The One Great Reality by Louisa Clayton

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If any sin comes into your mind and troubles you, dear child of God, do
not carry it about with you, tell Father about it at once; confess it to
Him and remember that you are under the cleansing Blood. "The Blood of
Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin." [Footnote: 1 John i.
7.] It has not only cleansed us once for all, but it is cleansing us now
at the present moment.

It is important to remember that the whole purpose of the Bible is to give
glory to God. It is the Everlasting Word of the Everlasting God. "The word
of our God shall stand for ever." [Footnote: Isa. xl. 8.] Make the word of
God _everything_. Receive its statements by faith as revelations of simple
certainties. Find out how happy you are. "Happy is that people that is in
such a case, yea, happy is that people whose God is Lord." [Footnote: Ps.
cxliv. 15.]

If we are walking with God in our daily life we need a light to show us
the way. David knew well what it was to go along rough roads on dark
nights, so he says, "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my
path." [Footnote: Ps. cxix. 105.]

Did you ever hear about Moody's torch? One night Moody had to return home
through a dark wood after one of his meetings, and the path was winding
and rough, so a friend offered him a torch. Moody declined taking it,
saying, "Thank you, but it is too small."

"It will light you home," said the man.

"But the wind may blow it out."

"It will light you home."

"But if it should rain?"

"It will light you home."

At last Moody started, taking the torch with him, and he said afterwards,
"In spite of all my fears, it gave abundant light on my path all the way
home."

Every promise in the Word of God is like Moody's torch, and if we will
take it and use it, we shall find as he did, that it will light us all the
way to our Eternal Home. The Bible is the Book of light placed by our
Master in the hand of faith that we may see clearly how to walk and to
please God and how to deal wisely and kindly with those around us. It
contains plain directions about everything in our daily life.

The Bible is a Revelation of God Himself. It is a direct communication
from Him to us. There are four things made known to us in the Word which
are of priceless value--

1. It proclaims a full, free salvation through faith in Christ. "To you is
the Message of this Salvation sent."

2. It opens out to you the riches of grace and invites you to take them
freely--freely--freely.

3. It opens "the door of faith" wide to the weakest sinner and even to
you.

4. It gives a new life within, which transforms the soul and makes us new
creatures in Christ Jesus.

Our Lord says, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they
are life." [Footnote: St. John vi, 63.] Can you say, "Thy Word hath
quickened me"? [Footnote: Ps. cxix. 50.]

Do not be satisfied with reading a chapter here and there. Read straight
through. Why? Because the Bible has a beginning and an ending like any
other book. It begins with the story of a friendship between God and man:
we see man very happy in this friendship. Then something happens; you will
find it in the third chapter of Genesis. Some one has come in between them
and the friendship is broken. Still God is looking for His friend and
calling him, "Where are you?" The answer comes from under the shadow of
the trees. "I heard Thy voice and I was afraid and hid myself."

Now we come to the last words at the end of the Book, and we hear the same
Voice saying, "I am coming back again very soon." It is the Voice of the
same Friend, no longer sad but glad. "The darkness has all passed
away and the true Light is shining," [Footnote: I John ii. 8.] and will
shine for ever: yes, it is sunshine all around, everlasting sunshine.

Where is the Bible? Do you keep your Bible where you can take it up
whenever you have a few spare moments? Is it ready at hand so that you can
read it before you go to bed at night? Do the children speak of it as
"Mother's book"? Do you turn to it for strength and comfort? Is it a
_living_ book to you?

One of the most solemn things which God says to His rebellious people in
olden times is that "they were casting His Words behind their backs." We
are doing the same thing if the Bible is laid aside on the shelf, or put
into the front room and allowed to remain unopened week after week. There
can be no blessing in your home and in your life while you neglect the
Word of God. It is this very word of God which will judge you at the last
day.

Listen to Christ's solemn warning: "He that rejecteth Me and receiveth not
My words hath one that judgeth him," which means you will not be left
without a Judge. It is not a matter of small importance whether you read
the Bible or not: it is a matter of life or death. A neglected Bible shows
you are living without God; a neglected Bible shows you are living for
this world only; a neglected Bible shows that your soul is dying of
starvation; a neglected Bible means that though you may _think_ you can
get on very well without it, Jesus _says_, "The Word that I have spoken
the same will judge him in the last day." [Footnote: St. John xii. 48.]

