CALVARY FAITH

 

Then after this he said to the 'disciples, "Let us go into Judea again."' The disciples said to him,"Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to  stone you, and  you are going there again?"' Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any one walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if any one walks in the night, he stumbles, because, the, light is not in him." Thomas, called the Twin, said-to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."    John 11:7-10, 16

 

And that journey to Judea to raise Lazarus from the dead was his last journey in flesh and blood ... the
beginning of Jesus' journey to the cross.

 

"Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any one walks in the day, he does not stumble."

 

To walk in the day is to walk by the light you have from God even if that light is leading you to your
own Calvary. To walk in the night is to walk in fear ... to shrink back from doing what you know is God's
will because it might be dangerous or costly. You say you're walking by faith..  What kind of faith?

Faith that believes that God will heal your warts and cure your sinuses, but is afraid to follow Jesus to a
cross? Or, is it a faith that believes God will be with you even if you die doing his will?

 

Childlike Faith or Infantile Faith?

 

Many of us have confused childlike faith with infantile faith. Surely the more we walk the road of faith the more childlike our faith in God becomes. We get up in the morning and trust God. And even when God takes us by the hand and leads us through a dark valley we still trust him ... that's childlike faith.

 

But there is an infantile faith which never gets beyond the stage of trusting God for the goodies. A faith
which delights to know Jesus in the power of his resur­rection but dreads the thought of knowing Jesus in the fellowship of his suffering or the likeness of his death.

 

Infantile faith is where we all begin. Jesus started imparting faith to his disciples by teaching them to trust God to supply their needs.

 

But seek first his kingdom and his righteous­ness, and all these things shall be yours as well.

Matthew 6:33

....you'll have bread
....the boat won't sink

....where is your faith?

 

Then Jesus led his disciples on beyond infantile faith, teaching them to trust God for the power they needed to set people free and heal their bodies.

 

"Why'-couldn't we cast out that demon?"

"Because of your unbelief ... come on! ... faith!"

 

But these exercises in faith were to bring the disciples far beyond the point where they trusted God for daily bread, or protection, or power. Jesus was bringing them to the place where they would trust God when they looked into the face of death itself.

 

"Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God ... believe also in me..."

...Calvary faith!

 

Jesus wanted them to be able to trust God when they saw. him hanging on the cross.       

 

In fact-, one day as his followers, they would be reaching their own crosses.

 

" ..indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.".

John 16:2

"Then they will deliver you up' to tribulation, and put you to death;..."

Matthew 21

Then the issue of faith will not be,

 

- will the boat sink?

- will we have bread for tomorrow?

 

Then the issue will be:

 

Do I know God is with me even though every support fails and every light goes out?

 

Calvary Faith

 

There is a tendency in American Christendom to freeze our concept of faith at the infantile level. "I'm trusting God for a thousand dollars!" Nothing wrong with that ... if you need a thousand dollars and if you don't send out this bold statement of faith, in a prayer letter to a thousand people calculating it will average out to a dollar a head. 

 

Of course we are to trust God for our daily needs, for protection, for power to accomplish the work he gives
us.

But the faith that Jesus brings us through his death on the cross take's us beyond that - to a faith in, which we trust God enough to lose our lives in him. -


"Truly, truly 'I say to you, unless a grain..'.. .. of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone;, but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life"

John:12:24-25

 

Calvary faith-is trusting God and doing his-will even, if it costs me everything I've-got ... including my life.

 

Mordecai-also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa, for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her and charge her to go to the king to make supplication to him and entreat him for
her people.  And Hathach went and told Esther'` what Mordecai had said.  Then Esther spoke to Hathach and gave him a message for. Mordecai, . saying, "All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that if' any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but-one law; all alike are to be put to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the. golden scepter that he may live. 'And -I have not been called tocome in to the king these thirty days." And they told Mordecai what Esther had said. Then Mordecai told them to return answer to Esther, "Think not that in` the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and' your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom forsuch a time as this?" 'Then Bother told them to reply to Mordecai, "Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I­ perish, I perish."                 

Esther 4:8-16

 

Esther does not say, "I will go to the king though it isagainst and law and I _know he will hold out his scepter to me! " Rather she says, "I will go to the king though it is against the law and if I perish, I perish" "To go to the king on behalf of my people is the will of God so I will do it regardless of the consequences:".

- This is Calvary faith,...

 

It offers no guarantee of tranquil circumstances.

 

The road may well be hard, lonely, dangerous, even fatal.' Calvary faith has only one guarantee: If I trust God and do his will he will be with me, he will never forsake me, I will have his light within me.

 

Most of us come to the place of Calvary faith the way Esther came. We're sailing along our merry way, thanking God for all the good things that have happened to us and trying to avoid as much as possible paying much attention to people to whom bad things are happening. "After all, what can I do? What Can I do for all the poor, the sick, the prisoners, children with no mother, mothers with no husband."

 

Then one day suddenly God opens our eyes and we see an opportunity to be of help."But if I do this thing, if. I make this change in my routine there is a chance that my life will be disrupted forever.!'

 

Now it's not just a matter of trusting God for tomorrow's bread or for better health; not it's a matter of trusting God even if to obey his will of mercy destroys my life as I now know it.     -

 

That's how it was with Esther. Esther didn't even Consider the possibility that she could do anything for
her fellow Jews. "It's Just one of those things. I'm in the palace and the rest of my Jewish brethren are out in the cities-exposed to the danger. Tragic ...but what' can I do?  My hands are tied!"

 

"Talk to the king, Esther." "Impossible! I can't talk to the king unless he calls for me."

"Talk to the king, Esther.,",

"If I go in to the king without being invited; it means my head, unless he holds out his scepter. How can you ask me to do that?"

"God asks you to do that.  Surely he raised you up for this moment. Act Esther! Plunge in and do what needs to be done."

"Fast and pray for me and I will go to the king, and if I perish I perish."

 

When Moses leaves the burning bush to go to Pharaoh his days of tranquility are over. His life will never be his own again. He's plunging into forty years of pain, weariness, and thankless work. But Moses also knows that if he refuses to plunge in and obey, his soul will shrivel to nothing.

 

- When Peter forsakes all,

- When Saul gives up his career,

- When Mary offers herself in obedience…

 

…they all realize that in a way they will perish in doing this, but not to do it would mean that their souls will wither within.

 

And for us Calvary faith begins the moment we decide that it's better to perish doing God's will than to let our souls shrivel by playing it safe.

 

So, I make that change,
I take that step,

I let go of that false security,

 

- and if I perish, I perish.

 

Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go into Judea again." The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to stone you, and you are going there again?" Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any one walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light oŁ this world. But if any one walks in the night he stumbles, because the light is not in him."

John 11:7-10

 

When God has caused the light to dawn in our hearts and we see the way we have to go, we know there will be dangers, work, persecutions, and at the end a cross.

Calvary faith is to walk in that light regardless of the consequences. "If I perish, I perish."

Esther walked in that light, laid down her life in front of the king and received it back along with the lives of her people Israel.

 

Jesus the Lamb walked in that light, laid down his life and received it back again on the third day along with the lives of all of us.

 

God help us to walk in that light, to lay down our lives in whatever way God chooses and receive them back along with that great, multitude, which no man can number, who have come through great tribulation and have washed their-robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.