Bible Commentaries
2 Kings 7

Verse 2

Beware of Unbelief

June 6, 1875 by C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892)

"Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, it the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof" 2 Kings 7:2 .

The people of Samaria had cast off their allegiance to Jehovah, and worshipped other gods, and therefore, according to his solemn threatening, the Lord visited them with sore judgments. They were so blockaded by Syrian armies, that food failed them altogether, and in their hunger they devoured human flesh, and the most abominable offal. They could not open the city gates, for they knew that the adversary, if he once entered, would sack and ransack the city, and put them all to the sword, and therefore they remained cooped up within the city walls to perish. In their dire extremity the Lord had mercy upon them and remembered that they were the children of Israel, the seed of Abraham, his friend, and therefore he would not utterly destroy them, but gave them space for repentance. He turned an eye of pity upon the famished thousands and promised them relief from the sore famine which had wasted them. How rich in mercy is the Lord our God! Sin must be multiplied exceedingly ere his long suffering ceases; he is unwilling to execute the sentence of his wrath. Judgment is his strange work. He is ever ready with his mercy, he waiteth to be gracious, yea, he is always beforehand with us in his grace, but he is very slow footed in punishment; he pauses by the way and deliberates, and before he deals a blow he often expostulates with himself and cries, "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Israel? How shall I make thee as Admah? How shall I set thee as Zeboim?" Verily he is a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. Perhaps one reason why the Lord was pleased in Samaria's extremity to visit it so graciously was the presence of Elisha there. There was at least one man in the city who had power with God in prayer, and perhaps a band of the sons of the prophets was with him, so that there were in the apostate city some few holy men, "faithful among the faithless found," and these acted as a handful of salt and preserved the city. Solomon tells us in the Proverbs that one wise man preserved a city, and this was a case in which one godly man did so. The Lord had respect unto his servant, and, for the sake of the man of God, Samaria was saved. Well was Elisha styled the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof, for he was a better defense than ten thousand cavalry. Ye cannot measure the beneficial influence of godly men, they are universal benefactors. We hear men speak of the sweet influences of the Pleiades, and the other stars which smile from above upon this earth below, but we too much forget the influence of the stars below upon the heavens above. Power proceeds upward as well as downward, even as the angels ascended as well as descended upon the ladder which Jacob saw. A good man's prayers move the arm which moves the world. The Lord met the need of Samaria by a most merciful promise, all the more full of grace because it bore upon its front the assurance of speedy fulfillment. The prophet was commissioned to declare, "Tomorrow, about this time, shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel." They had only four-and-twenty hours to wait; yet once more must the sun go down and rise, and then there should be no more pinching hunger or cruel famine throughout Samaria. The timing of the supply was most kind, he gives twice who gives quickly, and so the speedy promise was doubly precious. The plentifulness of the promise made it the more gracious, for so cheap would the wheat and barley become that they Should be sold at a figure far less than that which had been paid for doves' dung, whatever that may have been, and less than the price of such unwholesome meat as might be gathered from an ass's head, which had been sold for fourscore pieces of silver. The best food, even fine flour, was to be openly vended at a low rate at their very doors. They would not need to send to Egypt or fetch corn from afar, but it was to be brought to their gates, and sold at a price which would enable all to purchase. It was very great goodness on the Lord's part to meet the famine-stricken multitude with such a right royal word of cheer. But observe how God's prophet is answered not as one would have thought, with words of thanksgiving and tears of gratitude, but with the reverse. They did not fall down and on their knees exclaim, "O God, how good thou art!" They did not lift up a single word of praise, as surely they should have done: the only response was a supercilious sneering, contemptuous, unbelieving utterance "If the Lord should make windows in heaven might such a thing be." O base ingratitude! Ungenerous return for such great mercy! Mark well the Lord's answer to the unbeliever's scorn. There is nothing which he will so little endure as unbelief, and unbelief in the face of unusual mercy becomes doubly provoking. In the name of the Lord the prophet at once responded "Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not eat thereof." The Lord has a speedy answer to the unbelief which dares defy him: if men call God liar, they shall ere long have sufficient proof in their own persons that his threatenings do not lie. We shall try this morning to gather from the text the lesson which it was intended to teach us. May God bless us in so doing, helping us by his Holy Spirit. First, let us observe the conduct of unbelief; secondly, the divine answer to it; and, thirdly, the appointed punishment of it. I. First let us notice repentingly, for we have been guilty of this sin ourselves, THE CONDUCT OF UNBELIEF. You will observe that unbelief dares to question the truthfulness of the promise itself. The prophet had said, "To-morrow, about this time, shall two measures of barley be sold for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel;" and directly in the teeth of this "Thus saith Jehovah" comes the contemptuous denial of the lord on whose hand the king leaned. Unbelief does not hesitate to say that what God declares will not be fulfilled, although it frequently veils its speech, and usually imagines some sort of argument upon which to base its denials. Sophistry comes to the aid of incredulity and endeavors to buttress its bowing walls. If you had asked the sneering nobleman why he spoke so Distrustingly, he would have replied, "Why, the promise is far too great to be fulfilled. It is out of all character and reason. How can there be flour enough in this city in twenty-four hours to be sold at a measure for a shekel? Why, you could not get a measure of fine four for ten thousand shekels; it cannot be had for love or money, and there is not a measure of barley left in all the country around Samaria, for the Syrians have plundered every homestead and granary. Do you not see that the thing this prophet talks about is utterly impossible? His talk is preposterous. We might have believed him if his prediction had been a tenth as large, but he has overdone it, and no attention ought to be paid to his maunderings. Has not your unbelief, my brethren, sometimes made out a case for mistrust from the greatness of the promised good? When first the Lord was drawing you with cords of love, was not the very greatness of his mercy one of the