Chapter 4
Scripture Reading: John 4:34-35
Oh Lord, we praise You for everything you have done for us. Lord, in this conference you are opening Your heart to us. You desire that we believe so that from our innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. Lord, we pray for the meeting tonight. We want to lift up our eyes to see the fields You have prepared for us. Lord, You need us, so we want to trust in You Lord, in order to receive everything You have prepared for us. Gain our heart totally. Purify our heart with Your precious blood. You are the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Lord, we want to follow You wherever You go. Lord, release our lives; remove all the barriers, everything that hinders us, all unbelief in our heart. Lord, bring us to the spirit of faith, for us to receive Your words. Jesus is the Lord! We want to receive Your salvation, Your commission. Amen! Jesus is the Lord!”
In the first message we saw that the writings of John have two main aspects or goals. The first one is to mend the nets and the second one is to finish the work. In the book of Revelation, the letter to the church in Ephesus shows us where the problem is, where the church in Ephesus was lacking. This church was at the end of the first century, but this is totally applicable for us. So, in order for us to be useful to the Lord, we need to become desirable. The church in Ephesus is the result of God working through His apostles, especially through the apostle Paul. Unfortunately, the letter shows us a serious deficiency; they lost the first love. The first love is everything and is related to our heart and to faith.
In Galatians 5:6 Paul says, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision, but faith avails, operating through love.” A spiritual heart has two main functions. The first function is to believe and the second function is to love. We can see our own physical heart. It is a pump, a “motor”, that receives blood and immediately giving blood to the whole body so that the entire body can be healthy. The heart is the fountain of life. All of us need a healthy heart. That’s why in the gospel of John, the key, the most important word, is to believe. The Lord wants to bring us to the practice of the first works. He wants us to believe. To believe is totally related to the spirit. To believe is totally related to faith.
In the New Testament, the way is the way of faith. At the end of the first century, tradition and doctrines annulled vital functions in the service of the Lord. Faith is our cooperation with the Lord. Faith needs to be restored. John’s help to us, chapter after chapter, is to show us cases with the Lord’s speaking in each case. These cases help us to have faith, to believe in the Lord, to believe in the Scriptures, and to believe in His words. When we believe we receive the Spirit; the Spirit has life and this life is God Himself. God is love, and this life of love desires to flow.
We also see that in these cases some believed and some others didn’t. The only thing trustworthy is the divine life. The Lord doesn’t trust in human nature, as we saw in John chapter 2. After the Lord transformed water into wine, the disciples trusted in Him. He entered into the temple, expelled the merchandisers, and then His disciples remembered what had been written, and believed in the Scriptures and in His word.
Verses 23-25 say, “Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed into His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus Himself did not entrust Himself to them, for He knew all men, And because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.” Human nature is not trustworthy to fulfill God’s work, so it is necessary to be born anew to receive His Spirit, to receive His life.
When we believe, we receive the Spirit. Galatians 3:1-2 says, “O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly portrayed crucified? This only I wish to learn from you. Did you receive the Spirit out of the works of law or out of the hearing of faith?” When we believe we receive the Spirit, the Spirit brings life, and life is the instrument the Lord uses for His work of building up. Of course, the Lord wants to help us to believe.
We need to break through into the organic realm, so that the Lord can recover us, and more than this, so that He can work in us to bring us to the condition of Philadelphia where we have brotherly love. We are weak but we have an open door because we don’t deny the Lord’s name or His Word. We have His promises that He will keep us from the hour of trial and that we will be able to keep our great prize which is the crown of life. The crown of life means the growth in life, the maturity, the qualification of life, the overcoming life. So the Lord desires that we would exercise.
Hebrews chapter 11 tells us the meaning of faith. Verse 1 says, “Now faith is the substantiation of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” The substantiation of things hoped for is related to the Word; the conviction of things not seen is related to the Spirit. Faith has everything to do with the Word and the Spirit.
Hebrews 4:2 says, “For indeed we have had the good news announced to us, even as they also; but the word heard did not profit them, not being mixed together with faith in those who heard.” The word they heard did not profit them. Why? It is because the word didn’t come together with faith. In order for the word to be profitable we need to receive the word with faith.
Where is faith in us? It is not in our mind! It is not in our soul. But praise the Lord we have within us something called spirit, the spirit of faith. When we listen to God’s word, we need to listen to it exercising in faith. Where is faith? Faith is in our spirit. We need to exercise our spirit. First, the apostle John’s help is to bring us to the spirit. So saints, we need to exercise our spirit by calling on the Lord’s name, pray-reading the word, ruminating the word, prophesying, and singing the hymns. Then we all can be transferred to the realm of faith, to the realm of the spirit, and put all these things into practice.
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