Knowing and Doing
(No. 3348)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 1913.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S DAY EVENING,
SEPTEMBER 20, 1868.
"If you know these things, happy are you if you do them." John 13:17.
The original scope of these words was just this–"If, as you say, you
have understood the meaning of this–the washing of your feet by your
Master–if you have comprehended My intention in so doing, then it will
be to your lasting honor and happiness if you do the same. I have
symbolically represented to you, by washing your feet, certain virtues.
You shall be a happy people if these virtues are found in you and
abound." And have we not abundant proof that our Lord spoke the truth,
for where are churches as happy as where they are knit together in
brotherly love, where they have laid aside contentions about priority
and distinction and where each one becomes a servant of all–everyone
willing to take the lowest place and no one contending who shall be the
greatest! May we prove, as I trust in our measure we have already done,
how true these words are, and never may Diotrephes be in our midst to
strive for the preeminence, nor a root of bitterness spring up to
trouble us! May we, everyone, try to be like our Lord and happy,
indeed, shall we be in such a case.
But the sentence before us is equally applicable to every other Gospel
precept. If we understand anything which the Holy Spirit has revealed
to us, happy shall we be if we follow its practical intention–if,
being first taught and instructed–we afterward practically exemplify
in our life and conduct the things which we have learned! That is the
one thought I propose to lay upon our hearts and minds this evening!
And that one thought may be enough.
You will notice in the text that there are two "ifs"–"If you know
these things, happy are you if you do them." It appears, then, first,
that genuine and acceptable service to Christ should be based upon
intelligent knowledge–"If you know these things." And secondly, that
all intelligent understanding of the things of God should lead us to
the practice of them–"Happy are you if you do them." The first "if
shall be taken first–"If you know these things"–
I. ALL SERVICE OF CHRIST IS BASED UPON INTELLIGENT KNOWLEDGE.
Our first observation is that this is an "if even in this country. "If
you know these things." Alas, even in such a city as this, where the
Gospel is to be heard in all our streets and Bibles are to be found in
all our homes, it is so sad that tens of thousands do not know these
things! They are so careless about what God has revealed that they will
not even cross the threshold to listen to the Word of God! This day
what a mass of Sabbath-breaking has grieved the Spirit of God! All
around us there are those who are toiling hard six days in the week for
themselves and cannot give to their God and, I may add, to their truer
and nobler selves, this one day in which to think of Him. He has
written to them the great things of His Law and they have trifled with
it! He speaks to them and invites them to hear that their souls may
live, but they would rather rest in their beds, or be found in any kind
of pleasure sooner than seeking pleasure in the ways of God! Pity this
poor city, you who know its sins! Pray for it, you who know its high
privileges and solemn responsibilities! Work for it, you who have power
with the heavenly Father, until at last the blessing shall come and men
shall no longer need to say to their fellows, "Know the Lord."
Alas, this is an "if," however, which does not merely concern those who
are outside our walls. There are many who know not these things, though
they hear about them–and the reason is because while they come to the
place of worship, and the sound of the preaching glides across their
ears, they never give deep, earnest attention to it They say that
preaching is dull–very possibly it is–but it is very amazing that it
should not be still duller when people have no concern to get into its
inner meaning, but find it quite enough to come and to go like a door
on its hinges! Full often from the hum-
blest teacher something might be learned if we were but anxious to be
taught. Or if we learned little by what he said, his very emotions
might remind us and one thought, however commonplace, might engender
another–and it would not be altogether without profit to sit together
in the assembly of the saints.
Oh, how negligently do some hear! They are thinking of their homes, of
their horses, of their cattle, of their farm and their merchandise. God
gets no such attention from men as legatees give the lawyer when he
reads the will. If men would listen to the preaching of the Gospel but
half as well as they listen to sweet music, there might be hope of its
being a blessing to them! But many understand not the things of God
because of their negligent hearing of it.
