The Search For Faith
A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, MAY 15, 1887,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the
earth?" Luke 18:8.
IT is absolutely certain that God will hear the prayers of His people.
From beneath the altar, souls cry unto Him day and night to vindicate
the cause of Christ, the cause of truth and righteousness–and to cast
down His adversary–these shall be answered speedily. Here on earth,
scant though the supplication may be, yet there is a remnant according
to the election of Grace who cease not to importune the Almighty God to
make bare His arm and display the majesty of His Word. Though for wise
and gracious purposes the answer to those prayers may be delayed, yet
it is absolutely certain. Shall not God avenge His own elect which cry
day and night unto Him though He keeps their case long in hand?
Assuredly He will, for those prayers are inspired by the Spirit who
knows the mind of God! They are for the Glory of God and of His Christ
and they are presented by our great High Priest! Long-suffering keeps
back the advent and the judgment for a while, for the Lord is not
willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
But He will not forever delay the long-expected end! The Lord Jesus,
Himself, gives us this personal assurance, "I tell you that He will
avenge them speedily." No doubt remains when Jesus says, "I tell you."
The Lord will come and, according to His own reckoning, He will come
quickly. His reckoning is according to the chronology of Heaven and
this, the heirs of Heaven ought gladly to accept–it is meet that even
now we keep celestial time.
Brothers and Sisters, let not your hearts fail you as to the ultimate
issue of the present conflict. "The Lord shall reign forever and ever.
Hallelujah!" He shall utterly abolish the idols. Antichrist shall be
overthrown–like a millstone cast into the sea, it shall fall and be no
more. The heathen shall be our Lord's inheritance and the uttermost
parts of the earth shall be His possession. He must reign until all
enemies shall be put under His feet. If the present contest should be
continued, century after century, be not weary! It is only long to your
impatience. It is a short work to God! So grand a volume of the book as
this, which contains the history of redemption, may well require a long
time for its unrolling–and to such poor readers as we are, the
spelling of it out, word by word, may seem an endless task! But we
shall yet come to its close and then we shall find that, like the Book
of Psalms, it ends in hallelujahs.
The matter to be questioned is not what God will do, but what men will
do. Faithfulness is established in the very heavens–but what of
faithfulness upon the earth? The part that God allots to us is that we
believe His Word, for so shall we be established. It is the child's
part to trust his father; it is the disciple's part to accept the
teaching of his Master. Alas, how little there is of it at this moment!
Knowing the feebleness of the faith of those around Him and foreseeing
that future generations would partake of the same folly, the Savior
gave utterance to this memorable question, "When the Son of Man comes,
will He find faith on the earth?" God is faithful, but are men
faithful? God is true, but do we believe Him? This is the point and it
is upon this that I shall speak this morning as the Holy Spirit shall
help me.
I. I notice with regard to our text, first, that IT IS REMARKABLE IF WE
CONSIDER THE PERSON MENTIONED AS SEARCHING FOR FAITH–"When the Son of
Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?"
When Jesus comes, He will look for precious faith. He has more regard
for faith than for anything else that earth can yield Him! Our
returning Lord will care nothing for the treasures of the rich or the
honors of the great. He will not look for the abilities we have
manifested, nor the influence we have acquired–He will look for our
faith! It is His Glory that He is "believed on in the world" and to
that He will have respect. This is the jewel for which He is searching.
This heavenly Merchant counts faith to be the pearl of great
price–faith is precious to Jesus as well as to us.
The Last Day will be occupied with a great scrutiny and that scrutiny
will be made upon the essential point–where is there faith and where
is there no faith? He that believes is saved. He that believes not is
condemned. A search warrant will be issued for our houses and our
hearts. And the enquiry will be–Where is your faith? Did you honor
Christ by trusting His Word and His blood, or did you not? Did you
glorify God by believing His Revelation and depending upon His promise,
or did you not? The fact that our Lord at His coming will seek for
faith should cause us to think very highly of faith. It is no mere act
of the intellect–it is a Grace of the Holy Spirit which brings glory
to God and produces obedience in the heart. Jesus looks for it because
He is the proper object of it and it is by means of it that His great
end in His First Advent is carried out. Dear Hearers, conceive for a
minute that our Savior is searching for faith right now. "His eyes
behold, His eyelids try the children of men." This is the gold He seeks
after amid the quartz of our humanity. This is the objective of His
royal quest–"Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?"