severest trials of your faith? When you found that he would blot out your sins like a cloud, and like a thick cloud your iniquities, did not your heart say, "How can it be?" Well do I remember with what power and sweetness the words of Isaiah once came to my soul to remove this doubt "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways." We forget this glorious declaration, and we fall to measuring God's capability of blessing by our capacity of believing, and because the favor is wonderful we think it improbable. Is not this ill reasoning? Can anything be great with God? Can any marvel be too miraculous for the Lord? The matter is hard in itself, but is it hard for omnipotence? It is a massive blessing, but can it be too large for the infinitely gracious hand to bestow? Surely the Holy One of Israel is not such an one as thyself, wherefore then dost thou limit him as if he could give no more than thou canst give. May divine love deliver our souls from this net of unbelief, which so easily entangles us. Low thoughts of the divine power greatly dishonor God, and deprive us of much comfort. Is he not a great God, and is it not like him to do great things for his people? His resources are infinite, and therefore he is able to verify his promises, however great they may be. He did not promise in ignorance or in haste, his word is not a thing of yesterday, therefore he will not fail to keep his promise to the letter. Perhaps had you enquired of this lord he would have said to you, "Oh, but it will be such a new thing. I have lived in Samaria, and I have not seen flour exposed for sale at any price for months. The householders have hoarded it up, as if each ounce of it were a jewel. Each man has taken care to secure what he had for his own family; and now there is none left anywhere, even in private stores, and yet you talk of selling wheat and barley at the gate of Samaria! Blessed would the eyes be which should see such a thing for many a day! I never expect to see it, and a thousand prophets should not induce me to indulge such a dream. We shall perish by famine or by the sword of the Syrians, for this promise will not be kept." Fly brethren, has not our unbelief sometimes fed upon the novelty of the promised blessing? It seemed a new thing to you sinners that the Lord should in a moment pass by your sins, and make you righteous in the righteousness of Christ: yet the new thing has come to pass. When we hear of a more than ordinarily successful Christian work, many brethren who have not been favored with such prosperity cannot believe it to be true. Had they seen two or three people converted and added to the church in a year, they would have said, "This is the finger of God," but if they hear of forty or a hundred, or even a thousand converted during a gracious revival they are very sceptical. The conversion of thousands under one sermon they admit may have taken place in Old Testament times, but that is a long time ago; we cannot expect to see such things now. Thus they reason in their hearts, and insinuate that the Lord's arm has waxed short. Oh, brethren, if God has given us a promise which has not yet been fulfilled, and if there never has before occurred anything like it, this is no excuse for our disbelieving the divine word. Has he not promised, "Behold I will do a new thing"? (Isaiah 43:19 ). Did he not say to his people Israel, "I have showed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them." Is not everything new when for the first time the Lord reveals it? Moses might have doubted God's promise to smite Egypt with plagues, for these plagues were novelties. He might have doubted the Lord's power to lead his people through the Red Sea, for when had a sea been divided for a nation to pass through it dryshod? He might have doubted God's power to feed the hosts in the wilderness, for when had bread been rained down from heaven, and when had water leaped from a rock? The Lord, who works great wonders, shews us mercies "new every morning." He is not tied down to a monotony of procedure, his blessings are as varied as his creations, he delights to surprise us with fresh manifestations of love; and thus it is clear that the novelty of the blessing is no excuse whatever for our unbelief. I dare say the scoffing nobleman would have said "It is the suddeness of the thing which renders the promise so incredible. To-morrow! What! abundance of food to-morrow! Nay, that is too much. Say that in three months we may be supplied and we may believe it, but to-morrow is going too far. How could wheat and barley be brought in such plenty to Samaria in the time, even upon swift horses and dromedaries? Suppose the Syrians were to leave us to-morrow, yet the country has been devoured by them, and you must import wheat from some distant land. It is not at all likely that this could be done on a sudden. Do not strain our faith too much, give us a month or two at any rate." My brethren, now-a-days I find that this point of suddenness often staggers unbelieving minds. "What! the church revived on a sudden! How can it be? True doctrines may perhaps be spread in England by slow degrees, after generations have come and gone, but to expect the gospel to spread through the country in a few months is perfectly absurd." Some, perhaps, among my present hearers dare not Lope that this south of London can be immediately stirred, as I believe it will be, and they dare not expect conversions at once, such as I venture to look for. Some dread everything sudden, and feel sure that if any gracious gift come suddenly it will prove to be like Jonah's gourd, which came up in a night and perished in a night. They give the world the express trains, and condemn grace to travel in the luggage van. Why do they dream that the Lord is slow? Why do they limit the rapidity of his actions? He created the world in six days, could he not recreate it in the like space? He destroyed the race in the days of Noah in forty days, can he not do his saving work with equal speed? Is it not written, "He rode upon a cherub and did fly; yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind"? O unbelief, how darest thou say, "in a year" when God says "to-morrow"? If he says "tomorrow" it will be to-morrow to the tick of the clock. "To-morrow, about this time," said the prophet, and so it was. Let us not be as those spoken of by the prophet Haggai, who said, "The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built." Let us lay aside this postponing of expectancy, and believe that God can do wonders to-day, even to-day. Ah, sinner, yolk cannot believe that God can save you in a minute, but he can; in less time than it takes the clock to tick he can cause you to pass from death to life, and cast all your transgressions behind his back. At this very moment, if thou wilt look to Jesus Christ, the work of grace shall be accomplished. The publican who confessed his sin had not to tarry long for his justification, but received it ere he went down to his house. This cavilling peer would also have justified his unbelief by saying, "Where can you find the means for accomplishing this promise? So much corn and barley are to be sold, you say, but where is it to come from? There are no corn factors here, and if there were their stocks would have run out long ago. No great underground store-rooms remain to be discovered, I am sure of that for I have ordered a minute search in