The Bible is God's Message to this present generation. Sometimes people
want to lay it on one side as an old book which is out of date. It is the
most up-to-date book in the world. It not only tells us of what is going
on at the present moment, but about what will happen in the future. We see
pictures in the daily papers of what people were doing yesterday and what
they looked like, but in the Bible we have portraits true to life not only
of what we are outwardly, but of the thoughts of our hearts. "The Word of
God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword: it can
discern the secret thoughts and purposes of the heart." [Footnote: Heb.
iv. 12.] We hear a great deal about the X-rays which show what is going on
inside the body, but this is nothing compared to the Word of God which
penetrates deep down into our inmost feelings and brings them to light. It
is better to be searched and cleansed now, than to go on in the old way
and then to stand before the great White Throne by and by, condemned to
everlasting punishment.

Let us pray with David, "Search me, O God, and know my heart, try me and
know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in
the way Everlasting. Amen." [Footnote: Ps. cxxxix, 23, 24.]

ADDRESS VIII

HAVE FAITH IN GOD

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE--Romans iv.

There is one man set before us in this chapter as the man who had faith in
God. The one thing which marks him more than any other is his faith. The
man lived nearly 4,000 years ago, and yet he is still a vivid personality;
he lives on in our thoughts and memories as the man who trusted God. His
name is still reverenced all over the world, even among people of
different religions, as "The Friend of God."

"The God of Glory appeared to Abraham," and from that moment Abraham's
faith fastens on what God is. The attractive power of Jehovah drew him
from his home, his relations and his country, and with every fresh
revelation of God, Abraham's faith grasped more of God and clung to Him
with a firmer hold. God's word was all he had to go by; whatever God said
was enough for him; whatever God told him to do, he did it, because, to
_trust God_ means to obey Him. He had God with him at every step.

If ever there was a clear-sighted man, that man was Abraham, for trust in
God enlightens our understanding. He was a man with a far sight. He saw
what no other man then living saw. He saw that the day was coming when God
would send His Son to be the Saviour of the world. How do we know this?
Because Christ said, "Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and
was glad." [Footnote: St. John viii. 56.] He saw far on into the future,
farther than any other man then living. He saw the golden City, the holy
City, "whose builder and maker is God." [Footnote: Heb, xi. 10.] Yes, the
eye of faith not only sees God, it sees also what "God has prepared for
those who love Him."

God was very real to that man. Abraham trusted God because he knew Him
personally. Faith is the act of the soul which looks wholly away from
_self_, whether it be righteous self or sinful self, and looks to God
only, in complete submission and confidence.

It was because Abraham trusted Him that God stamped the man as His
friend--Abraham My friend. On and on through all these hundreds of years
he has been called "the Friend of God." In the book of Chronicles, in
Isaiah and in the Epistle of James it is mentioned again, "He was called
the Friend of God."

What is friendship? It is two hearts trusting in each other. Abraham
trusted God, and God trusted Abraham. God put such confidence in him that
He let him know that He was going to destroy the cities of the plain.
The LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?"
[Footnote: Gen. xviii. 17.]

Mutual trust is at the root of all friendship. Where there is a lack of
mutual confidence in the home life or in commercial life it spells ruin.
The great question for each one in life is, What is my relation to God? Is
it trusting God, or is it doubting God?

"Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness."
[Footnote: Rom. iv. 3.] What is righteousness? It means to be right with
God, and the moment we trust God's Word we are made righteous, and we
become righteous.

We read in Acts that after their first missionary tour. Paul and Barnabas
reported in detail all that God had done, and how He had opened the door
of faith unto the Gentiles. [Footnote: Acts xiv. 27.] So faith is the
gate of life by which the Gentiles were entering in.

Here was a new fact proving that faith was the gate of the Lord into which
the righteous should enter; [Footnote: Ps. cxviii. 20.] righteous
_because_ believing. Faith is the door by which God comes into our hearts.
Faith is only the door, nothing in itself, but it is called "precious
faith" because of all the life and joy and riches of grace and glory which
it lets in.