Alas, too, there are some who attend at least with an outward attention
which we cannot blame, but they know not the things of God because they
have not yet found out that the letter, that is, the external word, is
a killing thing, and that it is the inner and spiritual sense which is,
alone, to be sought after To listen to a Doctrine, for instance, is
right enough, and to catch the theory of it and be able to repeat the
definition may be in some respects valuable. But it is imperative to
get into the soul and spirit of that teaching of God which alone is
spirit and truth and, consequently, food to the spiritual man! Dead
orthodoxy, mere doctrinal correctness–these will never land men in
Heaven because they do not even put them into the Kingdom of Heaven
now! Men who merely have these are like botanists who know not the
flowers, but only know the names of the divisions and the orders. They
are like physicians who speak of drugs they have never seen or used,
who would attempt to deal with men's bodies before they had even
studied anatomy or seen a bone!
We need to come to the tasting and handling of God's Word. And all the
hearing in the world will end in nothing unless the soul gets still
closer and in the very soul and secret of the Truths of God. Hence
there is an "if," an "if about the best of hearers, about the most
intelligent–"If you knowthese things"–you may have listened to them,
have drunk them in from the earliest days of your life, but unless the
Holy Spirit has revealed them to you, flesh and blood cannot do so and
you cannot, therefore, know them!
It is greatly to be regretted that there are some persons who do not
know the Truth of God because they have no care to know at all They
have a contempt for anything that God reveals. They are wise men and,
therefore, they spend their whole lifetime in studying a piece of rock,
or in collecting specimens of beetles, or in any wonderfully wise track
of science! But to listen to the eternal Jehovah is quite beneath them!
To hear what He has been pleased to say concerning Himself in His own
Word seems to them to be trifling. Have I not often met with men who
would think it to be worth years of study to make the idlest possible
conjectures about the formation of a limestone rock, who yet would
laugh in one's face if one began to speak about the soul and the things
of the world to come? And these are wise men–at least according to
their own estimate of themselves! Whether or not they are fools shall
remain for the future to reveal to them–may they find it out before
the discovery shall be too late!
Others never will become intelligent in the things of God because they
are prejudiced. They have made up their minds that they doknow–and he
who thinks he knows will never learn. The conceptions which they
received early in life–their training, the fancies which they have
forged for themselves as being what should be the truth–these occupy
their minds and they cannot see the things of God because the mind has
been blinded with other matters. Would to God that we could be clear of
prejudice and clear of unholy contempt for God's Truth–and could come
simply to Him and ask to be taught as a child by the great Father and
lay bare our bosoms that the Holy Spirit might cast out error from us
and might write the mind and will of God there clearly! Then, indeed,
with such a humble submission and a Divinely earnest desire, there need
be no longer an "if" as to whether we learn these things. There is an
"if," however.
Let us now observe that we ought never to rest content while there is
an "if""If you know these things." My God, is it a question whether I
know You or not, whether I know Christ or not, whether I know the
Revelation which You have given to us or not? Then begin to teach me
now! Oh, Sirs, it will not do to trifle with an ignorance which shall
be our lasting ruin! We ought not to give sleep to our eyes until we
have asked to be taught of God! To be ignorant about the things of
ordinary daily life is not wisdom, but to be ignorant about eternal
life is stark madness!
An uneducated man stands but little chance in the battle of this life.
A man uneducated for eternity–alas, how exposed is he to innumerable
adversaries, how sure to fall, how certain to perish! Go, I pray you,
Brothers and Sisters, go to the Wise One for wisdom! Go to this Book
for the Light of God! Go to the Holy Spirit, Himself, for Divine
instruction and let it not be any longer with you a matter of question
as to whether you are taught of God or not! Oh, I would speak very
earnestly here. I do not ask that you should be learned. I do not ask
for myself that I may be profound. But I
do pray that we may comprehend with all saints what are the heights and
depths and know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, or at least
may know Him and be found in Him, clothed in His righteousness and
accepted in His merits. It ought not to be an "if."