every place where food could be hidden away." "No," he said, "There will be no cheap food, for there are no means by which it can be had." Has not our unbelief too often run on that tack? We too often want to see how the Lord will perform his word. We begin calculating, like the disciples, that two hundred pennyworth of bread will not be enough for the multitude, and as for a few loaves and fishes, we cannot believe that they will be of any avail among so many. Of course, if we have to engineer according to the laws of mechanics, we must calculate our forces and demand means proportionate to the results to be produced; but why apply the slender line of mechanics to the omnipotent God? Nay, I think we do worse, for we hardly carry out our calculations correctly in reference to the Lord's working; if we did we should calculate that given omnipotence, difficulties exist no longer, and impossibilities have disappeared. If the Lord be indeed almighty, then how dare we question as to ways and means? Ways and means are his business and none of ours, and with him no such question can ever arise. I should not wonder, too, if the nobleman's unbelief arose partly from the realisation of the scene which would be presented if the promise were indeed fulfilled. Had he been told that there would be a great deliverance wrought for Jerusalem when it was besieged I dare say he would have believed it; but for Samaria ! What here? Here on this spot? In these streets which have so long heard the wailing of weeping women and the groans of famished men! Plenty of corn and barley in four-and-twenty hours! He could not realize that. It is easy to believe that God will keep his promise in Australia, it is not always so easy to believe that he will do it here. That the Lord will be very gracious to my afflicted brother over there I do firmly believe, but do I always believe that he will be gracious to me? You have been in many troubles, and you have been helped through them, and you believe that God would help you a second time through those same troubles if they were to return; but this particular one that you are now in, there is something so peculiar about it that you cannot quite realize that you will be supported under it. We have generally got a large quantity of faith when we do not want it, but when faith comes to be needed how much of it evaporates. The time to believe in the promise of God is when the famine is sore in the city: but, alas for the nobleman, he could not realize the blessing, he could not suppose it to be possible. But now, putting the whole of these causes for distrust together, is there any force in any or all of them as a reason for doubting God? If God has said it he will certainly do it. Why, then, do we doubt him? Now observe, secondly, that unbelief often shows itself by shutting up the Lord to one mode of action. This man thinks that perhaps there might be food in Samaria if God would make lattices up in heaven, or, as some read it, open sluices in heaven, out of which you would see the barley and flour pouring down. That would be the only way as far as he can see by which God could feed the people. Perhaps he recollected the manna in the wilderness, and how it seemed to drop from the clouds of heaven. Well, God might do it in that way; he goes the length of half admitting that perhaps he might do it in that way. That is how unbelief does: we say, "Yes, God may deliver me in my time of trouble, if such-and-such a friend's heart be touched." God is shut up to touching that friend's heart, according to our notion. The sinner thinks that he might be saved if he could get to hear Mr. So-and-so, or if such-and-such an impression could be fell within, but according to his notion the Lord is shut up to converting him under one minister and bringing him to Jesus in one particular way. That is many a man's notion of revival "If you could get Mr. Eloquent to come and hold a course of services in our town he would wake us up, but I do not see any other way." Do you not call that unbelief? God calls it so. Why, brethren, if the Lord wished to feed Samaria, he could have done it by multiplying the food that was there, just as he multiplied the widow's oil; or he could have continued the quantity of food undiminished, just as he did the barley cake and the little oil of the widow of Zarepta. God has a thousand ways of accomplishing his purposes. He might have turned every stone in Samaria into a loaf, and made the dust of its streets into flour, if so he willed. If he sent food in the wilderness without harvests, and water in the wilderness without wind and without rain, he can do as he wills and perform his own work in his own way. Do not let us think of limiting the Holy One of Israel to any special mode of action. When we hear of men being led to break out into new ways of going to work, do not let us feel, "This must be wrong;" rather let us hope that it is very probably right, for we need to escape from these horrid ruts, and wretched conventionalisms, which are rather hindrances than helps. Some very stereotyped brethren judge it to be a crime for an evangelist to sing the gospel; and as to that American organ, dreadful! One of these days another set of conservative souls will hardly endure a service without such things, for the horror of one age is the idol of the next. Every man in his own order, and God using them all; and if there happens to be some peculiarity, some idiosyncrasy, so much the better. God does not make his servants by the score as men run iron into moulds; he has a separate work for each man, and let each man do his own work in his own way, and may God bless him. Once again, notice that unbelief does not after all believe that even if God were to work in her way the thing would have been done. Did you notice a little note of interrogation in the text, "Behold, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be?" Now, look through your spectacles, and you will see at the end of the word "be" a note of question. He meant to say that if God did make windows in heaven even then he could not feed the starving multitudes in Samaria. If the men, who say, if God severe to do so-and-so we might see a great blessing, Severe pressed home, it would be discovered that they do not believe that it would be done even then. Unbelief is such a presumptuous denier of the veracity of God, that it does not give him credit for being able to keep his promise in any shape or way, nay, not even by the most extraordinary deeds. May the Spirit of God drive such unbelief as this out of our hearts. It may be there at this very moment, and we may be unconscious of it. Let us search and look and drive this traitor out, for if anything can harm ourselves and the church and the world, it is disbelief in the fidelity of God. II. Now let us pass on to the second head, THE DIVINE ANSWER. Here stands God's servant Elisha, who has spoken in God's name, and there stands the great nobleman, who I have no doubt very much despises the poor prophet, and he answers him with a sarcasm, thought to be witty, I dare say; many laughed at it and thought it quite extinguished the good man. But notice the conduct of the Lord's servant. He does not argue with the man, not at all. We have had a great deal too much of arguing with unbelievers. Whenever a rotten book comes out some ministers take care to read it all through, and then they go and tell