Lord Jesus Christ told this parable
from Luke 18, verses 1 to 8, concerning a persistent widow
who prevailed upon an unjust judge. And he tells us, or we
are told by Luke in the opening verse of this chapter 18, that
the purpose of the parable, the end, the reason, the objective
for the parable was that men ought always to pray and not
to faint. that we ought always to pray
and not to faint, that we should continue in our approaches to
God, that we should be as relentless and as persistent as this woman
was in her desire for justice in our approaches to the Lord. The Lord says, If persistence
pays with the corrupt and the careless and the cruel man that
this judge was, how much more will God, who is completely contrary
to this wicked man, who is loving towards his people, who is careful
for their well-being, who is true and honest in all his dealings,
who sees the wickedness that exists in the world and the abuses
that are perpetrated upon his church and people. How much more
will the Lord God, who loves his people and wants to do them
good, Benefit and bless and avenge his people when they go to him
with their prayers. This passage, as the Lord taught
it as a parable, is designed to call His people to persistence
in their approaches to their Lord. That we should not let
days go by. We should not let hours pass
us by without our constant desire being to the Lord. To bring to
Him our needs, our fears, our troubles. and to seek His promises
and the fulfilment of those promises and the help that He bestows
in our daily lives. I want you to note something,
I think this is interesting. We're told in the opening verse
that the end of this parable, the purpose of this parable is
that men ought always to pray and not to faint. That is the
church, that is the Lord's people, that is who this is being directed
to. That the Lord's people ought
always to pray and not to faint, that there should be a a part
of our thoughts constantly being directed to the Lord. Now, here's
the point. If we look at verse 8, the Lord
links that purpose with the presence of faith. in the heart of his
people. He connects persistence of approach
to God with faith. And he says, will he find faith
upon the earth when he comes? I think that that eighth verse
demands a negative answer. It's left hanging, it's left
open there. But to my mind, the way in which
the Lord phrases this question, it's almost as if he's saying,
am I going to find faith at all on the earth? Well. I think that we should understand
the faith that he is speaking of here, not as that faith which
is the gift of God that is established in the hearts and lives of his
people, but in the exercise of that faith. He's talking about
this perseverance. He's talking about this persistence. He's talking about this day-by-day
trust in the things of God. Sadly, when we get so much, we
feel as if we need so little. When we are given so many good
things, we feel that we are self-satisfied and self-enabled. And sometimes it takes the Lord
to take things from us in order to bring us to our knees, in
order to bring us to those places where we begin to taste something
of the bitterness, something of the trouble, something of
the trial of this life, in order that we might remember where
our true focus ought to be and how our needs have to be expressed
persistently to the Lord. If he is going to find faith
on the earth, it is because he stirs up the need for the expression
of that faith. The Lord will be faithful to
his church. He will retain a witness here
in this world to the end time. The Lord Jesus Christ is coming
back for his church, but what is the state of that church that
he comes back for? Is it a people who are persistent
in the expression of their faith, in their approach to the Lord
and in their prayers and in their requests for his help and for
his support? What I want to do this morning
for a little while is think a little bit about this word faith and
the way in which we can understand it in the scriptures. The first thing I want to say
to you is this, that when we think about faith, I've got four
things that I want to draw your attention to, four facts about
faith. When we think about faith, and
we've read much about it from Hebrews chapter 11 this morning,
when we think about faith, That faith that we see spoken of in
Scripture, that faith that is the possession of the Lord's
people, is the evidence of spiritual life. Those who have faith in
God, those who have faith in Christ, who possess the faith
of Christ, that speaks of a living relationship with God, the existence
of spiritual life in an individual's soul. Now let us say that it
is important for us to understand just what that means, because
I suspect that there is a lot of misunderstanding. There are
a lot of people who claim to have faith. The world is full
of professors of one religion or another who have a concept
of God, who have an understanding of their place in the world or
in the universe and who regard their being a supernatural being
to whom they owe some kind of allegiance. That pervades all
religions. Many people claim to have faith
But what is faith when it comes to an understanding of that term
in scripture? Well, I think we can divide it
into three things. Faith, in this first point, we're
speaking about as the evidence of spiritual life. Faith is knowing,
faith is believing, and faith is trusting. Let me show you
what I mean. There has to be a knowledge. There have to be facts. There has to be a revelation. There has to be a coming to the
body of truth. The statements that have been
made with respect to God. If we are going to have faith
in God, then we have to come to the God that is taught to
us in scripture. Now people sometimes say, you
know, there aren't any preconditions of faith. Well, I will stand
shoulder to shoulder with those people who are saying that with
respect to the fact that sinners don't have to do anything in
order to receive the blessings of God. The blessings of God
come by His good grace alone. But in our understanding of what
faith is, faith has to have an object. Faith has to have something
to look to, to lean upon. There has to be a knowledge there.