But, supposing that there is no "if with any of us, then what ground is
there for gratitude! If the Savior need not say, "If you know these
things," but if we can say, "Lord You know that we love You, that we
rest in You, that we serve You, that we have been taught of Your
Spirit," then there is no room for self-congratulation, no room for
pride! What have you which you have not received? Thank God, dear
Friend, that you were not born amidst the heathenism of Africa! Thank
God that you were not left to the Sabbath-breaking of London! Thank God
that when you did hear the Word, it broke through the outer door and
came into the inner chamber of your soul! Thank God that that passage
of Scripture was not sent to you, "Come and speak to this people and
make their ears heavy that they shall not hear, for their hearts have
grown gross"! Blessed be the distinguishing Grace that enabled us, who
once were as incapable of this as the dead in their graves, to see and
hear spiritually!
What should come of it? Why, if you know these things and have learned
them by the Spirit of God, make it the method of showing your gratitude
to try and be His instruments in teaching others! If you know these
things, be not silent. If you know these things, wrap not up these
blessed secrets in your hearts as though they were committed to you
only for your own personal enjoyment, but in the name of Him who gave
such a priceless gift, go and tell wherever your tongue can be heard,
the good news of the salvation of Jesus Christ! And perhaps God may
make you a blessing to some of His hidden ones who as yet have not come
to Christ.
Thus much about the first "if." It looks to me like the first arch–and
having passed through it, I can see another beyond me–and I must pass
to the second if I would get the happiness.
II. THE INTELLIGENT KNOWLEDGE OF THE THINGS OF GOD SHOULD LEAD US TO
THE PRACTICE
OF THEM.
"If you know these things, happy are you if you do them."
This second "if" applies to all the things which we have been taught of
God. Let me give you, however, a specimen. Saving Truths–if you know
them, happy are you if you do them! This is a saving Truth of God–that
whoever trusts in Jesus Christ is saved. You know that. If there is
anything you ought to know, you who come to this house, you ought to
know that, for it is the staple of all our sermonizing every
Lord's-Day–that a simple confidence in Jesus Christ, the Savior, saves
the soul! Happy are you, then, if you have exercised this simple
confidence, for then you are saved! If you have trusted with the whole
weight of your sin upon Jesus, you have the happiness of being saved,
accepted, secure. Saving Truths ought to, every one of them, be the
first objects of practice. That same Spirit who teaches us the Truths
of God enables us to put them into action in our daily life. Dear
Hearer, have you been a hearer of the good message, but have been a
hearer, only? If so, you have missed the joy of the whole business! I
pray you go a step farther and believe and live!
After saving Truths come purifying Truths. Such is the Doctrine of the
Holy Spirit's indwelling. The Holy Spirit dwells in Believers and where
He dwells, there should be purity, peace, holiness and purging out of
sin.
You believe this, but happy are you if you seek so to act. If you pray
that you may not grieve the Spirit of God, nor cause Him to depart from
you, your daily anxiety shall bring its results and you shall be happy.
Then, there are certain ennobling Truths in God's Word and happy are we
if we do them. Such is the Truth of Divine Adoption. Every Believer is
a child of God. Happy are we if we live like one, if we exercise the
privileges of heirs, if we come to our Father with a child-like
confidence, if we plead with Him as a dear son asking a generous Father
to supply his needs. Remember that every Doctrine of the Gospel has a
practice appended to it and that to get the happiness out of the
Doctrine you must put its preceptory part, or its practical inference,
into action. You may be as orthodox as you please, but your orthodoxy
shall be only like so many grapes untrodden in the winepress! But if
you cast them into your daily life, then shall the luscious juice run
forth and you shall be satisfied with favor and be full of the goodness
of the Lord! Bread on the table will not satisfy you, nor will mere
Doctrine. The bread must be taken and eaten–and assimilated–and then
shall it comfort you. And so with the Truth of God–it must be a part
of yourself and be worked out into your daily life–or else the
happiness of it cannot be yours.
