The Growth of Faith

The Growth of Faith

(No. 3250)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, MAY 18, 1911.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
JANUARY 24, 1864.

"We aire bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet,
because that your faith grows exceedingly." 2 Thessalonians 1:3.

[Two other Sermons by Mr. Spurgeon on the same verse are #205, Volume
4–A LECTURE FOR LITTLE-FAITH and #1857, Volume 31– THE NECESSITY OF
GROWING FAITH.]

BEWARE of imagining that you have reached finality in religion. Just as
some politicians have said, "We have gone as far in reform as we ever
mean to go, so here we shall stop," certain religious professors say,
"We have gone as far in religion as there is any need to go. We are
converted, we are saved, so here we shall remain." Beware, I say, of
such a spirit as that, but rather imitate the example of the Apostle
Paul who wrote, "Forgetting these things which are behind and reaching
forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for
the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." We are not
content with merely being alive! We wish to be in health as well as in
life, and we ought not to be satisfied with being saved–we should
desire to have our faith in full strength and to have all our graces at
the highest degree of development! The men of this world are not
usually content with just bread to eat and raiment to put on, they are
like those daughters of the horseleech that cry, "Give, give!" But when
spiritual things are concerned, these insatiable cravings are not so
manifest. Many are content to be wretched, miserable, poor, blind and
naked when they might buy of Christ all spiritual blessings without
money and without price! Even those who have fled for refuge to, lay
hold upon the hope set before them are often quite content to lie down
just inside the City of Refuge as if they had been sent into this world
simply with the selfish end of being saved! They act as if there were
nothing for them to do in the way of serving God and reflecting before
other men that Glory of God which, in His Grace, has been made to shine
upon them! So again I say, beware of that spirit of finality which
would permit you to rest content with your present attainments, for if
you are, I shall not be able to thank God that your faith grows
exceedingly, and you will miss the joy that comes to the Believer who
is growing in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ!

I am going to speak to you, first, upon how Christians grow in faith
Secondly, upon the signs of that growth And then, thirdly, I hope to
give you some reasons why we should not be satisfied without this
growth in faith

I. First, then, let us consider HOW CHRISTIANS GROW IN FAITH.

There are many ways in which the Lord causes faith to grow. One is from
the force of life, itself It is natural for life to grow until it has
reached its maturity. Here is a living seed. If it is put into the
earth under proper circumstances, nothing can prevent it from bursting
its shell. In due time the green bade must be seen. You may command
that green blade to remain at the same length as at present, but if you
pass that way in another month, you will find that it has disobeyed
your command–because it lives, it must grow! And if you should
continue to visit it until it bends its head in the ripeness of autumn,
you would see that it, must, by the very law of its nature, still keep
on growing. It is the same with us–the anatomist will tell you that
every part of the infant's body is so prepared that it can grow–there
is provision for the growth of every organ and every limb so that,
slowly and without difficulty, the whole shall be developed into a full
grown man. It is life that grows. Put a bar of iron into the best soil
that you can find–water it, and fertilize it, and let the genial sun
shine upon it–but never a leaf or a rootlet will you find upon it, for
it is dead! It is not so with the Christian. Because of the life that
is in him, he must grow. You who are the living branches in the living
Vine prove it by your growth. You who are the children of God should
increase in wisdom and stature, and go on from strength to strength
until you appear in Zion before God. If your faith is as feeble, now,
as it was 20 years ago. If you have not made

any spiritual advance during the last 10 years, you ought very gravely
to question whether you have any spiritual life at all! You may not be
able to see the growth, but there must be growth if there is life.
There are some plants in which the unseen growth is more valuable than
that which is visible–the gardener prizes the potatoes that are
underground more than the tops that everyone can see. But with the
Christian, there must be both the visible growth in zeal and good
works–the hidden growth is in his deep humility and communion with his
Lord in secret. So the force of life within produces growth.