We don't trust God. We don't believe in God in a
vacuum. And that is the reason for preaching.
That is the reason why the gospel is to be declared. Because men
and women have to have the facts, the revelation, the truths about
God laid before them. What is it that God teaches us
about himself in scripture? What do we know about the person
of God? What do we know about this God
who reveals himself in a trinity as Father, Son and Holy Ghost? What do we know about the purposes
of God? About the works that he has revealed? About the ways in which he works
and moves about the things that he has said, about his holiness,
about his love for his people, about his grace. especially about
the way of salvation, recognizing that the holiness of God demands
justice and judgment, and he will hold the sinner condemnable
before the holiness of his law. These things have to be known.
There has to be an understanding of these things if we are going
to have faith in God. The second point about this evidence
of spiritual life is that not only has there to be knowledge,
but for there to be faith, there has to be a believing. So we
have to believe the things that God has revealed. We have to
believe this truth that he has brought to us in his word. Believing suggests consent. It brings us to that place where
we are in agreement in our minds with those things that God has
said. Now, here's the point. Let me exemplify this, if I may. If God has revealed himself in
scripture as the God-man come to earth in the incarnation of
a baby by a virgin mother, That's the fact that God has revealed. That's the knowledge that he
has taught. Now, we declare that, we preach that. If someone comes
along and says, I know that, I know that, I know that, but
I don't believe it, then they don't have faith. If they can't
believe the things that are revealed, if they can't believe the miraculous,
if they can't believe the truths that God has revealed, and I
take this a little further, and I say it speaks also not simply
of the facts but of the message. If you can't believe the message
that the Lord Jesus Christ declared, if you can't believe those doctrines
that are, we were thinking about this just the other day, the
doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of which he is the author, the
doctrine of which he declared, the doctrine which consists of
the message that he preached, and the doctrine which is all
about him, If you can't believe those things that he declared,
then as much knowledge as you have, it will do you no good
for you have no faith. This belief is consent to the
things that God has revealed. It is our minds being conformed,
brought into that place of acceptance. acceptance of the being of God,
acceptance of the purposes of God for his church being revealed
in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, the person of the Lord
has coming into this world in order to go to the cross, there
to be crucified, in order to take the sins of his people and
to stand as a substitute and a surety before God, taking the
anger of God for the breaches of his holiness. this holy law
on himself on behalf of his people. This is the doctrine of Christ
and if you don't believe that, if you don't believe in the complete
sinfulness, the total depravity of the human soul, if you don't
believe in that irresistible grace of God, if you don't believe
in the limitations of on the extent of the atonement of the
Lord Jesus Christ. If you don't believe in that
unconditional election or the perseverance of the saints or
the truths of the doctrines of the gospel that are revealed
to us in the doctrine of Christ, then you might have plenty of
knowledge, but you don't have any faith for you don't believe
these truths. Scripture isn't a pick and mix,
you can't just come to it and decide this I like and that I
don't. The third aspect of this evidence
of spiritual life which is in faith is this, that there is
a knowing of the facts and there is a consent to, a believing
in those facts, but there's also a trusting, a trusting, a depending,
upon the promises of God. You see, this makes it more personal. This makes it more intimate. This brings it onto that level
where we say, yes, I know that God is holy, and I know that
the Lord Jesus Christ came in order to die on the cross for
sinners, and I feel myself to be a sinner
in need of that salvation. That's the trusting. That's another
element of this gift of faith. That's what brings it down to
you and me. You know, this isn't a lecture
this morning. This isn't simply a school teacher
coming before a class with his textbook or with his theory. This is about the experience
of grace in the lives of sinful men and women. This is about
your soul. This is about whether or not
you've got faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the God that
is revealed in Scripture. This is personal. Do you see yourself as a sinner? Do you know that you're a sinner
before a holy God? Do you feel a desire for repentance? Have you been brought to that
place of understanding your need to repent before the holiness
of God and to seek His mercy? The knowledge of the Lord Jesus
Christ is understanding that he came into this world as the
God-man, that he was crucified, that he was raised again, that
he ascended into heaven and that he is coming back again. It's
a knowledge of these truths. but it is also looking to the
Lord Jesus Christ. It is leaving our own works behind
us. It is not relying any longer
in our own efforts or our own righteousnesses or our own fitness
for the presence of God, but it is to be brought with a sense
of our own unworthiness and need to the throne of God's mercy,
there to humble ourselves. It is basically a dependence
upon Christ. It is a resting in Him. It is
a waiting upon Him. It is a trusting Him. And it
is an intimate enjoying of those things which fall to us from
His hands. We read together in Hebrews 11.
