Faith Is a Target
Faith is the primary grace God tests, and it must be tried and proven through desertion and trials.
Charles E. Cowman preaches about the importance of faith being tested and tried, emphasizing how our faith is the primary target when God allows trials in our lives. He highlights the necessity of enduring through seeming desertion and the furnace of trials to prove the genuineness of our faith. Drawing from the example of Paul, he encourages believers to keep the faith steadfastly, even in the face of great challenges and losses, as true victory lies in winning Christ and being loyal to the truth.
Text
"And the Lord said . . . Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not" (Luke 22:31, 32).
Our faith is the center of the target at which God doth shoot when He tries us; and if any other grace shall escape untried, certainly faith shall not. There is no way of piercing faith to its very marrow like the sticking of the arrow of desertion into it; this finds it out whether it be of the immortals or no. Strip it of its armor of conscious enjoyment, and suffer the terrors of the Lord to set themselves in array against it; and that is faith indeed which can escape unhurt from the midst of the attack. Faith must be tried, and seeming desertion is the furnace, heated seven times, into which it might be thrust. Blest the man who can endure the ordeal!--C. H. Spurgeon.
Paul said, "I have kept the faith," but he lost his head! They cut that off, but it didn't touch his faith. He rejoiced in three things--this great Apostle to the Gentiles; he had "fought a good fight," he had "finished his course," he had "kept the faith." What did all the rest amount to? St. Paul won the race; he gained the prize, and he has not only the admiration of earth today, but the admiration of Heaven. Why do we not act as if it paid to lose all to win Christ? Why are we not loyal to truth as he was? Ah, we haven't his arithmetic. He counted differently from us; we count the things gain that he counted loss. We must have his faith, and keep it if we would wear the same crown.
Sermon Outline
- Faith as the Center of the Target
- Faith is the primary grace God tests
- Desertion is the test of faith
- Faith must be tried and proven
Key Quotes
“Faith must be tried, and seeming desertion is the furnace, heated seven times, into which it might be thrust.” — Charles E. Cowman
“Blest the man who can endure the ordeal!” — Charles E. Cowman
“I have kept the faith” — Charles E. Cowman
Application Points
- We must be willing to lose all to win Christ and keep the faith.
- We must count loss as gain and prioritize loyalty to truth.
- Faith must be tried and proven in order to be unshakeable.