"..., It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" Matt 4:4
Bread is physical and if you live on this alone, all you will ever have is this physical life but Jesus says to live, is to live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. The WORD is spiritual and life - John 6:63 And spiritual life, eternal life is what Jesus promises if you live by the Word of God. True Christian faith, Biblical faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God - Rom 10:17.
Many Christians profess FAITH in Christ and FAITH in the Bible. They may even know the definition of faith but they do not know what the thing is. They do not know what faith is.
"Faith comes "by the word of God;" to the Word, then, we must look for it. One day a centurion came to Jesus, and said to him: "Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof; but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed. . . . When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel." Matt. 8:6-10.
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There is what Jesus pronounces faith. When we find what that is, we have found faith. To know what that is, is to know what faith is. There can be no sort of doubt about this; for Christ is "the Author. . . of faith," and he says that that which the centurion manifested was "faith;" yes, even "great faith."
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Where, then, in this is the faith?—The centurion wanted a certain thing done. He wanted the Lord to do it. But when the Lord said, "I will come" and do it, the centurion checked him, saying, "Speak the word only," and it shall be done.
Now, what did the centurion expect would do the work?—"The word ONLY." Upon what did he depend for the healing of his servant?—Upon "the word ONLY." And the Lord Jesus says that that is faith.
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Now, brother, sister, what is faith? " {December 6, 1898 ATJ, ARSH 782.5-10}
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It is believing the Word of God.
But it is not just believing the Word but trusting the Word of God to do exactly what it says it will do. It is not only believing in Jesus but trusting in Jesus' word!
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If you want to be a true Christian, a true disciple, then follow what Jesus said in John 8:31,32 - "Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, [then] are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
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Do you want to be a true follower of Jesus? Then do what he says, continue in his word. Jesus said many things and one of these is found in Mark 2:27,28:
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"And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath."
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Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath Day because he made it in the beginning after man was created. - Genesis 2:1 3
Just as it was in the beginning so it is today that there are
SEVEN days in the weekly cycle and the 7th day is the Sabbath.
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Quit believing in the Ten Commandments and keeping only NINE of them. Keep all TEN of them including the 7th day Sabbath.
Jesus said - if ye love me keep my commandments John 14:15
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. 1John 5:3
Jesus said:
"..., I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
John 14:6
Jesus said it. It is the truth because the scripture says: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life".
God sent no other. He sent His son! There is no other person under the sun, no church, no religion, no prophet, no ideology, no "ism" no other name by which mankind might be saved and come to the Father.
No other name but "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of [things] in heaven, and [things] in earth, and [things] under the earth; And [that] every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ [is] Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Phil 2:10,11
And why must every knee bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord? Because "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." John 1:1,14 And every knee will bow to one who is God.
His very name is "The Word of God" - Rev 19:13 The Word of God is powerful - Heb 4:12. That name is power. Power to heal the sick, power to make the blind see, power to raise the dead and above all, power to forgive sin.
Therefore, "Be it known unto you all, ...that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, ... there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:10-12
Jesus is the Word of God made flesh. In Him dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He connected our sinful flesh, our fallen nature with his divine nature and in this coalition overcame temptation, sin and death on our behalf that we may overcome and attain to victory in His name, The Word of God. Therefore, "...It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" Matt 4:4
And we are to "...receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls". James 1:21
Jesus said:
"... Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole..." Matt 9:22
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"Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole..." Mark 10:52
FAITH is the expecting the word of God to do what it says, and the depending upon that word to do what it says. As that is faith, and as faith comes by the word of God, it is plain that the word of God, in order to inculcate faith, must teach that the word has in itself power to accomplish what itself says.
And such is precisely the truth of the matter: the word of God does teach just this, and nothing else; so that it is truly "the faithful word"—the word full of faith.
The greater part of the very first chapter of the Bible is instruction in faith. That chapter has in itself no fewer than six distinct statements that definitely inculcate faith: with the essential connective of the first verse, there are seven.
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The inculcation of faith is the teaching that the word of God itself accomplishes the thing which is spoken in that word. Read, then, the first verse of the Bible: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." How did he create them?—"By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. . . . For he spake, and it was." Ps. 33:6-9. Before, he spoke, it was not: after he spoke, "it was." Only by the speaking, it was. What caused it to be?—The word only.