There are certain circumstances under which Believers especially grow,
and they grow in faith by the exercise of faith. See the blacksmith's
boy when he first tries to swing his father's big hammer–how soon he
gets tired! But ask the smith whether his arms ache–"Oh, no!" he says,
"I have made too many horseshoes for that." Exercise has developed his
muscles and strengthened his sinews to such an extent that the bringing
down of that big hammer with a merry ring is but child's play to him.
So the young Christian, when he begins to exercise faith, can perhaps
only imitate him who said, "Lord, I believe, help You my unbelief." But
speak to him some years later, when his faith has been much exercised,
and then you will find that he has grown more like Abraham who
"staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong
in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that what He
had promised, He was able, also, to perform." You know that if you let
your arm lie unused, in time you will be unable to use it, like the
Indian fakir who holds up his hand in the air until he has lost all
power of moving it. So a man may keep his faith unused until it can
scarcely be called faith at all–therefore mind that your faith is kept
in full exercise for so only will it grow!

Christians also grow in faith by holy walking. Living with Jesus–and
to live with Him we must be consistent in holiness–we get to know Him
better and to trust Him more. It is said of some men that "the better
they are known, the less they are trusted," but it is not so with the
Lord Jesus Christ. Two cannot walk together except they are agreed, but
if there is an agreement between our life and the Character of Christ
and we are, by Grace, enabled to walk scrupulously in the path of
integrity, our faith will grow stronger and stronger as we get to know
more of Christ. Sinning is most injurious to faith. I think it is
Brookes who said that "either sinning will kill our assurance or our
assurance will kill our sinning." Sin indulged will prevent the full
assurance of faith–and even a little sin will do this. Have you ever
had a small stone in your boot? If so, and you have tried to walk, you
have found it very uncomfortable travelling. If you have a tiny
splinter of wood beneath your nail, you know how painful it is–you get
it extracted as soon as you can, lest you should lose your finger, or
even your hand. Beware of little sins, Beloved, for they will keep all
comfort out of your life and effectually hinder the growth of your
faith.

Another way of helping faith to grow is by a diligent use of Gospel
ordinances. There are some of you who are very lax in this respect.
Some who come to the Tabernacle twice on the Lord's-Day do not come at
all during the week. Your bodies would not grow strong if you only fed
them once a week–and it is the same with your souls. Prayer Meetings
are most soul-fattening ordinances! Many of us can testify that at such
gatherings, we have often been able to say, "This is none other but the
House of God and this is the gate of Heaven!" I do not expect to see
you all at the Prayer Meetings, for some of you have home and business
duties requiring your attention and these must not be neglected. Still,
there are many more of you who might come if you would. And while I am
speaking of ordinances, I must not forget that very precious one of the
Lord's Supper, nor its companion, Believers' Baptism. Both of these are
exceedingly helpful to the Christian. All the means of Grace help the
growth of faith and every other virtue. Of course I include the private
as well as the public means of Grace. Private prayer is like a
conservatory in which God's plants grow very rapidly. Christians need a
temperature higher than this world can give them–they are rare
exotics, plants of heavenly birth–and they need Divine warmth before
they can bloom and bring forth fruit unto perfection. And this can only
be obtained by private prayer, secret fellowship with Christ and devout
meditation upon the Scriptures!

I will only further say, upon this point, that a Christian may expect
to grow in faith the more troubles he has. If you have ever been at sea
in a storm and noticed how unconcerned about it the weather-beaten
sailors have been, you must have realized that it was because they had
been hardened in many a tempest that they could so calmly go on with
their duties while you and other landsmen were in dread of sinking, or
longing for the end of the voyage! Storms help to make the sailors
sturdy–and trials help to make Christians strong in faith and in every
other Divine Grace. Damascus blades have to be annealed and those who
are to be like a sharp sword in the Lord's hand will have to pass
through the fire. The more the wind blows, the firmer will the oak's
roots grip the soil–

"March winds and April showers Bring forth May flowers"–

and you, as Christians, must have your stormy times and your rainy days
if you are to bring forth the flowers of Grace and the fruit of the
Spirit! You will probably grow more in the cloudy and dark day of
adversity than you will while the sun of prosperity is shining brightly
upon you. So be of good courage, Beloved, under the most adverse
circumstances, for they are working for your lasting good!

