Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2055
“The trial of your faith.” 1 Peter 1:7.
IT is a great thing if any man can truthfully speak to you, my Brothers and Sisters, about “your faith,” for all men have not faith and wherever faith is found, it is the token of Divine favor. True faith is, in every case, the operation of the Spirit of God. Its nature is purifying, elevating, heavenly. It is, of all things that can be cultivated in the human breast, one of the most precious. It is called, “like precious faith,” and it is styled “the faith of God’s elect.” Wherever faith is found, it is the sure mark of eternal election, the sign of a blessed condition, the forecast of a heavenly destiny. It is the eye of the renewed soul, the hand of the regenerated mind, the mouth of the newborn spirit. It is the evidence of spiritual life—it is the mainspring of holiness—it is the foundation of delight—it is the prophecy of glory—it is the dawn of endless knowledge.
If you have faith, you have infinitely more than he who has all the world and yet is destitute of faith. To him that believes it is said, “All things are yours.” Faith is the assurance of sonship, the pledge of inheritance, the grasp of boundless possession, the perception of the invisible. Within your faith there lies Glory, even as the oak sleeps within the acorn. If you have faith, you need not ask for much more, save that your faith may grow exceedingly and that all the promises which are made to it may be known and grasped by you. Time would fail me to tell of the powers, the privileges, the possessions and the prospects of faith. He that has it is blessed. For he pleases God, he is justified before the throne of holiness, he has full access to the Throne of Grace and he has the preparation for reigning with Christ forever.
So far everything is delightful. But then comes, in this word, which somewhat startles and, if we are cowardly, may also frighten—“The trial of your faith.” Do you see the thorn which grows with this rose? You cannot gather the fragrant flower without its rough companion. You cannot possess the faith without experiencing the trial. Nor eat the lamb without the bitter herbs. These two things are put together—faith and trial. And it is of that trial of your faith that I am going to speak at this time, as God shall help me.
It may be, my Brothers and Sisters, that words said at this good hour shall comfort you while you undergo the sorer trial of your faith. May the Holy Spirit, who nurtures faith and preserves and perfects it under its trial, help our thoughts at this hour!
I. And, first, let me say of it, YOUR FAITH WILL BE SURELY TRIED. You may rest assured of that. A man may have faith and be for the present without trial. But no man ever had faith and was all his life without trial. That could not—must not be. For faith, in the very nature of it, implies a degree of trial. I believe the promise of God. So far my faith is tried in believing the promise, in waiting for the fulfillment of the promise, in holding on to an assurance of that promise while it is delayed and in continuing to expect the promise and to act upon it until it is in all points fulfilled to me.
I do not see how that can be faith at all which is not tried by its own exercise. Take the very happiest and smoothest lives. There must, at any rate, be the trial of faith in taking the promise and pleading it before God in prayer and expecting the fulfillment of it. Be not mistaken, God never gave us faith to play with. It is a sword but it was not made for presentation on a gala day, nor to be worn on State occasions only, nor to be exhibited upon a parade ground. It is a sword that was meant to cut and wound and slay. And he that has it girt about him may expect, between here and Heaven, that he shall know what battle means.
Faith is a sound sea-going vessel and was not meant to lie in dock and perish of dry rot. To whom God has given faith, it is as though one gave a lantern to his friend because he expected it to be dark on his way home. The very gift of faith is a hint to you that you will need it—that at certain points and places you will especially require it and that—at
all points and in every place, you will really need it. You cannot live without faith—for again and again we are told— “the just shall live by faith.” Believing is our living and we, therefore, need it always.
And if God gives you great faith, my dear Brethren, you must expect great trials. For, in proportion as your faith shall grow, you will have to do more and endure more. Little boats may keep close to shore, as becomes little boats. But if God makes you a great vessel and loads you with a rich freight, He means that you should know what great billows are and should feel their fury till you see “His wonders in the deep.” That God, who has made nothing in vain, especially makes nothing in the spiritual kingdom in vain. And if He makes faith, it is with the design that it should be used to the utmost and exercised to the full.