384 Sermon Illustrations on Faith

FIRING IN FAITH

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One warm afternoon during college, a friend and I went target- shooting. We took along a pellet gun, a .22 rifle, and some old cans. On a long stretch of deserted farm road, we set up a soda can, stepped off 50 yards, and prepared to fire.

My friend shot first, carefully sighting along the barrel and firing. Nothing happened.

“Try again,” I encouraged him. He did; nothing. After several tries (and several misses) he finally surrendered the gun to me. I was an experienced shooter, so I confidently lined the can up in the sights and squeezed the trigger. The can sat, unmoved. I tried again and again. How could we possibly miss from such a short distance?

Finally the answer hit me (like a bullet?). I quickly ran to the can and found it, as I suspected, riddled with holes. We had actually hit it numerous time, but the speeding bullets had pierced the thin aluminum walls without even slowing down… or disturbing the can. We were doing everything right; we simply couldn’t see the results from so far away.

Walking by faith can be a lot like shooting aluminum cans. We work hard to serve God, investing our time and skills for a reward we may never see in this lifetime. Yet we keep working and keep investing because God has promised that our work here will not be in vain, even when we can’t see the results. One of my dreams as a minister is to arrive in Heaven someday and meet a person I don’t even know whose life was touched by my service. I’m working now for results I can’t see or measure until then.

Keep your eyes on the target and keep shooting. You can worry about the score later.

Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (1 Cor. 15:58, NIV)

Mark Phillips

In our present cultural mix of secularism, “faith” conjures up unhelpful connotations. One philosophical group defines faith this way, “It is when one accepts a statement as true without evidence for it, or in the face of evidence against it.”(1) The Skeptic’s Dictionary defines faith like this, “Faith is a non-rational belief in some proposition. A non-rational belief is one which is contrary to the sum of evidence for that belief.”(2) In our culture, we often use the word “faith” as a synonym of “religion.” Many speak of the Hindu faith, Buddhist faith, Muslim faith, but they really mean “religion” put in softer terms, while also subtly signifying that they are all basically the same. In the modern Western context, if something is a “faith” or someone practices “faith,” it does not count as knowledge. There is no way to verify it with evidence. In fact, many imply that a person of faith is one who throws reason out the window.

On the view above, it seems that the more reason is displaced, the greater opportunity for faith to grow. Thus, if I have less evidence to believe something, more faith is required of me to believe.

Cicero touched on this in his book The Nature of the Gods, written several decades before Christ. In the book, an Epicurean, a Stoic, and a Skeptic all argue for the existence or non-existence of the gods. Both the Epicurean and the Skeptic rationally argue against the existence of the gods. However, with the same evidence, they reach different conclusions. The Epicurean has chosen to be an atheist, but the Skeptic has chosen to be religious. In the book, the Skeptic is the high priest of the gods because it is assumed that to believe something without evidence signifies much “faith.” This kind of skepticism, while it may be seen as virtuous by many religious people, does not resemble Biblical faith.

On this view, how would you arbitrate between one religion and another, or between one worldview and another? This is exactly what secularism says, “All religions are fundamentally the same but superficially different.” Are religious people, especially Christians, capable of having a reasonable faith? Are we allowed to stand on something solid, something we can actually know?

I suggest that it is dangerous to stake our lives on something that lacks evidential substance. Thankfully, the Bible consistently speaks clearly about faith and reason.

When the Bible talks about “faith,” it does not refer to it in terms of unreasonable belief or something that lacks evidence. As the theologian Millard Erickson says, the nature of faith is twofold: “giving credence to affirmations and trusting in God.”(3) God has poured out evidence and good reason for us to believe in Him through his Word, through his action in history, logical inference, morality, imagination, the Incarnation, love, and through other ways. So where does “faith” come in when we have evidence? If I may, I’d like to reclaim the meaning of faith in a simple synonym — trust. Faith is trusting what there is good evidence to believe is true. This is helpful on several accounts. Let me list two.

First, this is helpful because it allows us to cease striving to “prove” anything. We take the evidence offered to us and we conclude in the most reasonable way. We do not need to prove God exists. We just need to find that it is more reasonable that God exists than that He does not exist.

Second, this is helpful because it allows a real relationship to unfold, especially in salvation and spiritual formation. I have understood and read of God’s existence and his character. And I trust that how He acted in the past is consistent with how He will act in the future. It is this trust that brings forth biblical faith.

