Post by Admin on Jul 25, 2024 21:44:29 GMT
The Science of Cultivating Faith by A. T Jones.
Faith comes "by the word of God:" to the Word, then, we must look for it.
ROB: Well said
The centurion, then, expected "the word only" to do the work. He depended upon "the word only" for the fulfillment of his desire. And Jesus said that that is "faith," even "great faith."
Yet you have said, many and many a time, that you would do what the word of God says. Often you have depended on yourself to do what the word says, instead of depending on that word to do what it says. And then you wondered why you did not succeed better in the Christian life. There is no place for wonder. You did not exercise faith: it was all yourself, and none of God.
ROB” Wow, A. T. Jones is so correct here.
Then, asking in faith, you will receive what you ask; and being justified by faith, you will have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Nature itself held constantly before them the instruction that the earth of itself could produce nothing; that it was the moisture of rain and snow, from heaven, that made it bring forth and bud, and produce fruit.
And the Lord said, "So shall my word be." As the earth of itself can do nothing, so you of yourself can do nothing. And as the moisture of rain and snow from heaven makes the earth bring forth, and bud, and produce fruit, so shall my word make you bring forth the fruit of righteousness to the glory of God. "My word, . . . IT shall accomplish that which I please."
ROB: Yes
Yet still they slaved on in the treadmill round of their own
fruitless doings,—all of works, and none of faith; all of themselves, and none of God; all of their own doing, which was not really doing at all, and none of the word itself doing, which is the only real doing of the word of God.
ROB: Yes
The inculcation of faith is the teaching that the word of God itself accomplishes the thing which is spoken in that word.
Read, then, the first verse of the Bible. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." How did He create them?—"By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. . . . "For he spoke, and it was." Ps. 33:6-9. Before he spoke, it was not: after he spoke, "it was." Only by the speaking, it was. What caused it to be?—The word only.
But darkness was upon all the face of the deep. God wished light to be there; but how could there be light when all was darkness?—Again He spoke: "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light." Whence came the light?—The word, which was spoken, itself produced the light. "The entrance of thy words gives light." Ps. 119:130.
ROB: Interesting idea, Jones is correct.
And so he is the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever. Always he is the Creator. And always he does all things by his word only. And always he can do all things by his word; Because it is the very characteristic of the word of God, that it is possessed of the divine power by which itself accomplishes the thing which is spoken.
ROB: Hmm?
This is why it is that faith is the knowing that in the word of God there is this power, the expecting the word itself to do the thing spoken, and the depending upon that word itself to do that which the word speaks.
ROB: Hmm?
The teaching of faith is the teaching that such is the nature of the word of God; the
teaching of people to exercise faith is the teaching them to expect the word of God to do what it says, and to depend upon it to do the thing which is by it spoken; the cultivating of faith is by practise to cause to grow confidence in the power of the word of God itself to do what in that word is said, and dependence upon that word itself to accomplish what the word says.
ROB: Hmm? I am not sure that the word only is creative by itself... Jones does not fully understand the process of the words spoken under divine faith.
Since the word of God is imbued with creative power, and so is able to produce in very substance the thing which that word speaks; and since faith is the expectation that the word itself will do what the word says, and depending on "the word only" to do what that word says, it is plain enough that faith is the substance of things hoped for.
Since the word of God is in itself creative, and so is able to produce and cause to appear what otherwise would never exist nor be seen; and since faith is the expecting the word of God only to do just that thing, and depending upon "the word only" to do it, it is plain enough that faith is "the evidence of things not seen."
ROB: Wow, uncanny. I wrote of this above sentence before Jones wrote the message for me to read. Wow.
"Since the word of God is in itself creative,” Hmm? I do not fully agree with Jones on this idea.
He who exercises faith knows that the word of God is creative, and that so it is able to produce the thing spoken. Therefore, he can understand, not guess, that the worlds were produced, were caused to exist, by the word of God.
ROB: "Why is it that Jones who can at times read and understand Hebrew, does not read and understand the process of the Word during the divine faith process?
This is the difference between the word of God and the word of man. Man may speak; but there is no power in his words to perform the thing spoken: if the thing is to be accomplished which he has spoken, the man must do something in addition to speaking the word—he must make good his word.
Not so the word of God.