Let me draw your attention to one verse particularly that I
thought exemplified these points that we have been making. It's
in the 13th verse of Hebrews 11. It speaks of those who died
in faith. You know, let's just remember
that the Lord's people died too. The Lord's people died too. And
death brings all of the sadnesses and the challenges and the difficulties
and the loss. The Lord's people die as well. But here is the testimony that
remains of those who have died. These all died in faith. Listen,
not having received the promises. Now, By that, we mean not having
received the fulfillment of the promises, not having received
that which was promised. They had the promises. It sounds
as if I'm contradicting scripture here. They had received the promises. The promises were given. They
trusted God for those promises, even although those promises
had not come to reality, had not come to fulfillment. These
all died receiving, not having received the promises, but having
seen them afar off. Look forward. So they knew what
the promises were. They knew what they were. They
saw them afar off. They knew what God had revealed.
So that's the knowledge part of their faith. These all died,
not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off.
and were persuaded of them. Okay? They were persuaded. They
not only knew what God had promised, but they believed them. Their
minds were attuned to these things. They consented to the truthfulness
of these things. They were persuaded of them.
And they embraced them. That's the personal trust. That's the personal trust. They
saw them afar off. They were persuaded of them,
and they embraced them. These people had faith, and it's
just the same faith as we have today. He's speaking about the
Old Testament saints. He's speaking about the patriots.
He's speaking about those who had gone before, who never saw
the fulfillment of these promises, who never saw the coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who never saw the dying of the Lord Jesus
Christ, or were party to His ascension, who never heard words
from His lips, who cannot, as it were, like us, look back on
the revealed facts. But nevertheless, they had these
promises given to them. They saw them afar off. And they were persuaded of their
truthfulness and they embraced them for their own. They embraced
Christ even though Christ had never come. They confessed that they were
strangers and pilgrims on this earth. They were just the same
as us, strangers and pilgrims in this earth. We're in the world,
but we're not of the world. We seek those promises which
God has given. We've seen the way in which these
things have been fulfilled. We've understood the reality
of the coming of Christ and the fact that that which was prophesied
is now history from our perspective. But we have received and we believe
and we embrace these things as true. So the Lord Jesus Christ
says in John chapter 3 verse 36, He that believeth on the
Son hath everlasting life. These old men and women, they
had everlasting life because they had faith in God. They had faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. I started off by saying that
I had four things that I wanted to draw your attention to. That
was the first one. The second one is this. Not only
is faith the evidence of spiritual life in our believing, or in
our knowing, and our believing, and in our trusting, but faith
is a gift of God. Faith is a gift of God. It has
to come from outside you. It's not something that you can
generate yourself. It has to be given. And it accompanies
the spiritual new birth. It is a gift which is not universal. It doesn't go to everyone. God
gives that gift to whomsoever he pleases. It is bestowed selectively. It is bestowed at His discretion
to particular individuals at the time and place that He sees
fit. 1 Peter 2, verse 9 says, Ye are
a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a
peculiar people. That is, these people who have
faith, they are distinguished Do you know what the Bible uses
as its words to talk about these people? Sanctified. They've been sanctified, they've
been set apart, a holy nation, a chosen generation, a peculiar
people, that you should show forth the praises of him who
hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. That calling, That calling is
a specific, particular, effectual call that goes to those whom
God has chosen in eternal covenant purposes and draws them out of
darkness, out of the benighted darkness of their nature and
their sinful state and opens up to them the light of the glorious
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, teaches them the gospel. causes
them to believe it. Not only to believe its truthfulness
but to lay hold upon it and to trust the one of whom that gospel
speaks. So the Apostle Paul says in Philippians
chapter 1 verse 29, For unto you it is given that in the behalf
of Christ to believe on him. Not only to suffer, but to believe
on him. It is given to you to believe
on him. It is a gift of God. He gives that gift of faith to
those that he has chosen and called and sanctified. We don't come to Christ for faith,
but we come to Christ in faith. We come to Christ by faith. We come to Christ for more faith. But he has to give that faith
in order for us to reach out and lay hold upon him in our
minds and in our understanding. And so John chapter 6 verse 65
reads, he said, Therefore said I unto you that no man can come
unto me except it were given unto him of my father. That gift has to be made before
there is a drawing of the individual, a coming of the individual. Or
John 4, verse 10, the story of the Samaritan woman that the
Lord Jesus met there at the well at Sychar. Jesus answered and
said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and to it is
that saith to thee, give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked
of him, and he would have given thee living water. You see, people
don't know They can't know. It has to be a gift. There has
to be a knowing. There has to be a believing.