In my own journey to Christ, I had to realize that God meant what He said in the Scripture. If I bowed my knee to Him, He would meet me and redeem my soul. Faith in that moment was trusting his word and his character. And a relationship was born.

May I challenge you to take this idea of biblical faith and walk in it today. As God continues to meet you in your daily circumstances, realize that evidence increases your faith, it does not diminish it. As Paul entreated Timothy, “This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith” (1 Timothy 1:18-19).

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1. Importance of Philosophy.com, http://www.importanceofphilosophy.com/index.html?http://www.importanceofphilosophy.com/Dictionary.html

2. The Skeptic’s Dictionary, http://skepdic.com/faith.html

3. Millard Erickson, Christian Theology, Second Edition, 953.

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Copyright © 2004 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. "A Slice of Infinity" is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

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When you hear the term “faith failure,” what comes to mind? If you are like most people, the expression immediately drums up uncomfortable thoughts of a spiritual blemish on your Christian walk. Try as we might, however, we simply cannot or will not go through this life without failing from time to time.

Most troubling to Christians are those instances when we allow other factors to get in the way of what we know God is telling us. Can you remember a time when you knew the Lord wanted you to do something, but for some reason, you decided upon a different course of action? When we allow anything to short-circuit our obedience to the heavenly Father, we can be certain that we have just had a faith failure.

One of the key reasons for spiritual missteps is the simple issue of fear. Now, we never have to be afraid of losing our salvation once we are secure in Christ; rather, what I’m talking about here is the fear of failure. We simply do not want to fail in the challenge that God sets before us. Therefore, instead of meeting the call head-on, we run and hide. In our minds, it is better not even to bother trying than to try and fail.

Is that the attitude God desires? No! He has not called us to a spirit of fear; He desires boldness and veracity in our faith. Don’t bow down to the idol of fear. The God who calls you is strong enough to keep you. He will never assign you to a task that He has not already empowered you to achieve.

Have you been “out” in this way? If so, there is no logical statement possible when anyone asks you what you are doing. One of the difficulties in Christian work is this question — “What do you expect to do?” You do not know what you are going to do; the only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually revise your attitude towards God and see if it is a going out of everything, trusting in God entirely. It is this attitude that keeps you in perpetual wonder — you do not know what God is going to do next. Each morning you wake it is to be a “going out,” building in confidence on God. “Take no thought for your life … nor yet for your body” — take no thought for the things for which you did take thought before you “went out.”

Have you been asking God what He is going to do? He will never tell you. God does not tell you what He is going to do; He reveals to you Who He is. Do you believe in a miracle-working God, and will you go out in surrender to Him until you are not surprised an atom at anything He does?

Suppose God is the God you know Him to be when you are nearest to Him – what an impertinence worry is! Let the attitude of the life be a continual “going out” in dependence upon God, and your life will have an ineffable charm about it which is a satisfaction to Jesus. You have to learn to go out of convictions, out of creeds, out of experiences, until so far as your faith is concerned, there is nothing between yourself and God.

Acts 12:1–24 — “Herod Agrippa’s End” — (outline by F. F. Bruce, NICNT) « Leader information shown in this fashion »

{A.} The Birth of the Church (1:1–5:42)

{B.} Persecution and Expansion (6:1–9:31)

{1.} Stephen (6:1–8:1a)

{2.} Philip (8:1b–40)

{3.} Conversion of Saul of Tarsus (9:1–31)

{C.} The Acts of Peter and Beginnings of Gentile Christianity, 9:32-12:25

{1.} Peter in West Judaea (9:32-43)

{2.} The Story of Cornelius (10:1–48)

{3.} Peter’s Action Endorsed at Jerusalem (11:1–18}

{4.} Antioch Becomes a Christian Base (11:19–30)

A. Gentile Evangelization in Antioch (11:19–21)

B. Barnabas’ and Saul’s Ministry in Antioch (11:22–26)

C. Famine Relief (11:27–30)

{5.} Herod Agrippa I and the Church (12:1–24}

A. Martyrdom of James and Imprisonment of Peter 12:1-4 (NKJV)

1. 1 Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. 2 Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword. 3 And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Now it was during the Days of Unleavened Bread. 4 So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover. «

a. “about that time,” 12:1–23 parenthetical, falling before 11:30 »

