I HAVE met people who have said, “You talk about believing; I believe; but it has made no difference to me, what does it all mean?” And their belief has turned out to be something about Jesus and not faith in Him at all. This sort of belief is the same as they have in regard to some outstanding character in history. I, for instance, have read of Charles I and Oliver Cromwell; that period of English history always interested me more than any other, and I often debated in my mind as to whether Cromwell was a regicide and traitor or a benefactor and liberator: it was an exhilarating mental exercise, but, of course, nothing more, and that is how it is with these “believers” in the Bible facts about the Lord Jesus Christ. Many of them are orthodox, religious and estimable, they are not infidels; they believe that Jesus lived and died and rose again and ascended into heaven, these are all items in the Creed, and they do not question them. They will tell you that these are very interesting facts that have had a decided effect upon the history of the world, but they are unmoved and unchanged by them: they have yielded them a mental assent, but not the faith of their hearts that saves; and if thou shalt believe in thine heart, is an important word. Their idea is that since they have lived what they call a moral life, and do not altogether neglect religion, nothing more can be expected. The Son of God is not to them a vital reality; they do not believe that without Him they must perish, that He is indispensable to their eternal salvation.
But what is this living faith in Him that is so necessary; the faith that appropriates the blessing, and without which it is impossible to please God? Let me illustrate it. The plague is raging in your city, and the people are dying by scores and hundreds, and all the efforts of the doctors to check its ravages are in vain, for they have discovered neither the cause of it nor the remedy. One day you awaken to the fact that you are stricken; there can be no doubt about it, the symptoms are unmistakable. You are surely doomed, and are on the verge of despair, for this fell disease has rarely, if ever, been known to release its grip upon any of its victims. But just when you have abandoned all hope there steps into your room a man of whom you have often heard; he is a great physician, and as kind as he is great. He tells you that after long research he has discovered the virulent germ, and has conquered it, and that if you will submit your case to him he can and will cure you. Do you hesitate? Not for a moment. How eagerly you watch him as he measures out the dose of the precious fluid that is to heal you. And when he hands it to you and says, “Now drink that,” do you say, “All right, doctor, I believe all that ever I heard about you, and I believe what you say about this medicine, put it down there, I’ll take it sometime, but I want a little while to think about it”? No, you don’t! That dose, and that only, as far as you know, can save your life, and you waste no time in vain talk, but with your heart beating at more than its usual rate, you stretch out your hand and take the life-giving draft and drink it down, and as all the doctor has said is proved to be true, how sincerely you thank him. You are a very grateful man, and never tire of telling others of the doctor’s skill and of his infallible remedy.
Do you understand the illustration? Sin, like a plague, has stricken you: your only hope is the great Physician, who “came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Have you awakened to the fact that your soul is in danger of perishing, and that it must perish unless God’s only begotten Son saves it? If so, you will want Him; your soul will cry out for Him; you will not rest until you find Him; you may even take up the cry of the disciples in the storm, “Lord, carest Thou not that we perish?” Of course He cares, and you will realize that He cares for you, if you will put your case in His hands and trust Him wholly to save you. That is what believing in Him means, and nothing less than that. And He has never failed one who has believed in Him like that.
An old friend of mine proved this, when he discovered that he was a sinful man and in danger of perishing. It was Christmas Eve, and he had been invited to join in the festivities of the season. There was to be dancing and drink and music and singing, and though very miserable, he started out for the great house at which the night was to be spent, but he hesitated at the gate. One of his mates took him by the arm and said, “What’s the matter with you? Come on.” And that did it. He told me that it seemed to him as though the very devil was in that tug at his arm, and that that “Come on” was the devil’s invitation to him to forget that he was a sinner and that his soul needed saving, and to reject the Saviour. He pulled away from the temptation, and leaving his friends he ran home to his bedroom. He was alone in the house, and falling on his knees he cried out, “Lord, I’m in danger of perishing forever, and I deserve to perish because of my sins, but if I have to perish, I’ll perish at Thy feet.” Did he perish? No, how could he when he cast himself like that into the Saviour’s hands? Does not our text say, “that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish”? He did not perish, but became one of the brightest, happiest farmers in the county of Northumberland. He is now with His Saviour whom he trusted, but his happy Christian life was spent in pressing on others the claims of the Lord, and telling them of the joys of everlasting life that He gives to those who believe.
And how does a man acquire this faith that saves? It comes by hearing, for the Scripture says, “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God;” and Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”
Believing in Him is a vital thing. It is living faith in a living Saviour. Simon Peter had it, when speaking on behalf of his friends, he said to the Lord, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”