How Can I Obtain Faith?

Delivered on Lord's Day Morning, January 21st, 1872, by

C. H. SPURGEON,

At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

'So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of
God.''Romans 10:17.

IT IS DIFFICULT to make men understand that the salvation of the gospel
is not by works but entirely by grace, that it is not presented to men
as the reward of their own endeavors, but is given to them freely upon
their accepting it by an act of simple faith or trust in Jesus Christ.
However plainly we may preach this truth, there will always be some who
will misunderstand us, and as many more who will raise objections
against it, as if it were their part to give an opinion, and not to do
as they are bidden by the Lord. But when men are brought under the
teaching of the word, to see that the pardon of their sins, and the
acceptance of their souls does not lie with any merit of their own, or
any doings of their own, another difficulty generally presents itself:
they say, 'What is this faith of which you speak?' and when we assure
them that it is a simple trust or confidence in the finished work of
Christ, then straightway they say, 'How can we get this faith? How can
we obtain this confidence?' To us, who have faith, this question is
very easy to answer, for when we heard the gladsome news of a finished
salvation for lost sinners, complete forgiveness for the guilty, and
acceptance for the ungodly, simply upon believing in Jesus we came to
Jesus, and we trusted in him, and we continue still to trust, and we
have joy and peace through believing. We see far more reasons for
belief than for doubt. Yet, nevertheless, there are hundreds and
thousands who are awakened, and seriously enquiring, to whom this is a
great difficulty''How can I get the faith which gives me possession of
Christ Jesus, and brings me salvation?' Our text is the ready answer,
practically a complete answer; not doctrinally or theologically
complete, but practically perfect. 'Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God.' 'But faith is the work of the Holy Spirit
in the soul is it not?' Certainly. 'And it is given by the Spirit to
God's own chosen?' Assuredly; yet, nevertheless, it was not necessary
for the apostle to mention those facts here. Some persons are always
for having a whole system of theology in every sermon, but it is not
needful that they should be gratified. Paul is clear enough about the
work of the Spirit in other places, and it is not needful that he
should introduce that subject into every line he writes. It was
practically unnecessary for him to mention that subject in the present
instance, and, therefore, he did not do so. It would sometimes puzzle
rather than instruct an enquirer if we were to go into the full details
of a matter. For instance, if I am thirsty, how shall I quench my
thirst? By a draught of water. But in what way can I obtain water? It
quite suffices for practical purposes for you to tell me to go to the
tap or the fountain. There is no need to explain to me before I drink
that the water is supplied by a company, and forced to the spilt by
sundry machines, having been first extracted from the great fountains
beneath by artesian wells, or drawn from the river at Thames Ditton.
Nor would it be needful in answer to my question to trace the river to
the clouds, and to treat upon the formation of vapor by the skill and
wisdom of God. Practically, to the thirsty man all you want to say is,
'There's the water, drink.' I will add another illustration. A man is
hungry, and he asks you, 'How can I get bread?' 'Go to the baker's,'
you say. The answer is complete enough for him; it meets the case at
once. If he wants a larger declaration of how bread is obtained, we can
give it to him at another time when he is no longer hungry; we will
tell him how the corn is sown in the furrow of earth, and how by
mysterious processes of nature it germinates, grows, and ripens; we
will trace it from the reaper to the thresher, and from the thresher to
the mill, and we will also show that daily bread is as much a gift from
heaven as the manna which dropped down upon the hungry people in the
wilderness. But, it is not needful for the feeding, of the hungry that
we should on every occasion go into all those details, although we hold
very sound views upon them. And when you are dealing with an anxious
person, it will suffice to say to him, 'Faith cometh by hearing;'
further information can be supplied under happier circumstances. I mean
to keep to our text this morning, and if any shall charge me with an
omission of the work of the Spirit, or a failure to trace all saving
faith to the electing grace of God, I shall bear the charge without
murmuring, only saying that my soul rejoices as much as that of any man
living in the work of the Spirit of God; and, that the electing love of
God and his determinate purposes are precious truths to me. If the text
was sufficient for Paul; it will, I trust, be sufficient for you.

