Faith, Hope, and Love — Hans R. Waldvogel

Faith as the Living Connection to Christ

When we put in air-conditioning into this church, we had to have a specially powerful connection made. Power line. And here the Holy Ghost shows us what lines the Holy Ghost has laid to supply us with all things that pertain unto life and godliness.

He says our perfection doesn't consist in having these gifts. You may have the gift of faith, you may speak in tongues, you may prophesy, and all these things that we boast of, but unless this power line has been laid that is permanent, that supplies you with life, the exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe is only received by this power line, and here it is expressed.

Now abideth faith, hope, love. I'm glad we say love and not charity. One of our little boys said the greatest of these is charity. And he smiled. But it's faith, hope, and love, and whether you ever prophesy or speak in tongues, or whether you ever carry any of these gifts, these are the power lines that God supplies you with to us who believe.

Faith. Jesus said except you see signs and wonders you will not believe. He means by that you believe anyway. Christ is the same, just the same. And our life consists in being united to Jesus Christ by this living power line.

After I heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and love unto all the saints, now you're ready for the gifts. Now the power flows, and now God can give you what He wants to make you an effective minister, but until that power flows in its full voltage, you're no good.

There will never be the outflow of the life of God. And I'm so glad that God wants me to believe all the time, to live by faith, to live by the faith of the Son of God, because He's always within me. And without Him I can do nothing, and that ought to call my attention to Jesus.

Delight thyself also in the Lord, not in myself, not in my gifts, not in my ministry, not in my success nor my fruitfulness, but in this Lord who is Lord, who is Himself, who is all and in all, and only as I believe all the time is He honored all the time.

And I won't think of honoring anything else or anybody else, including myself, but I will expect everything from Him and nothing from myself. It is a wonderful thing that God says, Now abideth faith. We need faith because we need Christ.

There's that power line. God wants us to know what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us were to believe. That's how Jesus Christ reigns, when that power line is intact. The fuse is not blown.

It flows all the time. Seven spirits of God come from the very throne of God, sent forth into all the earth. And as I keep my eyes steadfastly upon Him and refuse to look at anything, refuse to look at the works of the devil or my own works, my whole body will be full of light.

That's what faith does. And faith is only faith when it connects me with Jesus and connects Him with me. Ich habe Dich, was will ich mehr? I possess Him. Wenn ich nur Dich habe. Hallelujah. Oh, that ought to be my concern.

Moment by moment, I'm kept in His love. Moment by moment, I've life from above. That means that moment by moment, I get out of the way that Christ may come forth. And now whatever He does is His business.

Whether He speaks in tongues or prophesies or whether He performs works of healing or whatever He does, that's His business. And if He doesn't do it, it doesn't make any difference at all. He's still mine.

And He's still all and in all. He's still King. He is still my wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Oh, to be so wrapped up in Him will make me forget everything else. And isn't that where the danger comes in when we get our eyes on things or on powers or on ourselves or our success or our victory?

What danger results. Well, that's where people get into fanaticism and in all kinds of byways. We don't know how deceitful our hearts are until we get into trouble and sometimes God has to allow us to get into a fix into trouble to wake us up and make us realize that we are not giving honor to Jesus Christ.

Oh, beloved, nothing matters but Jesus and faith unites me to Him. This wonderful word, now abideth faith. Faith is always that stream of life that flows from the throne of God and brings life wherever it's allowed to flow.

And it must be allowed to flow in my life. God said to me years ago, give yourself a chance. And then He said, give me a chance. Oh, the exceeding greatness of His power doesn't mean that it makes me powerful.

Quite the opposite. I glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. I'm happy when I know that I'm nothing, that He might be all and in all. I'm so glad that I don't have to pump water out of these foul cisterns that men have dug.

But it flows from the central fountain from Jesus Christ moment by moment. Thank God. And it's always a life-giving fountain. The exceeding greatness of His power is waiting to be revealed, is waiting to make room for the authority and the reign of Jesus Christ.

And I must make room for Him. And that's why I must learn to walk by the faith of the Son of God. And I learned that in trial. Faith is made strong in weakness. Out of weakness we're made strong. They were exvaliant in fight.

Faith is not triumphant until you've met the enemy. Glory to God. And then you realize that you're lost and you're licked. And then you realize that God fights your battles for you. This battle is the Lord's.

Oh, this faith. This wonderful faith. Is faith in the Son of God. Is faith in the finished work of Christ. Is faith in the King. Faith in His fullness. Out of His fullness of all we receive. Grace upon grace.

I made the statement a number of times that in the Gospel of John the word believe is recorded 100 times. That's a very significant. As many as believe in Him. He is there. There's the great fact. Nothing matters but Him.