If there were time tonight, I would make an inventory of all the Truths
of Scripture and say after each one, "If you know these things, happy
are you if you do them." If you know it to be a privilege to be united
with God's people, come and join the Church! If you know that Jesus
bids you be baptized and come to His Table to remember Him, I pray you
be not disobedient, even to what you may think to be His least
commandment! Whenever you get the glimpse of a Truth from God's Word,
or in your conscience by His Spirit, never be a traitor to the heavenly
vision! Depend upon it, it is a terrible thing to trifle with
knowledge! Some men would not see when they might have seen–and they
have always been blind. Many a man who might have led the van in the
Church of God, and have helped on a glorious reformation, has stepped
back from the forefront because, perhaps, of some spurious charity with
which he indulged the flesh–and he has gone back into the rear–to the
vile dust from whence he sprang! But he that is faithful to God,
faithful to the convictions of his conscience–and carries all out into
practice–shall be among those to whom the Master shall say, "Well
done," at the last. I say to every Truth in Scripture there is a
practical conclusion and I beseech you to see to it that you hear
Christ say, "If you know these things, happy are you if you do them."
Why is it that the practice of a Truth of God is required to the
enjoyment of the happiness which it brings? Answer–this is always
God's rule. The ground is fat and full of bread, but the farmer, by his
tillage, must bring out the corn. Down deep in the heart of the earth
are the stores of gold and silver–there gleam the precious ores in
quantities that might make even Croesus, himself, to blush for poverty!
But the metal starts not up from the soil by itself. It must be dug
for–it must be cast into the furnace and separated from the ore. There
shall be wealth in many nations, and trade shall bring comforts to all
ranks, but the sea must be traversed, the sails must be spread, the
voyage must be made! Labor everywhere shall bring enjoyment, but
without labor there shall be none. God is not the God of idleness! He
speaks not to the earth to bid it bring food to the door of the idler.
He commands neither the ravens nor any other of His creatures to bring
bread and meat for the sluggards. There shall always be practice, and
then the result of work shall be the reward. So must it be in the
things of God–you must put them into practice to get the blessing they
hold! The laws of Nature are wonderful, and a knowledge of them
desirable, but a knowledge of all the laws of Nature would never have
reaped a field, built a house, found jewels in the mine, or even have
made a steam engine without a furnace, a hammer and strenuous toil!
All the knowledge with which a man can cram his brain cannot secure him
in his daily needs until he transfers it from his brain to his right
hand and sets to work with it! If you would get God's blessings, then,
in Nature or in Grace, carry out the Divine Laws into immediate and
energetic practice!
In the next place, for God to give the comforts of His promises to men
who will not obey His precepts would be to discourage all Christian
effort. Every man would fold his arms and sit down. "If I am to have
salvation without believing," says one, "why should I believe? If I am
to have Grace given me without using such Grace as that which is
already entrusted to me, then let me eat and drink, for Grace will come
to me! Let me be as carnal as I like." But God will not so act as to
give graceless hearts such an excuse!
To give His blessing to those who do not practice His precepts would
be, in fact, to give a premium for sin. The more knowledge, if that
knowledge is not put into practice, the more sin, in consequence! Shall
God reward a man who, sitting in the Light of God, will not walk by the
Light? And shall He give enjoyments to those who know His will and who
do not that will? No, Sirs, if blessings came to merely knowledge, I
suppose the devil would be the most blessed of beings! Certainly if the
comforts of the Gospel came to those who understand the Gospel best,
but who do not practice it, there would be some of the vilest of
mankind who would be orthodox enough–who would, on such a rule, go to
Heaven! But they shall find themselves shut out when that judgment
shall be given which proceeds upon this rule, "By their fruits you
shall know them." You all see, without any reasoning from me, that it
would seem strange, indeed, if God allowed the precepts of the Gospel
to be trampled underfoot and then gave the same blessings to the
rebellious as to the graciously obedient! It must not, shall not be!
