The Venture of Faith

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Galatians 3:2

This only would I learn of you, Received you the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

When a man is in trouble of spirit, faith is a venture to him; it appears to him to be the greatest venture possible. He that saith, "This gospel which I have heard is true, and I will venture my soul upon the truth of it," is the man who has given to the gospel "the hearing of faith." Let me try to set forth faith yet again: This bridge is strong enough to carry me over the stream, therefore I am going over the stream upon it. That is real faith. Faith is a most practical principle in daily life. The most of trade hangs on trust. When a man sows wheat he has to scatter it into the furrows and lose it, and he does so because he has faith that God will send a harvest. When the sailor loses sight of the shore, he has to sail by faith; believing in his compass, he feels safe, though he may not see land for weeks. Faith is the hand which receives what God presents to us, and hence it is a simple, childlike thing. When a child has an apple offered him, he may know nothing about the orchard in which the apple grew, and nothing of the mechanism of his hand and arm, but it is quite enough for him to take the apple. Faith does the most effectual thing when it takes what God gives. All the rest may or may not be. Faith is the main thing. When God holds out to me salvation by Christ Jesus, I need not ask anything further about it, but just take it to myself and be at once saved, for by faith the Spirit of God is received.

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