Rejoicing in Christ Rather Than the Flesh

Praise the Lord. And as many as believe in Him. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God? Believe also in Me. I'm here now to be you. I'm here to displace you. I'm here to fulfill in you all that God will be glorified by.

I'm here to do what the law could not do. I've come to fulfill. Not to break the law but to fulfill. And to believe Jesus Christ is to make room for Him to do it. And that's why we must have the teaching about rejoicing.

Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. We are the circumcision. Here's the true Israel of God. They have no confidence in the flesh. They don't go into a dump when they see that they're nobody.

Or somebody tells them you're no good. They're happy. Man said to me goodness you think a lot of yourself. I said I know. Watch this and then you're proud of it. I said it wouldn't do me any good to dump over it.

I can be just as happy for you to tell me that because I cannot make myself humble and I can't keep myself humble but I know one that can. And one who has proposed and guaranteed to do it. If I let him.

But only my faith in him will keep me united to the Son of God. And keep him united to me. Believe in me authorizes me to make him my satisfying everlasting portion. More than life to me. And so here God says it isn't the gifts.

Thank God for the gifts. But they fail. They don't fulfill God's will fully. They're the outflow of your life of faith and union with God. But if you have no gifts and if they're not exercised God must have a reason for it.

That's his business. But he must live out his own life within me. He must come and reveal himself. And oh the privilege I have poor, poor sinner to walk in the light as he is in the light. And to walk in the faith of the Son of God that gives him in all his fullness.

And he that believeth in me as the scripture has said. What does the scripture say? Well read the Old Testament and all the promises are yours in Jesus Christ. From within him shall flow rivers. How come about?

Well Jesus Christ is that fountain. Hallelujah. Now abideth faith and hope. Beloved we're waiting for the coming of the Lord and we need something. We need that beam like an airliner. I've often wondered how they find their way through the clouds and over the clouds and over the ocean.

They got a beam that's invisible and they gotta keep on that beam and they have very wonderful gadgets in that airliner that respond to that beam and they know just where they are. Brother Uther strapped me in with the pilot one day and we were flying through the fog and the pilot didn't look at the fog at all.

He looked at his clock. There it was. And that clock had two hands that kept moving. And as he steered his ship those hands moved together and they covered each other. He says, see we're on the beam. We're being carried by the beam.

And sure enough we came out of that fog and here was the runway in Stuttgart. We made a perfect three point landing because he kept on that beam. If ye continue in the faith and that moment by moment I live by the faith.

That's my life. Jesus is my life. If you continue in the faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the beam. The hope of the gospel. Beloved, our sights are high. We're not aiming for a comfortable life in this world.

We're not aiming to please ourselves. Oh God help us if we do. We're off the beam if we do. But one thing we aim that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him. Hallelujah. And every man that have this hope Oh this hope is a real endowment from heaven.

Living Hope in Christ’s Return

My heavenly father Jesus Christ who is our hope He that have begun a good work in us He is the pilot. He knows the way. And he will finish it until the day of Jesus Christ. He is able to keep you from falling and to present you spotless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.

Well, that hope must be my beam and I must stay on it. Be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye have heard and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven. God has given to all of humanity this hope if they will have it.

And Jesus Christ is that hope. And it abideth. And I live by it moment by moment. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find scrapping with one another hitting each other over the head bragging about themselves.

No, watching. Watching. The crown of righteousness is awaiting those who love his appearing. I need that hope. Beloved, I need something very real. Something that will lift me above the fogs and the clouds of sin and flesh and worldliness and apostasy and backsliding.

And this hope is as real as Christ himself. He keeps it alive in my soul. He is the bright groom. I am in love with him and he is in love with me. And oh how the Holy Ghost has been sent down from heaven.

That isn't really so. He is coming all the time. He is flowing like that power line. He is constantly electrifying my whole being, my body, soul and spirit are being drawn irresistibly to that one moment when this mortal body shall be clothed upon with immortality.

This is the hope of the church. Jesus Christ is our hope. Oh how we need faith that abideth. Hope that abideth. And that hope ought to become brighter every day. As we see the day approaching and last night in the meeting we had this subject before us.

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is. Why that's our goal. It's to be united to Him. God talks about our gathering together unto Him. We are being gathered together unto Him now.

Every time we come together He is there. He works. He speaks. He moves by the Holy Ghost. And He separates like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And oh how the Spirit of God needs to keep that living hope within my soul.

Christ is coming. Our great danger is our prosperity. The prosperity of fools shall slay them. My brother and I went to see our mother Robinson one day and the Lord spoke to both of us. He said, don't give up your hope in heaven.

