Triumph Of Faith

What is the triumph of faith? How can I triumph in faith? How can I know that I am triumphing in faith? This chapter answers such questions and more! You will get to understand what triumphing in faith means, how you can triumph, the different aspects of faith and what they can do in a believer’s life, and those around him. Also, you will get to know why and how you can trust in the Lord as one of the means to triumph in life.

John 4: 50.—The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him.

Let me quote from the Gospel according to St. John, the 4th chapter, beginning at the 46th to the 48th verse: "So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum, there was an official whose son was ill. When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe." There you have the word "believe" the first time. "The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” See John 4:49 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” John 4:50.

The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way." Vs.50. There you have that word the second time.

"As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” John 4:51-52. The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” John 4:50. And he himself believed, and all his household." Vs. 53. There you have the word "faith".

This story has often been used to illustrate the different steps of faith in spiritual life. It was this use made of it in an address that brought the sainted Canon Battersby into the full enjoyment of rest. He had been a godly man but had lived a life of failure. He saw in the story what it was to rest on the Word and trust the saving power of Jesus, and from that night he was a changed man. He went home to testify of it, and under God, he was allowed to originate the Keswick Convention.

Let me point out to you the three aspects of faith which we have here: first, faith seeking; then, faith finding; and then, faith enjoying. Or, still better: faith struggling; faith resting; faith triumphing. First of all, faith struggling. Here is a man, a heathen, a nobleman, who has heard about Christ. He has a dying son at Capernaum, and in his extremity leaves his home, and walks some six or seven hours away to Cana of Galilee.

He has heard of the Prophet, possibly, as one who has made water wine; he has heard of His other miracles around Capernaum, and he has a certain trust that Jesus will be able to help him. He goes to Him, and his prayer is that the Lord will come down to Capernaum and heal his son. Jesus Christ said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe." John 4:48. He saw that the nobleman wanted Him to come and stand beside the child. This man didn’t have the faith of the centurion—"Only say the word" Matthew 8:8. He had faith. It was faith that came from hearsay, and it was faith that did, to a certain extent, hope in Christ; but it was not the faith in Christ's power such as Christ desired. Still, Christ accepted and met this faith. After the Lord had thus told him what He wished—a faith that could fully trust Him—the nobleman cried the second time, "Sir, come down before my child dies." John 4:49. Seeing his earnestness and his trust, Christ said, "Your son will live."

John 4:50.

Then we read and see that the nobleman believed. He believed, and he went his way. He believed the word that Jesus had spoken in that he rested and was content. And he went away without having any other pledge than the word of Jesus. As he was walking homeward, the servants met him, to tell him his son lived. He asked at what hour he began to amend. And when they told him, he knew it was at the very hour that Jesus had been speaking to him. He had at first a faith that was seeking, struggling, and searching for blessing; then he had a faith that accepted the blessing simply as it was contained in the word of Jesus. When Christ said, "Your son will live," he was content, and went home, and found the blessing—the son restored.

Then came the third step in his faith. He believed in his whole house. That is to say, he did not only believe that Christ could do just this one thing, the healing of his son; but he believed in Christ as his Lord. He gave himself up entirely to be a disciple of Jesus. Not only him alone but his whole house. Many Christians are like the nobleman. They have heard about a better life. They have met certain individuals by whose Christian lives they have been impressed, and consequently have felt that Christ can do wonderful things for a man.

Many Christians say in their heart, "I am sure there is a better life for me to live; how I wish I could be brought to that blessed state!" But they don't have much hope about it. They have read and prayed, but they have found everything so difficult, If you ask them, "Do you believe Jesus can help you to live this higher life?" they say, "Yes; He is omnipotent." If you ask, "Do you believe Jesus wishes to do it?" they say, "Yes, I know He is loving." And if you say, "Do you believe that He will do it for you?" they at once say, "I know He is willing, but whether He will actually do it for me I do not know. I am not sure that I am prepared. I do not know if I am advanced enough. I do not know if I have enough grace for that." And so they are hungering, struggling, wrestling, and often remain unblessed. This state of things sometimes goes on for years—they are expecting to see signs and wonders, and hoping that God, by a miracle, will put them all right. They are just like the Israelites; they limit the Holy One of Israel.

Have you ever noticed that it is the very people whom God has blessed so wonderfully who do that? What did the Israelites say? "God has provided water in the wilderness. But can He provide the table in the wilderness?

We do not think He can." And so we find believers who say, "Yes, God has done wonders. The whole of redemption is a wonder, and God has done wonders for some whom I know. But will God take one so feeble as I, and put me entirely right?" The struggling and wrestling and seeking are the beginnings of faith in you—a faith that desires and hopes. But it must go on further. And how can that faith advance? Look at the second step.

There is the nobleman, and Christ speaks to him this wonderful word: "Your son will live" and the nobleman simply rests upon that word of the living Jesus. He rests on it, and without any proof of what he is to get, and without one man in the world to encourage him. He goes away home with the thought, "I have received the blessing I sought; I have got life from the dead for my son. The living Christ promised it for me, and on that, I rest." The struggling, seeking faith has become a resting faith. The man has entered into rest about his son.