Abraham is not only presented to us in the Word of God as the Friend of
God, but also as a pattern for all believers, and we are told to take him
as our model, "to walk in his steps," to trust God and to find in God's
wondrous friendship all that he found. God has been teaching us ever
since, through the simplicity of the faith of this man. The most
remarkable point in his faith is this, he grasped as no one else had done
that God is God because He can quicken the dead. [Footnote: Rom. iv. 17.]
He can give life to the dead because He Himself is the Source of life. He
calls "those things which are not as though they were" because He is the
Creator of all things. This applies not only to the body but to the soul.
Your confidence in God began when your soul, which was "dead in sin," was
quickened into a new life. When we ourselves have experienced this
quickening it gives us such faith in praying for those we love, knowing
that God alone can quicken dead souls.

Abraham was "strong in faith"; even when God promised him a son, although
it seemed impossible, "he staggered not at the promise of God through
unbelief," being "fully persuaded" that God was able to do it. To be
"strong in faith" is to feel our utter helplessness and to rely on God's
power only; to be "strong in faith" is to grasp God's promise and not to
let anything make us doubt it.

We have an illustration of this strong faith in the case of the first
missionary who went out to China a hundred years ago. The captain of the
ship in which he sailed was an atheist, and one day he said to him with a
sneer, "You don't suppose, do you, that you are going to convert those
Chinese?" "No," said the missionary, "but I believe _God_ is going to do
it." Did God fail him? No. His faith was rewarded, and at the present time
there are a quarter of a million Chinese believers who meet in fellowship
at the Lord's Table.

What is faith? It is the link between me and God. The link between my
emptiness and God's fulness. The link between me, the sinner and Jesus,
the Saviour. Is there this link between you and God? Is the link on? Faith
is the spiritual link, the one and only means by which a man can have
dealings with God, realise God and walk with God. It is a living link
between God and the soul, a living union. The word "faith" comes from an
old word which means to _bind_. When I say "I _believe_ God," it means
that "I am His and He is mine for ever and for ever." It is trusting in
His love, not a mere cold belief in His power. It is grasping His
promises, because they are precious promises. It is the whole heart and
mind going out and up to God. David says: "Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up
my soul; O my God, I trust in Thee," [Footnote: Ps. xxv, 1, 2, 5] This
brings perfect rest. "Thou art the God of my salvation, on Thee do I wait
all the day." Do we make it a habit to be constantly referring to God
about everything? We learn first, that _God_ is, and then our faith feeds
upon _what_ God is. His faithfulness and His lovingkindness are seen in
all His dealings with us.

Faith has to do with unseen realities, for faith is the evidence, or proof
of things not seen; [Footnote: Heb. xi. 1.] it makes them as real as if we
could see them, and brings them near.

So we may say faith is like the telegraph wire which connects two places
however far apart they may be.

We had an illustration of this not long ago. Our Queen Mary was in her
sitting-room in Buckingham Palace. A hospital was to be opened in Canada
4,000 miles off, and she was asked to perform the ceremony. When the
signal was given that all was ready, the Queen pressed a little ivory
button and in two seconds the door of the hospital, which was held by an
electric wire, opened, and in fifteen seconds the signal was flashed back
that the hospital was open. So in about half a minute the signal went
there and back over a space of 8,000 miles. How wonderful! and yet greater
spiritual wonders are happening every day and many times in the day, if
only we have faith in God and let Him work in us and through us.

I will give you another illustration how the simple touch of faith links
us with God's power. A few years ago some rocks blocked the entrance into
the river St. Lawrence, so that the ships could not go up the river to
Quebec. It was decided that the mass of solid rock must be removed. How
was it done? In the presence of a large crowd a little child stepped
forward and touched an electric button and the whole mass of rock was
blown up by dynamite and the passage cleared.

Faith has done great wonders in times past, and it can still do wonders,
if only we make use of God's Almighty power. But the rule is, "According
to your faith so be it unto you."

