The Mystery of the Faith
Part One
“Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience”
1 Timothy 3:9
Paul is writing to “his own son in the faith” in the Spirit of God’s love and wisdom. He is instructing Timothy about THE faith. Many in our land speak of “a” faith which is nebulous, indistinct and relatively impotent. “The” faith is powerful and filled with the living vitality of God to bring men and women into a definite expressions. THE faith defines those who hold it and clarifies and individualizes their expression. An indistinct expression of Christ within a life will always be the result of “a” faith which produces nothing powerful or particular to the individual. The typical faith of our day renders an impotent expression; living and serving God from the resources of self rather than from the matchless resources which are ours through THE Faith of Christ.
Contentment with a nominal expression of the living Christ is the bane of religion. It is the product of a faith held within the intellect but never touching the heart strings of the individual. It has no fire, no purpose and no sense of the heartbeat of the living God. It is a faith in word only, void of the works of faith through which men and women are accosted by the certainty and substance of God. It ventures nothing, costs nothing and in God’s eyes is worth nothing. It is THE faith that pressed Peter out of the boat; it is THE faith that produced expressions of power within the lives of holy men and women of God in Hebrews 11. Without THE faith it is impossible to please God; with it, impossible to remain inactive and unaffected by its wonder. Within the scope of THE faith it is impossible to live an uneventful and ineffectual life. The Faith OF Christ must produce the workings of Christ within the hearts of His own. Contentment apart from godliness is the malady of Christian religion. The purpose of THE faith is to reveal the life and heart of its author.
“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith”
Hebrews 12:2
Paul pleaded with the people of God at Corinth to examine whether they were IN THE FAITH!
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be IN THE faith;
prove your own selves…”
2 Corinthians 13:5
Ω
“You hear the word, and believe it in theory,
while you deny it in practice.
I say to you, that “you deceive yourselves”
– Charles Finney
Brian Troxel