2. This is the elder Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great and his Hasmonaean queen Marianne. On the execution of his father (7 BC) at age 4, he went to Rome, begin brought up as a friend of Claudius and Gaius of the royal household. When Gaius became emperor (37 AD) he gave him the former tetrarchies of Philip and Lsysanius (southern Syria), then in 39 AD, Galilee and Peraea, the previous tetrarchy of his uncle Antipas, were added. Claudius, made emperor in 41 AD, added Judaea. (Ant. Bk 18-19) «

a. His efforts to get Jewish goodwill; reading Deut 7:14-20 at the feast of tabernacles; cf v. 15; wept, response of Jews,Sotah 7.8

b. Emphasized his Hasmonean, vs Edomite, ancestry »

3. Who, from “some of the church” in particular did Herod harass? « – the apostles, leaders of this new sect, James and Peter »

4. What events would now make this pleasing to the Jews? « — news that this new sect was now among the Samaritans and even was including uncircumcized Gentiles among their number »

5. What was Herod’s intention respecting Peter (see Mark 14:1-2)? « — bring him out after the Feast then to execute him also »

B. Peters Escape from Prison 12:5–11 (NKJV)

1. 5 Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church. 6 And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison. 7 Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise quickly!” And his chains fell off his hands. 8 Then the angel said to him, “Gird yourself and tie on your sandals”; and so he did. And he said to him, “Put on your garment and follow me.” 9 So he went out and followed him, and did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. 10 When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. 11 And when Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people.”

2. There were 4 quaternions or squads of soldiers (see verse 4), one for each 3-hour watch in the night, each made up of 4 members; two chained to Peter, two outside the door; why such vigilance? « — difficult to keep Christians in prison (Acts 5:22-25); also tradition of James’ guard converting and executed with him »

3. “Constant (or earnest) prayer” – the Greek word is the one from which we get the English word “extend”, having a root meaning of stretching out; what would be involved in such prayer? « — importunity (keeping at it); intensity; agreement (united in it) »

4. How soon did God answer their prayers? « — only just as soon as needed! – at the point where Herod free to execute him »

5. Was the angel concerned about the soldiers? « — not apparently; he is accompanied by light, he pokes Peter, he speaks to him »

6. Why “Arise quickly” « — when God acts, response should be now »

7. What obstacles had to be overcome in Peter’s escape? … could these be reasonably overcome by human means? « — the chains and soldiers with him; the posted sentries at their watches; the gates of the prison … not likely, seeing the soldiers’ fate »

8. Does Peter appear to have been expecting deliverance? … what does this suggest to us? « — no; he is fast asleep, half undressed, thinks it is a vision … he was content to follow James in death »

9. Should saints expect such deliverance; (cf. Hebrews 11:24, 37)? « — no, it is God who orders martyrdom or deliverance »

C. Peter Reports His Escape 12:12–17 (NKJV)

1. 12 So, when he had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. 13 And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice because of her gladness she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate. 15 But they said to her, “You are beside yourself!” Yet she kept insisting that it was so. So they said, “It is his angel.” 16 Now Peter continued knocking; and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 17 But motioning to them with his hand to keep silent, he declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Go, tell these things to James and to the brethren.” And he departed and went to another place.

2. Mary’s son had both a Jewish and a Roman name; what? « — John and Mark; later with Barnabas and Paul (Col 4:10, Phm 24, 2 Tim 4:11) and also serving with Peter (1 Peter 5:13) and the writer of the Gospel of Mark »

3. The gate of this house indicates that it was large one, with a fore-court, and so, ideal for use as a home church house; is there much evidence of faith in their “stretched-out, constant, fervent, earnest” prayer? « — their reaction reveals doubt; so imperfect prayer is honoured by God for His own name’s sake »

4. Peter seems to have stood in the gate to make his report, then to have quickly departed. Besides so that they could hear him did he signal their silence? « — not to attract any possible pursuit »

5. James, Jesus’ half-brother and writer of the epistle, is prominent in the Jerusalem church until his death (about 62 AD) and accepted by the Jewish populace on account of his devout life.

D. Peter’s Escape Discovered 12:18–19 (NKJV)

1. 18 Then, as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers about what had become of Peter. 19 But when Herod had searched for him and not found him, he examined the guards and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judea to Caesarea, and stayed there.

