Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 210, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 September 1917 — Faith by Hearing [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Faith by Hearing

By REV. W. W. KETCHUM

Director of Practical Work Course, Moody Bible Institute, Chicago

TEXT—So then faith cometh by hearing 1 and hearing by the Word of God. Romans 10:7. \ Faith Is often spoken of as if it were the acceptance as true of some-

thing which we have no means of knowing whether it be true or not. Such, however, is not the faith the Bible demands of us. It does not ask us to assent to any proposition as true without giving us evidence to support it Take, for instance, any fundamental fact of the Gospel and you will see that this is the case.

Paul, in the fifteenth of First Corinthians, in speaking of the resurrection of Christ, at once adduces evidence to support the fact of his resurrection, and on the ground of the evidence submitted that Christ is risen, he asks us to believe in the resurrection. It is a popular notion that faith is a leap in the dark, but-real faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is based upon good, substantial evidence. In fact, in order for one to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, there must be something to believe concerning him; otherwise it would not be possible to believe in him. Faith in Christ reaches him through our faith in the facts concerning him. It is for that reason, that the Gospel is spoken of as “the power of God unto salvation to everyone that belleveth.” Of course, we know that Christ is the Savior, yet the Gospel is rightly spoken of in this way, because it is by believing the Gospel which tells us that Christ saves and how he saves, that we in thus believing commit ourselves to him as our Savior. Faith Based on Evidence. Now Paul knew that real faith is based upon evidence, and that it is not simply by urging people to believe in Christ that faith is begotten, so we read of his persuading the folks who came to him concerning Jesus Christ (Acts 28:23). This should be a lesson to us who, perhaps more frequently than we ought, depend upon exhortation to lead people to faith in Christ rather than upon evidence which calls forth faith. People should be exhorted, but they should also be persuaded.

When It speaks of Paul persuading them concerning Jesus, it does not mean that he pitted his intellect and will against theirs, and by sheer force tried to make them believe in Jesus. What he did, as we know, was to present evidence for their faith to rest upon. He did this by expounding to them “out of. the law of Moses and out of the prophets.” That is, he went to the Old Testament Scriptures and therefrom produced evidence concerning Christ’s person and work. As a result we read, “some believed the things which were spoken and some believed not” (Acts 28:24). Thus.it always Is when the evidence concerning Christ Is presented, for though the evidence be sufficient, some will not have Christ to reign over them. A Case In Point. Quite, recently, I dealt with one who professes to be an infidel, and whether <r not he really is one, he was most blatant and blasphemous in his talk. When I pressed him that honesty demanded that he fairly weigh the evidence and put Christ to the test, he .was unwilling to do sp and tried to laugh the matter, as it were, out of court. He called “the whole business,” ns he said, “a myth,” and yet I venture to say that he never with a real desire to know the truth had put himself in the way of evidence by which real faith comes. I do not mean that he had not read the Bible. I suppose he had, but I presume he read it under the blighting criticism of a Thomas Paine or a Robert Ingersoll. Who would believe even his. own good and true mother if he always looked at her through eyes of such bitter enemies as they and their ilk are of the Scriptures? Or, who would ever trust himself to his mother, if he always came to her in the spirit of criticism to find her faults and never tp discover her virtues? If a manndeslres faith, there is a way to get it. It is a divine way that never fails the one who honestly thereby seeks the Lord. It is to put oneself in the way of faith, and just as surely as one does, providing he is willing and ready to believe, faith will come to him as the gift of God.

My infidel friend whom I tried to get honestly to put himself in the wav of faith would not do it, simply because he did not want to believe. When I pressed him further, I found be had settled the matter in early youth. He had turned Christ down In a revival meeting, which he attended ns a boy, and now in maturer years he is trying to comfort himself with th® false hope that Christ is a myth. There is a time, we know not When; - A place, we know not where; That seals the destiny of man. For glory or despair. If you desire to Believe In Christ, remember that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Won] of God.