I will give you an illustration. When I want light in my room I touch the
electric button and the room is filled with light. The moment I press the
button I expect the light will come, and I am surprised if it fails. Why?
Touching the electric button is like the touch of faith; it brings us into
contact with the source of light. Faith brings me into contact with God
Himself, for He is the source of life and light. God has ordained that
faith shall be a power as real and as uniform in its working as light or
heat or electricity. Everything about them is a mystery which we do not
fully understand, but all the same they are real to us and we use them.
Although we do not understand them, yet we prove again and again that they
supply us with new life and energy simply by a touch. Even a child can
touch. Faith places all God's fulness at our disposal, but it is only
according to our faith that we receive it.

I know a poor woman who went through a time of great anxiety about her
little girl who was ill. One day a Christian friend called to see her and
she told her all about her trouble. When she had finished the friend said
to her very tenderly, "You have forgotten one little word of five
letters." "What is it? Do tell me," she exclaimed, looking puzzled. Then
the friend, pointing on her five fingers, said slowly, _f-a-i-t-h_. The
dark cloud cleared away and she was able to look up into God's face again
and to trust Him.

So when Christ says, "Have faith in God," it is a command to hold fast to
God. It means trust God about everything, great and small; nothing is too
small. Trust Him to save you, and to keep you. Trust Him in every
difficulty and in every duty.

"Little faith will bring your souls to heaven, but great faith will bring
heaven to your souls."

When Christ said to Peter and the others, "Have faith in God," He said it
very earnestly and with a ring of deep conviction in His voice. He knew in
Himself what dependence on God means in the earthly life. Day by day He
showed what it is to have simple trust in God. When He said, "Have faith
in God," He said it very solemnly, because He was speaking on behalf of
His Father.

He had come to reveal Him, so He says, "I do nothing of Myself, but as My
Father hath taught Me I speak these things." He had already said, "He that
believeth on Me hath everlasting life," and now He adds, "Have faith in
God." Yes, He claims our confidence, our full confidence, not a half-
hearted trust.

Our Lord saw men seeking other objects of trust, so He says, "Take hold of
God, hold fast to God, have faith in God and never let it go."

The world's great need is faith in God. God's own character demands it.
The Scriptures make Him known and reveal Him as altogether trustworthy,
such an One as invites our entire confidence. To have faith in God means
leaning on Him, letting Him bear the whole weight. There is a great
difference between believing and committing. Many say they believe, but
they are not willing to commit themselves to Him.

A few years ago there was a man named Blondin who performed wonderful
feats at the Crystal Palace. Once he walked on a tight rope stretched
across the centre of the Palace at a height of 150 feet. Another time a
rope was stretched at a great height over a shipbuilder's yard, and he not
only walked steadily across, but he carried a man on his back. A large
crowd gazed at him in wonder and awe, and great was their relief when both
Blondin and his burden reached the ground in safety.

Among the eager upturned faces in the crowd there was a lad about eleven
years of age. When Blondin came down he went up to the lad and said to
him, "You saw me carry that big man across, do you believe I could take
you?" "Of course you could," replied the boy; "why, he was a big man, and
I am only a little chap." "Well, then, jump up, my lad," said Blondin, and
he stooped down for the boy to climb up on his back. But although the boy
said he believed Blondin was able to carry him across, he was not willing
to trust himself, and so, just saying, "No, thank you," he was off like a
shot and ran as fast as he could till he was lost in the crowd. Though he
said he believed, when it came to the point he did not commit himself, and
that is all the difference, between believing _in_ Christ and believing
_on_ Him.

Faith in God means really committing ourselves into His hands and rolling
our burdens on Him.

If we withhold our confidence it shows that we do not really believe that
God is what the Bible says He is. The reason there is so much unrest and
ungodliness is because we have lost sight of God. It is not because the
Bible is out of date as some say, or that the Gospel has lost its power;
it is still as ever, "the power of God unto salvation," but we are
limiting God.

It is just the same now as in olden times when the children of Israel
limited the Holy One of Israel, and we read how this lack of confidence
grieved God all through those forty years in the wilderness. Yea, they
spake against God, they said, "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness;
can God give bread also; can He provide flesh for His people?" [Footnote:
Ps. lxxviii. 19, 20.] Unbelief asks, "_Can He?_" Faith says, "_He can._"
Dear friends, let me ask you to stop and ask yourself, Where do you put
that little word "can"? Are you constantly thinking to yourself, Can God?
or are you saying in your heart and meaning it too, "_God can_"! We limit
God's power to save, by asking, _Can_ God? The hindrance is the same as in
olden times when Jeremiah felt that because of the unbelief of the people
"the Lord was as a mighty man that cannot save." [Footnote: Jer. xiv; 9.]