2. What should dispel the notion of any work of collusion in the delivery of Peter from prison? « – death of the guards; Justinian Code (though not binding on Agrippa as king) was that a guard letting a prisoner escape was liable for the penalty of escapee »

3. Herod then went to Caesarea, founded by Herod the Great, a Gentile city, though part of the province containing Judaea of which it was the Roman seat of government

E. Death of Herod Agrippa I 12:20–23 (NKJV)

1. 20 Now Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon; but they came to him with one accord, and having made Blastus the king’s personal aide their friend, they asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food by the king’s country. 21 So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. 22 And the people kept shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” 23 Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died.

2. Tyre and Sidon depended on Judaea for food as in the times of David and Solomon (cf 1 Kings 5:9–12), so they gained the offices of Blastus to effect a reconciliation with Agrippa I (circa AD 44),

3. « Read parallel account from Josephus, Antiquities XIX.viii.2; this is also quoted in Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History. » Luke, however, tells us clearly the reason for Herod Agrippa’s death; what was it? « — he was smitten by God angel for accepting divine honour »

F. Continued Progress of the Gospel 12:24 9NKJV)

1. 24 But the word of God grew and multiplied.

2. This is the third progress report which punctuates Acts (6:7, 9:31)

3. What contrast is evident? « — between the miserable end of the persecutor and the happy progress of the persecuted »

”As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord.” {Colossians 2:6}

The life of faith is represented as receiving — an act which implies the very opposite of anything like merit. It is simply the acceptance of a gift. As the earth drinks in the rain, as the sea receives the streams, as night accepts light from the stars, so we, giving nothing, partake freely of the grace of God. The saints are not, by nature, wells, or streams, they are but cisterns into which the living water flows; they are empty vessels into which God pours his salvation. The idea of receiving implies a sense of realization, making the matter a reality. One cannot very well receive a shadow; we receive that which is substantial: so is it in the life of faith, Christ becomes real to us.

While we are without faith, Jesus is a mere name to us — a person who lived a long while ago, so long ago that his life is only a history to us now! By an act of faith Jesus becomes a real person in the consciousness of our heart. But receiving also means grasping or getting possession of. The thing which I receive becomes my own: I appropriate to myself that which is given. When I receive Jesus, he becomes my Saviour, so mine that neither life nor death shall be able to rob me of him. All this is to receive Christ — to take him as God’s free gift; to realize him in my heart, and to appropriate him as mine.

Salvation may be described as the blind receiving sight, the deaf receiving hearing, the dead receiving life; but we have not only received these blessings, we have received CHRIST JESUS himself. It is true that he gave us life from the dead. He gave us pardon of sin; he gave us imputed righteousness. These are all precious things, but we are not content with them; we have received Christ himself. The Son of God has been poured into us, and we have received him, and appropriated him. What a heartful Jesus must be, for heaven itself cannot contain him!

Some say that we’re living in an age of skepticism, that people find it hard to trust anyone or anything these days. I disagree. I keep hearing stories of people who demonstrate incredible amounts of faith in things that don’t seem very trustworthy. Some people, at least, are too trusting, too willing to take risks.

Several years ago the LA Times reported the amazing (and amusing) story of Larry Waters’ balloon adventure. Waters wanted to experiment with balloon flight. He had an idea: if he attached enough weather balloons to a lawn chair, he could get airborne, and float leisurely around the neighborhood. The balloons would carry him into the air, and later he could use a BB gun to shoot out the balloons one by one when it was time to drop back down to the ground. He tied twenty weather balloons to a lawn chair and strapped himself in. With BB gun in hand, he cut the tethering rope ... and shot up into the air!

Waters hadn’t accounted for how buoyant weather balloons are. When he cut the rope, before he had time to get control of his ascent, and garnered the courage to start popping the balloons, he'd shot up to 16,000 feet. The problem was not only that he was now frighteningly high, he was also dangerously close to the flight path of airplanes trying to land at Los Angeles International airport (LAX). Air traffic controllers were charged with the vexing task of re-routing planes in order to avoid a collision. Can you imagine the conversations that afternoon between pilots and air traffic controllers at LAX? “Air tower, be advised, there’s a ... um ... a guy in a lawn chair up here at 16,000 feet.”

Waters did eventually get back to solid ground, and found himself landing into deep trouble as a result of his flight. Putting oneself at risk is one thing, but he’d endangered the lives of pilots and passengers as well. Fortunately, the story didn’t end in tragedy, but what an incredible gamble! Imagine putting yourself at risk in that way – staking your life on weather balloons, a lawn chair, and a BB gun!