their people all about it under the presence of answering it, and the people forget their answers, and only recollect the poison which the ministers unwisely disseminate. There would not be a tenth part of the infidelity that there now is if the ministers would let it alone. It is like a pool of filth, it is all the worse for being stirred, let it alone. It has not enough vitality to live of itself, it is only our opposition that makes it vital at all. So Elisha had no argument for him, nor need we be very careful to answer those who deny the truth of God. They shall answer for it to their God, not to us. And there was no adoption of the unbeliever's means. God did not say by his servant Elisha, "Well, to oblige you I will go out of my way, and make windows in heaven, if you think it the best way of provisioning the city." Not at all. When there are objections taken to modes of usefulness which God evidently blesses it is not for us to alter them because the popular voice is against them, or some very wise people have condemned them. I think that is a reason for going on with them, and when the world suggests that holy work ought to be done in this way or in that, the very best thing is to let those who like the proposed plans try them themselves. God does not shape his course to please the wisdom of men, and if the Lord means to save souls in this part of London he will do it in his own way, and unbelief may say what it likes, he will not abate one jot or tittle of his own purpose, but bless the people as seemeth good in his sight. In due time the promise was kept. That lord's unbelief did not alter the mind of God. The promise was kept; the wheat and the barley were sold at the prices named. His lordship's indignation and sarcasm did not postpone the fall of prices for a single hour. Lord or no lord, nobleman or no nobleman, it made no difference whatever, the flour and the barley were there. And herein is our great joy, that although there has been much infidelity in our country, much loose talk about the doctrines of the gospel, much insinuation that the whole thing is worn out and out of date, God will not, because of these semi-infidels, withhold the blessing from his own true people who really believe his word. Our God will answer the infidelity of this age, nay, has answered it during the last two or three years. There has come news to us, brought by those who were despised, that there is corn for the people. Some who were no ordained messengers, but laymen outside the city, have made a discovery; we did not look that they should do it, but they have brought information that there is plenty of food to be had by the starving crowds, and now the gospel is preached to the multitude, and they are told that Jesus Christ is able to save, that he is ready to give them salvation. What follows? Why, we have seen it already, we have seen it in the Tabernacle for many years, and we shall see it generally all over England, I hope, soon. The people go rushing out to find this bread, and as they pour forth in armies they tread infidelity under their feet. There it stands, this boasted modern thought, this vaunted culture, it looks upon the preachers of the simple gospel and those who go to hear them as a set of fools. Infidelity will not believe that the gospel of Jesus is the bread of the soul; the crowding of the people is the answer. See how eagerly they devour the word! See how they rejoice in it! Listen to their songs like the voice of many! Unbelief is trodden down as mire in the streets. Brethren, if you want to answer infidelity, preach the gospel; tell the people that Jesus Christ is able to save sinners. Lift high the bloodstained cross, proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prisons to them that are bound. This will make a stir, this will agitate the masses. There is nothing like it. Christ's gospel is like fire flung amongst the standing corn, it makes a wondrous conflagration. Preach Jesus Christ and him crucified, the people must come to hear it, they are not masters of themselves, they cannot stay away; and as they hear it, and as they feed upon it, and joy comes unto them, and peace, and new life, facts will answer theories, salvation will be the best reply to the witticisms and the sophistries of unbelief. Do not enter into arguments, but test the gospel practically. Somebody says that yonder lifeboat is not of the right color. I see a number of men in the rigging of yonder sinking vessel: they cannot hold on much longer. Here, good fellows, do not stand debating about the boat, jump into it, pull out to the vessel, get the men on board, and bring them to shore. Hurrah! Here they are! Is not that the best reply to every objection? There they are! If they tell us that the gospel which we preach is not true, we point to many here present whose stories of reclamation from vice and deliverance from despair and uplifting into light and life and holiness are proofs that the gospel is divine. There they are! Facts, facts, facts, these are God's replies. The noble lord was silenced in death by the facts of the case. III. Thirdly, our text teaches us THE APPOINTED PUNISHMENT OF UNBELIEF. It is allotted to unbelief that it shall see with its eyes what it cannot enjoy. This is always fulfilled, although in different ways. The unbeliever says he will not believe what he cannot see: God's answer is, that he shall not enjoy what he does see. There was the flour, there was the barley; the man could see these, but he could not enjoy them. Unbelievers do not really enjoy the things of this life. The mass of them find that wealth does not yield them satisfaction, their outward riches cannot conceal their inner poverty. To many men it is given to have all that heart can wish, and yet not to have what their heart does wish. They have everything except contentment. If you will not accept in faith the spiritual gifts which God promises, then the temporal gifts which the world promises shall tantalize you; you shall eat and not be satisfied, you shall have, but not have enough; you shall spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfieth not. If you will not have things unseen, things seen shall become a mere shadow to you. This is one punishment of unbelief. Another is this: oftentimes men in connection with spiritual things, being unbelievers, have their minds convinced but their hearts are not converted. They see enough of the work of God to make them know that the Lord he is God and that Christ is a Savior, that faith brings pardon, that the Holy Spirit renews the heart; they know all these things and yet they never taste of them. They are as orthodox as orthodox can be as to their creed, but there is nothing in their heart. The living water flows by their lips, but, as they stoop to drink, it flees away as in the fable of Tantalus of old. Often also they see God's work in others but never feel it in themselves. Their wife has found peace, but they have not; their dear child has been converted, but they are not: the brother has seen his sister rejoicing in the Lord, but he knows no such joy; the sister has seen her sister lay hold of Christ, but she has never done so herself. This makes missing the blessing so much the more unhappy a circumstance, for to be starving when everybody else is fed is dreadful. I would not have been in that nobleman's place for all the world, to see the people all satisfied and