When God speaks, the thing is. And it is simply because he has spoken. It
accomplishes that which he was pleased to speak. It is not necessary that the Lord , as man, must do something in addition to the word spoken.
ROB: Such as idea is not fully correct. When the Lord does speak the WORD, the Lord does do.
Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do.
The KJV is correct, the LORD engineers function and dysfunction, AND the LORD do. The final word in this verse is “asah” meaning to “do”.
Ps 33:6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. (KJV)
Notice the JESUS-YHWH speaks the Word, and the Holy Spirit Medium carries the word to the Father and the power of the Father back, and through the medium, the doing which the word was spoken is done. Therefore Jones has not fully explained the process of faith.
Readers will note Creation like faith, is a community process of divine powers. The Hebrew grammar is correct in saying "masculine He singular" spoke the Creative Act using words of sound, but the "doing" process of the Word is a community act of faith and family power, not fully understood by Jones.
And so it is written: "For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God, which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe"—in you that exercise faith. 1 Thess. 2:13.
ROB: How fantastic is Jones to correct this verse for readers. We agree whole heartedly with him.
1Th 2:13 ¶ For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that “have faith”. (Ancient Hebrew)
( from: 1888mpm.org Core 1888 Essentials page 9)
Thank you A. T. Jones for your making the fuzzy translation of the KJV verses more clear, just as we also do.
O, the word of God is divine! In it is creative energy. It is "living and powerful." The word of God is self-fulfilling; and to trust it and depend upon it as such, that is to exercise faith. "Hast thou faith?"
ROB: I would not state the WORD is self-fulfilling, as Jones has said. Mrs White does not describe faith like this as a process. Jones is not quite right in this aspect of faith.
The Science of Cultivating Faith
No. 6
There is not much said in the Scriptures about any necessity of our having faith, while very, very much is said about our cultivating faith.
Faith is "the gift of God" (Eph. 2:8); and that it is given to everybody is plainly stated in the Scriptures: "God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." Rom. 12:3. This measure of faith which "God hath dealt to every man" is the capital with which God endows and starts "every man that cometh into the world;" and every man is expected to trade upon this capital—cultivate it—to the salvation of his soul.
ROB: An interesting idea.
The Science of Cultivating Faith
No. 7
Faith comes by the word of God. Justification by faith, then, is justification that comes by the word of God. Righteousness by faith is righteousness that comes by the word of God.
ROB: Hmm?
But God has set forth Christ to declare righteousness unto and upon man. Christ has spoken the word only, and in the darkened void of man's life there is righteousness to everyone who will receive it. Where, before the word is received, there was neither righteousness nor anything which could possibly produce righteousness, after the word is received, there is perfect righteousness and the very Fountain from which it springs.
The word of God received by faith—that is, the word of God expected to do what that word says, and depended upon to do what it says—produces righteousness in the man and in the life where there never was any before; precisely as, in the original creation, the word of God produced worlds where there never were any worlds before. He has spoken, and it is so to everyone that believeth: that is, to every one that receiveth. The word itself produces it.
ROB: Hmm? I am not sure what Jones is talking about, nor would I agree. It is my understanding that righteousness or straightness comes when we hold the hand of Jesus and experience the Second Birth process. Much more complex than the word itself.
The Science of Cultivating Faith
No. 8
And now that the way was clear for "the word only" to work, that word did work,
effectually, and the promised "seed" was born. And so "through faith,"—through
helpless, total dependence upon the word only—"Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised."
ROB : “Interesting
The Science of Cultivating Faith
No. 9
But, if Isaac is offered for a burnt-offering, if Isaac is burned up, what will become of the promise of the blessing of all nations in him? What will become of the promise, Thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven innumerable? Yet there stood the word, Offer Isaac for a burnt-offering. Abraham had trusted the word of God only, as against Ishmael, but this is more than trusting the word of God as against Isaac—it is trusting the word of God as against the word of God!
And Abraham did it, hoping against hope. God had said: Thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven; In Isaac shall thy seed be called; Offer Isaac for a burnt-offering. Abraham did not insist that God should "harmonize these passages." It was all-sufficient for him to know that the statements were all the word of God. Knowing this, he would trust that word, would follow that word, and would let the Lord "harmonize these passages," or "explain these texts," if any such thing were needed.