In the past few months, I’ve come across several stories of people who – and I’m not making this up – decided to “test out” bulletproof vests ... just for fun. One such test was conducted by an unidentified 20-year-old man in Swan River, Manitoba. He strapped his vest on and had his roommate shoot him with a rifle. Success! The bullet was stopped. Then he decided to take it to the next level, and had his friend shoot him with a 12 gauge shot gun. Even though he'd placed a phone book underneath the bulletproof vest, the force of the blast was so strong that he broke several ribs.

You might dismiss these examples as aberrations. Some people will do anything. But these extreme risk-takers are not alone. Consider today’s trend toward increasingly high-risk sports and recreation (think “X Games”). I really don’t think people are any more risk-averse today than they used to be. If anything, we are more rash.

We as Christians sometimes struggle in living a life built around our faith in Jesus Christ. We struggle to be able to completely entrust our lives and future to the care of a God we can't see with our eyes or touch with our hands. Given our struggles with faith in the God of the universe, it's absolutely remarkable to think of some of the things people put their absolute faith in - and risk their lives for. If someone can put absolute faith in weather balloons and a lawn chair, surely we can put our faith in the promises of the Bible. If someone can lay it all on the line to test a Kevlar vest, surely we can lay it all on the line to live the adventure of faith. Just leave the BB gun at home.

[unverified, RGH]

Sally was only eight years old when she heard Mommy and Daddy talking about her little brother, Georgi. He was very sick and they had done everything they could afford to save his life. Only a very expensive surgery could help him now and that was out of the financial question. She heard Daddy say it with a whispered desperation, “Only a miracle can save him now.”

Sally went to her bedroom and pulled her piggy bank from its hiding place in the closet. She shook all the change out on the floor and counted it carefully. Three times. The total had to be exactly perfect. No chance here for mistakes. Tying the coins up in a kerchief, she slipped out of the apartment and made her way to the corner drug store. She waited patiently for the pharmacist to give her attention but he was too busy talking to another man to be bothered by an eight year old. Sally twisted her feet to make a scuffing noise. She cleared her throat. No good. Finally she took a quarter from its hiding place and banged it on the glass counter. That did it!

“And what do you want?” the pharmacist asked in an annoyed tone of voice. “I’m talking to my brother.”

“Well, I want to talk to you about my brother,” Sally answered back in the same annoyed tone. “He’s sick … and I want to buy a miracle.”

“I beg your pardon,” said the pharmacist.

“My Daddy says. only a miracle can save him now. So how much does a miracle cost?”

“We don’t sell miracles here, little girl. I can’t help you.”

“Listen, I have the money to pay for it. Just tell me how much it costs.”

The well dressed man stooped down and asked, “What kind of a miracle does you brother need?”

“I don’t know,” Sally answered. A tear started down her cheek. “I just know he’s really sick and Mommy says he needs an operation. But my folks can’t pay for it, so I have my money.

“How much do you have?” asked the well dressed man.

“A dollar and eleven cents,” Sally answered proudly. “And it’s all the money I have in the world.”

“Well, what a coincidence,” smiled the man. A dollar and eleven cents — the exact price of a miracle to save a little brother. He took her money in one hand and with the other hand he grasped her mitten and said “Take me to where you live. I want to see your brother and meet your parents.”

That well dressed man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, renowned surgeon, specializing in solving Georgi’s malady. The operation was completed without charge and it wasn’t long until Georgi was home again and doing well. Mommy and Daddy were happily talking about the chain of events that had led them to this place.

“That surgery,” Mommy whispered. “It’s like a miracle. I wonder how much it would have cost?” Sally smiled to herself. She knew exactly how much a miracle cost … one dollar and eleven cents … plus the faith of a little child.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).

It was rumored that underneath a certain piece of ground there was iron to be found, and two men were appointed to go and inspect the land and see whether there was really iron there. One man, a scientist and mineralogist, was very conscious of his own limitations; and knowing his own weaknesses, he took with him some scientific instruments. The other man, who was buoyant and self-confident, said, "I believe what I can see, and what I can't see I won't believe"; and so he walked over the field, and got over it in no time. He said, "Iron? nonsense! I see no iron; there is no iron here." This man went to the syndicate and said, "There is no iron there: I walked all over the field and I could not see a trace of it." The other man did not trust to his eye at all. He carried in his hand a little crystal box, and in that little crystal box there was a needle, and he kept watching that needle. He paused, for the needle in that crystal box had pointed down like the very finger of God, and he said, "There is iron there." He passed on, until again that needle pointed down, and he said, "There is iron there," and when he handed in this report he said, "From one end of the field to the other there is iron." "Oh!" said one of the adherents of the first man, "how do you know, when you did not see it?" "Because," he said, "that which cannot be seen with the eye can be magnetically discerned."

