Faith in All Its Splendor

Book excerpt: Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) earned the title, ''The Prince of Preachers'' by his untiring pulpit work which produced many thousands of sermons in his 40+ years of preaching. This fine collection of Spurgeon's sermons on faith has twelve different sermons, variously displaying various kinds of faith. Sermon 1: Little Faith. Some born-again Christians have little, or weak, faith. Spurgeon points out first that it is a burden to have but little faith. Though Little-faith is quite sure of Heaven, Yet he suffers from lack of assurance. Unlike normal faith, it does not grow steadily from faith to faith. He quotes Bunyan as saying that one of little faith has a host of fears. ''It has more lives than a cat, '' if you kill it over and over, it still lives. He is always safe, but he seldom knows it. Sermon 2: Here the reader is instructed in ''Seeing Jesus, '' by faith. Faith is the eye of the soul. It alone will be ''looking unto Jesus.'' Seeing Jesus is a continuous thing with faith. It is not just a now and then thing. It is current, not future. It never completely loses sight of the Savior as long as it is exercised. He is everywhere, therefore we can see Him everywhere we are, or where we go. Sermon 3: The difference between little faith and great faith is not such a great gulf as that between little faith and no faith. At times Jesus called the apostles ''Little faiths'' (Matt. 8:26; 16:8; Luke 12:28). Peter had faith to walk on the water until he looked at the wind instead of Jesus. Faith is never in danger as long as it has its eye on Jesus. Sermon 4: Faith is essential to please God. (Heb. 11:6). No invention of men can please God without faith. If God is pleased to give us everlasting life, it should be the object of our lives to please God. To faith, His commands will be precious, and the faithful will always be obeying. Sermon 5: There is a necessity of growing faith. The apostle was cheered that the Thessalonians had faith that grew exceedingly (2 Thess. 1:4). If we know our faith is growing, it is a subject for devout thanksgiving. Increased faith is of unspeakable value. Let us diligently pursue it. Sermon 6: Faith is a shield (Eph. 6:16). All Christians are born to be warriors, and faith is our shield to use against the world, the flesh, and the devil. The more the faith, the more the attacks, and the shield of faith receives many a blow. Christians should learn to wield the shield, and the lessons are all in the Bible. Christ used Scripture to fight off Satan's attempts to down him. Sermon 7: Increased faith increases peace. Sermon 8: Mature faith was illustrated by Abraham's offering up of Isaac. First there was the trial. He must lose the son of the promise by his own act. Abraham did not hesitate, he was quick to obey. He was careful to take everything necessary to do the deed. Lastly, he proceeded to very instant of putting the knife to the throat of his beloved son. Did this not display mature faith indeed? Sermons 9, 10, 11, 12 are equally precious and rewarding: Faith and Life; Faith's Dawn and Cloud; Faith and Its Privileges; and lastly, the Nobleman's Faith.