BUT what avails it for you, my reader, if, though Christ has once suffered for sins, though God has raised Him from among the dead, though the Holy Ghost has brought from heaven the tidings of the infinite value of what has been done—what avails it for you, we say, if you believe it not?
A certain mother in Lincolnshire received from a lady at some distance a letter. Her daughter had been engaged by this lady as domestic servant, and the letter was to explain the best railway route and give full particulars of changes, etc.
With this letter in hand she went to a shopkeeper of our acquaintance, told him where her daughter wanted to go, and asked him to tell her the best way of getting there. After doing his best to furnish her with the needed information she allowed him to read the letter. “Why, Mrs.―,” exclaimed he, “the lady has given you all particulars here! Why come to me?”
But even this diet not satisfy her, for she afterward carried her letter to the Grantham Railway Station, eight miles off, to inquire there the best route for her daughter, though only to be told once more what the lady had told her already!
Here is an illustration of the needless trouble which unbelief gives to those who listen to its dangerous reasoning. Had she simply believed what the lady had said, she might have quietly rested and confidently acted. But she could not trust her, and consequently looked for other evidence.
Now, my reader, God has spoken. It is His message that comes to you. It was His heart that devised the righteous way of bringing you to His own eternal glory.
His Holy Spirit has, by His own chosen instruments, plainly recorded how you may make use of that “new and living way,” and be certain that you are in it.
What God said Abraham believed; and he believed what was said, because of Him who said it. No other consideration had a feather’s weight with him. Abraham did not bring in his feelings as evidence, and if you, my reader, have been tempted to do so, just pause a moment and consider the folly of it. How could all the happy feelings in the world add one jot to the truthfulness of what God has said? In Matthew 4:44But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4) the blessed Lord Himself links “It is written” with “The mouth of God,” and in this manner defeated the tempter. Let it be your wisdom to do the same.
The character of our blessing will depend on what God has said; our faith will rest on the faithfulness of Him who said it.