II. I will not say more about how Christians grow in faith. But, in the
second place, I will try to point out SOME OF THE MARKS AND EVIDENCES
OF THAT GROWTH.

First, however, let me say that swelling is not necessarily growing. We
know some people who seem to fancy that they have grown in Grace
because they have such big notions as to their own attainments. They
evidently imagine that they are the people and that wisdom will die
with them. We never like to see a child with too big a head, for we
fear it is only an indication of disease, and not a sign of health. And
we fear that many professors of religion are suffering in a similar
fashion. They know too much, for they are wise above what is written
and are not content to be teachable and sit as little children at the
feet of Jesus, the Great Teacher.

But there is such a thing as true growing and this can be seen in
various ways. First, if you are growing in faith, Christ becomes
increasingly precious to you. Perhaps you walked by a park one day and
you said to yourself, "That is a very pretty place." Possibly the next
time you went that way, somebody said to you, "I should not wonder if
that estate should belong to you, some day," and that made you take a
much more personal interest in it. By-and-by, the owner died and you
learned that he had left the estate to you! How greatly your interest
in it increased, then, and how much more you valued the mansion, the
park, the gardens and everything belonging to the estate! In like
manner, Christ was precious to me when I first began to hope that He
might one day be mine. He was more precious to me when I first realized
that He really was mine–and the more fully I am assured of my interest
in Him–the more precious does He become to me! This is the best test I
can give you, Beloved–the most accurate thermometer by which you can
ascertain the rise or fall of your spiritual temperature–Is Christ
Jesus more precious to you than He ever was before? If so, then I am
bound to thank God always for you, Brothers and Sisters, because your
faith grows exceedingly!

Further, if you are growing in faith, you desire to be more like Christ
and you are more and more dissatisfied with yourself because you are so
little like He. You are longing to be so completely conformed to His
image that all the virtues of His Character shall be reflected and
reproduced in you. It is a sure proof of genuine faith in Christ that
it produces likeness to Him–and growth in faith is good evidence of
growth in likeness to Him. Are you more like Christ than you were years
ago, or do you desire above everything else to be more and more like
He? If so, my Brother or Sister, I feel confident that you are growing
in faith, and I thank God that it is so–

"Lord, if You, Your Grace impart, Poor in spirit, meek in heart, I
shall as my Master be, Rooted in humility!"

Another evidence of growing in faith is that the promises become more
consolatory to us and our heart and mind are kept more restful under
their gracious influence. On board ship, though the vessel may rock and
reel and turn whichever way the helmsman may guide, the faithful needle
always points to the pole! And it is the same with the true Christian–

"Let cares like a wild deluge come, And storms of sorrow fall"–

His faith still points to Heaven! His trust is fixed on Jesus! Whatever
else may move, he remains firm and steadfast, and he cries as David did
when he was hunted by Saul as a partridge upon the mountains, "My heart
is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed! I will sing and give praise." I do
not know whether your experience is similar to mine, but I find myself,
on the whole, more equable in spiritual things than I used to be. When
one has known the Lord for 14 years, one can look back over a
considerable period and, taking such a survey as that, I can discover
certain times when I had great bursts of exhilaration, great heights of
holy joy, followed by deep sinking of spirit and utter prostration of
soul! I still have both those experiences at times, but not often,
either of them, now. On the whole, I find my soul calmly and quietly
resting upon the promises of God–neither unduly delighted at the
prospect of the joys of Heaven nor too much depressed by the cares of

the world, the responsibilities of my ministry, or the sin that still
troubles me–simply resting upon the Rock, Christ Jesus, having few
doubts and fears, and comforting assurance of salvation, but not so
much of the ecstatic rapture that was one of the characteristics of my
early faith. I suppose that this is the condition of many Christians
and I am inclined to regard it as one of the evidences of growth in
Grace when we become more equable in our spiritual temperament.
Children are very much excited over matters which a full-grown man
scarcely notices. And the spiritual child is swayed here and there by
many winds which have little or no effect upon one who has come to the
full stature of a man in Christ Jesus.

