These words are part of a statement made by the Lord Jesus Christ in Luke 18:8. He says, "When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" They have often come to my mind of late. It is not a question of whether He will come or not, but "when." And when He comes, will He find faith on the earth? Not the faith like devils have, simply believing that there is one God. Not sporadic faith, on again and off again. Not man's faith in himself. But the "faith of God's elect." The faith which God gives sinners and through which they see themselves justified before God in Christ. He is speaking of the faith which comes by the hearing of the word of God. This is one reason why this has come to my mind. There is so little interest in the hearing of the word. So little interest in that worship which centers around the gospel of Christ. Paul did not say that a lifetime supply of faith came by your hearing the word once or more in the past. He said, "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God." The measure of our faith is in relation to the measure of our hearing the word! Little hearing, little faith! When I see the small crowd of gospel hearers and my heart breaks at the repeated absence of gospel professors, I find myself thinking about it again. When He comes, will Christ find faith on the earth? At the present rate of speedy decline, will He? Yes, He will! It may be in but a "few" but He will! He will because He gives it as a "gift." He will because He is the worthy Object of that faith. He will because His decree has purposed it, because His covenant has assured it, because His bloody death has purchased it and because His sovereign throne guarantees it! It may not be found in YOU, but He will find faith on the earth. If He comes at the hours of worship in the days ahead, will He find you growing in faith through hearing the Word of God? He may not but He will find His true people hearing His Word and worshipping Him through the gospel of His glory. He will find faith in His people on the earth!!

GS

No matter who you are, you can only be saved by the grace and power of God in Jesus Christ and Him crucified!

ASSURANCE FOUND ONLY IN CHRIST

"I am not satisfied with my faith," says one. No, of course you aren't; nor will you ever be; at least, I hope not! The Bible does not say, "Therefore, being SATISFIED with our faith, we have peace with God;" it says, "being JUSTIFIED, by faith, we have peace with God."

"I am not satisfied with my repentance." That is wonderful! What would you do with your repentance if you were satisfied with it? Would you bring it to God instead of the blood? Oh, what pride and self-righteousness must be in any person who is satisfied with his repentance and faith! That person could never find true peace, for such a refuge of lies must fall.

"I am not satisfied with my love." What? Did you expect, on this earth, to be satisfied with any grace found in you? Was it your love for Christ or His love for you that gave you peace at first?

Now then, there is but one thing with which Almighty God is satisfied--entirely satisfied--and that is the person and work of His Son. It is with Christ that we must be satisfied, not with ourselves nor anything about us! When we cease from our labors and ALL of our righteousnesses and enter into His rest, pardon and peace will come without delay.

God has given us the Gospel not merely for the purpose of securing us life hereafter, but of making us sure of this life even now. It is a true and sure Gospel; so that he who believes it is made sure of being saved. If it could not make us sure, it would make us miserable; for to be told of such a salvation and such a glory, and yet be kept in doubt as to whether they be ours or not, must render us truly wretched.

Horatius Bonar, 1850

The true believer has conflict with the religious world. The greatest enemies of Christ have always been those who boasted of their knowledge of God. It was in the synagogue that the death of Christ was plotted. It was in the cathedrals that the reformers were tried and burned. It is in the churches and seminaries that the gospel of grace is denied.

Henry Mahan

"The heathens counted that the fire which was enkindled by a sunbeam was more fit and pure for their altars than a coal taken from a common hearth."

Herein they blindly stumbled upon the image of a great spiritual truth. The right fire for a preacher of the gospel is fire from God himself. All else defiles the sacrifice, and is sure, sooner or later, to die out. When we speak for God it is a blessed thing to speak through God. Excitement arising from animal spirit is a poor substitute for the Holy Ghost. Far worse is the stimulus of wine or strong drink, which is an absolute profanation of holy things and a presumptuous provocation of God. To attempt to serve God under the influence of the "mocker" is to mock the Most Holy One.

To preach under the stimulus of anger is horrible, and to do so from motives of ambition is equally so. Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord for offering strange fire, and this should be a perpetual warning to all who bear the vessels of the Lord.

O fire of God, touch our lips, yea, burn in our hearts. Let no strange fire come near us: neither from the furnace of anger, nor from the flames of ambitious desire, nor from the flash of carnal excitement may we ever borrow our fires, when we wait at thine altar, O Lord.

C. H. Spurgeon

We need to continually pray God to save us from having any will of our own, to work in us complete subjection to and satisfaction with His holy will. By nature we are full of restlessness, covetousness, discontent never satisfied with what we do have, ever lusting after what we do not have. But by grace we may live more happily than a prince, even thou we possess nothing more down here than bare food and raiment: yea, shall do so if we seek and find all our satisfaction in Christ alone. Here is the key to the extraordinary history of Paul, and Silas, Bunyan, Rutherford and many others. Why were they so contented and joyful while lying some of them for many years in prison? No doubt God favored them with a double portion of His grace and comfort, yet the real explanation is that their hearts were completely absorbed with Christ.