked him how things were going. He said again, "Thank God, I am free." What is faith? It is not believing that God will work but that God has already worked. It is believing that we already have it. The phrase has already worked implies a fact that has been accomplished. Never change has already worked to will work. All we have to do is to thank God that He has freed all of us in Christ.
In 1929 I lived in a place about two hours away from the city of Foochow. At that time we had a sister who had a very serious eye disease. She went to Foochow to seek medical help. The doctor told her that her eye disease was very serious and that even if it was healed, she would need eyeglasses. The doctor prescribed a pair of glasses for her and gave her some treatments. One day she heard me speak on the truth concerning faith and she believed. She went to the Lord and said, "My eye disease is very serious. Every day I have to go to Foochow for treatment. Even if I am healed, I will still have to wear glasses for the rest of my life. It is time consuming as well as expensive." She asked God to heal her. After she prayed, she believed that God healed her eye disease, and that she had already been healed. She was full of joy and peace.
However, she remembered the appointment that she had already made with the doctor. What should she do since Christians should not break a promise? The glasses prescribed to her could not be resold to someone else. Therefore, she went to Foochow as scheduled. They gave her medicine for her eyes and the glasses. On the way home on the ferry, she thought to herself, "If I believe God's promise that He has healed my eyes, what am I going to do with this medicine and glasses?" Within her there was a desire to take these items home so that she could still use them in case her condition did not improve. However, another voice said, "Do you believe that God has already healed you? If you do, what is the use of these items?" Satan also began to talk to her: "You should not be too hasty in doing things. You have already spent so much money on these things." She knew that this speaking was from Satan, and she began to praise God. At the same time, she threw the drugs and eyeglasses into the river. Her heart became very joyous. She later testified that she had never been so happy in her whole life. A week later her eyesight was restored.
One day she stood up to give her testimony. A few days later I heard another story. Another brother who heard her testimony also had eye problems and was also treated by the same doctor. The doctor gave him medicine and also prescribed glasses for him. After he heard the sister's testimony, he went to Foochow. On his way back he said to himself, "If God can heal that sister, He can also heal me." He tried to believe in this way, and he threw the medicine and glasses into the river. When he came back, he told Brother Faithful Luk that surely God would heal him.
One day Brother Luk came to my place and told me that the brother had grown in faith and that he was not seeking treatment for his disease anymore. When I heard it I smiled coldly and said, "The eye disease of that sister was surely healed, but I guarantee that this brother will not get better." Brother Luk said, "How can that be?" I said, "Perhaps you should take him back to the doctor." Brother Luk said, "You are just too much." I said, "This brother does not have faith." He said, "How can you say that, when this brother threw away items worth twenty dollars? He has even stopped going to the doctor and discontinued the medicine. If this is not faith, what is it?" After four weeks, the eye disease of the brother had not improved; in fact, it deteriorated. He came to see me and asked why God had healed the sister but not him. I said, "You threw away your things too soon. You do not have faith." He said, "But I believe that God will surely heal me." He told me that God had called him to preach the gospel in Ku-Tien and that when he returned God would heal him. I said, "When you return, please come and see me." When he returned, he was not any better. From 1929 until now (1937), he has been wearing a pair of thick glasses and is still seeing the doctor because he did not have faith.
A living faith is not one that believes that God will heal but one that believes that God has already healed. It is not believing that God will listen to prayer but believing that God has already answered prayer. Whenever we believe that God has already answered our prayer, we have received it. The brother believed that God would heal him from the very first day, but that kind of faith is useless. There is only one kind of faith in the Bible: "Believe that you have received them, and you will have them." The Bible does not say that we will receive at a later date. It is useless to believe that we can or will receive. Friends, will, can, and may are terrible words. A living faith has no use for these words. Words of faith are have and already; no other words should be used. Concerning our being in Christ, we have to realize that we overcome as soon as we believe, just as we were saved as soon as we believed. All of the riches of Christ, all of the heavenly blessings, the power of healing, the outpouring of the Spirit, and the power of the Spirit can be ours. Whenever we receive a word from the Lord and take hold of it, believing that it is ours, it is ours. Faith apart from God's word is not real faith; it is useless and ineffectual. We must have God's word before we can believe. Both Romans 8:2 and 6:6 are God's word. If we hold on to God's word and believe His word, we will receive! The Lord Jesus said, "All things that you pray and ask." How all-inclusive is this word! Everything is included in this word. Believe and we will receive! All of God's promises, the rich promises and the accomplished facts, are ours when we believe. May God grant us the light to see what living faith is and what believing is — not a kind of false believing but a genuine believing. Once we have this kind of faith, our most difficult problems will be resolved immediately. This is the first lesson we have to learn. The blessing it brings is unlimited and sufficient for our whole lifetime. May God bless us!