himself not able to partake thereof, and yet it is so with some of you. Do you know that this will lead to an eternal tantilisation? for unbelievers in hell, according to Christ's own description, will look up and see Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, but they themselves will be cast out. Surely it must be one of the hells of hell to see heaven and to have a great gulf fixed between you and it. You shall have good things if you believe your God, but if you will not believe in him neither shall you receive them. The punishment is natural, and fair, and appropriate. If certain persons believe that gold is to be found in a mine and others do not, is it not right that if there be gold there those who believed in it and sought after it should have it? Should he who ridiculed the idea come in for his share too? Nobody would think so. It is the very least thing that can be expected of us to believe God, for he cannot lie, and if we refuse credence to the word of God it cannot be thought to be a hard measure that the blessing should not be given to us. If ye will not believe ye shall not be established. O unbeliever, it will be your lot to know that God speaks the truth, but never to know that truth in your own soul; to know that he is gracious, to know that he is ready to forgive, to know that he lifts sinners up to his own throne through the blood of the Lamb, and yet never to be forgiven, never to be saved, never to be glorified. I am afraid there are some in this house of prayer who are going hard on towards such a doom. I do not mean strangers who have dropped in here once, but I mean those who have sat here many years, and yet have never believed. In this next month you will see God's grace working in the south of London, but it will not come near you: you are an unbeliever, and you have been so for many years; there is no reason to expect you will ever be altered, the probabilities are you will remain just as you are. The rain will fall around you, but never upon you; the barn floor will be civet, but your fleece will be dry. God grant it be not so, but it is to be feared it will. Now, in closing, I want to apply my subject to the special circumstances under which we are found to-day, at the commencement of the special services for the south of London. Dear friends, I do earnestly trust that all of you resident in this region who love the Lord will unite your best energies to make this movement a success. I mean chiefly by prayer for the blessing, by giving your attendance at such meetings as are called for Christian conference, by endeavoring to take your friends, your children, and your neighbors, if they are unconverted, to the place, and by doing everything you can to win souls, as the Holy Ghost shall enable you. It may be just possible that some of you are standing aloof. Now, I cannot condemn any brother for doing that if his reasons are such as satisfy his conscience, for there is no movement, however excellent, but what from some point or other it is open to criticism, and if a brother's criticism be conscientious and honest, it is not for me to judge him for a moment. But I should like to put this question to some Do you not think that at the bottom of almost all objections raised against this work there is unbelief? It is an unusual thing, and there is excitement why not? Somebody says he does not see any remarkable talent in the two brethren what of that? I am sure the brethren do not pretend to any talent whatever, for more unassuming men I never saw in my life, and that is one reason why God blesses them so much. For one reason and another good people hold off, but does it not all amount to unbelief? Our friends in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, bear indisputable testimony to the fact that souls were saved in large numbers, and that the churches were edified, and the tone of religious feeling improved. We cannot doubt the testimony of faithful, well-instructed brethren, and I think if we hold back it will resolve itself into this, that we do not believe in God's working just now upon a large scale by simple instrumentality. For my part, I would like to put it to myself thus, could I justify myself in standing back when I come to my dying bed? Here are two men who have for months consecrated themselves to the preaching of the gospel with no object in the world but the winning of souls for Christ. Baser calumny than to assert that they have a selfish motive never fell from the lip of Satan himself. They have no design nor object to gain but the sole glory of God. They seek conversions, conversions to Christ only; and brethren, if there were a thousand faults in them, who am I or who are you to judge them, and to say we will not help them in such a work and with such motives? Brother, do you mean God's glory? So do I. Do you mean the salvation of souls? So do I. Brother, do you preach salvation by the precious blood? So do I. Brother, do you believe in regeneration by the power of the Holy Ghost? So do I. Do you tell sinners to believe and live? That is exactly what I am telling them; and if we are agreed in this, for my part I cannot conceive any excuse for any man's holding back unless he has so much work of his own to do that he has no time to spare, in which case let him at least bid them God speed. If we do not help now we may live to regret it. For some reason or other the crowds are willing to hear the gospel, and there seems to be a unity among Christians about the thing. However it comes about, let us accept it from God, and use it. There is a tide which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune as well in heavenly things as in secular, and let us take this tide, however God may have sent it to us, and use it to our best: for if not, if unbelief hold us back, it may happen to us even as to Moses, who, for his unbelief, never entered into the promised land: he saw it, but never entered it; and we may see, and see with gladness, God blessing the church, but we may have no part of the blessing in our own church. Do we wish to see the clusters of grapes that come from an Eschol into which we cannot enter. It may even happen to us as it happened to this that God may see fit to take us out of the way. I have marked it, do not think me superstitious, when any truly good man has stood in God's way God has made very short work with him, he has taken him home, or he has laid him aside by sickness. If you will not help, and will hinder, you will be put aside, and perhaps your own usefulness will be cut short. Or it may happen, worst of all, that if we refuse help when the time of blessing had come we shall remain among our fellow Christians, but for many years we shall be wretched and unprofitable. A blessing was coming and you did not seem to want it, so the Lord sent it somewhere else, and you will be a doubting, miserable, carping, critical, faultfinding Christian as long as you live, never eating the dainties, but always pointing out errors in the cookery; never delighting in the joy of your Lord nor making your harps to ring for joy over converts, but always playing the part of the elder brother who was angry and would not go in, though it was his own brother that had come home and his own father who had killed the fatted calf. God save us from this, and cause us from this very day to shake off unbelief and to go forward rejoicing in the Lord! Amen.

