John 14:1, “Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also IN ME.” John 16:33, “These things have I spoken unto you, that IN ME ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
It is our intention if the Lord be so pleased, to point you to the sufficiency of Christ alone and to prove that nothing BELOW Him will afford any comfort to a troubled soul. In this process, we hope to discover why it was Christ spoke “these things” in John’s Gospel chapters 14-16. These things being such as would point them to Himself, the result being “that IN ME ye might have peace.”
The party speaking is Christ Himself, knowing His departure from His disciples, in His bodily presence, would result in sinful fears by their very nature. It is the way of Christ in caring for His disciples to keep them from such trouble of soul. His way of pointing His sheep to Himself is contrary to man-centered religions based on fear by bringing the Moral Law of Moses over and into the Gospel of Christ, mixing them together to create an anti-Christ Gospel with its bondage to law and its consequent fear of punishment. This results in driving men from God causing them to attempt to do for themselves what can only be done in them by Christ Himself, thereby attempting to live on the creature rather than the Creator. Even members of Christ, through want of the knowledge of Christ’s sufficiency, are apt to be troubled of soul. The nature of which would be recognized by Christ as sinful fear. Christ had just exhorted the disciples present: “Let not your heart be troubled.” He provided His acknowledgment, “ye believe in God.” Belief “IN GOD” is inseparably connected with “serving WITHOUT FEAR,” as in Luke 1:74-75. Hence, “Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God…”
Here is the lesson: Belief in God as compared to something BELOW Him is the only way to avoid sinful “trouble” arising within us when we try to live upon our own abilities (as we would think) only to discover the extent of our INABILITIES! When we attempt to live in the flesh upon anything BELOW God Himself, whether it be His laws, His acts upon us (repentance and faith) or His acts within us towards Himself (our love for God), we quickly experience sinful FEAR. When our faith is not upon Him Who is the source of it, we like the disciples in the storm will forget that Christ has said as much to us as He did to them, when He said, “Let us go over to the other side” and “WHERE IS YOUR FAITH?” We end up as they did, “being afraid.”
In the year 1655, Paul Hobson, an Old School Strict and Particular Baptist Elder, wrote a book titled, FOURTEEN QUERIES AND TEN ABSURDITIES. Wherein at one point he addresses this very issue with respect to God’s authority and man’s natural inabilities. It reads this way:
“The measuring of man’s ability by the extent of God’s authority, which manifests in His word, for in all the Scripture God manifests His authority over us, and your mistakes are from his authority to conclude the creature's ability, as in such Scripture where God saith, “do this and you shall live,” and “turn yourselves,” or be this or be that, which Scriptures are principally to discover God’s authority, but not the creatures ability. When man fell, he lost his ability, but this change wrought no alteration in God, if no change in God, then why should any change be in His language? If God had changed the way of His language, the creature would have been apt to conceive, that in man’s fall there had been a change of God’s power or authority as well as the change in man’s ability, which is not so.”
In addition, with respect to the operations of grace in the daily life of a child of God, our ancient forefathers (including Paul Hobson) had this to confess as their truth to be believed along these lines.
“That the same power that converts to faith in Christ, the same power carries on the soul still through all duties, temptations, conflicts, sufferings, and continually whatever a Christian is, he is by grace, and by a CONSTANT RENEWED OPERATION FROM GOD, without which he cannot perform any duty to God, or undergo any temptations from Satan, the world or men.” FIRST LONDON CONFESSION OF FAITH, 1644, Article 26. See I Pet. 1:5; II Cor. 12:9; I Cor. 15:10; Phil. 2:12,13; John 15:5; Gal. 2:19-20.
Another lesson to close: As soon and as far as a man receives power from God to “believe IN GOD,” just as soon and just as far is that man taken up into God and is to the same extent made to live upon God and is delivered from those things which are BELOW Him. Hence, we declare that nothing BELOW Jesus Christ Himself will afford any comfort to a troubled soul. Next lesson we hope to be blessed to dive deeper into the matter spoken of, “believe also IN ME.”