May the Spirit of God assist us while we meditate upon the way by which
faith cometh. This shall be followed by a brief indication of certain
obstructions which often lie in that way; and then we will conclude by
dwelling upon the importance that faith should come to us by that
appointed road.

I. First, then, THE WAY BY WHICH FAITH COMES TO MEN. 'Faith cometh by
hearing.'

It may help to set the truth out more clearly, if we say, negatively,
that it does not come by any other process than by hearing;'not by any
mysterious and strange method, but in the most simple and natural mode
conceivable, namely, by the hearing of the word.

Some imagine that faith comes by hereditary descent, and they act upon
the supposition. Hence, in certain churches, birthright membership is
thought to be a proper practice, and the child of a Christian is
thought to be a Christian. In some other churches, though the theory
would not be stated in so many words, yet it is practically accepted,
and children of pious parents are regarded as scarcely needing
conversion. The text is forgotten which saith that the heirs of
salvation are born, 'not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, but of
God.' The typical covenant secured outward privileges to the children
born after the flesh, but under the covenant of grace the blessing is
secured to the spiritual and not to the natural seed. 'He who was of
the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by
promise.' (Galatians 4:23). That which is born of the flesh is flesh,
and nothing more: the new-born nature is not transmissible from father
to son like a natural temperament or a cast of countenance. I know the
answer will be that 'the promise is to us and to our children,' but it
will be well for the objector to reply to himself by completing the
quotation''even to as many as the Lord your God shall call.' The fact
is, that nothing spiritual is inherited by carnal generation. Our
children, even if we are far advanced in grace, will still be 'shapen
in iniquity.' No matter how high the sainthood of the professing
Christian, his child (when capable of understanding) must for himself
become a personal believer in Jesus.

It appears to be thought possible to infuse grace by sacraments. There
are persons yet alive who teach that a babe may be regenerated by
certain aqueous processes, and be thereby placed in 'a state of
salvation.' But is not faith a perpetual concomitant of regeneration?
and what is that regeneration worth which leaves a person an
unbeliever, and, consequently, 'condemned already, because he hath not
believed on the Son of God?' Rest assured, that as faith does not come
by descent, neither can it be produced by any rite which recognizes
that descent: it comes in one way, and in one way only in every case,
and that is, by the hearing of the word. To every person, whoever he
may be, though nursed in the bosom of the church, and introduced to
that church by the most solemn ritual, we are bound to say, you must
hear as well as others, and you must believe as the result of that
hearing as well as others, or else you will remain short of saving
grace. Faith is not a mystery juggled into us by the postures,
genuflexions, and mumblings of priests. We have heard a great deal
about sacramental efficacy, but I think a man must have extraordinary
hardihood who would say that either baptism, or the so-called
Eucharist, are the sure creators of faith; yet see I not what saving
service these forms can render to unbelieving men if they leave them in
an unbelieving condition, and, consequently, in a state of
condemnation. Seeing that without faith it is impossible to please God,
the grace supposed to be conveyed by the mere participation in
sacraments is of small value, it cannot give the cardinal requisite for
acceptance before God. Faith cannot be washed into us by immersion, nor
sprinkled upon us in christening; it is not to be poured into us from a
chalice, nor generated in us by a consecrated piece of bread. There is
no magic about it; it comes by hearing the word of God, and by that way
only.

These are superstitions, you tell me, and scarcely need to be mentioned
here; very well then, we will have done with them, and treat of
superstitions which linger in our own congregations. There are some who
fancy that faith cometh by feeling. If they could feel emotions either
of horror or of exquisite delight, they would then, they think, be the
possessors of faith; but till they have felt what they have heard
described in certain biographies of undoubtedly good men, they cannot
believe, or even if they have a measure of faith, they cannot hope that
it is true faith. Faith doth not come by feeling, but through faith
arises much of holy feeling, and the more a man lives in the walk of
faith, as a rule, the more will he feel and enjoy the light of God's
countenance. Faith hath something firmer to stand upon than those
ever-changing frames and feelings which, like the weather of our own
sunless land, is fickle and frail, and changeth speedily from
brightness into gloom. You may get feeling from faith, and the best of
it, but you will be long before you will find any faith that is worth
the having, if you try to evoke it from frames and feelings.

