Faith is a simple principle, easily learned; but it has a multitude of various applications in human affairs--as the same law, showing itself in many manifestations; the same melody, ringing through unending variations. When you say that faith is an implicit reliance upon God through his word, it is all summed up. But see now how this reliance appears in the acts of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Israel, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephtha, David, Samuel and the prophets, changing its manifestation according to the peculiar circumstances of each case.

      The first instance given us is one of sacrifice--the first shedding of blood with a view to atonement and remission of sin, itself a prophecy according to God's will of the great Sin Offering to come. Now, although we have no record of God's messages to men in those days, we are bound to conclude that God must have offered man access through the bloody sacrifice, [148] and must have given directions concerning the offering of the same; for not only would it be impossible for human wisdom to hit upon such a means of worship and approach to God, but even if it had been of Abel's ingenuity that he thought of bringing that kind of sacrifice, it would not have been of faith in such a case, for faith comes by the word of God. (Rom. 10:17.) Abel, therefore, relying upon God's word and the promise of acceptance connected with it, brought a sacrifice well pleasing to God. Cain, on the other hand, relied not on God's word of instruction and promise, but, rather, followed the light of reason, his sense of the fitness of things, and brought a sacrifice of his own devising. This is the bloodless religion of the world which survives unto the present day in many forms--the deistic religions, the æsthetic religions, the philosophic religions. To this Cain religion belong all those systems that reject the Sacrifice, the blood of Jesus Christ; and every scheme of worship and service that has been invented by man. It is an important lesson, and one which the great majority even of professed Christians have never yet learned, that not every act of worship, nor every sacrifice (though it may commend itself ever so much to our reason) which is offered with good intention, is, therefore, acceptable to God. Our [149] worship and approach to God must be in God's way, by the true Sacrifice, and by faith.

      Of Enoch we are told that he walked with God. His faith brought him into communion and fellowship with the Almighty, a sense of his presence and nearness, and a life according with it. To him God was real. He lived as in the sight of God; and who would do evil while God is at his side? Moreover, he walked with God; in God's ways--where he knew God would be with him--and was so little influenced by the appearance of things that are seen that he consulted and chose God's way only, and that in everything. He was one of those who through "faith wrought righteousness" (verse 33), and, therefore, he was translated that he should not see death, for he had been well pleasing to God.

      Noah's faith came by the word of God, as faith does in every case. He was "warned of God." The things of which God told him were yet unseen, future--yea, as far a human wisdom could see, improbable and impossible. So Noah relied on the word, and had nothing else to rely on. God's warning filled him with fear, and he took God's proffered way of safety. The [150] rest of mankind were doubtful as to these matters. Some gave the word as preached by Noah (2 Pet. 2:5) no credit at all; others played "agnostic"--professed to know nothing about it, and "they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away" (Matt. 24:39), which thing is repeating itself to-day in reference to the serious warnings of God to the wicked, the prediction of their fearful destiny just at hand. But Noah believed God and feared. His faith worked and obeyed to the letter. Yet it was faith that saved him, not works; but works made his faith perfect and efficient before God. It is evident here that faith does not exclude the strictest obedience or the hardest work. Noah staked his time, his labor, and his capital on God' word, and (humanly speaking) incurred the risk of loss and ridicule for the sake of his convictions.

      Most noted of all men for faith stands Abraham. Reared in the midst of idolatry, he hears God's messages, the call to leave his kindred and country, and obeys. He put confidence in the Author of the commandment, counting him trustworthy, left the consequences in his hands, and so went out, not knowing whither he went. Thus his faith conquered his love of [151] home and kindred and his fear of the unknown lands and the unknown future. He became a wanderer and a pilgrim on the earth, steadfastly looking for the unseen home of God of which he had heard in the promise. His faith staked home and kindred and property and life upon God's word; so that, if the promise could have failed, he would have lost all. He and the heirs with him of the same promise committed themselves to a steadfast life of faith (compare Heb. 10:36-38), preferring to walk by faith and hope, although the way back to their old home and its tangible advantages stood continually open. Sarah's faith also, basing itself on the faithfulness (reliableness) of Him who had promised, gave her light and hope where human reason saw no hopeful prospect, and through faith she received a power above the natural. See the beautiful description of faith in Rom. 4:18-22.