You have prayed many years perhaps for the conversion of some one near and
dear to you, but are you limiting God because you doubt His power to do
it? A poor man who gave way to drink said sadly, "I have broken the pledge
again and again"; then pointing to his pledge card he said, "But now I
have written a text on it, Isaiah xli. 13: 'For I the Lord thy God will
hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee.'" Then
looking up he said simply, "Maybe, Him and me will do it together."

Is it victory over temptation you long for? Look up to Him and say, "I
can't, but God can." Is it grace you need for some special trial? Say,
"God is able to make all grace abound towards me, for He tells us in His
Word that He is able to do 'exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think
according to the power that is working in us.'" [Footnote: Eph. iii. 20.]
The world's great sin is not trusting God. "Thus said the LORD, Cursed be
the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm and whose heart
departeth from the Lord." [Footnote: Jer. xvii. 5.] Yet in times of
difficulty or danger how apt we are to lean on the arm of flesh.

During the present European war I was much impressed by the words of one
of our soldiers who writes from the front: "After all that is being done
there still remains one supreme necessity without which neither arms or
munitions can be decisive, namely, the spiritual outlook of the whole
nation. When I returned home after ten months in Flanders, I was amazed at
the lack of spirituality of the people as a whole. The simple faith and
dependence upon God which characterised our country in her past struggles
seem lost to sight. 'They trusted in Thee and Thou didst deliver them'
implied no disregard for military efficiency; it was the real and vital
accompaniment to armed force. Can it be that the hellishness of battle,
the wearing down of the spirit induced by trench warfare, moments of utter
loneliness which every soldier has to bear, strike right at the soul and
enable him to realise the nearness of the spiritual world? 'Prayer is the
foundation of all grace' were the words of a dying soldier who had
deliberately returned to the area of poisonous gas and had brought back
the machine gun on his shoulders. Some of us have realised what individual
prayer at home has done for us, but we should all like to feel that the
whole nation is also testing the value of spiritual power."

We read in God's Word that "The children of Judah prevailed, because they
relied upon the Lord God"; [Footnote: 2 Chron. xiii. 18.] and when King
Asa was defeated the prophet said to him, "Because thou hast relied on the
King of Syria, and not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore is the host
of the King of Syria escaped out of thine hand." [Footnote: 2 Chron. xvi.
7.]

To have faith in God we must put God first in everything. He must be first
when we awake in the morning. How blessed it is to be able to feel, "When
I awake I am still with Thee." A working man said to me once, "I make
myself happy in God the first thing in the morning." David says, "In the
morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee and will look up." [Footnote:
Ps. v. 3.] "When I awake I am still with Thee." [Footnote: Ps. cxxxix.
18.]

"In my morning prayer," said a Christian man, "instead of thinking of my
own needs first, I like to think of the fulness there is in Christ for
me." Let us resolve to put "God _first_," even if we have only time for
one text of Scripture. "God _first_," even if it is only a minute or two
for prayer. A Christian said once, "I must see the face of God before I
see the face of man." The manna was gathered early every morning. Another
said, "Unless I meet with God first, I cannot meet the difficulties of the
day in a prepared spirit." If you put "God first," you will find this will
make all the difference as to how you do your work and how you deal with
others. "Little is much if God is in it."

To have faith in God is to trust Him _only_. David says, "My soul, wait
thou only upon God, for my expectation is from Him." [Footnote: Ps. lxii.
5.] Is it so with you? If so, what for, and for how much? First find out
from His Word that God is able and willing to do what you need; then trust
Him to do it. "Trust in Him at all times" it says again in that beautiful
Psalm. [Footnote: Ps. lxii. 8.]

"I have been looking into my Bible," said a working man, "and I find a
great many men trusted God, and whatever they trusted God for, they always
got it; He never failed them, and it is the same now."

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