Then, by a miracle, God gave me Isaac, the promised seed. Now he says, Offer Isaac, the promised seed, for a burnt-offering. I will do it: by a miracle God gave him at the first; and by a miracle God can restore him. Yet when I shall have offered him for a burnt-offering, he will be dead; and the only miracle that can then restore him is a miracle that will bring him back from the dead
THIS IS FAITH. And thus "the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness." James 2:23.
ROB: Interesting passages.
No. 10
ROB: Not sure what Jones is talking about here?
The Science of Cultivating Faith
No. 11
ROB: Not sure what Jones is talking about here?
The Science of Cultivating Faith
No. 12
This being so, it must never for a moment be forgotten that where there is no word of God, there can not be any faith.
The Science of Cultivating Faith
No. 13
The Lord tells us thus to pray; and thus he has made provision for the steady, strong, and continuous growth of faith.
Many people pray, but do not know whether it is the will of the Lord that they should have what they pray for, and so do not know whether they can certainly claim it; and not knowing whether they can claim it, they are all at sea as to whether their prayers are answered or not.
And any one who seeks in the word of God the things which God has there provided for all, and upon that specific word prays for that thing, thus asking according to the plainly expressed will of God, knows that his prayer is heard, and that he has the thing for which he prayed.
ROB” Yes
The Science of Cultivating Faith
No. 14
Now faith is entire dependence on the word of God, that that word shall accomplish what that word says. "It shall accomplish that which I please." Isa. 55:11
And this is exactly what Jesus said: Man shall live "by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." When Jesus said that, it is perfectly plain that he simply said, in other words, Man shall live by faith.
There is no other way truly to live than by faith, which is simply living by the word of God. Without faith, without the word of God, men only die.
The Science of Cultivating Faith
No. 15
Every soul, therefore, who ever asks God for forgiveness of sin, in that very thing asks God to give him righteousness for sin. Every soul who asks God for forgiveness, asks it solely upon the word of God, which speaks forgiveness. And faith is entire dependence upon the word for what the word speaks. Thus righteousness is altogether of faith.
And He does forgive,—he does give for—your sins when you ask him. He says he
does, and he does. "He is faithful”—that is, he will never fail—“and just to forgive us our sins." And the only thing he gives for sins is his righteousness.
Then why not thank him for the righteousness that he freely gives for your sins, when you ask him to?
"Hast thou faith?" Have the faith of God. "Here are they that keep . . . the faith of Jesus."
The Science of Cultivating Faith
No. 16
And not only is the righteousness of God revealed to faith; it is revealed not alone to the measure of faith that you have to begin with; but also to faith beyond that—to greater faith.
And this revelation and this growth will never cease to him that believeth. Faith is of God; it is divine, and is capable of eternal growth. The righteousness of God is
inexhaustible, and so will be eternally revealed more fully to the eternally growing faith.
Such is the way, the blessing, and the joy of the exercise of faith. And this is why it is that "the knowledge of what the Scripture means when urging upon us the necessity of cultivating faith, is more essential than any other knowledge that can be acquired." This is the science of faith. And there is no higher, richer, nor nobler science.
The Science of Cultivating Faith
No. 17
And what circumcision represented to those people was works, and works only. It was the greatest of all works,—greater than creation itself,—because, as the rabbis put it, "So great is circumcision, that but for it the Holy One, blessed be he, would not have created the world." "It is as great as all the other commandments;” "equivalent to all the commandments of the law.”—Farrar's "Life of Paul," chap. 22, par. 5, note; chap. 35, para 4, note.
Yet this which to them was so great, the Lord sweeps away, as with a blast, in the
words, "Circumcision is nothing;” and in Christ Jesus, circumcision avails nothing. And, in view of what circumcision meant to them, this was simply to say that works are nothing, and in Christ Jesus works avail nothing.
What then? Is everybody left in utter emptiness?—No, no! Thank the Lord there is
something which avails for all, and avails forever. Though it be the everlasting truth that "in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,” neither works nor no works avail anything; yet it is also the eternal truth that “in Jesus Christ . . .
FAITH WHICH WORKETH,” does avail.
ROB" End of Jones writings about Cultivating Faith.
He confirms a lot of the same process of faith as we have light on, but does not go on to illuminate this light with practical examples of his faith in his life.
Shalom