I have read that, when the first cable of the suspension-bridge that now spans the Niagara was about to be laid, a thin thread was attached to a kite and both sent, on a favoring wind, to the other side of the river. By means of that thread, a heavier string was pulled across, and by it a heavier one still, and then a rope, and then a tow, and then the cable, and the other parts of that mighty bridge that enables the people to pass in safety, from one side to the other, over the roaring cataract beneath. Let but those who doubt or disbelieve fasten the tiny thread of faith that still lingers in them to the spiritual side of life, and gradually it will become stronger and stronger until it will grow into a mighty bridge that will carry them safely, over the seething and hissing abyss of doubts and perplexities, unto the yonder peaceful shore.

The son of a widow in difficult financial circumstances was on his last journey to Oxford. His mother had made a great, and a last effort, as she hoped it might be, to raise the money to enable her son to take his degree. The coach was within two stages of Oxford, when a little before it reached the inn where they stopped, the young scholar missed the money which his mother had given him. He had been a good and careful son, and such a sickness of heart as he felt at that moment some can guess. He tried to recollect whether he had taken out his purse, and remembered that he had done so a few miles back. Almost without hope, and yet feeling it to be his duty to try and recover this large sum that he had lost, he told the coachman to let his luggage be sent on as directed, and walked back towards the place where he thought it possible that he might have dropped the note. He had gone about three miles, when there met him, working his way slowly and wearily, a poor creature whose appearance arrested his attention. He had often read of leprosy, but had never seen a leper. This poor man was one. Shall he stop to speak to him? If the lost note is on the road, some passenger may see and take it up, and he may lose it. Yet conscience told him to speak a word of comfort to the poor sufferer before him, and he obeyed. Learning the man's sad history, and his vague hope of getting some advice in Oxford, the student remembered a gentleman in the University whose residence in the East had brought him into contact with lepers, who was well qualified to do any possible good in such a case, besides being ever ready to assist distress. He offered to write a line for the leper, who thankfully accepted the proposal. The student searched his pocket for a piece of paper, but could not find any. Suddenly the poor leper stooped, picked up from the road a piece of paper, and asked if he could not write on that? It was his lost note, given into his own hand by the very man towards whom he was endeavoring to do what he felt to be present duty.

A poor widowed laundry woman lost her daughter and only child. A few days after the funeral, she called on the clergyman who had attended her in her illness, and, handing him a packet containing 20 pounds, asked that it might be conveyed to some missionary society. The clergyman, well knowing her circumstances, naturally hesitated; but with great modesty she urged him to take it, and said: "When my child was born, I thought, 'She'll live to get married some of these days,' and I thought I would begin to put by a little sum to be a store for her then, and I began that day with sixpence. You know what happened last week. Well, I thought to myself, the heavenly Bridegroom has come, and He has called her home to be His bride; and I thought, as He has taken the bride, it is only right He should have the dowry."

A strong faith in God: this was another of our founding fathers' landmarks. They trusted God. Like Abraham they believed God. We are not bound to believe all that our fathers believed. There are many things we cannot accept, but when we recollect the firmness with which the old men clung to the broad doctrines of Scripture, of the strength they gained, of the rest, peace and joy of soul they obtained, these memories should check that mania for fashionable doubting which is so much abroad today, and lead us to keep this landmark firmly in its place. Faith in God is our safeguard in temptation; it saves us from despair; it gives prevalence to prayer; it brings deliverance; it is the secret of all heroic enterprises; it ennobles the whole life, and without it no church can succeed.

This substitute of discriminating admiration for embracing faith and personal love, if pressed, will be one of the strongest elements in dividing those who profess to be followers of the blessed Redeemer. We cannot divide the foundation and maintain the superstructure: we cannot divide Christ and keep our faith. No mere admiration of Jesus will anchor the soul. "The life I now live I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Galatians 2:20). "Faith is the victory that overcometh the world" (1 John 5:4).