Verse 19

The Sin of Unbelief

January 14, 1855 by C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892)

This updated and revised manuscript is copyrighted ã 2000 by Tony Capoccia. All rights reserved.

“The officer had said to the man of God, ‘Look, even if the LORD should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?’ The man of God had replied, ‘You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!’” [2 Kings 7:19 ]

One wise man may deliver a whole city; one good man may be the means of safety to a thousand others. The holy ones are “the salt of the earth,” the means of the preservation of the wicked. Without the godly as a safeguard, the race would be utterly destroyed. In the city of Samaria there was one righteous man--Elisha, the servant of the Lord. Godliness and holiness was completely extinct in the court. The king was a sinner of the worst kind, his iniquity was glaring and notorious. Jehoram walked in the ways of his father Ahab, and worshipped false gods. The people of Samaria were wicked like their king; they had gone astray from Jehovah; they had forsaken the God of Israel: they did not remember the words of Jacob, “The Lord your God is one God;” and in wicked idolatry they bowed before the idols of the heathens, and therefore the Lord of Hosts allowed their enemies to oppress them until the curse of Ebal was fulfilled in the streets of Samaria, for “the most gentle and sensitive woman who would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot, will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter,” because of her of intense hunger (Deuteronomy 28:56-58 ). In this awful situation the one holy man was the means of salvation. The one grain of salt preserved the entire city; the one warrior for God was the means of the deliverance of the whole struggling multitude. For Elisha’s sake the Lord sent the promise that the next day, food which could not be obtained at any price, would be available at the cheapest possible price--at the very gates of Samaria. We may picture the joy of the multitude when the prophet first uttered this prediction. They knew him to be a prophet of the Lord; he had divine credentials; all his past prophecies had been fulfilled. They knew that he was a man sent from God, and was speaking Jehovah’s message. Surely the king’s eyes would glisten with delight, and the starving multitude would leap for joy at the prospects of so speedy a release from the famine. “Tomorrow, they would shout, “tomorrow our hunger will be over, and we will feast until we are full. However, the officer on whom the king leaned expressed his disbelief. We don’t hear that any of the common people ever doubted; but one of noble position did. It is strange, that God has seldom chosen the great men of this world. Elevated positions in life and faith in Christ seldom agree. This great man said, “Impossible!” and, with an insult to the prophet, he added, “Look, even if the Lord should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?” His sin lay in the fact, that after repeated evidences of Elisha’s ministry, yet he disbelieved the assurances uttered by the prophet on God’s behalf. He had, doubtless, seen the marvelous defeat of Moab; he had been startled at the testimony of the resurrection of the Shunamite’s son; he knew that Elisha had revealed Benhadad’s secrets and struck his marauding hosts with blindness; he had seen the army of Syria decoyed into the heart of Samaria; and he probably knew the story of the widow, whose oil filled all the vessels, and redeemed her sons. And the cure of Naaman was common conversation at all events in the court; and yet, in the face of all this accumulated evidence, in the teeth of all these credentials of the prophet’s mission, he still doubted, and scornfully told him that heaven must become an open floodgate, before the promise could be performed. Whereupon God pronounced his doom by the mouth of the man who had just now proclaimed the promise: “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!” And providence--which always fulfills prophecy--destroyed the man. Trampled down in the streets of Samaria, he perished at its gates, seeing the bounty of food, but tasting none of it.

Perhaps he was arrogant in the way that he carried himself, and insulting to the people; or he tried to restrain their eager rush towards the food; or, as we would say, it might have been by mere accident that he was crushed to death; so that he saw the prophecy fulfilled, but never lived to enjoy it. In his case, seeing was believing, but it was not enjoying. I will this morning invite your attention to two things--the man’s sin and his punishment. I will only say a little about this man, since I have already detailed the circumstances, but I will discuss the sin of unbelief and the punishment for that sin.

I. First, the SIN. His sin was unbelief. He doubted the promise of God.

In this particular case unbelief took the form of a doubt of the divine reality, or a mistrust of God’s power. Either he doubted whether God really meant what he said, or whether it was within the range of possibility that God would fulfill his promise. Unbelief has more phases than the moon, and more colors than the chameleon. Common people, when speaking of the devil, say, that he is sometimes seen in one shape, and sometimes in another. I am sure this is true of Satan’s first-born child--unbelief, for it has a multitude of forms.

At one time I see unbelief dressed up as an angel of light. It calls itself humility, and it says, “I would not be presumptuous; I dare not believe that God would pardon me; I am too great a sinner.” We call that humility, and thank God that our friend is in such a good condition. I don’t thank God for any such delusion. It is the devil dressed as an angel of light; it is unbelief after all.

At other times we detect unbelief in the shape of a doubt of God’s immutability: “The Lord has loved me, but perhaps he will cast me away tomorrow. He helped me yesterday, and under the shadows of his wings I trust; but perhaps I will receive no help in the next affliction. He may have thrown me away; he may not remember his covenant, and forget to be gracious.”

Sometimes this infidelity is embodied in a doubt of God’s power. Every day we see new problems, we are involved in a net of difficulties, and we think “surely the Lord cannot deliver us.” We strive to get rid of our burden, and finding that we can’t do it, we think God’s arm is as short as ours, and his power as little as human might.

A fearful form of unbelief is that doubt which keeps men from coming to Christ; which leads the sinner to distrust the ability of Christ to save him, to doubt the willingness of Jesus to accept such a great transgressor. But the most hideous of all is the traitor, in its true colors, blaspheming God, and madly denying his existence. Infidelity, deism, and atheism, are the ripe fruits of this deadly tree; they are the most massive eruptions of the volcano of unbelief. Unbelief has become full mature, when removing the mask and laying aside the disguise, it profanely stalks the earth, uttering the rebellious cry, “There is no God,” striving in vain to shake the throne of the divinity, by lifting up its arm against Jehovah, and in its arrogance would,

“Snatch from his hand the balance and the rod, Rejudge his justice--be the god of God.”

Then truly unbelief has come to its full perfection, and then you see what it really is, for the least unbelief is of the same nature as the greatest.

I am astonished, and I am sure you will be too, when I tell you that there are some strange people in the world who do not believe that unbelief is a sin. I must call them strange people, because they are sound in their faith in every other respect, but they imagine and they deny that unbelief is sinful.

I remember a young man joining a circle of friends and ministers, who were disputing whether it was a sin for men and women not to believe the gospel. While they were discussing it, he said, “Gentlemen am I in the presence of Christians? Are you believers in the Bible, or are you not?” They said, “Of course we are Christians.” “Then,” he said, “doesn’t the Scripture record Jesus as saying, ‘When the Holy Spirit comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin . . . . because men do not believe in me?’ And isn’t it the damning sin of sinners, that they do not believe on Christ?” I could not have thought that persons should be so fool-hardy as to venture to assert that, “it is not a sin for a sinner not to believe in Christ.” I thought that, however far they might wish to push their sentiments, they would not tell a lie to uphold the truth, and, in my opinion this is what such men are really doing. Truth is a strong tower and never requires to be reinforced with error. God’s Word will stand against all man’s schemes. I would never invent such an illogical argument to try to prove that it is not a sin on the part of the ungodly not to believe, for I am sure it is, for I am taught in the Scriptures that, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light,” and when I read, “whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son,” I affirm, and the Word declares it, unbelief is a sin. Surely with rational and unbiased persons, it cannot require any reasoning to prove it. Is it not a sin for a creature to doubt the word of its Maker? Is it not a crime and an insult to the Divinity, for me, an atom, a particle of dust, to dare to deny his words? Is it not the very summit of arrogance and extremity of pride for a son of Adam to say, even in his heart, “God I doubt your grace; God I doubt your love, God I doubt your power?” Oh! dear friends believe me, if you could roll all sins into one mass--if you could take murder, and blasphemy, and lust, adultery, and fornication, and everything that is vile and unite them all into one vast ball of filthy corruption, they would not, even then, equal the sin of unbelief. This is the king of all sins, the epitome of guilt; the mixture of the venom of all crimes; the dregs of the wine of Gomorrah; it is the number one sin, the masterpiece of Satan, the chief work of the devil.