Love to the saints is another choice and clear proof of the growth of
faith. In the verse from which our text is taken, Paul thanks God, "as
it is meet," for the two Graces which he perceives in the Church of the
Thessalonians–"because that your faith grows exceedingly, and the
charity (or love) of every one of you all toward each other abounds."
So love to the saints is thus linked with the growth of faith. We need
far more true Christian love toward one another, though probably we
have less cause for complaint in that respect than most other
communities have, for we have learned the blessedness of dwelling
together in unity. In some of our churches there is still far too much
caste feeling, too much bowing down before rank and fashion. I met the
other day with a pretty story concerning Philip Henry, the father of
Matthew Henry, the commentator. He wanted to marry the daughter of a
gentleman who was one of his hearers. The father of the young lady said
to her, "I have no personal objection to Mr. Henry. He is a good man, a
Christian gentleman, but I do not know where he came from, so I cannot
consent to your marriage with him." "Well, Father," said the young
lady, "though we don't know where he came from, we do know where he is
going, and I would like to go there with him." When I meet a genuine
Christian, I may not know where he came from. He may have sprung, as
men say, from the dunghill. His parents may have been the poorest of
the poor, but what does that matter? I know where he is going and that
is a much more important consideration! He is going to the upper house
where there are many mansions! He is going to the palace of the great
King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, where the princes of the blood royal
are forever to bask in the sunshine of the Presence of the King of
kings and Lord of lords! And I would like to go with him that I may
form one of the blessed company. Never mind the corduroy or the fustian
that the man may wear, or the cotton or calico of the poor woman–I
love them as Brothers and Sisters in Christ and I want to go to the
Heaven where they are bound! The real test of a man's nobility is not,
"From where did he come?" but, "where is he going?" If he is going
where the people of God are going. If God is his Father and Jesus
Christ is his Savior–and the Holy Spirit is his Guide and
Counselor–if Heaven is the haven where he is bound, it will be one of
the proofs that your faith is growing if you feel an intense love for
him and wish to share with him all the blessings of the Covenant of
Grace in time and throughout eternity!

Another sign of the growth of faith is the growth of zeal I cannot see
a man's faith, but I can see the evidences that it is growing when I
perceive how zealous he is in all good works for his Lord. When a train
travels at a very rapid rate, the axles grow hot–and the greater the
speed, the greater is the heat that is generated by the friction. And
in like manner, the more rapidly a man travels in the path of a Divine
Life by faith, the greater is the earnestness which he displays in the
service of Christ. Do you care but little for the souls of those around
you? Are you not doing all that you can to bring glory to God by the
extension of the Kingdom of Christ among the sons of men? Then we
cannot thank God that your faith is growing exceedingly! Indeed, there
is grave cause to fear whether you possess the faith of God's elect if
this evidence is lacking! Remember that question of the Apostle James,
"What does it profit, my brethren, though a man says he has faith, and
has not works?" And his very emphatic answer–"Faith, if it has not
works, is dead, being alone." I find it well to often adopt those lines
of Dr. Watts, and would advise you to do the same–

"Awake my zeal, awake my love,

To serve my Savor here below!

Li works which perfect saints above,

And holy angels cannot do!

Awake my charity, to feed

The hungry soul, and clothe the poor–

In Heaven are found no sons of need,

There all these duties are no more." And the more faith you have, the
more liberality will you display. I do not wonder that some people give
so little to the cause of God–they give only as much or as little as
they believe! It is said that Dean Swift, preaching from that text,

"He that has pity upon the poor lends unto You, Lord, and that which he
has given will He pay him again," made this characteristic commencement
to his sermon–"If you like the security, down with the dust!" It seems
as if there are many people, nowadays, who do not like the security,
for they keep their "sordid dust" to themselves, hoarding it up for
those who come after them to scatter as they please! But the more a man
believes in the security of godliness, the more will he give to the
poor, to the cause of Christ, and to every worthy cause that he can
help. After all, the great stimulant to Christian liberality is that
which Paul used when he wrote to the Corinthians, "You know the Grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes
He became poor that you, through His poverty, might be rich." Or that
which the Master, Himself, used with His disciples, "Freely you have
received, freely give."