There has to be a trusting. But that has to be given of God. And it is God's gift to the individual
that he has chosen that brings the expression of that faith
in their experience by which they lay hold on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Paul writes to the Ephesians,
of course, that famous verse, verse 8 of chapter 2. For by
grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. What, the grace or the faith?
Well, both. Both are the gift of God. It
is His grace, His graciousness, that bestows the faith upon His
people. And in John chapter 10, verse
26, we read that, there were those who contended with the
Lord Jesus Christ, who opposed Him in His ministry, who, despite
having access to the knowledge, to the revelation, to the Bible,
to the Old Testament prophets, to the men of faith that had
gone before, nevertheless believed not, would not consent, would
not accept, did not see themselves as being in need of those blessings
which the Lord Jesus Christ came to accomplish and bestow. And
the Lord says of them, ye believe not, because ye are not of my
sheep, as I said unto you. So faith is the evidence of spiritual
life, but it's a spiritual life that has to be given as a gift
from God. The third thing about faith is
this. Faith comes by hearing the gospel
preached. Faith comes by hearing the gospel
preached and that tells us about the necessity of preaching. That's what this little congregation,
that's what this church is about. That's what we desire. We desire
the preaching of the gospel because we know that it's the preaching
of the gospel that will do our souls good. In fact, if we could
do everything else that we did and didn't preach the gospel,
it would do us no good. It's the preaching of the gospel
that brings faith to those who are in need. And that's true
for both the first dawning of faith and also for the continuance
in faith. And so we need, like we need
to have breakfast to hear the gospel preached. We need, like
we need to breathe air to hear the gospel preached. It's no
good saying, you know what, I had all the oxygen I needed yesterday. We need it now. We need to hear
the gospel. Faith comes by hearing the gospel. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. dead shall hear the voice of
the Son of God. The voice of the Son of God is
the declaration of the word. It is the speaking forth of the
Lord Jesus Christ in all of his glory and all of his accomplishments. And in Romans 10 verse 17, the
apostle writes, so then faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God, hearing by the Lord Jesus Christ preached
amongst men. When the apostles in Luke 17,
5 said to the Lord Jesus Christ, increase our faith. How do we
increase our faith? We increase our faith by getting
to know more of God, by believing those things that we have been
given to know and in placing our trust and dependence upon
that one in whom we believe. This is our experience and it's
Christ coming to us in the gospel. We grow in grace, we grow in
faith, we grow in our confidence of the Lord's promises by the
means of preaching as those things are laid out before us. Hearing
the gospel is so important today. There was a time in Scotland,
where I hail from, when preaching was banned. when the church authorities,
because the things that were being preached were not in accordance
with the things that they wanted to be preached or declared to
the congregations, sent their preachers out of the pulpit and
banned them from getting into the pulpit. About 350 years ago,
there were many preachers in Scotland banned from preaching
and told not to come back to their churches. So what did they do? Well, the congregation said,
if our preachers aren't preaching to us in the churches, we will
not go to church. And they went out onto the hillsides. And they met in the open air,
and they hid themselves amongst the trees, and they went down
into the valleys, and they went to where the soldiers of the
king couldn't find them. And there, in large open-air
conventicles, the people gathered to hear the preaching of the
gospel. They put themselves beyond the
law. They put themselves at risk of
the soldiers. Why? Because they needed to hear
the gospel. They couldn't go on without hearing
the gospel. What of you? What would you do
if they banned preaching? What would you do if they said
you can't go any longer to hear the gospel preached? Would you
just shrug your shoulders and say, oh well? We'll see if we
can get by without it. It has to be so urgent to us. It has to be the very food that
we eat, the very air that we breathe. 1 Peter 1, verse 23
says, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible
by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. And so that
word of God is our desire. We desire to feed on that living
seed, for it to nourish us, for it to build us up, for it to
help us, that day by day we might experience the grace of God towards
us and our faith might grow and develop and be enhanced and be
enabled to lay hold upon the promises of God. The Apostle
Paul wrote to the Romans and he said, to the Jew first and also to
the Greek. But that's not just at conversion. That's every day. That's all
the time. The gospel of Christ is the power
of God unto salvation day by day for the souls of those who
need him. For therein, he continues, is
the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. We grow