'My hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus' blood and righteousness;

I dare not trust the sweetest frame;

But wholly lean on Jesus' name;

On Christ the solid rock I stand,

All other ground is sinking sand.'

Some, also, have supposed that true faith will come to men by dreams
and visions. It is surprising how a belief in these things lingers
still in what is called this age of light; the notion is still current
that if you dream of seeing Jesus, or fancy you have seen him while
awake, or if a passage of Scripture strikes you, or if you hear or
imagine that you hear a voice speaking to you, you are then a believer.
Now, faith in Christ is like faith in anyone else, it comes to us by
the same kind of mental processes, and is based upon simple principles
and plain matters of fact, and needs no vision of the night. Though you
should see all the angels in heaven, it would not prove that you would
go to heaven, any more than my having seen the Pope's body guard would
be a proof that I shall be made a Cardinal. Things which are seen of
the eye save not, for the things which are seen are temporal, and
cannot work eternal salvation. Moreover, men saw Christ, and yet
pierced him and blasphemed him. Visions have been seen by heathens like
Nebuchadnezzar, and angels have appeared to bad men like Balaam who,
though he sighed out, 'Let me die the death of the righteous,' yet
perished, fighting against the God of Israel. True faith has a more
solid basis for its fabric than the fleeting fancies of the mind.

I beg you to notice, too, that it does not say in the text that faith
comes through the eloquence, earnestness, or any other good quality of
the preacher. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word, not of
man, but of God. The word of God is the substance of faith-creating
preaching; it is by the hearing of God's word, and not by any other
hearing that saving faith comes to the soul. I may hear a man descant
upon the gospel with all the eloquence that can be commanded by the
most fluent tongue, yet if my faith comes to me because the man spoke
pathetically, or poetically, or argumentatively, or rhetorically, it is
a poor miserable faith; being, of the power of the flesh, it will die,
and so prove itself unlike the faith which springs from the
incorruptible word of God, for that liveth and abideth for ever. On the
other hand, I may hope for faith if I am listening to the true gospel,
the very word of God, though the man who speaks it may be of stammering
lips, and his voice may be disagreeable to my ear, and there may be
much about his manner that does not commend itself to me. If he
preaches truth it is by hearing not him, the man, but by hearing the
word of God, that I shall come to faith. I do desire ever, as a
preacher, to feel that it is not my word but God's word that saves
souls; we are to explain it and expound it, but we are not to add to
it, take from or conceive that we can improve it. We must not go into
the pulpit and say, 'I have been working out a subject from my own
mind, and I am going to give you the result of my thoughts.' We had
better keep our own thoughts for some other place, and give the people
the revealed truth of God. The theory now-a-days is that all preachers
worth hearing by this refined generation must be profound thinkers, and
inventors of improved theologies. Brethren, let man's thoughts perish
for ever; the thoughts of God and not the thoughts of man will save
souls. The truth of God should be spoken simply, with as little as
possible of the embellishments of metaphysics, and philosophy, and high
culture, and all that stuff. I say the word of God delivered as we find
it is that which, when heard, brings faith to the souls of men. I
counsel you, my occasional hearers, you who perhaps have come freshly
to this city, or who reside where you have a choice of ministry, seek
not that which tickles your ear, but that which your conscience
approves as consistent with the word of God; and, though we or an angel
from heaven should preach to you that which is not God's word, do not
listen to us, for it will be mischievous to you. Hear you what God the
Lord speaketh, and hear nothing else. What though he shall sound forth
his word through a ram'shorn, if it be God's Spirit that giveth forth a
certain sound, it shall be more profitable to your soul than though the
silver trumpet should be set to the mouth of falsehood, and the
sweetest music should regale your ear. The matter of a discourse is far
more important than the manner. Saving faith never comes from hearing
falsehood, but from the word of God alone.