And now, dear believers, this is the one thing God asks you to do: God has said that in Christ you have eternal life, the more abundant life; Christ has said to you, "Because I live, you also will live." John 14:19. The Word says to us that Christ is our Peace, our Victory over every enemy, who leads us into the rest of God. These are the words of God, and His message has come to us that Christ can do for us what Moses could not have done.

Moses had no Christ to live in him. But it is told to you that you can have what Moses did not have; you can have a living Christ within you. And are you going to believe that, apart from any experience, and apart from any consciousness of strength? If the peace of God is to rule in your heart, it is the God of peace Himself that must be there to do it. Peace is inseparable from God. The light of the sun—can I separate that from the sun?

Utterly impossible. As long as I have the sun I have the light. If I lose the sun; I lose the light. Take care!

Do not seek the peace of God or the peace of Christ apart from God and Christ. But how does Christ come to me? He comes to me in this precious Word; and just as He said to the nobleman, "Your son will live," John 4:50. So, Christ comes to me today, and He says, "Go your way, your Savior lives." "I am with you always." "I live, and you shall live also." "I wait to take charge of your whole life. Will you have me do this? Trust me with all that is evil and feeble; your whole sinful and perverse nature—give it up to Me; that dying, sin-sick soul—give it up to Me, and I will take care of it." Will you not listen and hear Him speak to your soul?"

Child, go forward into all the circumstances of life that have tempted you; into all the difficulties that threaten you." Your soul lives with the life of God; your soul lives in the power of God; your soul lives in Christ Jesus.

Will you not, like the nobleman, take the simple step of faith, and believe the word Jesus has spoken? Will you not say, "Lord Jesus, you have spoken: I can rest on your Word. I have seen that Christ is willing to be more to me than I ever knew; I have seen that Christ is willing to be my life in the most actual and intense meaning of the words." All that we know about the Holy Ghost sums itself up in this one thing: The Holy Ghost comes to make Christ an actual, indwelling, always-abiding Savior.

Lastly, comes the triumphant faith. The man went home holding fast to the promise. He had only one promise, but he held it fast. When God gives me a promise, He is just as near to me as when He fulfils it. That is a great comfort. When I have the promise, I also have the pledge of fulfilment. But the whole heart of God is in His promise, just as much as in the fulfilment of it, and sometimes God, the promiser, is more precious because I am compelled to cling more to Him, and to come closer, and to live by simple faith, and to adore His love. Do not think this is a hard life, to be living upon a promise. It means living upon the everlasting God. Who is going to say that is hard? It means living upon the crucified, the loving Christ. The nobleman went home and found the child living. And what happened then? Two things. First: he gave up his whole life to be a believer in Jesus. If there had been a division among the people of Capernaum, and thousands of them had hated Christ, this man would still have stood on His side.

He believed in the Lord. This is what must take place with us. Let us go forward with our trust in the living Christ, knowing that He will keep us. Then we will get grace to carry the life of Christ into our whole conduct, into all our walk and conversation. The faith that rests in Jesus, is the faith that trusts all to Him, with all we have. Do we not read that when God had finished His work, and rested, it was only to begin new work? Yes; the great work was to be carried on—watching over and ruling His world and His church. And is it not so with the Lord Jesus? When He had finished His work, He sat upon the throne to do His work of perfecting the body, through the Holy Spirit. And now, the Holy Spirit is carrying on that blessed work, teaching us to rest in Christ, and in the strength of that rest to go on, and to cover our whole life with the power, and the obedience, and the will, and the likeness of the Lord Jesus. The nobleman gave up his whole life to be a believer in Christ; and from that day it was a believer in Jesus who walked about the streets of Capernaum; not only a man who could say, "Once He helped me," but, "I believe in Him with my whole life." Let that be so with us everywhere; let Christ be the one object of our trust.

One more thought,—he believed with his whole house. That was triumphant faith. He took up his position as a believer in Christ; and his wife, his children, his servants—he gathered them all together, and laid them at the feet of Christ. And if you want power in your own house, if you want power in your Bible class, if you want power in your social circle if you want power to influence the nation, and if you want power to influence the Church of Christ, see where it begins. Come into contact with Jesus in this rest of faith that accepts His life fully, that trusts Him fully, and the power will come by faith to overcome the world; by faith to bless others; by faith to live a life to the glory of God. Go your way, your soul lives; for it is Jesus Christ who lives within you.

Go your way; be not trembling and fearful, but rest in the word and the power of the Son of God . "I am with you always." Matthew 28:20. Go your way, with the heart open to welcome Him, and the heart believing He has come in. Surely we have not prayed in vain. Christ has listened to the yearnings of our hearts and has entered in.

Let us go our way quietly, restfully, full of praise, joyful, and trusting; ever hearing the words of our Master, "Go your way, your soul lives;" and ever saying, "I have trusted Christ to reveal His abundant life in my soul; by His grace, I will wait upon Him to fulfil His promise." Amen.