Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1963
“Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:8.
IT is absolutely certain that God will hear the prayers of His people. From beneath the altar, souls cry unto Him day and night to vindicate the cause of Christ, the cause of truth and righteousness—and to cast down His adversary—these shall be answered speedily. Here on earth, scant though the supplication may be, yet there is a remnant according to the election of Grace who cease not to importune the Almighty God to make bare His arm and display the majesty of His Word. Though for wise and gracious purposes the answer to those prayers may be delayed, yet it is absolutely certain. Shall not God avenge His own elect which cry day and night unto Him though He keeps their case long in hand? Assuredly He will, for those prayers are inspired by the Spirit who knows the mind of God! They are for the Glory of God and of His Christ and they are presented by our great High Priest! Long-suffering keeps back the advent and the judgment for a while, for the Lord is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But He will not forever delay the long-expected end! The Lord Jesus, Himself, gives us this personal assurance, “I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.” No doubt remains when Jesus says, “I tell you.” The Lord will come and, according to His own reckoning, He will come quickly. His reckoning is according to the chronology of Heaven and this, the heirs of Heaven ought gladly to accept—it is meet that even now we keep celestial time.
Brothers and Sisters, let not your hearts fail you as to the ultimate issue of the present conflict. “The Lord shall reign forever and ever. Hallelujah!” He shall utterly abolish the idols. Antichrist shall be overthrown—like a millstone cast into the sea, it shall fall and be no more. The heathen shall be our Lord’s inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth shall be His possession. He must reign until all enemies shall be put under His feet. If the present contest should be continued, century after century, be not weary! It is only long to your impatience. It is a short work to God! So grand a volume of the book as this, which contains the history of redemption, may well require a long time for its unrolling—and to such poor readers as we are, the spelling of it out, word by word, may seem an endless task! But we shall yet come to its close and then we shall find that, like the Book of Psalms, it ends in hallelujahs.
The matter to be questioned is not what God will do, but what men will do. Faithfulness is established in the very heavens—but what of faithfulness upon the earth? The part that God allots to us is that we believe His Word, for so shall we be established. It is the child’s part to trust his father; it is the disciple’s part to accept the teaching of his Master. Alas, how little there is of it at this moment! Knowing the feebleness of the faith of those around Him and foreseeing that future generations would partake of the same folly, the Savior gave utterance to this memorable question, “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” God is faithful, but are men faithful? God is true, but do we believe Him? This is the point and it is upon this that I shall speak this morning as the Holy Spirit shall help me.
I. I notice with regard to our text, first, that IT IS REMARKABLE IF WE CONSIDER THE PERSON MENTIONED AS SEARCHING FOR FAITH—“When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
When Jesus comes, He will look for precious faith. He has more regard for faith than for anything else that earth can yield Him! Our returning Lord will care nothing for the treasures of the rich or the honors of the great. He will not look for the abilities we have manifested, nor the influence we have acquired—He will look for our faith! It is His Glory that He is “believed on in the world” and to that He will have respect. This is the jewel for which He is searching. This heavenly Merchant counts faith to be the pearl of great price—faith is precious to Jesus as well as to us.
The Last Day will be occupied with a great scrutiny and that scrutiny will be made upon the essential point—where is there faith and where is there no faith? He that believes is saved. He that believes not is condemned. A search warrant will be issued for our houses and our hearts. And the enquiry will be—Where is your faith? Did you honor Christ by trusting His Word and His blood, or did you not? Did you glorify God by believing His Revelation and depending upon His promise, or did you not? The fact that our Lord at His coming will seek for faith should cause us to think very highly of faith. It is no mere act of the intellect—it is a Grace of the Holy Spirit which brings glory to God and produces obedience in the heart. Jesus looks for it because He is the proper object of it and it is by means of it that His great end in His First Advent is carried out. Dear Hearers, conceive for a minute that our Savior is searching for faith right now. “His eyes behold, His eyelids try the children of men.” This is the gold He seeks after amid the quartz of our humanity. This is the objective of His royal quest—“Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?”