in our faith. We understand and we develop
our faith as we understand the righteousness of God as it is
revealed in the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. For, he
continues, the just shall live by faith. And that's my fourth
point. Faith changes you. Faith changes
you. Faith is the evidence of spiritual
life. Faith comes to us by the gift of God. Faith is received through the
preaching of the gospel. That is the means that God uses
to dispense his gift of faith. And faith changes those who have
it. We trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. We trust in the promises of God. For our life here in this world,
we have a dependence upon Him. We talk about conversion. Let
us not think about conversion as a one-off event that happened
many years ago. We're being converted constantly
because there's a battle going on constantly and there has to
be the reinforcements being called up to the front. There has to
be that constant supply line, that experience of the grace
of God every day in our life. Because I'll tell you, the world
comes, and I'm not talking about these things being out of the
providential care of God. We have a sovereign God. But
the world comes with its temptations. The world comes with its force. It comes with its troops and
its strongman armed. And it belts us around. And it
hammers us down. And it undermines our confidence. And there has to be that constant
supply. Do you remember the story about
Pilgrim's Progress? It's just come to mind here.
This is not a good practice to let things just come out of your
mouth that come to mind. But there's the picture in Pilgrim's
Progress of the man that's standing with the bucket of water, throwing
it over the fire. Christian is surprised that the
fire doesn't go out, but then he looks around the other side
and there's somebody standing there throwing on buckets of
oil. It won't go out for all the water
that is poured upon it. The supply of fuel burns it still. And so we see that there is a
change that happens. There is a life-giving energy
that comes into the souls of the Lord's people as they trust
in Him. They have a repentance which
is a day-by-day repentance for the sin that they feel in their
souls. Their purposes are changed. Their
attitudes are altered. And their faith brings an assurance
to them of the faithfulness of God towards them. They have an
assurance of God's grace because that's the kind of God He is.
An assurance of His love because they've proved it time after
time. And though they themselves are
oft times weak, Yet faith, granted by God, brings the sinner into
that lively experience of peace with God and reconciliation because
of the work of Christ. And that's what it is to be justified. That's what it is to be justified
before the Holy God. To know that we have peace with
Him. To know that we have been reconciled
to Him. The just shall live by faith.
We talk about justification by faith. And that peace, that knowledge
of justification, it comes to us as we know God, as we believe
in what we have received, and as we trust him for the promises
that he has made. Faith is not the cause of our
justification. Faith is what enables us to suck
the blessings of our peace with God. Faith is the channel. Faith
is the vehicle that enables us to take the experience of the
blessings of peace with God into our day-to-day existence. This is what it is to lay hold
upon the things of Christ experimentally. You went to school just like
I did, I guess, and you would have your textbook and you would
open them up and you would read there about the different physical
properties of this and that and what happens if you mix them
up and what happens if you do this or you do that. And man,
it could be stale. Until the teacher got out the
tubes and the Bunsen burner and the pipes And he did the experiment. And then it all made sense. Then you saw what was there in
the book, but hadn't grasped your imagination. That's the
difference between the theory and the experiment, the theory
and the experience. And that's what faith brings
to the Lord's people. It is the experience of these
great promises of God that have been revealed in Scripture, that
have been accomplished by Him in the individual's own soul. These things prepare us for heaven. Give us the values by which we
live in this world. These are the treasures which
God has in store for his people that he opens up. We see his
glory being manifested in this world. We're motivated because
of faith and trust in Him. We're motivated to worship Him. I hope we don't come to church
because we feel some obligation to do so, as if we're satisfying
some duty to be here and we've got our attendance record marked
for the week. No more than six absences in
any 12-month period. I hope that's not what motivates
us to come. I hope it's a desire to worship
Him who has done all things well. To praise Him who has changed
us, who has altered us, who has revealed Himself to us in such
a loving, merciful way. I hope it's to say thank you. The experience of these things,
the experience of peace with God, the waiting upon God, the
coming to God, the imploring of God for those things which
come into our lives, those things that weigh upon us and cause
us concerns. You're anxious about the little
ones. You're anxious about your sons and your daughters and your
grandchildren. You're anxious about your health.