No, your interest in heaven. I wondered at that word. But now my brother's been gone almost 15 years and I know why God said that. Why we're living for heaven. Our conversation is in heaven in comparison to those who are mind-earthly things.

They're mind-earthly things. I've often wondered about that. Brother Gardner and others and I we used to have the privilege of a meeting that was unique. One in the whole world. I used to travel a thousand miles to get into one meeting and the people that lived in the house they wouldn't bother to go to meeting.

It's that way here too. People come from Jersey. A group has come from Jersey from a Presbyterian church. And they were so taken up with the meetings and with what God was doing. And they listened and they hearkened so intently.

I didn't know what was going on. We were talking about the dangers of television in the home. They threw them out. Our people buy them. That's the difference. They're mind-earthly things. Their end is destruction.

Staying on the Beam Through Christ’s Direction

Their God is their belly. That's the change. Beloved, I need to be on the beam. We're going to see Jesus face to face. We're going to be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump.

And God gives us a pilot. Glory to God. And He supplies the power of His endless life. And by faith I walk in the light as He is in the light. And this hope keeps me on the beam. Makes Jesus Christ to be my pilot.

Directs every step of my way, every moment of my life, is directed by the Lord Jesus Christ. Every thought I think. Be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Beloved, these things are nice words, but as long as they're only words, they're nothing but a pleasant song.

We can preach about it and still be a castaway. But if we're very wise, we're going to do as Gordon said, Gordon Waldfogel, we're going to meditate there day and night. Here we've got a wonderful example in Joshua.

Joshua and the Authority of God’s Word

You know, a group of Pentecostal people recently said, Oh, we don't need the Bible anymore. We have prophecy now. Look at Joshua. He had gifts of faith by which he was able to make the sun stand still.

You try that. What faith he had. What marvelous power that man had. Moses laid his hands on him. And then in addition to his gifts, no, as a foundation for his gifts, he was commanded to not let this word depart out of his mouth but to meditate there in day and night.

You cannot carry gifts. You cannot carry powers. You cannot walk with God unless you have this roadmap before you day and night. How carefully. Did you ever see a stitcher? We have in Switzerland these embroiderers.

They're known all over the world. They're artists like all Swiss are. We have the highest percentage of idiots in Switzerland, but we also have real artists. And I've watched them. They have a design before them.

They're making maybe a silk curtain. Beautiful design. And they got to watch that design very carefully. And they have a needle. And they keep moving that needle according to that design very carefully.

Else that whole curtain will be destroyed. And oh, this marvelous word of life. That's where faith comes from. That's where faith flows and that's where hope is made alive. Oh my Lord and my God. The hope of the gospel which is preached to every creature which is under heaven.

But he says to the Colossians, in you it works because you received it as it is in truth the word of God. And I'm so thankful that God gives us or offers us this equipment. Living faith into a living Christ.

A living contact with whom having not seen ye love in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. And these three marvelous blessings faith, hope and love it abiding.

Love as the Fruit of Union with Christ

And God must show us how we lack love and how he wants us to be filled with love. And how he offers us that brand of love that was in his heart toward his son. As the father has loved me, so have I loved you.

And now a new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another as I have loved you. Is it possible? It's inevitable. If really I take Jesus Christ for all he offers me, himself he will not suffer me to be selfish any longer.

He'll offer me his love. Talking about Mrs. Robinson, you pardon me but she is really the dearest thing on earth to me. And one time she was telling me how God dealt with her about love. She had there was a woman in Toronto who had a mission and she hated Mrs. Robinson and she preached against her.

She said terrible things against Mrs. Robinson. She roused people against her all over the country. Pentecostal preacher, she didn't have the light. And one day the Lord spoke to Mrs. Robinson. Do you love Mrs. Hebden?

That was her name. Yes, I love her. I pray for her. In her meeting she prayed for her. When Mrs. Hebden had a revival meeting she would call on her assembly to pray for those revival meetings. She'd send her people there in spite of the fact that she knew that when they went there she would be cursed publicly.

Do you love Mrs. Hebden? And she said, yes Lord you know I love her. Well the Lord said, do you love her as much as you love Mrs. Brooks? Mrs. Robinson smiles and says, you know Mrs. Brooks was the dearest thing to me on earth.

I loved her like my son. I said Jesus, are we supposed to do that? The Lord said, yes. She said, but I can't. And then Jesus said, but I can. And she immediately surrendered and she says, you know after that I loved Mrs. Hebden as much as Mrs. Brooks.

I couldn't tell the difference. Jesus said, I can. Now abideth faith, hope, love. Oh this brand of love is described in this chapter. It's for you and for me. It's gold dried in the fire. It never fails.

No matter what others do. You love.