When our Lord comes and looks for faith, He will do so in His most
sympathetic Character. Our text asks not, "When the Son of God comes,"
but, "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" It
is peculiarly as the Son of Man that Jesus will sit as a Refiner to
discover whether we have true faith or not. He, also, as the Son of
Man, displayed faith in God. In the Epistle to the Hebrews it is
mentioned as one of the points in which He is made like unto His
brethren, that He said, "I will put My trust in Him." The life of Jesus
was a life of faith–faith which cried, "My God, My God," even when He
was forsaken! His was, on a grander scale than ours, the battle of
faith in the great Father waged against all the rebellions influences
which were in array against Him. He knows what fierce temptations men
experience, for He has felt the same. He knows how want tries the
faithful and what faith is needed to be able to say, "Man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth
of God shall man live."
He knows how elevation tests the soul, for He once stood on the
pinnacle of the Temple and heard the infernal whisper, "Cast Yourself
down: for He shall give His angels charge over You." He knows what
faith means in contradistinction to a false confidence which misreads
the promise and forgets the precept altogether. He will not err in
judgment and accept brass for gold! He knows what it is to be tempted
with the proffer of honor and gain–"All these things will I give You,"
said the fiend, "if You will fall down and worship me." He knows how
faith puts all the glory of the world away with its one brave and
prompt utterance, "Get you hence, Satan: for it is written, You shall
worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve."
Beloved, when Jesus comes as the Son of Man, He will recognize our
weaknesses, He will remember our trials! He will know the struggle of
our hearts and the sorrow which an honest faith has cost us. He is best
qualified to put the true price upon tried faith, self-denying faith,
long-enduring faith. He will discern between the men who presume and
the men who believe–the men who dote upon vain delusions and those who
follow the plain path of God's own Word.
Further, I would have you note well that the Son of Man is the most
likely Person to discover faith if it is to be found. Not a grain of
faith exists in all the world except that which He has, Himself,
created! If you have faith, my Brother, my Sister, the Lord has dealt
with you–this is the mark of His hand upon you! By faith He has
brought you out of your death in sin and the natural darkness of your
mind. "Your faith has saved you," for it is the candlestick which holds
the candle by which the chamber of your heart is enlightened. Your God
and Savior has put this faith in you! Now, if faith in every instance
is our Lord's gift, He knows to whom He has given it. If it is the work
of God, He knows where He has produced it, for He never forsakes the
work of His own hands. If that faith is only as a grain of mustard seed
and if it is hidden away in the most obscure corner of the earth, yet
the loving Jesus spies it out, for He has an intimate concern in it
since He is its Author and Finisher! Our Lord is also the Sustainer of
faith, for faith is never independent of Him upon whom it relies. The
greatest Believer would not believe for another moment unless Grace
were constantly given him to keep the flame of faith burning. Beloved
Friend, if you have had any experience of the inner life at all, you
know that He that first made you live must keep you alive, or else you
will go back to your natural death! Since faith from day to day feeds
at the table of Jesus, then He knows where it is! It is well for us
that we have One looking for faith who, on account of His having
created and sustained it, will be at no loss to discern it!
Besides, faith always looks to Christ. There is no faith in the world
worth having, but what looks to Him and through Him to God for
everything. On the other hand, Christ always looks to faith–there was
never yet an eye of faith but what it met the eye of Christ! He
delights in faith. It is His joy to be trusted. It is a great part of
the reward of His death that the sons of men should come and shelter in
Him. If faith looks to Christ and Christ looks to faith, He is sure to
find it out
when He comes–and that makes the text so very striking–"When the Son
of Man comes, will He find faith on the
earth?"
The Son of Man will give a wise and generous judgment in the matter.
Some brethren judge so harshly that they would tread out the sparks of
faith, but it is never so with our gracious Lord. He does not quench
the smoking flax, nor despise the most trembling faith. The question
becomes most emphatic when it is put thus–the tender and gentle
Savior, who never judges too severely, when He comes, shall even He
find faith on the earth? What a sad and humbling question it is! He who
is no morose critic but a kind interpreter of character. He who makes
great allowances for feebleness. He that carries the lambs of faith in
His bosom and gently leads the weak ones–when even He shall come to
make a kindly search, will He be able to find faith on the earth?
Unbelief is rampant, indeed, when He who is Omniscient can scarcely
find a grain of faith amid the mass of doubt and denial! Ah me, that
ever I should have to explain the question, "When the Son of Man comes,
will He find faith on the earth?"
Once more–I want to put this question into a striking light by
dwelling on the time of the scrutiny. "When the Son of Man comes, will
He find faith on the earth?" Look, Brothers and Sisters, the ages are
accumulating proofs of the truth of Christianity–and the search takes
place when this process has reached its climax. Whatever may be said
about the present torrent of doubt, which no doubt is exceedingly
strong, yet the reason for doubt grows weaker and weaker every year.
Every mound of earth in the East contributes a fresh testimony to the
accuracy of the Word of God. Stones are crying out against the
incredulity of skeptics! Moreover, all the experiences of all the
saints, year after year, are swelling the stream of testimony to the
faithfulness of God! You that are growing gray in His service know how
every year confirms your confidence in the eternal verities of your God
and Savior. I know not how long this dispensation of long-suffering
will last, but certainly the longer it continues, the more wantonly
wicked does unbelief become! The more God reveals Himself to man in
ways of Providence, the more base is it on man's part to belie His
solemn witness. But yet, my Brothers and Sisters, at the winding up of
all things, when Revelation shall have received its utmost
confirmation–even then faith will be such a rarity on the earth that
it is a question if the Lord, Himself, will find it! You have, perhaps,
a notion that faith will go on increasing in the world–that the Church
will grow purer and brighter–and that there will be a wonderful degree
of faith among men in the day of our Lord's appearing. Our Savior does
not tell us so–instead, He asks the question of our text about it!
Even concerning the dawn of the golden age He asks, "When the Son of
Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?"
I want you to notice the breadth of the region of search. He does not
ask shall He find faith among philosophers. When had they any? He does
not confine His scrutiny to an ordained ministry or a visible
church–He takes a much wider sweep–"Shall He find faith on the
earth?" As if He would search from throne to cottage, among the learned
and among the ignorant, among public men and obscure individuals and,
after all, it would be a question whether among them all–from the pole
to the equator and again, from the equator to the other pole–He would
find faith at all. Alas, poor Earth, to be so void of faith! Is there
none in her vast continents, or on the lone islets of the sea? May it
not be found in some of the countless ships upon the deep? What? Not
upon the whole earth? Not with Jesus, Himself, to look for it?
I have tried to set forth the question as distinctly as I can, that it
may have due effect upon your minds. It sounds through the chambers of
my soul like the death of many a grand hope and pleasant imagination.
Lord, what is man, that centuries of mercy can scarcely produce a
single fruit of faith among a whole world of the sons of Adam? When
thousands of summers and autumns have come and gone, shall there be no
harvest of faith upon the earth except for a few ears of corn, thin and
withered by the east wind?
II. Let us somewhat change the run of our thoughts. Having introduced
the question as a remarkable one, we will next notice that IT IS
EXCEEDINGLY INSTRUCTIVE IN CONNECTION WITH THE PARABLE OF WHICH IT IS
PART. It is wrong to use the Bible as if it were a box full of separate
links and not a chain of connected Truths of God. Some pick sentences
out of it as a crow picks worms out of a plowed field! If you tear
words from their connection, they may not express the mind of the
Spirit at all. No book, whether written by God or man, will bear to be
torn, limb from limb, without being horribly mutilated. Public speakers
know the unfairness of this to themselves and Holy Scripture suffers
even more. The connection settles the drift and directs us to the true
meaning–a meaning which may be very different from that which it seems
to bear when torn from its surroundings. Let us carefully note that
this passage occurs in
connection with the parable of the importunate widow pleading with the
unjust judge and, therefore, it is to be interpreted in connection with
it.