See we not, then, that our happiness from the things of God must come,
not merely through knowledge, though that is the first stage of Divine
Favor–but we must not rest satisfied until we pass into the second
stage–the doingof what we have learned! We close with the question
which the text naturally inspires–
III. WHAT IS THE HAPPINESS WHICH THIS PRACTICAL OBEDIENCE BRINGS?
Briefly, it is always a blessed thing to be obedient to God. The very
soul of joy to the creature who wants to be truly happy is conformity
to the will of the Creator. When God's will and ours keep pace
together, it will be Heaven on earth to us! It is only when our will
jars with the Divine mind that our soul's happiness departs, but when
we are helped to lay
aside self and say from our inmost soul, "Not my will, but Yours be
done," and so come to be ruled and governed entirely by the Divine
Mind, then shall we be in Paradise here below!
Added to this, to increase our happiness if we do these things, we
shall have the blessings promised to the doing thereof. We are no
legalists. We do not believe in salvation by works, nor even in rewards
given to men because of any merit on their part, but we do know that if
Jesus says, "He that believes shall be saved," then he that believes
will get that salvation and this will be the blessing which he enjoys,
and so with every other new Covenant blessing!
Brothers and Sisters, there is a happiness here in practical
Christianity and there is a happiness hereafter. In mere nominal
Christianity there is no happiness. Look at some of your professors.
They have got religion enough to make them miserable! Their attendance
at church or chapel–what is it but a bit of slavery? They would not go
to church if they could help it, but they think it looks respectable.
If they had their way and the force of custom were withdrawn, they
would not be found among the worshippers! Look, I say, at many of them.
The very sight of their Bible and Prayer Book seems to make their faces
long and dismal at once. Prayer–is that a pleasure to them? To sing
God's praise–is that a delight? No, far, far, far from it! And why is
this? Because they have never, by Divine Grace, been led solemnly to
trust in Jesus and earnestly to give themselves up to those Truths
which only in their practical force and influence can make us
happy–but which in their mere theory are "the letter which kills," and
only in practice are they the spirit and life! Oh, that some of you
church members would put in practice what you believe! Oh, Sirs, it is
well enough to say that a Christian should be consistent, but if you
are not honest in your business, how does your belief help you? It is
well enough to say that a Christian should be godly, but if you are
godless in your families–if family prayer is neglected and private
prayer given up–what is the use of your beliefs, what the use of your
perfect creeds? You may talk until doomsday about what you believe or
what you do not believe, but it is that part of your belief which gets
interwoven into the warp and woof of your daily life which affects your
business, which really moves you, impels you, or restrains you
according to whether you would do right or wrong–it is this, it is
this, it is this, and it is just this, only, that is worth having! Your
dead religion–it is a corpse–bury it! Your living godliness, your
vital godliness, the godliness that vitalizes you and makes you live
unto God and His Truth–this it is to be sought after–and may God in
His mercy grant it to each one of us! "If you know these things, happy
are you if you do them."
And so we come to a conclusion by noticing that if the text were read
in another form, it would read very solemnly, "If you know these
things, unhappy, wretched, ruined are you if you do them not." I
scarcely feel that I have either strength or will to enter upon the few
sentences I meant to have uttered tonight. There are not many of you
here who are ignorant of the Gospel. The most of this great assembly
have read it and heard it, and if any should ask you, "What is the way
of eternal life," you could give them a very ready answer. And, thank
God, there are not a few of you who have put into practice this Gospel!
You have looked to Jesus–you are resting in Him. You can say, while
confessing many imperfections, that you desire to walk in the ways of
obedience to Him who has redeemed you with His blood.