I ought, perhaps, to add that the expression 'by hearing,' though of
course literally it must be confined to the hearing of words vocally
uttered, is meant to include in its spirit the reading of the word; for
reading is a sort of hearing with the eyes, and faith has often come
and will often come to men while they are reading the word of God for
themselves. We must not kill the spirit of the text by excessive regard
to the mere letter of it, and we should do so if we excluded readings,
which is a quiet hearing of the still small voice of the printed page.
Faith comes by the word of God reaching our minds, and our knowing and
understanding it. The entrance of God's word giveth light. 'Incline
your ear and come unto me, hear and your soul shall live.' Thus, we
have spoken of it negatively.

Now, positively: 'Faith cometh by hearing.' Sometimes faith has come
into men's minds by hearing the simple statement of the gospel. They
have longed to be saved, and they have been told that Jesus the Son of
God condescended to come into this world and to take upon himself the
form of man, and as man to be partaker of our infirmities, and to offer
himself as a sacrifice in the room, place, and stead of sinners; they
have, moreover, been told that whosoever trusts in this substitutional
sacrifice shall be saved, and straightway they have believed. All they
have wanted has been merely to be informed of the way of salvation.
God's Spirit has so prepared them that they have believed almost as
soon as they have heard the saving truth. In many cases the only
difficulty in the way of salvation has been a want of understanding the
word. I know in my own case I would have given all I had, if I might
but have been informed what I must do to be saved. Though I frequented
places where the gospel was preached, I did not catch the meaning of
believing, it puzzled me much. I do not remember to have heard the
simple declaration that to trust in Jesus Christ would save my soul;
or, possibly, I did hear it with my outward ears, but I must have been
strangely infatuated, for I did not understand the sense; and I have
often thought if I could have heard the way of faith simply stated, my
soul would have leaped into liberty long before. I will not so say; but
I am persuaded that faith often comes by hearing the simple declaration
that God accepts sinners, not for what they are in themselves but for
what Christ is, and that when sinners believe in Jesus they are saved
there and then, and are acceptable with God through Jesus Christ his
dear Son. The mere statement of this has brought, by the operation of
the Spirit of God, faith into the soul. 'How is this?' saith one. Well,
it is because the gospel commends itself to some hearts as true upon
the very first blush of it, it strikes them as being undoubtedly the
gospel of God. It is the same in other matters; you sometimes hear a
story about which you say, 'Well, I do not know, it may be correct, but
I shall have to look a little into that before I am certain;' but you
often hear statements which you accept at once, because they commend
themselves to your understanding, and you feel that they must be true.
There are minds which God has so prepared that the moment they hear the
gospel they respond to it. I think I hear the seeker after truth
exclaim when he heard the gospel, 'True? Why, how could it be
otherwise? It is so divinely grand, so harmonious, so good, so
gracious, so unexpected'nobody could have thought of it but God
himself'it must be the truth.' Having long sought goodly pearls of
truth, the illuminated eye catches the gleam of the gospel and discerns
it to be a priceless gem. Those are blessed indeed who are thus at once
brought unto faith by the statement of the gospel.

To some others, the convincing point has been the suitability of the
gospel to their case, for while they have heard it preached as a gospel
for sinners, they have felt that they were certainly among that class.
When the preacher has gone on to describe the misery of the fall, the
utter ruin of human nature, its deceitfulness, feebleness, fickleness,
and folly, the hearer has said, 'Is the gospel sent to those who are
thus lost, guilty, and impotent? Why, I am precisely in that
condition?' And, then, when its great command is stated, namely, simple
trust in Jesus, the soul perceives the suitability of the way of grace.
We do not go to heaven to bring Christ down, or dive into the deeps to
bring him up from the dead; we can neither keep the law nor find an
atonement for our transgressions; but this simple trust, oh how
suitable it is to undone sinners. Nothing to do'I can do nothing;
noticing to bring'I have nothing to bring; it suits my case. Glory be
to God for devising a plan so adapted to our wants. From the suitabilty
of the gospel to the sinner, many have been by God's Spirit led to
saving faith in Jesus, and so faith has come by hearing.