Therefore it means, first of all–When the Son of Man comes, will He
find upon the earth the faith which prays importunately as this widow
did? Now the meaning is dawning upon us! We have many upon the earth
who pray, but where are those whose continual praying is sure to
prevail? I thank God that the Prayer Meetings of this Church are well
sustained by praying men and women, but where are the Jacob-like
wrestlers? I am afraid it cannot be said of many churches that their
Prayer Meetings are at all what they should be, for among many, the
gathering for prayer is despised and men say, "It is only a Prayer
Meeting!" As if that were not the very crown and queen of all the
assemblies of the Church, with the sole exception of that for the
breaking of bread! Brethren, I will not judge with severity, but where
are those who offer effectual, fervent, much-prevailing prayer? I know
that there are many here who do not neglect private and family devotion
and who pray constantly for the prosperity of the Church of Jesus
Christ and for the salvation of souls. But even to you I put the
question–If the Son of Man were now to come, how many would He find
among us that pray with a distinct, vehement, irresistible importunity
of faith?
In the olden days there was a John Knox whose prayers were more
terrible to the adversary than whole armies because he pleaded in
faith–but where shall we find a Knox at this hour? Every age of
revival has had its men mighty in prayer–where are ours? Where is the
Elijah on the top of Carmel who will bring down the rain upon these
parched fields? Where is the Church that will pray down a Pentecost? I
will not decry my Brothers in the ministry, nor speak little of deacons
and elders and other distinguished servants of my Lord–but still, my
Brothers and Sisters–taking us all round, how few of us know what it
is to pray the Heaven-overcoming prayer which is necessary for this
crisis! How few of us go again and again–and again to God with tears,
cries and heart-break–pleading as for our own lives for the increase
of Zion and the saving of the ungodly! If the Son of Man comes, will He
find much of such praying faith among our own churches? Ah me, that I
should have to ask such a question–but I do ask it–hanging my head in
shame!
The importunate widow waited with strong resolve and never ceased
through sullen doubt. If the judge had not yet heard her, she was sure
he must hear her, for she had made up her mind that she would plead
until he did! A waiting faith is rare. Men can believe for a time, but
to hold out through the long darkness is another matter. Some soldiers
are good at a rush, but they cannot form a square and stand fast hour
after hour. When the Son of Man comes, will He find many who can
believe in a delaying God and plead a long-dated promise–waiting, but
never wearying? When we have a revival and everybody is crying,
"Hosanna!" certain eager folk are sure to be in the front. But when the
popular voice growls out its, "Crucify Him!" where are they? Where are
even Peter, John and the rest of the disciples? Go, learn to plead on
when no answer comes and to press on when repulsed–this is the test of
faith.
It is so easy to be a Believer when everybody believes! But to be a
Believer when nobody believes and to be, none the less, a firm Believer
because nobody believes with you–this is the mark of the man valiant
for the Truth of God and loyal to Jesus. Brothers and Sisters, is it,
after all, a matter of counting heads? Can you not dare to be in the
right with two or three? Can you not be like rocks which defy the
raging waves? Can you not let the billows of popular misbelief wash
over you, break and crash–and break and crash in vain? If these things
scare you, where is your faith? When the Son of Man comes, how many
will He find on the earth whose faith stands not in men, but in the
witness of God?
The widow staked her all upon the result of her pleading with the
judge. She had not two strings to her bow–she had but one resort in
her trouble–the judge must hear her. She would lose her little
property and her children would die of starvation if he did not hear
her. He must hear her! About that she had no two opinions. What we need
at the present moment is the man that believes God, believes the
Gospel, believes Christ and does not care two pins about anything else!