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But darkness was upon all the face of the deep. God wished light to be there; but how could there be light when all was darkness?—Again he spoke: "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light." Whence came the light?—The word which was spoken, itself produced the light. "The entrance of thy words giveth light." Ps. 119:130.
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There was no firmament, atmosphere. God wished that there should be a firmament. How could it be produced?—"God said, Let there be a firmament, . . . and it was so." Another translation for "it was so" is, "And thus it came to pass." What caused this thus to come to pass?—The word only. He spoke, and it was so. The word spoken, itself caused the thing to exist.
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God next desired that there should be dry land. How could this be?—Again he spoke: "God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so."
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Then there was no vegetation. Whence should this come? Again God spoke: "And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit, after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so."
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Again he spoke: "And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven, . . . and it was so." Again he spoke: "And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature, . . . and it was so." Thus it was that "by the word of the Lord" all things were created. He spoke the word only, and it was so: the word spoken, itself produced the thing.
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Thus it was in creation. And thus it was in redemption; he healed the sick, he cast out devils, he stilled the tempest, he cleansed the lepers, he raised the dead, he forgave sins, all by his word. In all this, also, "he spake, and it was." And so he is the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever. Always he is the Creator. And always he does all things by his word only. and always he can do all things by his word; because it is the very characteristic of the word of God, that it is possessed of the divine power by which itself accomplishes the thing which is spoken.
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This is why it is that faith is the knowing that in the word of God there is this power, the expecting the word itself to do the thing spoken, and the depending upon that word itself to do that which the word speaks.
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The teaching of faith is the teaching that such is the nature of the word of God; the teaching of people to exercise faith is the teaching them to expect the word of God to do what it says, and to depend upon it to do the thing which is by it spoken; the cultivating of faith is by practise to cause to grow confidence in the power of the word of God itself to do what in that word is said, and dependence upon that word itself to accomplish what the word says.
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And "the knowledge of what the Scripture means when urging upon us the necessity of cultivating faith, is more essential than any other knowledge that can be acquired."
Are you cultivating faith? {December 27, 1898 ATJ, ARSH 832.19}
Jesus said:
"... be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." John 16:33
"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne" Revelation 3:21
"THE just shall live by faith." Who are the just?—They are only those who are of faith; because men are justified only by faith. For though we all "have sinned, and come short of the glory of God," yet we are "justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."
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For "to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Those who are of faith, and those alone, are the just in the earth.
Now faith is entire dependence on the word of God, that that word shall accomplish what that word says. "It shall accomplish that which I please." Isa. 55:11. To be justified by faith, then, is to be justified by entire dependence upon the word of God. The just are those who are of the word of God. This is how men become just.
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Men must not only become just by faith,—by dependence upon the word of God,—but being just, we must live by faith. The just man lives in precisely the same way, and by precisely the same thing, that he becomes just. We become just by faith; faith is entire dependence on the word of God. We, being just, must live by precisely the same thing by which we become just; that is, by entire dependence upon the word of God.
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And this is exactly what Jesus said: Man shall live "by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." When Jesus said that, it is perfectly plain that he simply said, in other words, Man shall live by faith. There is no other way truly to live than by faith, which is simply living by the word of God. Without faith, without the word of God, men only die.
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Indeed, without the word of God everything only dies; for in the beginning everything came by the word of God. The word of God is the origin and life of everything; for, "He spake, and it was."
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All things animate and inanimate,—sun, moon, and stars, animals and men,—all are entirely dependent upon the word of God for existence. Only in the case of men, God has bestowed upon them the wondrous gift of choice as to whether they will do so or not. This gift opens the door of faith. And when a man does choose to live by the word of God, which is the only means of life, faith—entire dependence upon the word of God—is the means by which he lays hold on the means of life.
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Thus "the just shall live by faith," and thus "whatsoever is not of faith is sin;" which is simply to say, The just must live by the word of God; and whatsoever is not of the word of God is sin. "We can not have a healthy Christian experience, we can not obey the gospel unto salvation, until the science of faith is better understood; and until more faith is exercised."
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"Hast thou faith?" Have the faith of God. Here are they that keep "the faith of Jesus." {March 7, 1899 ATJ, ARSH 152.16}
"For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, [even] our faith." 1John 5:3
Jesus said:
"Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed."