C
At the age of forty Joshua joined Caleb, as two of the twelve spies, as ones who had hearts full of faith by taking the word of God as their faith to care for God’s interests for His people to possess the good land; only two overcomers among God’s redeemed in the wilderness, Joshua and Caleb, received the prize of the good land—Num. 13:30; 14:6-9, 27-30; Rom. 10:17; Gal. 3:3, 5; Heb. 11:5-6; Phil. 3:13-14; cf. Acts 6:5:
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According to the record in Numbers 13 and 14, the people of Israel had an evil heart of unbelief; Joshua and Caleb exhorted and warned the people by saying, “Do not rebel against Jehovah” (v. 9); these words indicate that not to believe in the Lord is to rebel against Him—Num. 13:31-33; 14:1-3, 6-11; Deut. 1:26, 32.
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If we are going to fully possess Christ as the good land, we must ask the Lord to save us from having an evil heart of unbelief; to have such a hardened heart is to fall away, to turn away, from the living God—vv. 25-26, 28, 35-39; 9:23; Acts 6:5a; Heb. 3:7-13.
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Our Christian walk is by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7); thus, we must continually look away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:1-2); our faith is not of ourselves but of Him who imparts Himself as the believing element into us that He may believe for us (Gal. 2:20; 2 Pet. 1:1).
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We need to realize that for a Christian, unbelief is the greatest sin; if we grasp hold of God’s Word and believe His Word, all will be well; when we live by our feelings and do not exercise our spirit of faith and turn our heart to the Lord in order to believe in the divine facts in God’s Word, which is His covenant, His will, to us, we are rebelling against the Word of God, insulting God, and making Him a liar—Deut. 1:25-26; Heb. 3:12, 16-19; 4:2, 6; 11:1; Rom. 3:4.
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We should not be threatened or frightened by the clouds of our convictions, feelings, and environments; we must live under the new covenant and not believe in any failure, weakness, darkness, or negative thing; we are the covenanted people, and we have a verse of promise to meet every situation—Gen. 9:8-17; Rev. 4:2-3; Lam. 3:22-23; Rom. 8:1; 2 Cor. 12:9; 2 Tim. 1:10; 2:1; Jude 24; 1 John 1:9; 1 Cor. 1:9.
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Our spirit is the “bank account” of the resurrected, pneumatic Christ as the reality of all the bequests of the new covenant; by the law of the Spirit of life, all these bequests are dispensed into us and made real to us; because the church people are a people under the covenant, we can actually be called the church of the covenant—Isa. 42:6; 49:8; Rom. 8:2, 10, 6, 11, 16; Heb. 8:10; John 16:13.
Morning Nourishment
Heb. 12:2 Looking away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith…Rom. 10:17 So faith comes out of hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Heb. 4:2…The word heard did not profit them, not being mixed together with faith in those who heard.
Gal. 2:20 …I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
The overcoming saints in the Old Testament are only witnesses of faith, whereas Jesus is the Author of faith. He is the Originator, the Inaugurator, the source, and the cause of faith. In our natural man we have no believing ability….When we look away unto Jesus [Heb. 12:2], He as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45) transfuses us with Himself, with His believing element. Then, spontaneously, a kind of believing arises in our being, and we have the faith to believe in Him. This faith is not of ourselves but of Him who imparts Himself as the believing element into us that He may believe for us. Hence, He Himself is our faith. We live by Him as our faith; that is, we live by His faith (Gal. 2:20), not by our own. (Heb. 12:2, footnote 3)
As indicated by the evil report of the ten spies (Num. 13:31-33) and the murmuring of the people against Moses and Aaron (14:1-4), the children of Israel did not care for God but cared only for themselves…. Because of this, they did not believe in God, and they offended God to such an extent that they became abhorrent to Him. Their situation brought in God’s judgment and punishment. God alone is the source of faith. If we would have faith, we must learn to care for God’s interests and not for our benefit. (Num. 14:11, footnote 1)
Today’s Reading
To what is God faithful? He is faithful to what He says. He is faithful to His Word, and His Word is the testament, the covenant. The covenant is simply God’s Word.Our Christian life and church life are absolutely a covenant life…. In verse after verse of the New Testament, we find God’s promises. I want to give you one of them: …“No temptation has taken you except that which is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow that you be tempted beyond what you are able, but will, with the temptation, also make the way out, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Cor. 10:13). There is a verse for every circumstance that you face…as a living promise for you to rely upon and live by….We should not be threatened or frightened by the clouds of our convictions, feelings, and environments. We are under God’s covenant, fully under His blessing. There is no more condemnation, no more judgment, no more curse. Death has been abolished. In the church, we continually enjoy life…. Do not be frightened about losing your job or your health. Do not be threatened by any dark or negative thing. We are the covenanted people, and we have a verse of promise to meet every situation. (Life-study of Genesis, p. 437)
Only God’s Word is true! If the environment and experience match God’s Word, we thank and praise Him! If the environment and experience do not match God’s Word, it is God’s Word that stands. Anything that contradicts God’s Word is false…. God says that Christ is my holiness, my life, and my victory. Satan will say that you are still corrupt, weak, and unclean. But God’s Word is true. Satan’s words are lies. Only God’s Word is true! (CWWN, vol. 24, “The Overcoming Life,” p. 136)
The faith of the believers is actually not their own faith but Christ entering into them to be their faith….When we repented unto God, the pneumatic Christ as the sanctifying Spirit of God (1 Pet. 1:2a) moved within us to be our faith by which we believed on the Lord Jesus (Acts 16:31)…. As sinners, we did not have faith. Faith came into us by our hearing the word. This word is just Christ Himself. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” p. 273)
Further Reading: Life-study of Hebrews, msg. 25; CWWN, vol. 24, “The Overcoming Life,” chs. 7-8