We need those who will stake reputation, hope and life, itself, upon
the veracity of God and the certainty of the everlasting Gospel. To
such, the Revelation of God is not one among many truths–it is the one
and only saving Truth of God! Alas, we have, nowadays, to deal with
foxes with holes to run to in case they are too closely hunted! Oh, to
have done with all glory but glorying in the Cross! For my part, I am
content to be a fool if the old Gospel is folly. What is more, I am
content to be lost if faith in the atoning Sacrifice will not bring
salvation! I am so sure about the whole matter, that if I were left
alone in the world as the last Believer in the Doctrines of Grace, I
would not think of abandoning them, nor even toning them down to win a
convert. My all is staked on the veracity of God! "Let God be true, but
every man a
liar."
"When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth," such as
He deserves at our hands? Do we believe in Jesus practically, in
matter-of-fact style? Is our faith fact and not fiction? If we have the
truth of faith, have we the degree of faith which we might have? Just
think of this–"If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall
say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall
remove." What does this mean? Brethren, are we not off the rails? Do we
even know what faith means? I begin, sometimes, to question whether we
believe at all. What signs follow our believing? When we think what
wonders faith could have done. When we consider what marvels our Lord
might have worked among us if it had not been for our unbelief–are we
not humiliated? Have we ever cut ourselves clear of the hamper of
self-trustfulness? Have we ever launched out into the deep in clear
reliance upon the eternal God? Have we ever quit the visible for the
invisible? Have we clung to the naked promise of God and rested upon
the bare arm of Omnipotence which, in and of itself, is more than
sufficient for the fulfillment of every promise? O Lord, where are we?
Where shall we find an oasis of faith amid this wilderness of doubt?
Where shall we find an Abraham? Is not the question an instructive one
when set in connection with the parable which teaches us the power of
importunate prayer?
III. In the next place, our text seems to me to be SUGGESTIVE IN VIEW
OF ITS VERY FORM. It is put as a question–"When the Son of Man comes,
will He find faith on the earth?" I think it warns us not to dogmatize
about what the latter days will be. Jesus puts it as a question. Shall
He find faith on the earth? If you say, "No," my dear Friend, I shall
be very much inclined to take the other side and warmly plead the
affirmative. I remember how Elijah said that he, only, was left, and
yet the Lord had reserved unto Himself 7,000 men that had not bowed the
knee to Baal. Nations that know not Christ shall run to Him and the
kings of Sheba and Sheba shall offer gifts. I venture to hope that when
the Son of Man comes He will find faith on the earth–but if you
vehemently assert that it will be so, I shall be driven to advance the
negative side with much apprehension that it may prove true! When our
Lord was here before, He found little enough of faith. And He has
distinctly told us that when He shall come the second time, men will be
as they were in the days of Noah–"they did eat, they drank, they
married wives, they were given in marriage until the day that Noah
entered into the ark." I am inclined to take neither side. Let it
remain a question, as our Lord has put it!
This question leads us to much holy fear as to the matter offaith. If
our gracious Lord raises the question, the question ought to be raised.
They say that some of us are old fogies because we are jealous for the
Lord of Hosts. They say that we are nervous and fidgety and that our
fears are the result of advancing age. Yes, at 53 I am supposed to be
semi-imbecile with years! If I were of their way of thinking, I do not
suppose that this would occur to them. We fall into a pessimism–I
think that is the word they use–I do not know much about such terms.
Surely the Savior was not nervous! None will dare to accuse Him of
foolish anxiety! But yet He puts it, "When the Son of Man comes, will
He find faith on the earth?" As far as my observation goes, it is a
question which might suggest itself to the most hopeful persons at this
time, for many processes are in vigorous action with tend to destroy
faith. The Scriptures are being criticized with a familiarity which
shocks all reverence and their very foundation is being assailed by
persons who call themselves Christians! A chilling criticism has taken
the place of a warm, childlike, loving confidence.
As one has truly said, "We have now a temple without a sanctuary."