You're anxious about the future. You're anxious about so many
things in this world. Our anxieties know no bounds. I think we just worry about things
in a big column. And as soon as the top one of
the column is sorted, we just start worrying about number two,
and then number three, and then number four. And you could spend
your whole life fixing problems, and your anxieties would still
be there because you just worked down the list and worry about
the next one. We bring these things to the
Lord. We lay them at his footstool. That's what faith is. And he communicates his comfort
to us day by day, hour by hour. He gives us an enabling to understand
these events, the providences of life, the trials that we have
to face day by day, hour by hour. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ is talking about in Luke chapter 18. That's what he's
talking about when he says, will I find faith in the earth? Will
he find his people waiting upon him? Will he find his people
trusting on him day by day for his help, for his succor, for
his peace, for his support, for his comfort? Yes, there will
certainly be faith upon the earth, covenant faith. There will certainly
be a people, a church. But what is the experience of
that people? What is the experiment showing
us? What is it to move into that
relationship with him? That isn't simply the knowledge
of the doctrine or an ascent to the doctrine, but the experience
of trusting him and feeling his presence with us day by day. Will there be a faith that perseveres
through all the trials and the troubles? A faith that implores
God for the souls of these little ones, for those that we love,
that goes to Him day by day and asks Him, please Lord, please. Please avenge us. Please batter
down this old man. Please give us the strength that
we need. Please give us the peace that
we desire. To implore him, to be persistent. Have you ever annoyed the Lord
by asking too much too often? Have you ever annoyed him? Is
it possible to do so? He who knows best how these things
work is the Lord Jesus Christ because it's him who is now at
the right hand of God interceding for his people. He's the one. Let me read to you what Robert
Hawker said on this matter. He said, he who knows best how
matters go at the court of heaven. He who knows best how matters
go at the court of heaven, here instructs all his people to hold
on, to hold out upon earth. until the needed mercy is obtained. It's the Lord Jesus Christ who's
the advocate. It's the Lord Jesus Christ who's
the intercessor at the throne. It's the Lord Jesus Christ into
whose hands these petitions are lodged. We go to him in our prayers
and we say, Lord, this is what I need. This is this is what
I desire. This is what I long for. We give
them to Christ. And it's Christ who is our advocate
at the throne. And it is he who must prevail. in that priestly office that
he fulfills, in that blood-shedding righteousness, the success that
we desire is in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. This God-man
directs his people to carry all their sorrows, all their exercises,
all their trials, all their temptations, all their fears, all their unbelief
to him. Because that's where pardon,
and that's where help, and that's where comfort is to be found. Let's not just talk about it.
Let's practice it. Let's do these things as the
Lord enables us and gives us grace. And there, let us patiently,
like this widow woman sitting outside that cruel judge's judgment
hall, let us be a people who wait patiently on the Lord who
loves to do us good. Finally, let me mention this.
Evidence is spiritual life. Faith is God's gift. Faith grows
through preaching. And faith changes. It prepares
us for heaven. And for that reason, Peter calls
it precious faith. It's precious faith. Simon Peter,
a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained
like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God, our
Saviour and our Saviour Jesus Christ. Grace, peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Faith it is that lays hold upon
the graces and the blessings of God in Christ. Let us stir
up that faith. Let us exercise that faith. Hebrews 11, 6 says, Without faith
it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of them that
diligently seek him. Let us diligently seek our Lord. and may the rewards and the blessings
that he delights to bestow upon his people be that which we constantly
seek at his merciful hand. Almighty God, Father, inspirer
and hearer of prayer, we confess our faith is often frail, our
commitment feeble, our resolve faint. Thou who first granted
faith alone can make it grow. Father, if there be those here
without faith this day, bestow it by thy mercy and thy sovereign
power. If our faith is faltering, strengthen
and nourish it. Give us grace to exercise faith
daily at thy throne of grace and mercy, that we, like the
poor widow of Luke 18, might prevail with thee in the obtaining
and securing of such blessings as thou art most desirous to
bestow to thine own elect. Amen.