I recollect in a time of great despondency deriving wonderful comfort from the testimony of an aged minister who was blind, and had been so for twenty years. When he addressed us, he spoke of the faithfulness of God, with the weak voice of a tremulous old man, but with the firmness of one who knew what he said, because he had tasted and handled it. I thanked God for what he had said. It was not much in itself. If I had read it in a book, it would not have struck me; but as it came from him, from the very man who knew it and understood it, it came with force and with unction. So you experienced Christians, if any others are silent, you must not be. You must tell the young ones of what the Lord has done for you. Why, some of you good old Christian people are apt to get talking about the difficulties, troubles, and afflictions you have met with more than about the succors, the deliverances, and the joys you have proved; not unlike those persons in Pilgrim's Progress, who told poor Pilgrim about the lions, and giants, and dragons, and the sloughs, and hills, and all that could terrify and dishearten him. They might have mentioned all this, but they should also have told of Mr. Greatheart, and they should not have forgotten to speak of the eternal arm that sustains Christian in his pilgrimage. Tell the troubles, that is wise; but tell the strength of God that makes you sufficient, that is wiser still. Empty yourselves. If you have got experience, empty yourselves upon the earth.

-C. H. Spurgeon

Another illustration on faith from the "prince of preachers," C. H. Spurgeon:

The stupendous falls of Niagara have been spoken of in every part of the world; but while they are marvelous to hear of, and wonderful as a spectacle, they have been very destructive to human life, when by accident any have been carried down the cataract. Some years ago two men, a bargeman and a collier, were in a boat, and found themselves unable to manage it, it being carried so swiftly down the current that they must both inevitably be taken down and dashed to pieces. Persons on the shore saw them, but were unable to do much for their rescue. At last, however, one man was saved by floating a rope to him, which he grasped. The same instant that the rope came into his hand a log floated by the other man. The thoughtless and confused bargeman instead of seizing the rope laid hold on the log. It was a fatal mistake; they were both in imminent peril, but the one was drawn to shore because he had a connection with the people on the land, while the other, clinging to the log, was swept irresistibly along and never heard of afterward. Do you not see that here is a practical illustration? Faith is a connection with Christ. Christ is on the shore, so to speak, holding the rope of faith, and if we lay hold of it with the hand of our confidence he pulls us to shore; but our good works, having no connection with Christ, are drifted along down the gulf of utter despair. Grapple them as tightly as we may, even with hooks of steel, they cannot with all our efforts avail us in the least degree.

John Wesley was walking one day with a troubled man who expressed his doubt of God's goodness. "I don't know what I shall do with all this worry and trouble," he said. At that moment Wesley noticed a cow looking over a stone wall. "Do you know," asked Wesley, "why that cow is looking over that wall?" "No," replied his troubled companion. "I will tell you," said Wesley-"because she cannot see through it. That is what you must do with your wall of trouble-look over it and above it." Faith enables us to look over and above every trouble, to God, who is our help.

God has put the matter of salvation in such a way that the whole world can lay hold of it. All men can believe. A lame man perhaps, might not be able to visit the sick; but he can believe. A blind man by reason of his infirmity, cannot do many things; but he can believe. A deaf man can believe. A dying man can believe. God has made salvation so simple that young and old, wise and foolish, rich and poor, can all believe if they will.

-D. L. Moody

A friend tells of overhearing two little girls, playmates, who were counting over their pennies together. One said, "I have five cents." The other said, "I have ten cents." "No," said the first little girl, "you have just five cents, the same that I have," but the second child quickly replied, "My daddy said that when he came home tonight he would give me five cents, and so I have ten cents." The child's faith gave her proof of that which she did not as yet see, and she counted it as being already hers because it had been promised by her father. So are we to trust the promises of our Heavenly Father, and we, too, can count among our possessions the thing which he has promised to give us.

The Emperor Napoleon was reviewing some troops in Paris; and in giving an order thoughtlessly dropped the bridle upon his horse's neck, which instantly set off on a gallop. The emperor was forced to cling to the saddle. At this moment a common soldier sprang before the horse, seized the bridle and handed it to the emperor. "Much obliged to you, captain," said the chief, by this one word making the soldier a captain. The man believed the emperor, and saluting him, asked, "Of what regiment, sire?" Napoleon charmed with his faith, replied, "Of my guards," and galloped off.

