A Saving Faith which meets men at their extremity of need and gives them a new heart. It is not only a faith that did save men when Christ walked the earth and healed the sick, giving sight to the blind and raising the dead, but it is a faith which saves men now. Christ is still performing His miracle of cleansing the hearts of men of evil. He is saying, "Come unto Me," and men are coming as of old. The question whether He can save now is being put to the test every day and every day it is being answered in the regeneration of men. Wherever this gospel is preached amongst the wealthy and learned or the poor and ignorant, it shows its splendid fruitage as it did of old.
USES OF CHRISTIAN FAITH
To Make Plain the Great Cause of All as Father.—We live in an immense universe, in the midst of giant forces of which, after science has made its most searching investigation and said its last word, we know comparatively little and that little imperfectly. No set of men is more ready to admit this state of affairs than that which has made the closest scrutiny of the phenomena of nature. There is a host of questions to which the most painstaking investigation on the part of the philosophers can afford us no answer.
Without this Christian faith which tells us of a revelation from God and His plan and purpose for man we should be helpless, ever seeking for light in this universe which we could not find. Then again we might believe in a first great cause of all things, but without a revelation we could not know God as the Creator of all things and as our Father who cares supremely for us—made known in the manifestation of Jesus Christ.
By faith in Christ we are brought into communion with God the Father.
To Show the Importance and Value of Human Life.—How could man know that he was more than an atom in a whirlpool of atoms, his life of sense but a transitory thing, if it had not been for the Scriptures which seek to impress upon him the value of his life in the sight of God (John 3:16,17; Matthew 16:26)? Without the pale of the Christian faith men hold life but cheaply, they squander it and waste it in sin; they too often say, "Let us eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die"—forever passing out of existence. The Christian faith holds human life as a very precious thing, something to be cherished with infinite and loving care, for the spirit in man is to live forever. Here is a new significance given to life which, when the individual accepts it, gives him new and great ideals, which lift him to a higher level of living.
By faith in Christ we are brought into proper fellowship with our fellow men, and their lives are made precious in our sight.
To Show the Way to Happiness and Joy Through Jesus Christ.—If there is one thing more than another which man is seeking it is happiness, but it is the kind of happiness which frequently destroys the body and soul—still he seeks it. Many men seek happiness through relaxation of their moral nature.
Christ came preaching the happiness of a conqueror, the victor who sings the song of rejoicing over some victory won; He set forth a joy which celebrated a conquest over evil desires and made a man noble and pure in his thoughts and aspirations. Jesus did His work for the joy that was set before Him (Hebrews 12:2). The Christian faith was never intended to make a man gloomy or downcast, but to put joy in his heart and a song upon his lips. No one has more right to a cheerful countenance than the sincere Christian, for he can be sure that he knows the way of happiness here and nothing can come to him hereafter save peace and glory in the redeemed life.