In many, I do not doubt, faith has come through hearing of the
condescending pity and the melting love of Jesus. Oh, that we dwelt
more on this; that he loved his enemies, that he died for the ungodly,
that his heart yearns over the lost sheep, that he is willing to
receive prodigal sons, for he is full of grace and truth.

'His heart is made of tenderness,

His bowels melt with love.'

When such texts as the following have been preached on:''This man
receiveth sinners.' 'Come unto me all ye that labor.' 'Ho, every one
that thirsteth,' etc. 'All manner of sin and transgression shall be
forgiven unto men.' 'Whosoever will, let him come and take the water of
life freely.' 'Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out,'
that melting strain has touched the heart, and led the most hardened to
believe in a Savior so kind to the undeserving. Men have found it
impossible not to believe in a friend so self-sacrificing, a Redeemer
so altogether lovely. The sweet love of Jesus has an omnipotence in it
to win souls. They yield 'by mighty love subdued,' unable to resist its
charms, and as if they could hold out no longer, they throw themselves
by an act of faith into the Savior's arms. I can well understand their
singing, 'I do believe, I must believe in such a friend as this.' Faith
comes by hearing of the free forgiveness procured by the agony, the
stripes, the wounds, the death of Jesus, the lover of our souls.

At other times, faith has come not so much through hearing the
statement of the gospel as from hearing of its authority. I may believe
a statement because it looks like truth. I may, on the other hand,
accept it not at all because I have myself perceived the apparent truth
of it, but because of the person who tells it to me. And this is a very
right and acceptable kind of faith. What has God said about my
salvation? Before I hear it I am prepared to believe it on the
testimony of God. He says it, and that is enough for me. I believe this
Bible to be his book; I hear what it says, and whatsoever the Lord God
hath said I must and will receive, whether it appears plain or not.
There are persons who when they have heard the gospel preached have not
at first believed it, but if it has pleased the Spirit of God to lead
the minister to show that the gospel is of divine appointment, that the
way proclaimed is ordained by God himself, and that God has set the
sanction of his promise upon it''He that believeth and is baptised
shall be saved''and has also set upon it the second sanction of his
threatening''He that believeth not shall be damned''then they have
yielded and given over all further question. God bids them trust in
Jesus, and they do so through his grace. Without canvassing the
statement itself they receive what God teaches, and since he hath set
forth Christ to be a propitiation for sin they receive him us such:
since he has said, 'Look unto me and be saved,' they look because God
bids them look, and they are saved. To believe in Jesus is a command
from God's own mouth, and is, therefore, to be obeyed, and the more so,
because 'he that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he
believeth not the record that God gave of his Son; and this is the
record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his
Son.'

In some cases, too, the coming of faith has been helped by hearing and
perceiving the veracity of the subordinate testifiers of the gospel,'I
mean the writers of the sacred book, the prophets, and chiefly the
apostles. These men are worthy of credit'they were honest,
unsophisticated men, and they certainly gained nothing by testifying
that Christ was the Messiah, and that he died and rose again from the
dead. One of them, the Apostle Paul, lost his position, which was one
of great eminence, and spent his whole life in toil, and suffering, and
reproach, and ended with a bloody death because of what he preached,
and thus he proved that he was a sincere, honest, upright man. If Paul
or any other of the apostles were in the witness-box, nobody could
demur to their evidence; whatever they said we should believe, because
the men were truthful witnesses. Now, sometimes, persons have been led
into faith in Christ, by feeling that those whom he sent to be
testifiers to his person, death, and resurrection were evidently true
to the core, and, therefore, their word was worthy of all acceptation.