But, painful reflection! There are many–very many–and you know who
they are–who know these things, but do them not! Ten years ago they
were greatly affected by a sermon and they vowed repentance. The season
passed away and their conscience became crippled–no good results came.
Some time ago, at an earnest Prayer Meeting, they were again pricked in
conscience, but this time they were not so wounded as before. And now,
tonight, they are just what they have always been–willing hearers,
attentive hearers, kind friends to the Gospel in some respects,
contributing towards any godly enterprise, but still they have not
surrendered to God by believing in Christ–and so are still strangers
to Him as the soul's Savior. And I have to ask them tonight whether it
shall always be so, and, if not always, then how long? "How long halt
you between two opinions?" And if it is not to be long, why not end it
tonight? Oh, blessed Spirit, they do know! It is not this they need,
but they need to feel! They do not love! They do not believe! Oh, give
them these, that they may not go down into Hell with the accumulated
responsibilities of abundant Light. "If I had not come and spoken to
you," said Christ, "you had been without sin, but now you have no cloak
for your sin." Oh, the godly mothers of some of you will rise up
against you to condemn you, for you knew these things, but you did them
not! Some of you, your conscience will speak with a voice of
thunder–it will roar like a lion on you when God condemns you because
you knew the Gospel and refused it–you understood the way of
salvation, but you would not walk therein! There is no place more
terrible to be lost than from the shadow of a pulpit! The more plain
the Gospel, the more sure your ruin if you reject it! The more earnest
the ministry that comes to you with its notes of warning and
invitation, the more horrible your overthrow if your ears refuse the
words of Jehovah's love! Tonight, I pray you–and I think I speak in
God's name–cast in your lot with Christ and with God's people! You are
guilty, but He is gracious and delights to pardon! You feel unworthy,
and you are, but Christ receives the most undeserving! Rely upon Him
now. You have nothing else that will suffice. Oh, cast yourselves upon
Him! Happy shall you be if you do this. Other doings without this were
mere legalism and vain, but this is the great work, the master work,
the God work, that you believe on Jesus Christ whom God has sent!
Trust, then, in Him, and your peace shall be like a river and your
righteousness like the waves of the sea. Trifle no longer! Listen no
longer merely with the outward ear, but now decide that if there is an
inner sense, you will find it–if there is a secret Truth, you will
hunt it out until you secure it.
If there is a living Christ to pardon you and make you snowy clean,
resolve you will find Him! If there is a road to Heaven, determine to
find and walk in it. "And now farewell sin, farewell
self-righteousness, farewell the shallow pleasures of this world!
Jesus, take my heart just as it is–I give it up to You–and help me to
do now what I have never done before–to put in practice what I hear,
and carry out what I have been taught." So may God help you and we will
meet in Heaven and we will say together there that this night's text
was true, "If you know these things, happy are you if you do them." God
help you to do them, now, for Christ's sake. Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: HEBREWS 11.
First, a definition of faith.
Verses 1-3. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good
report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the
Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things
which do appear. There was no pre-existent matter. The world was made
by God's word, so that prior to the things which are seen, there
existed that which is not seen. We, dear Friends, when we are trusting
in the unseen God, are going back to first principles–we are getting
to that which is the essence and the source of all. The next verse
illustrates the worshipof faith.
4. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,
by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of
his gifts: and by it he, being dead, yet speaks. There is no
worshipping God aright except by faith. The most gorgeous ceremonies
are as nothing in His sight! It is the faith of the heart which He
accepts. Next we read of the rewardof faith.
5, 6. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and
was not found, because God had translated him: for before his
translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without
faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must
believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently
seek Him. See this reward then–it pleases God–and that is reward
enough for anyone of us. Next see faith's safety.
7. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved
with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by which he
condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by
faith. Faith can outlive a deluge which drowns the whole world! She has
an Ark even when God's wrath sweeps all the rest away! Next we learn
the obedience of faith.