If I were to try to tell you all the good which growth in faith will do
to us, I would need to keep you here all night. I was much struck with
a remark that I read the other day, to the effect that faith may be
compared to the gastric juices in the stomach. When that solvent is in
a healthy state, all the food that is eaten is properly dissolved and
digested–and then the entire man becomes healthy from head to foot.
But if anything should be amiss with this necessary fluid, then
everything will go wrong. So, a growing faith is essential to a healthy
spiritual life. Let faith be in increasingly vigorous exercise, then
the whole life will benefit. But let faith become feeble and inactive,
then the whole of your spiritual being will be weakened and injured! I
will even dare to say that faith affects Heaven, earth and Hell. If you
have but little faith, you cannot tread the world beneath your feet,
nor laugh at its troubles, nor smile at its cares. If you have but
little faith, you cannot open the windows of Heaven, you cannot bring
down a blessing from God. Even Hell itself feels the influence of your
faith! Satan trembles when he knows that your faith is firm and strong.
But if it is tottering and trembling, then he sounds the note of
triumph and seeks to lead his hosts on to make a full end of you
because you are beginning to relax your grip of your shield! It was not
without good reason that Paul wrote to the Ephesians, "Above all,
taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all
the fiery darts of the wicked." And to the Hebrews, "Cast not away,
therefore, your confidence, which has great recompense of reward." The
Lord grant that we may always have cause to thank Him because your
faith grows exceedingly!

III. I intended, before closing my discourse, to give you SOME REASONS
WHY WE SHOULD NOT BE SATISFIED WITHOUT THIS GROWTH IN FAITH, but my
time has almost gone and I hope I have already said enough to prove to
you the urgent need of an ever-growing faith. For your own soul's sake,
for your own happiness and usefulness, for Christ's sake, for sinners'
sake, for the Church's sake, if you would adorn the Doctrine of God
your Savior in all things, if you would be a blessing to your day and
generation, if you would bring into the fold of the Good Shepherd the
lost sheep and lambs that are wandering away from Him, cry continually
to Him, "Lord, increase our faith!"

I have only time for just a word or two with you who have no faith at
all. Sad must be the reflections of those of you here who are not
Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. What can you mean by such sinful
folly? The Son of God has come from Heaven to earth seeking the
lost–and yet you do not believe in Him though you are among the lost!
A proclamation of liberty is made to you who are slaves to sin and
Satan–yet you will not accept the emancipation which would be so great
a blessing to you! Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and
you have been told, over and over again, that if you will but trust
Him, you shall be saved even though you are among the chief of sinners!
Yet you will not believe in Him! O Soul, why will you not trust in
Jesus? Is He not worthy of your confidence? Where will you find anyone
else in all the world who so richly deserves to be trusted? No happy or
miserable feelings are needed to fit you for believing in Him–no
meritorious deeds, no gifts of alms are required as a preparation for
faith in Him! Jesus Christ can save you just as you are if you will but
trust Him–so trust Him now with your whole heart and you shall be
saved! Trust to Him as completely as the drowning man trusts to the
lifeboat or the life buoy–if he tried to swim to land, he would be
lost–his only hope of being saved is in trusting to a power greater
than his own.

It is just so with you, Sinner! You are powerless to save yourself, but
all power in Heaven and in earth has been committed to Christ–He is
mighty to save! Therefore trust Him to save you! Rest wholly upon what
He is as the Christ of God, the anointed and appointed Savior–and upon
what He has done upon Calvary's Cross to save all who believe in
Him–and you shall be saved this very hour! Trust Jesus here and now
and you shall be saved here and now–and to God shall be all the Glory
forever and ever! Amen.

GENESIS 22:1-19.

Verse 1. And it came to pass after these things, that God did
tempt–[See Sermon #2223, Volume 37–abraham's trial–a lesson FOR
BELIEVERS.] That is, "God did test or try"-

1, 2. Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I
am. And He said, Take now your son. "But, Lord, I have two sons,
Ishmael and Isaac."