Mystery is discarded that reason may reign. Men have eaten of the fruit
of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil till they think themselves
gods! Revealed Truth of God is not now a doctrine to be believed, but a
proposition to be discussed! The loving woman at Jesus' feet is cast
out to make room for the traitor kissing Christ's cheek! Like
Belshazzar, our men of modern thought are drinking out of the vessels
of Jehovah's sanctuary in honor of their own deities! The idea of
child-like faith is laughed at and he is regarded as the most honest
man that can doubt the most and pour most contempt upon the authority
of the Divine Word of God! If this continues, we may well ask, "When
the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" In some places
the greatest fountain of infidelity is the Christian pulpit! If this is
the case–and I am sure it is so–what must become of the churches and
what must come to the outlying world? Will Jesus find faith in the
earth when He comes?
In addition to many processes which are in action to exterminate faith,
are there not influences which dwarf and stunt it? Where do you find
great faith? Where is the preaching or the teaching that is done in
full faith in what is preached and taught? It is no use dogging other
people–let us come home to ourselves. My Brothers and Sisters, where
is our own faith? It seemed almost a novelty in the Church when it was
stated long ago that Mr. George Mueller walked by faith in regard to
temporal things. To feed children by faith in God was looked upon as a
pious freak! We have come to a pretty pass, have we not, when God is
not to be trusted about common things? Abraham walked with God about
daily life but,
nowadays, if you meet with a man who walks with God as to his business,
trusts God as to every item and detail of his domestic affairs, persons
look at him with a degree of suspicious amazement! They think he has
Grace in his heart, but they also suspect that he has a bee in his
bonnet, or he would not act in that sort of way! Oh yes, we have a
fancied faith–but when it comes to the stern realities of life–where
is our faith?
My Brothers and Sisters, why are you so full of worldly care? Why are
you so anxious, if you have faith in God? Why do you display, in
worldly things, almost as much distrust as worldly men? Why this fear?
This murmuring? This worry? O my Savior, if You were to come, we could
not defend ourselves for our wretched mistrust, our foolish
apprehension, our lack of loving reliance upon You! We do not trust You
as You ought to be trusted! And if this is the case among those who are
such great debtors to Your loving faithfulness, where will You find
faith on earth? Where is that unstag-gering faith which betakes itself
to prevailing prayer and so rises above the petty miseries of the hour
and the fears of a threatening future?
Do you not think that this, put in a question as it is, invites us to
intense watchfulness over ourselves? Do you not think it should set us
scrutinizing ourselves as our Lord will scrutinize us when He comes?
You have been looking for a great many things in yourself, my Brothers
and Sisters–let me entreat you to look to your faith. What if love
grows cold! I am sorry for it but, after all, the frost must have begun
in your faith. You are not so active as you used to be. That is to be
greatly regretted, but the streams run low because the wellhead is not
as full as it was known to be–your faith is failing. Oh that your soul
were fed upon Divine realities! Oh that you had a vivid consciousness
of the certainty of God's Presence and power! When faith is strong, all
the other Graces are vigorous. The branches flourish when the root
sucks up abundant nutriment–and when faith is in a healthy state, all
the rest of the spiritual man will also be vigorous. Brothers and
Sisters, guard well your faith!
My fear is that when Christ comes, if He delays much longer, He will
find many of us faint because of our long waiting and because of the
disappointments which arise out of the slow spread of the Gospel. The
nations continue in unbelief. O Lord, how long?! Because we have not
accomplished all that we hoped to have done, we are apt to grow weary.
Or perhaps when He comes, He will find us sleeping for sorrow, like the
disciples in the garden when He came to them three times and found them
very sleepy. We may get to feel so sad that the Gospel does not conquer
all mankind that we may fall into a swoon of sadness, a torpor of
despair and so be asleep when the Bridegroom comes! I fear, most of
all, that when Jesus comes, He may find that the love of many has waxed
cold because iniquity abounds. Warm-hearted saints keep each other
warm, but cold is also contagious. When sin abounds, saints may be able
to stand against it and yet it has a sad tendency to chill their faith.
If the Master comes and finds us lukewarm, it will be a calamity,
indeed! The question stirs a bitter anguish in my soul. I trust it also
moves you.