8-10. By faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place
which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed: and he went
out, not knowing where he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of
promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac
and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a
city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.Here you
have the expectation of faith. Faith does not live on things seen–she
lives on something yet to come. That which is to come she regards as
eternal, not like a mere tent in which she dwells here, but a city that
has foundations, fixed and firm. Next we see the strengthof faith, that
strength seen in the deadness of nature.
11-13. Through faith, also, Sara herself received strength to conceive
seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she
judged Him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of
one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in
multitude, andas the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. These
all diedin faith, not having received the promises, but having seen
them afar of, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them,
and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. That
is a rich word, they, "embraced them." They were far off and yet faith
brought them so near that they seemed to receive them to their hearts
and feel the comfort of them! Next is the confession of faith.
14-19. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a
country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from which
they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But
now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly one. Therefore
God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared for them
a city. By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he
that had received the promises offered up his only-begotten son, of
whom it was said, That in Isaac shall your seed be called. Accounting
that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from whence also
he received him in a figure. Here you have the triumphof faith, one of
the greatest victories that was ever achieved by faith, when a man was
willing, at God's command, to offer up his son, his only son, his son
according to promise, his son in whom all the Covenant was to be
fulfilled! In the 20th verse you get the discern-mentof faith, faith
foreseeing–
20, 21. By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to
come. By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed both the sons of
Joseph and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff You remember
'his discernment, how he crossed his hands willingly that he might lay
the right hand upon the younger son. Faith is always giving blessings
to others and she knows which way to give them, for God makes her
wondrous quick of heart and quick of eye.
22, 23. By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of
the children of Israel: and gave commandment concerning his bones. By
faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months by his parents,
because they saw he was aproper child; and they were not afraid of the
king's commandment Here is the courageof faith–
24, 25. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called
the son ofPharaoh's daughter: Choosingra-ther to suffer affliction with
thepeople of God than to enjoy thepleasures of sin for a season. Here
is the choiceof faith–
26. Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures
in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.Here is
the judgmentof faith, by which she judges wisely, choosing rather to be
reproached for Christ than to reign with the world.
27, 28. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath ofthe king:
for he endured, as seeing Him who is invisible. Through faith he kept
the Passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest He that destroyed the
first-born should touch them. Here, again, you have the obedienceof
faith, taking God's precepts and carrying them out.
29. By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land: which the
Egyptians assaying to do were drowned. There you have the difference
between faith and presumption–faith goes through the sea. Presumption
is drowned in the sea.
30. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed
about seven days. Here are the weapons of faith, the warfareof faith,
with nothing but her ram's horn trumpet she encompasses the giant walls
of the city and down they fall!
31. By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not
when she had received the spies with peace. Here you have faith uniting
itself with the people of God–she perished not with them that believed
not, for she had come out from among them and allied herself with the
people of God by receiving the spies.
32-35. And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of
Gideon, and ofBarak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae: of David, also,
and Samuel, and of the Prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms,
worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge ofthe sword, out of
weakness were made strong, grew valiant in fight, turned to flight the
armies ofthe aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again:
and others were tortured, not excepting deliverance: that they might
obtain a better resurrection. Oh the victories of faith! When faith
takes to working, how mightily she works.
36, 37. And others had trial of cruel mocking and scourging, yes,
moreover of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn
asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about
in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented. You
have seen the works of faith and the sufferings of faith–now you see
God's estimate of faith. He counts the believing man to be far beyond
the rest of mankind!
38, 39. (Of whom the world was not worthy). They wanderedin deserts,
andin mountains, andin dens and caves of the earth. All these all
having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise.
It lay in the future to them far more than it does to us, for Christ
has now come and we look back to that glorious appearing of our Lord
and Savior, but they had altogether to look forward.
40. God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us
shouldnot be madeperfect. For it never was God's intention that any
part of His Church should be able to do without the rest of it, so that
those who lived before the time of Christ cannot do without us–neither
can we do without them.