2. Your only son. "But, Lord, both Ishmael and Isaac are my sons and
each of them is the only son of his mother." 2. Isaac, whom you love.
See how definitely God points out to Abraham the son who is to be the
means of the great

trial of his father's faith–"Take now your son, your only son Isaac,
whom you love."–

2. And get you into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt
offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell you. It was
usually the way, in God's commands to Abraham, to make him sail under
sealed orders. When he was first bidden to leave his country and his
kindred, and his father's house, he had to go to a land that God would
show him. They have true faith who can go forth at God's command, not
knowing where they are going! So Abraham did, and now the Lord says to
him, "Take Isaac, and offer him for a burnt offering upon one of the
mountains which I will tell you."

3. And Abraham rose up early in the morning–Obedience should be
prompt. We should show our willingness to obey the Lord's command by
not delaying. "Abraham rose up early in the morning"–

3. And saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him, and
Isaac his son, and split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up,
and went unto the place of which God had told him. All the details are
mentioned, for true obedience is very careful of detail. They who would
serve God aright must serve Him faithfully in little things as well as
in great ones. There must be a saddling of the donkey, a calling of the
two young men as well as Isaac, and a splitting of the wood for the
burnt offering. We must do everything that is included in the bounds of
the Divine command–and do it all with scrupulous exactness and care.
Indifferent obedience to God's command is practically disobedience!
Careless obedience is dead obedience, the heart is gone out of it. Let
us learn from Abraham how to obey.

4. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place
afar off. His was deliberate obedience! He could bear suspense,
thinking over the whole matter for three days, and setting his face
like a flint to obey his Lord's command.

5. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide you here with the donkey;
and land the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
Abraham did not deceive the young men. He believed that he and Isaac
would come to them again. He believed that though he might be compelled
to slay his son, "God was able to raise him up, even from the dead;
from whence also he received him in a figure." Abraham bade the young
men stay where they were. They must not see all that he was to do
before the Lord. Oftentimes, our highest obedience must be a solitary
one–friends cannot help us in such emergencies–and it is better for
them and better for us that they should not be with us.

6. And Abraham took the wood ofthe burnt offering, andlaidit upon Isaac
his son; andhe took the fire in his hand, and a knife. That knife was
cutting into his own heart all the while, yet he took it. Unbelief
would have left the knife at home, but genuine faith takes it.

6-8. And they went both of them together And Isaac spoke unto Abraham
his father, and said, My Father: andhe said, Here am I, my Son. Andhe
said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt
offering? And Abraham said, My Son, God will provide Himself a lamb for
a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. Abraham here
spoke like a Prophet. In fact, throughout this whole incident, he never
opened his mouth without a prophetic utterance! And I believe that when
men walk with God, and live near to God, they will possibly even
without being aware of it, speak very weighty words which will have
much more in them than they, themselves, apprehend. Is it not written,
concerning the man whose delight is in the Law of the Lord, "his leaf
also shall not wither"? Not only shall his fruit be abundant, but his
casual word, "his leaf also shall not wither." So was it with it
Abraham. He spoke like a Prophet of God when he was really speaking to
his son in the anguish of his spirit–and in his prophetic utterance we
find the sum and substance of the Gospel–"My Son, God will provide
Himself a lamb for a burnt offering." He is the great Provider and He
provides the offering, not only for us, but for Himself, for the
sacrifice was necessary to God as well as to man. And it is a burnt
offering, not only a sin offering but an offering of a sweet savor unto
Himself. "So they went both of them together." Twice we are told this,
for this incident is a type of the Father going with the Son and the
Son going with the

Father up to the great Sacrifice on Calvary. It was not Christ alone
who willingly died, or the Father alone who gave His Son, but they went
both of them together"–even as Abraham and Isaac did here.

9. And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham
built an altar there. See him pulling out the large, rough, unhewn
stones that lay round about the place, and then fling them up into an
altar!

