THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
The Believers
Message One
Believers in the Household of the Faith
Scripture Reading: Gal. 6:10; 1 Tim. 1:19; 2 Pet. 1:1; Heb. 11:1, 5-6; 12:1-2; Acts 5:14; 1 Tim. 4:12; 2 Cor. 6:14-15; John 3:16; 20:31
I. The believers are the members of the family, the household, of the faith; the house of God, the eternal Bethel as the desire of God’s heart, is the house of faith—Gal. 6:10; Gen. 28:11-12, 16-19a: (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 2)
A. Faith bears two denotations—objective and subjective—1 Tim. 1:19; 2 Pet. 1:1: (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 2)
1. In the objective denotation, “the faith” refers to the things in which we believe; “the faith” is the contents of the complete gospel according to God’s New Testament economy, the entire revelation of the New Testament concerning the person of Christ and His redemptive work—Acts 14:22; 1 Cor. 16:13; Jude 3, 20; Eph. 4:13; 2 Tim. 4:7. (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 2)
2. In the subjective denotation, “faith” refers to the believing action of the believers, the act of believing—Gal. 2:20; Rom. 1:17: (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 2)
a. The faith of the believers is actually not their own faith but Christ entering into them to be their faith—Rom. 3:22 and footnote 1; Gal. 2:16 and footnote 1. (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 2)
b. Faith is to believe that God is; to believe that God is implies that we are not; He must be the only One, the unique One, in everything, and we must be nothing in everything—Heb. 11:5; Gen. 5:22-24. (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 2)
c. Faith comes out of the hearing of the word; when we come to the living Word (Christ) in the written word (the Bible), He becomes the applied word (the Spirit) of faith to us—Rom. 10:8, 17; John 6:63; Gal. 3:2; cf. Heb. 3:12. (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 2)
d. We all have the same faith in quality, but the quantity of faith we have depends upon how much we contact the living God so that we may have Him increased in us—Rom. 12:3; Acts 6:5; Col. 2:19. (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 2)
B. We may use the illustration of a camera to see these two denotations of faith; the believing action, the “click,” of “faith” shines the objective, divine scenery of “the faith” into our being; this makes the divine scenery of Christ as the reality, the truth, of God’s economy subjective to us in our experience to become our reality, our truth; thus, “faith” causes everything substantiated by it to become subjective to us in our experience—John 14:6; 8:32, 36; 2 Cor. 4:6-7, 13; 5:7. (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 2)
C. The household of the faith refers to the children of promise, all the sons of God through faith in Christ—4:28; 3:26. (Life-study of Galatians, msg. 29)
D. All believers in Christ are a universal household, the great family of God through faith in Christ, not through works of law; this household, as the new man, is composed of all the members of Christ with Christ as their constituent—Col. 3:10-11. (Life-study of Galatians, msg. 29)
II. The believers are those who have believed in Christ as the Son of God according to God’s New Testament economy of faith—1:4; John 3:15-16, 36; 20:31: (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 1)
A. A believer is one who believes in Christ as the Son of God—John 9:35-38. (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 1)
B. Because Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, we need to believe in Him as the Christ and as the Son of God—John 20:31. (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 1)
C. Our believing in Christ as the Son of God is according to God’s New Testament economy of the faith—1 Tim. 1:4: (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 1)
1. Faith is to stop our doing and to trust in the Lord—Gal. 2:16. (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 1)
2. The principle of God’s salvation is that of believing in God and in all that He has done and intends to do; this principle of faith should govern our entire Christian life—Heb. 11:6. (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 1)
3. God’s economy to dispense Himself into His chosen and redeemed people is in the spiritual sphere of the new creation through regeneration by faith in Christ—Gal. 3:23-26. (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 1)
4. Faith is our reaction toward God caused by the divine infusion, which permeates and saturates our being—Heb. 12:1-2. (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 1)
5. We believe in Christ by the Lord Jesus Himself as our faith—Rom. 3:22. (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 1)
III. The believers are those who have received Christ as their generating life for them to become children of God—John 1:12-13; Rom. 8:16: (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 1)
A. Believing in Christ equals receiving Him—John 1:12-13; 1 John 5:10. (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 1)
B. The authority for us to become children of God is Christ Himself as the generating life that makes us children of God for His multiplication and expression—3:1, 23; 5:13. (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 1)
C. As the life-giving Spirit, the Lord is receivable—1 Cor. 15:45b; 4:7; John 7:37-39; 20:22. (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 1)
IV. The believers are those who have believed into Christ as the Son of God to have an organic union with Him—John 3:15-16, 18, 36: (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 1)
A. John 3:16 speaks of believing into the Son of God; the preposition into here signifies union with Christ by believing into Him: (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 1)
1. When we believe in the Lord Jesus as the Son of God, we believe into Him—John 3:15-16, 18, 36. (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 1)
2. By believing into Christ as the Son of God, we enter into Him to be one with Him organically, to partake of Him, and to participate in all that He has accomplished for us. (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 1)
3. By believing into Christ, we are identified with Him in all that He has accomplished, attained, and obtained—Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 2:5-6; Col. 2:11-13; 3:1-3. (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 1)
B. The way for us to be regenerated is to believe in the Lord Jesus, even to believe into Him as the Son of God—John 3:3, 5-6, 15-16. (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 1)
C. By believing into Christ as the Son of God, we have an organic union with Him, becoming one spirit with Him—1 Cor. 6:17; 2 Cor. 5:17: (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 1)
1. Faith works to bring us into an organic union with the Triune God in Christ, and through this union God is continually infused into us. (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 1)
2. The Lord is now seeking to develop this organic union, and He will cause it to be developed to the uttermost. (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 1)
3. The more the organic union is developed, the more we will enjoy the dispensing of the Triune God as life into our tripartite being—Rom. 8:2, 6, 10-11. (2007 FTTA-Spring, msg. 1)