I believe, dear friends, that faith has come by hearing in another way.
Perhaps the preacher has not so much stated the gospel, and brought
forward its authority, as explained it. and so faith has come. If we
spent our time in nothing else but just explaining the text, 'He that
believeth and is baptised shall be saved,' we might achieve a blessed
life-work, and perhaps might see greater results than when our ministry
takes a wider range. When the preacher takes up one by one the soul
difficulties which prevent man from seeing what faith is, and keep him
away from looking to Christ, and when he tries to show, as he should,
that all the hope of the sinner lies out of himself, none of it in
himself, that all his help for salvation is laid upon one that is
mighty, even Jesus Christ the Son of God, and that he must look away
from his own feelings, and prayings, and doings, and even away from his
own believings as any ground of confidence, and must rest simply and
alone upon the one sacrifice of Jesus; it has often happened that faith
has come through the hearing of such an explanatory word.

In some cases, too, faith has come when the word has possessed a
peculiar soul-revealing pointedness in it to the hearer's particular
case. Remember the Samaritan Woman. Our Lord Jesus Christ explained to
her the gospel, but she does not appear to have been enlightened by his
explanations: it was that home stroke of his''Go, call thy husband and
come hither,' which won her to faith. Such revealings of the thoughts
and intents of the heart will occur in any God-sent preaching of the
gospel, just because the Word pierces to the dividing of soul and
spirit, and lays bare the secrets of the soul. Then it is that hearers
cry, 'Come, see a man that told me all things that ever I did; is not
this the Christ?' Thus, by the guidance of the Spirit, the word finds
out the man, and faith cometh by hearing.

Faith, also, comes in to many by hearing, when we detail the experience
of those who have tasted and handled the good word of life; when the
preacher or teacher tells how he trusted in Jesus, and found pardon,
peace, and life eternal; when he is able to point to others who have
felt the same, some of whom, perhaps, were even greater offenders than
the person addressed, then conviction and faith are wrought in the
mind. We bid you see what Jesus has done for us, in the hope that you
will trust and try him for yourselves. Jesus prayed for those who shall
believe on him through our word, and we hope you will be among the
number.

To set the whole matter clearly, we will suppose that you are laboring
under a very serious disease, and a physician professes to heal you.
You are quite willing to believe in him, but you cannot blindly follow
any man, for there are thousands of quacks and impostors. You naturally
want to know something about him. Now, in what way would you go to work
to get faith in him? How would faith be likely to come to you? It would
come by hearing. You hear him speak and you perceive that he
understands your case, for he describes exactly all your symptoms, even
those which none know but yourself and a skillful physician. You feel
already some confidence in him. He next describes to you as much of the
method of cure as you can comprehend, and it seems to you to be very
reasonable, and withal suitable to the requirements of your case. His
proposal commends itself to your best judgment, and you are already a
stage nearer submission to his mode of operation. Then you enquire as
to the man's character; you find that he is no mere pretender, but an
authorized skillful, longestablished practitioner, well known for
truthfulness, uprightness, and every good quality. Moreover, suppose in
addition to this he charges you nothing whatever, but does everything
gratis, having evidently no motive of gain, but being altogether
disinterested, moved only by real pity for you, and a kind desire to
remove your pain and save your life. Can you any longer refuse to
believe and submit? But if, in addition to all this, he allows you his
case-book, and bids you read case after case similar to your own in
which he has affected perfect cure, and if some of these are your own
acquaintances, if they are persons whom you know and esteem, why, sir,
you will not insult him by saying, 'I wish I could believe you;' but
you will be unable to help trusting him, unless you are unwilling to be
cured. Faith, in such a case, does not depend upon the will at all; you
are convinced by hearing, and you become a believer. In the same way
faith comes by hearing. You are unreasonable if you sit still and say,
'I cannot make myself believe;' of course you cannot, but you hear, do
you not, of how Christ heals sinners; you hear that he is backed by
divine authority; you see that he really does save those who trust him,
and what more of evidence do you want? O soul! it seems to me a harder
thing not to believe in Jesus than to believe in him, if you are indeed
willing to be made whole. When one has heard these things, and
understands them, surely the mind, if it be not wilfully blinded, must
receive the Savior. May God forgive your long perverseness, and by his
Spirit open your eyes to see the simplicity of that faith which comes
by hearing the word of God.