      But it was in the sacrifice of Isaac that Abraham's faith reached its climax, for in that son all hope was centered. Before the son was born, Abraham depended solely upon the promise. Now he is apt to trust in Isaac. So Isaac himself must be given up, that faith may indeed be shown to rest upon that which is not seen, in God's power and faithfulness rather than in any visible prospect. And Abraham did not [152] hesitate. He loved his son, but he loved God supremely. He saw in his son the fulfillment of the promise, and could not see how the promise could be redeemed if Isaac died. But Abraham never stopped to consider what things looked like. God spoke; that was enough. His simple logic was: God is true; therefore the promise cannot fail, contrary appearances notwithstanding. If God chooses, he can bring Isaac back from the dead; for is he not the child of promise, and did not God bring him forth, as it were, out of death in the first place? So Abraham offered up his son. In sacrificing him he received him; in losing him he found him; and in giving him up he obtained him forever. This is God's way of giving back to us everything we sacrifice to him sweeter and better a hundredfold.

      We must pass hurriedly over the remaining names. It will not be difficult now to show just how faith manifested itself in Jacob's blessing and in Joseph's making mention of the departure of Israel. Nor is it hard to understand how Moses could make his strange choice, for it was to him a greater privilege to be one of God's people than to belong to the royal family of Egypt. As he understood it, God's promises were sweeter, surer, and more enduring than [153] all the pleasures and treasures and glittering glories of the court; "for he looked unto the recompense of the reward." Moses was not foolish, though "men of the world whose portion is in this life" would call him so. Faith does not make men unreasonable; it simply gives them a higher reason, a truer reliance, a higher motive, and a greater object for which to work and live. And it has always been true that men who followed after the things that were seen became debased and corrupted in their pursuit; while those who lived unto the things that are not seen, as revealed in the word of God, were ennobled and purified. It is, then, man's true life to live by faith; and his true goal is not here, but among "the things unseen"--in God himself.

      So lived all these heroes of faith; so must we live, if our lives are not to be eternal failures. With Abel, we draw near to God by the blood; like Enoch, we walk with God; with Noah, we fear and prepare, that we may be able to stand in that day; and, like Abraham, we become strangers and pilgrims (Phil. 3:20; Heb. 13:14; 1 Pet. 1:11; Col. 3:12-3), looking for the better country; choosing, with Moses, rather to share ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than [154] the treasures of Egypt. In all these things we follow Him who lived wholly unto the world unseen and unto his Father's will--the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, "who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

      Our Father, it is thy will that we should seek after the things unseen, inasmuch as they only are true and abiding and eternal, and the visible world and the lust thereof passeth away. Yet how we are in bondage to the things that are seen, and how low we rate thee and thy reward because these things do not appeal to our present senses! Therefore are we despondent and without peace; for "thou hast made us for thyself, and our hearts are restless till they rest in thee." Lord, help our unbelief. Help us to make the first trusting steps, that thus we may be led into a deeper faith. May we, in humble and obedient study of thy word, come into touch with thy unseen universe and obtain that pilgrim spirit which characterized our father Abraham. Help us, after the example of thy servants of old, to seek and find thee a God so faithful and true that we may learn to rely wholly on thee, staking life and goods and [155] talents and all we have and are upon thy word, and by faith to win the final victory through our intercessor, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

      The next lesson is Heb. 11:32 to 12:2. Look up the history of the names in verse 32 and see how they showed their faith. What kind of successes did they make through faith? What failures did they endure by faith? Were men of faith universally successful and victorious? Why does the Lord refer those Hebrew brethren and us to these examples? Can we accomplish similar things by faith? Was not that in the age of miracles? How, then, can it encourage us? Chapter 12: What cloud of witnesses does he speak of? What is the "weight" we should lay aside? What is "the sin which doth so easily beset us?" [156]

[LOH1 146-156]