9, 10. And laid the woodin order, andboundlsaac his son, andlaidhim on
the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took
the knife to slay his son. So that, in intent and purpose, he had
consummated the sacrifice and, therefore, we read in Hebrew 11:17, "By
faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had
received the promises offered up his only-begotten son." He had
virtually done so in the esteem of God though no trace of a wound could
be found upon Isaac! How often God takes the will for the deed with His
people! When He finds them willing to make the sacrifice that He
demands, He often does not require it at their hands. If you are
willing to suffer for Christ's sake, it may be that you shall not be
caused to suffer–and if you are willing to be a martyr for the Truth
of God, you may be permitted to wear the martyr's crown even though you
are never called to stand at the stake, the scaffold or the block!

11. And the Angel of the LORD called unto him out of Heaven, and said
Abraham, Abraham: andhe said, Here am I. Abraham always gives the same
answer to the Lord's call, "Here am I."

12. And He said, Lay not your hand upon the lad, neither do you
anything unto him: for now I know that you fear God seeing you have not
withheld your son, your only son from Me. The necessary test had been
applied and Abraham's faith had endured the trial! God knows all things
by His Divine Omniscience, but now He knew by this severe test and
trial which He had applied, that Abraham really loved Him best of all.

Notice that the Angel says, "Now I know that you fear God." I do not
think that the gracious use of godly fear has ever been sufficiently
estimated by the most of us. Here, the stress is not laid upon the
faith, but upon the filial fear of Abraham. That holy awe, that sacred
reverence of God is the very essence of our acceptance with Him. "The
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." "The Lord takes pleasure
in them that fear Him." This is a very different thing from slavish
fear–it is a right sort of fear, the kind of fear that love does not
cast out, but which love lives within happy fellowship!

13. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a
ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the
ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.
Here is another type of our Savior 's great Sacrifice on Calvary–the
ram offered in the place of Jesus. How often do you and I have our
great Substitute very near to us, yet we do not see Him because we do
not lift up our eyes and look. "Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked,
and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns." So, if
you lift up your eyes, and look the right way, you will see the great
Sacrifice close by you, held fast for you, even as this ram was caught
to die instead of Isaac. Oh, that you may have Grace to turn your head
in the right direction and look to Christ and live!

14. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh: as it is
said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it

shall be seen. [See Sermon #1803, Volume 30–JEHOVAH-JIREH.] God will

foresee. "God will–as we usually say–"provide," which is being
interpreted, "foresee." He will have everything ready against the time
when it will be needed. He who provided the ram for a burnt offering in
the place of Isaac will provide everything else that is required! And
you may depend upon it that He who, in the greatest emergency that
could ever happen, provided His only-begotten and well-beloved Son to
die as the Substitute for sinners, will have foreseen every other
emergency that can occur and will have fore-provided all that is
necessary to meet it. Blessed be the name of Jehovah-Jireh!

15. 16. And the Angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of Heaven the
second time, and said, By Myself have I sworn, says the LORD. "Because
He could swear by no greater, He swore by Himself."

16-18. Because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your
son, your only son: that in blessing I will bless you, and in
multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the Heaven, and
as the sand which is upon the seashore;

and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in your seed
shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because you have obeyed
My voice.There stands the old Covenant, the Covenant of Grace made with
Abraham concerning his seed. Paul writes to the Galatians, "Now to
Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He says not, And to seeds,
as of many; but as of one, And to your seed, which is Christ." It is in
Christ that all the nations of the earth are to be blessed. If there is
a nation that has not yet heard the Gospel, it must hear it, for so the
promise stands, "In your seed shall all the nations of the earth be
blessed." We may look for a glorious future from the preaching of
Christ throughout every land, for so the Covenant was made with Abraham
because he had obeyed God's voice! God had been good to Abraham before
that time, for he was His beloved friend, but now He lifts him up to a
higher platform altogether and makes him a greater blessing than ever!
It may be that God is about to test and try some of you in order that
He may afterwards make you to be greater and more useful than you have
ever been before. 19. So Abraham returned unto his young men. As he
said that he would!

19. And they rose up and went together to Beer-Sheba; and Abraham dwelt
at Beer-Sheba. So the Lord bore His servant through this great trial,
and blessed him more than He had ever blessed him before.