It is a question. I cannot answer it, but I open wide the doors of my
heart to let it enter and try me. It acts like a fan in the Lord's hand
to purge the floor. It sweeps away my self-confidence and leads me to
watch and pray, that I enter not into the temptation of giving up my
faith. I pray that we may stand fast when others slide, so that when
the Lord comes, we may be found accepted of Him.
IV. I will close with this remark–my text is very IMPRESSIVE IN
RESPECT TO PERSONAL DUTY. "When the Son of Man comes, will He find
faith on the earth?" Let faith have a home in our hearts even if it is
denied a lodging everywhere else. If we do not trust our Lord and trust
Him much more than we have ever done, we shall deserve His gravest
displeasure. It will be a superfluity of naughtiness for us to doubt,
for, to some of us, conversion was a clear, sharp and distinct fact.
The change made in our characters was so manifest that the devil,
himself, could not make us doubt it. We know that the misery we
suffered under a sense of sin was no fiction and that the peace we
received through faith in Jesus was no dream. Why do we doubt?
Since conversion, some of us have been led in a strange way and every
step of it has shown us that the Lord is good and true and ought to be
trusted without stint. We have been sorely sick, full of pain, anguish
and depression of spirit– yet we have been upheld, sustained and
brought through! In great labors we have been strengthened. In great
undertakings we have been supported. Some of you have been very poor,
or your business has been declining and emergencies have been
frequent–and yet all these have proven the Truth of God. Do not these
things make it the more incumbent upon you to trust Him? Others of you
have suffered sad bereavements. You have lost, one after another, the
props of your comfort. But when you have gone to God, He has heard your
prayers and been better to you than father, husband, or friend!
It is down in your diary in black and white that His mercy endures
forever and you have said to yourself many times, "I shall never doubt
again after this."
Brothers and Sisters, it ought to be impossible for us to mistrust–and
natural to confide! And yet I fear it is not so. If after all this
watering, we grow so little faith, we may not wonder that our Lord
asked, "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?"
Some of us have been so familiar with dying beds–we have seen so many
pass away in holy calm and even with transporting triumph–that for us
to doubt is disrespect to the memories of the saints! For us to doubt
would be treachery to the Lord who has favored ourselves, also, with
visits of His love. We may doubt the dearest ones we have and that
would be cruel–but we had better do that than cast any suspicion upon
Him who has manifested Himself to us as He does not to the world! I
speak not to you all, but I speak to those whom the Lord has specially
favored, to whom He has revealed His secrets and made known His
Covenant. For these to question His faithfulness is wickedness! What
shall I say of His own elect, if they do not believe Him? If it were
possible for you to quit your faith, you would crucify your Lord
afresh! He must not be thus wounded in the house of His friends. Go, go
where you will, O Unbelief, you shall not find willing lodgment in my
heart! From my spirit you shall be banished as a detested traitor, for
my Beloved is true and I will lean upon Him!
I think I hear you say, "We are resolved upon it. We are called to have
faith in our Lord, even if none else believe Him." Then look to it that
you do not fail in these evil times. If you would keep your faith,
settle it in your minds that the Holy Scriptures are inspired of the
Holy Spirit and so are our Infallible rule of faith! If you give up
that foundation, you cannot exhibit faith worthy of the name. It is as
clear as the sun in the heavens that a childlike faith in God as He is
revealed is not possible to the man who doubts the Revelation. You must
accept the Revelation as Infallible or you cannot unquestioningly
believe in the God therein revealed! If you once give up Inspiration,
the foundations are removed and all building is laborious trifling. How
are the promises the support of faith if they are questionable? God can
only be known by His own light and if we cannot trust the Light of God,
where are we?
Next, settle it in your soul as to the Holy Spirit's dealings with
yourself. He has renewed you in the spirit of your mind. At least I ask
the question–Has He or has He not? You were converted by a Divine
agency from your lost estate of sin and brought, by the same Divine
agency, into newness of life–were you or were you not? Unless you are
quite certain about this, it is not possible for you to rise to any
height of faith. You must know that God has come into contact with your
soul, or else what have you to believe?