I will attempt this morning, for a little while, to show the extremely evil nature of the sin of unbelief.

1. First the sin of unbelief will appear to be extremely heinous when we remember that it is the parent of every other iniquity. There is no crime which unbelief will not produce. I think that the fall of man was surely a result of the sin of unbelief. It was at this point that the devil tempted Eve. He said to her, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” He whispered and insinuated a doubt, “Did God really say?” as much as to say, “Are you quite sure he said that?” It was by means of unbelief--that thin part of the wedge--that the other sin entered; curiosity and the rest followed; she touched the fruit, and destruction came into this world. Since that time, unbelief has been the prolific parent of all guilt. An unbeliever is capable of the vilest crime that ever was committed. Unbelief, friends! Unbelief! why it hardened the heart of Pharaoh--it has given liberty to many blaspheming tongues--yes, it even became a disciple, and murdered Jesus. Unbelief!--it has sharpened the knife of the suicide; it has mixed many a cup of poison; and many to a shameful grave, who have murdered themselves and rushed with bloody hands before their Creator’s tribunal, because of unbelief.

Give me an unbeliever--let me know that he doubts God’s word--let me know that he distrusts his promise and his threats; and with that for a premise, I will conclude that the man will, in time, unless there is amazing restraining power exerted on him, be guilty of the foulest and blackest crimes. Ah! this is a Beelzebub sin; like Beelzebub, it is the leader of all evil spirits. It is said of Jeroboam that he sinned and caused Israel to sin; and it may be said of unbelief that it not only sins itself, but makes others sin; it is the egg of all crime, the seed of every offence; in fact, everything that is evil and vile lies couched in that one word--unbelief.

And let me say here, that unbelief in the Christian is of the identical nature as unbelief in the sinner. It is not the same in its final effect, for it will be pardoned in the Christian; yes, it is pardoned: it was laid on the scapegoat’s head; it was blotted out and atoned for; but it is of the same sinful nature. In fact, if there can be one sin more monstrous than the unbelief of a sinner, it is the unbelief of a saint. For a saint to doubt God’s word--for a saint to distrust God after innumerable instances of his love, after ten thousand proofs of his mercy, exceeds everything.

Furthermore, in a saint, unbelief is the root of other sins.

When I am perfect in faith, I will be perfect in everything else; I would always fulfill the principle if I always believed the promise. But it is because my faith is weak, that I sin. Put me in trouble, and if I can fold my arms and say, Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will provide, you will not find me using wrong means to escape from it. But let me be in earthly distress and difficulty; if I distrust God, what then? Perhaps I will steal, or do a dishonest act to get out of the hands of my creditors; or if kept from such a transgression, I may plunge into excess to drown my anxieties. Once faith is taken away, the reins are broken; and who can ride an wild horse without rein or bridle? Like the chariot of the sun, with Phaeton for its driver, such would be our case if we are without faith. Unbelief is the mother of vice; it is the parent of sin; and, therefore, I say it is a deadly evil--a master sin. 2. But secondly; unbelief not only gives birth to sin, but it also fosters sin. How is it that men can continue in their sin under the thunders of the Sinai preacher? How is it that, when a thundering preacher stands in the pulpit, and, by the grace of God, cries aloud, “Cursed is every man that does not keep all the commands of the law,”--how is it that when the sinner hears of the coming day of God’s justice, he is still hardened, and continues on in his evil ways? I will tell you; it is because unbelief of the coming judgment of God prevents it from having any effect on him. There is a firing range nearby, where soldiers practice firing their weapons. Now when workers walk by there, they are always careful to stay behind the raised mounds of dirt, to ensure that they are not hit by the shots; so behind mounds of dirt they can do what they please. So it is with the ungodly man. The devil gives him unbelief; he thus puts up an great mound of dirt, and finds refuge behind it. Ah! sinners, when the Holy Spirit knocks down your unbelief--when he brings home the truth in a display of power, how the law will work upon your soul. If man would truly believe that the law is holy, that the commandments are holy, just, and good, how he would be shaken over hell’s mouth; there would be no sitting and sleeping in church any longer; no careless listeners; no going away and immediately forgetting what type of men you are. Oh! once you get rid of unbelief, then every shot from the canon of the law would fall upon the sinner, and the slain of the Lord would be many. Again, how is it that men can hear the wooing of the cross of Calvary, and yet not come to Christ? How is it that when we preach about the sufferings of Jesus, and conclude by saying, “yet there is room,”--how is it that when we dwell upon his cross and passion, men are not broken in their hearts? It is said,

Law and terrors only harden, All the while they work alone: But a sense of blood-bought pardon Will dissolve a heart of stone.

I think the story of Calvary is enough to break a rock. Rocks did split over when they saw Jesus die. I think the tragedy of Golgotha is enough to make a rock gush with tears, and to make the most hardened wretch weep with tears of repentant love; but even though we often repeat to story of Calvary, yet who weeps over it? Who cares about it? Friends, you sit as unconcerned as if it did not mean anything to you. Oh! stop and look, all you that walk by Calvary. Is it nothing to you that Jesus died? You seem to say “It really is nothing.” What is the reason for your attitude? Because there is unbelief between you and the cross. If there were not that thick veil between you and the Savior’s eyes, his looks of love would melt you. But unbelief is the sin which keeps the power of the gospel from working in the sinner: and it is not until the Holy Spirit strikes that unbelief down--it is not till the Holy Spirit rips away that infidelity and takes it completely out, that we can find the sinner coming to put his trust in Jesus.