II. My time, however, flies much too rapidly this morning, and I must
be brief on the second very important head, namely, OBSTRUCTIONS WHICH
OFTEN BLOCK UP THIS WAY.

One is a want of intention, by which I mean that many persons come to
hear, but they have no wish to be led into faith. Like the butterflies
which flit from flower to flower, they extract no honey because they
come not for such a purpose: while the bees dive into the cups and
bells of the flowers, and come up loaded with their luscious food. Oh,
if men came to hear, praying to be endowed with faith in Jesus, faith
would surely come to them by hearing. Many persons in hearing a sermon,
are like children looking, at a cornfield'it is full of yellow garlic,
or perhaps of scarlet poppies, and they cry 'What a lovely field;' but
the farmer thinks not so, he is looking for the wheat. Many a hearer
watches for pretty speeches and flowery metaphors, and cries, 'How well
he puts it! What a well-turned sentence! How sweetly he quotes poetry!'
and so on. Bah! Is that what you come to God's house for? O fools and
slow of heart, is this your end in hearing the life-giving gospel of
the bleeding Lamb? I assure you it is not this that we are aiming at in
preaching to you. If you came to look after the good corn, you would
care little for the gaudy poppies of a flaunting eloquence so much
regarded by the men of these days. Come with the intent to find faith
in Jesus; cry to God to make his word effectual to our salvation, and
then hearing will be quite another business with you. Alas I fear you
will perish, let us preach as we may, while we are regarded by you as
mere orators to be criticized, and not as witnesses whose testimony is
to be weighed.

Some do not hear aright for want of attention. Sleepy hearers are not
likely to be led to faith. Eutychus may fall from the third loft and be
taken up for dead, but he is not likely to become a believer by
sleeping, even though Paul should be the preacher. We want attention in
order to the real reception of the word. Oh how pleasant it is to
preach to earnest hearers who lean forward to catch every syllable,
anxious to know how they can be saved. Wandering hearts lose the
benefit of the truth, and vain minds trifle away the privilege of a
gospel ministry. Take heed how ye hear, otherwise ye may remain hearers
only, and so perish in unbelief.

With many a want of candor is another reason why faith does not come by
hearing. If a man hears with a prejudiced heart, making up his mind
before hand what he will believe, he is not likely to be convinced, he
puts himself as far as he can out of the reach of benefit. When the
heart rebels against the word: when it says, 'If this be true I am
living a bad life, and I shall have to give up my pleasures, therefore
will not accept it.' Well then, faith does not come and cannot come by
such hearing. Faith comes by hearing when a man does, as it were, give
himself up to the word of God, like a person who is badly wounded and
surrenders himself to the surgeon's hand. Oh, if I had a gangrened limb
and it must be taken off, I think I would pray for patience enough to
say, 'O sir, if you can but spare my life cut to the very bone.' When
it is the soul that is concerned I would say to the preacher, 'Sir, do
not flatter me, do not tell me that which will please but delude me; I
do not want your flattery, I do not want your fine words. 'Sir, tell me
what I am, and where I am in the sight of God, and how I can be saved;
for it will little satisfy me to wake up in hell and remember that I
used to hear a fine orator. I want to be saved in deed and of a truth.'
'Ah,' says one, 'but some preachers are not only bold, but rough in
their expression.' Yes, but suppose you were nearly drowned, and a
strong swimmer plunged into the stream and plucked you out just as you
were sinking for the last time, if he dislocated your arm would you
grumble? No, you would say, 'The bone can be set at another time, but
my life could not have been restored.' And so with the preacher, though
he be rough, if it be the truth which he speaks, only pray that it may
save your soul, and be content to put up with the man's infirmity, if
by any means you may attain to salvation by Jesus Christ.