Next to that belief you must know your full pardon and sure
justification through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ your
Lord. Believe in the precious blood! Whatever else you doubt, believe
in the merit of the great Sacrifice of Calvary. Rejoice in your own
acceptance through the Sacrifice, seeing your whole faith rests
therein! O Brothers and Sisters, our eternal hopes cannot be built on
speculation–we need the Revelation of God! We cannot fight the battles
of life with probabilities–we need certainties for such a conflict! If
God has not revealed fixed Truths, you may go and think and dream–but
if He has given us a clear Revelation, let us believe it and cease to
imagine and invent! O Sirs, if you must speculate, risk your silver and
your gold, but I beseech you to lay aside all idea of speculating in
reference to your souls! I need absolute certainties and unquestionable
verities to bear me up when death's cold flood is rising up to my
loins! Divine Truths of God, as they are written in the Book and
brought home to the heart by the Holy Spirit, are sure standing ground
for that faith which Jesus looks for. He looks for it in vain when men
no longer accept His work as undoubted fact.
Again, if you would have strong faith, never relax your confidence in
the efficacy of prayer. This is essential to my text, for the widow
used no other weapon than prayer in her importunity with the judge. She
would not have persevered as she did in her pleadings if she had not
felt morally certain that in the long run she would prevail. Brothers
and Sisters, believe that God hears your prayers and that He will
answer them! As for me, I do not need any argument to prove the
influence of prayer with God. I have tried it and do try it till it is
no longer an experiment! The man that habitually eats bread knows that
he is nourished by it–the man that habitually lives by prayer to God
knows that God hears him! It would be absurd to offer him evidence for
or against the statement. If a person were to argue with me that there
was no sun in the heavens, I am afraid I should laugh outright.
If anyone said that he did not believe me to be alive, I do not know in
what way I could prove it to him. Would it be lawful to kick him, by
way of argument? When a man says, "I do not believe in prayer," I
answer, "What if you do not? You are the only loser." That God answers
prayer is a living certainty to me and I can say no more and no less.
If you do not believe in prayer, assuredly the Lord will not find in
you the faith of which our text speaks. If you regard it as a pious
exercise which refreshes the devout but has no power whatever with
God–well then, if all are of your mind, the Son of Man will find no
faith on the earth! Do not talk about believing–you know nothing of
the matter!
If you do believe, believe up to the hilt! Plunge into this sea of holy
confidence in God and you shall find waters to swim in. He that
believes what he believes shall see what he shall see. No man yet was
ever found guilty of believing in God too much! Among the high
intelligences of Heaven, no creature was ever censured for being too
credulous when dealing with the Word of the Most High. Let us believe
implicitly and explicitly. Let us believe without measure and without
reserve. Let us hang our all upon the Truth of God. Let us also aspire
to walk with God in the heavenlies and become the King's Remembrancers.
Let us seek Grace to become importunate pleaders of a sort that cannot
be denied, since their faith overcomes Heaven by prayer.
Oh, that I might have in my Church many a prevailing Israel! Some here
know what it is to be up early in the morning to besiege the Throne of
Grace with all the power of believing prayer. How much I owe to these
dear ones, eternity, alone, will declare! Oh, that we had many more
intercessors who would bear sinners on their hearts day and night
before the Lord and, like their Savior, would never rest till the Lord
built up His Church! Alas, for the rarity of such conquering faith! I
question whether there are not Christian people here who have never
heard a certain text which I am about to quote–and I am sure there are
others who will shudder when they hear it–"Thus says the Lord,
concerning the work of My hands, command you Me."
"Surely that cannot be Scripture!" cries one! But it is so. Turn to
Isaiah 45:11 and read it both in the Authorized and the Revised
Versions. Can a man command the Lord? YES! To believing men He puts
Himself at their call! He bids them command His help and use it as they
will. Oh that we could rise to this! Is there such faith among us? If
there is not, may our Lord Jesus, by His Spirit, work it in us for His
own Glory! Amen.