Let us pause and consider these things.
The party speaking is Christ Himself, knowing His departure from His disciples, in His bodily presence, would result in sinful fears by their very nature. It is the way of Christ in caring for His disciples to keep them from such trouble of soul. His way of pointing His sheep to Himself is contrary to man-centered religions based on fear by bringing the Moral Law of Moses over and into the Gospel of Christ, mixing them together to create an anti-Christ Gospel with its bondage to law and its consequent fear of punishment. This results in driving men from God causing them to attempt to do for themselves what can only be done in them by Christ Himself, thereby attempting to live on the creature rather than the Creator. Even members of Christ, through want of the knowledge of Christ’s sufficiency, are apt to be troubled of soul. The nature of which would be recognized by Christ as sinful fear. Christ had just exhorted the disciples present: “Let not your heart be troubled.” He provided His acknowledgment, “ye believe in God.” Belief “IN GOD” is inseparably connected with “serving WITHOUT FEAR,” as in Luke 1:74-75. Hence, “Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God…”
Here is the lesson: Belief in God as compared to something BELOW Him is the only way to avoid sinful “trouble” arising within us when we try to live upon our own abilities (as we would think) only to discover the extent of our INABILITIES! When we attempt to live in the flesh upon anything BELOW God Himself, whether it be His laws, His acts upon us (repentance and faith) or His acts within us towards Himself (our love for God), we quickly experience sinful FEAR. When our faith is not upon Him Who is the source of it, we like the disciples in the storm will forget that Christ has said as much to us as He did to them, when He said, “Let us go over to the other side” and “WHERE IS YOUR FAITH?” We end up as they did, “being afraid.”
In the year 1655, Paul Hobson, an Old School Strict and Particular Baptist Elder, wrote a book titled, FOURTEEN QUERIES AND TEN ABSURDITIES. Wherein at one point he addresses this very issue with respect to God’s authority and man’s natural inabilities. It reads this way:
“The measuring of man’s ability by the extent of God’s authority, which manifests in His word, for in all the Scripture God manifests His authority over us, and your mistakes are from his authority to conclude the creature's ability, as in such Scripture where God saith, “do this and you shall live,” and “turn yourselves,” or be this or be that, which Scriptures are principally to discover God’s authority, but not the creatures ability. When man fell, he lost his ability, but this change wrought no alteration in God, if no change in God, then why should any change be in His language? If God had changed the way of His language, the creature would have been apt to conceive, that in man’s fall there had been a change of God’s power or authority as well as the change in man’s ability, which is not so.”
In addition, with respect to the operations of grace in the daily life of a child of God, our ancient forefathers (including Paul Hobson) had this to confess as their truth to be believed along these lines.
“That the same power that converts to faith in Christ, the same power carries on the soul still through all duties, temptations, conflicts, sufferings, and continually whatever a Christian is, he is by grace, and by a CONSTANT RENEWED OPERATION FROM GOD, without which he cannot perform any duty to God, or undergo any temptations from Satan, the world or men.” FIRST LONDON CONFESSION OF FAITH, 1644, Article 26. See I Pet. 1:5; II Cor. 12:9; I Cor. 15:10; Phil. 2:12,13; John 15:5; Gal. 2:19-20.
Another lesson to close: As soon and as far as a man receives power from God to “believe IN GOD,” just as soon and just as far is that man taken up into God and is to the same extent made to live upon God and is delivered from those things which are BELOW Him. Hence, we declare that nothing BELOW Jesus Christ Himself will afford any comfort to a troubled soul. Next lesson we hope to be blessed to dive deeper into the matter spoken of, “believe also IN ME.”
Let us pause and consider these things.
Dan O’Dell, Heb. 13:20-21,
Jan. 23, 2024
Jan. 23, 2024
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