With some, how ever, hearing does not bring faith, because they hear
without any after meditation. There is a great trial going on, as you
know, in the Tichborne case. Every juryman, I doubt not, wants to judge
righteously. I am sure the sleepy one is not likely to do so, and I am
pretty clear that the juryman who is most likely to get at the truth
will be the man who, when he gets away from the court, having heard
attentively all the time, takes home the notes of the evidence, weighs
it, and makes comparisons, and endeavors to sift out the truth. So I
would say to you when you hear us preach, sift the sermon afterwards,
turn our sermons over, pick holes in them if you like, and find out our
mistakes; but oh, do search into the truth, and be not content till you
find it. If you want to find Christ, the wisdom of God, you should seek
for him as for silver. You are likely to believe the truth when your
mind turns it over and over. Here is a bag, and I am willing to make a
man rich, and, therefore, I drop into it pound after pound, but I find
that the bag is just as empty as before; the reason is plain,'there are
holes in the bag, and the money drops through. Too many hearers are as
a bag full of holes, and golden sermons will not bless them because
they wilfully forget all. They will never come to faith because they do
but look at their face in the glass of the word, and go their way and
forget what manner of men they are. Oh for hearers who only need to
know the gospel, and the evidence of it, and then consent thereto,
saying, 'It is the truth of God, I cannot quarrel with it; I joyfully
receive it.' Such are saved souls.

III. But, now, I am sorry to be so brief, but I must conclude by
speaking, of THE IMPORTANCE THAT FAITH SHOULD COME TO US BY HEARING. I
will let my words drop rapidly without any ornament, and remind you,
dear friend, that if you have been a hearer and faith has not come to
you, you are, this moment, in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds
of iniquity. You believe not in Christ, and you make God a liar,
because ye have not believed in his only-begotten Son. The wrath of God
abideth on you. You are dead while you live. Without God, without
Christ, and strangers to the covenant of promise. My soul pities
you'will you not pity yourselves? Hearers only; faithless, graceless,
Christless! Christ died, but you have no part in his death. His blood
cleanses from sin, but your sin remains upon you. Christ has risen, and
he pleads before the throne,'you have no part in that intercession. He
is preparing a place for his people, but that place is not for you. Oh,
unhappy soul! oh, wretched soul! out of favor with God, at enmity with
eternal love, destitute of eternal life! Truly, if Jesus were here he
would weep over you, as he did over Jerusalem, and say, 'How often
would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her
wings, and ye would not.'

Ah, remember, though your present state is terrible it is not all. You
will soon die, and you will die without faith. Remember that word of
Christ, it is one of the most terrible I know of, 'if ye believe not
that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.' To die in a ditch, to die in
a prison, to die on the gallows, none of us would desire it; but to die
in your sins! O God, it is hell, it is eternal damnation. May the great
Lord save you! But to perish for ever will be your lot as surely as you
live, except you believe in Jesus and that speedily, for soon you will
be out of the reach of all hearing. No more sermons, no more
invitations of grace. Oh, what would you give to have the gospel once
more when you are cast away from it! No more the preacher's voice,
saying, 'Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die!' No more the pitiful
accents of one who loves your souls, and fain would snatch you as
firebrands from the flame: around you all will be dark, and hard, and
the only message for you will be this,''He that is filthy, let him be
filthy still.'

'There are no acts of pardon passed,

In that cold grave to which we haste;

But darkness, death, and long despair,

Reign in eternal silence there.'

Ah! then it will he no assuagement of your miseries that you once heard
the gospel; it will rather increase your torment. Conscience will cry
aloud''I heard the gospel of grace, and I heard the arguments which
proved it true, but I rejected a gospel which God himself proclaimed, a
gospel which was genuine on the face of it, a gospel full of such love
as ought to have melted a rock, a gospel that was brought to me without
money and without price, a gospel that was pressed upon me from my
infancy to my hoar hairs'I rejected it, I wilfully rejected it, not
because it was not true, but because I would believe a lie, and would
not believe the living God.' Eternal Father, thou who art mighty to
save, let not one among us go down into the pit with a lie in his right
hand, refusing to accept the gospel of thy blessed Son! The Lord save
you all, for Christ's sake. Amen.

PORTION OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON'Romans 1.
__________________________________________________________________

The Two Yokes

A Sermon