As soon as the emperor left, the soldier laid down his gun, saying, "He may take it who will," and instead of returning to his comrades, he approached the group of staff officers. On seeing him, one of the generals scornfully said, "What does the fellow want here?" "This fellow," replied the soldier proudly, "is a captain of the guard." "You, my poor friend! You are mad to say so!" "He said it," replied the soldier, pointing to the emperor, who was still in sight. "I ask your pardon, sir," said the general respectfully, "I was not aware of it."

You see how a person may be sure that God gives peace: it is by believing His testimony, just as the soldier believed that of the emperor. That is to say, as he believed himself to be a captain before wearing his uniform; so on the word and promise of God, one believes himself to be a child of God before being sanctified by His Spirit.

It is not the quantity of thy faith that shall save thee. A drop of water is as true water as the whole ocean; so a little faith is as true faith as the greatest. A child eight days old is as really a man as one of sixty years; a spark of fire is as true fire as a great flame; a sickly man is as truly living as a well man. So it is not the measure of faith that saves thee-it is the blood that it grips that saves thee; as the weak hand of a child, that leads the spoon to the mouth, will feed as well as the strongest arm of a man; for it is not the hand that feeds you, but the meat. So, if you can grip Christ ever so weakly, He will not let you perish.

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31).

How simple the plan of salvation! Only believe! Faith in Christ begets hope, "which hope we have as an anchor to the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the vail." This anchor never fails in the most tempestuous sea and the most stormy weather.

Says a gentleman: "As we lay off Queenstown harbor, one blustering afternoon, I saw the anchor lowered. I could scarcely believe my eyes that such a small piece of iron could be expected to check the drift of the huge ship amid such a boiling sea, but the implicit confidence of the officers reassured me. They had tested it before. Small as it was, it held the ship amid the fury of the hurricane."

Faith in Jesus seems to be a little thing, but it has been tested and has never failed. Our boat is tossing on life's troubled sea, but the chain that binds us to the Eternal is a chain of love, and it is easier, far easier, for heaven and earth to pass away than for one link to fail-every link is a promise of the Everlasting God-and the flukes of the anchor take hold of the "Rifted Rock" within the vail.

The Christian man knows that he is but a stranger and pilgrim; and he comforts himself, as he goes through the wilderness, thinking of the home towards which he is traveling. And he weaves tapestries, and paints pictures, and carves various creations. Living, as he does, by faith, and not merely by sight, his imagining, his picture-painting, his idealizing, his holy reverie, are filling the great empty heavens with all conceivable beauty. And what if it be evanescent? So is the wondrous frost-picture on the window; but is it not beautiful and worth having? So is the dummer dew upon the flower; but is it not renewed night by night? And faith is given to man to life him above the carnal, the dull, the sodden, and to enable him to conceive of things beyond that to which any earthly realization has yet ever attained.

The story is told that the aged pastor of a little Scotch church was asked to resign because there had been no conversions in the church for an entire year.

"Aye," said the old preacher, "It's been a lean year, but there was one."

"One conversion?" asked an elder.

"Who was that?"

"Wee Bobbie," replied the pastor.

They had forgotten a laddie who had not only been saved but had given himself in full consecration to God. It was "wee Bobbie" who, in a missionary meeting when the plate was passed for an offering asked the usher to put the plate on the floor, and then stepped into it with his bare feet, saying, "I'll give myself: I have nothing else to give." This "wee Bobbie," we are told, became the world renowned Robert Moffat, who, with David Livingstone, gave his life to the healing of the open sores of Africa - then known as the "Dark Continent."

When John Huss, the Bohemian martyr, was brought out to be burned, they put on his head a triple crown of paper, with painted devils on it. On seeing it, he said, "My Lord Jesus Christ, for my sake, wore a crown of thorns; why should not I, then, for His sake, wear this light crown, be it ever so ignominious? Truly I will do it, and that willingly." When it was set upon his head, the bishops said, "Now we commend thy soul to the devil. "But," said Huss, lifting his eyes to heaven, "I do commit my spirit into thy hands, O Lord Jesus Christ; to Thee I commend my spirit which Thou hast redeemed." When the torches were piled to Huss' neck, the Duke of Bavaria was officious enough to desire him to adjure. "No," said Huss, "I never preached any doctrine of evil tendency; and what I taught with my lips I now seal with my blood."