3. But there is a third point. Unbelief hinders a man from performing any good works.

“Everything that does not come from faith is sin,” is a great truth in more ways than one. “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” You will never hear me say a word against morality; you will never hear me say that honesty is not a good thing, or that sobriety is not a good thing; on the contrary, I would say they are commendable things; but I will tell you what I will say afterwards--I will tell you that they are just like the primitive currency of India; it may pass for money among the Indians, but it will never do in England; these virtues may have worth here below, but not above. If you don’t have something better than your own goodness, you will never get to heaven. Some of the Indian tribes use little strips of cloth instead of money, and I would not find fault with them if I lived there; but when I come to England, strips of cloth will not suffice. So honesty, sobriety, and such things, may be very good among men--and the more you have of them the better. I exhort you, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, have them--but they will not do up in heaven. All these things put together, without faith, do not please God. Virtues without faith are whitewashed sins. Obedience without faith, if it is possible, is simply gold plated disobedience. Not to believe, nullifies everything. It is the fly in the ointment; it is the poison in the pot. Without faith, with all the virtues of purity, with all the benevolence of charity, with all the kindness of disinterested sympathy, with all the talents of genius, with all the bravery of patriotism, and with all the decision of principle--“without faith it is impossible to please God.” Don’t you see then, how bad unbelief is, because it prevents men from performing good works. Yes, even in Christians themselves, unbelief disables them.

Let me just tell you a tale--a story of Christ’s life. A certain man had an afflicted son, possessed with an evil spirit. Jesus was up in Mount of Transfiguration; so the father brought his demon possessed son to the disciples. What did the disciples do? They said, “Oh, we will cast him out.” They put their hands on him, and they tried to do it; but they whispered among themselves and said, “We are afraid we will not be able to do this.” In time the possessed boy began to foam at the mouth; he foamed and scratched the earth, grabbing at it in his seizures. The demonic spirit within him was alive. The devil was still there. In vain they repeated their exorcism, yet the evil spirit remained like a lion in his den, and all their efforts could not dislodge him. “Go!” they said; but he would not leave. “Go to the pit!” they cried; but he remained immoveable. The lips of unbelief cannot frighten the evil one, who might well have said, “Faith I know, Jesus I know, but who are you? You have no faith.” If they had faith, as small as a grain of mustard seed, they might have been able to cast the devil out; but their faith was gone, and therefore they could do nothing.

Look at poor Peter’s case, too. While he had faith, Peter walked on the waves of the sea. That was a splendid walk; I almost envy him walking on the water. Why, if Peter’s faith had continued, he might have walked across the Atlantic to America. But suddenly there came a large wave up behind him, and he said, “That will sweep me away;” and then another in front of him, and he cried out, “That will overwhelm me;” and he thought--how could I be so presumptuous as to be walking on the top of these waves? Down goes Peter. Faith was Peter’s life preserver; faith was Peter’s charm--it kept him up; but unbelief sent him down. Do you know that you and I, all our lifetime, will have to walk on the water? A Christian’s life is always walking on water--mine is--and every wave could swallow and devour us, but faith makes us stand. The moment you cease to believe, that moment distress comes in, and down you go. Oh! why do you doubt, then?

Faith encourages every virtue; unbelief murders every one. Thousands of prayers have been strangled in their infancy by unbelief. Unbelief has been guilty of infanticide; it has murdered many an infant prayer; many songs of praise that would have swelled the chorus of the skies, have been stifled by an unbelieving murmur; many a noble enterprise conceived in the heart has been destroyed before it could come forth, by unbelief. Many men would have been a missionaries; would have stood and preached their Master’s gospel boldly; but they were filled with unbelief. Once a giant stops believing, he then becomes a dwarf. Faith is like Samson’s hair but on the Christian; cut it off, and you may put out his eyes--and he can do nothing.

4. Our next remark is-- unbelief has been severely punished.

Turn to the Scriptures! I see a world all fair and beautiful; its mountains laughing in the sun, and the fields rejoicing in the golden light. I see maidens dancing, and young men singing. How beautiful the vision! But look! a solemn and holy man lifts up his hand, and cries, “A flood is coming to drown the earth: the fountains of the great deep will be opened, and everything will be covered. Look at the ark! I have toiled one hundred and twenty years with these hands to build it; flee to it, and you will be safe.” “No!, you old man; away with your empty predictions! No! let us be happy while we can! when the flood comes, then we will build an ark; but there is no flood coming; tell that to fools; we don’t believe any such things.”

See the unbelievers pursue their merry dance. Listen! Unbeliever. Don’t you hear rumbling noise? The heart of the earth has begun to move, her rocky ribs are strained by dire convulsions from within; look! they have broke open with the enormous strain, and from the openings torrents of water rush out, water that has been hidden ever since God concealed them in the heart of our world. Heaven is split apart! it rains. Not drops, but clouds descend. A waterfall, just like the Niagara Falls, rolls from heaven with mighty noise. Both deeps--the deep below and deep above--both join their hands.

Now unbelievers, where are you now! There are the last two unbelievers left. A man--his wife holding onto him around the waist--he stands on the last summit that is above the water. See him there? The water is up to his hips even now. Hear his last shriek! He is floating--he is drowned. And as Noah looks from the ark he sees nothing. Nothing! It is a profound emptiness. “Sea monsters lay eggs and make their homes in the palaces of kings.” Everything is overthrown, covered, drowned. What did it? What brought the flood on the earth? Unbelief. By faith Noah escaped from the flood. By unbelief the rest were drowned.

And, oh! don’t you know that unbelief kept Moses and Aaron out of Canaan? They did not honor God; they struck the rock when they ought to have spoken to it. They disbelieved: and therefore the punishment came upon them, that they would not inherit that good land, for which they had toiled and labored.

Let me take you where Moses and Aaron lived--to the vast and howling wilderness. We will walk around it for a while; we will become like the wandering Bedouins, we will walk through the desert for a while. There lies a carcass whitened in the sun; there is another, and there is another. What do these bleached bones mean? What are these bodies--there a man, and there a woman? What are all these? How did these corpses get here? Surely some great military camp must have been here cut off in a single night by a blast, or by bloodshed. Ah; no, no. Those bones are the bones of Israel; those skeletons are the old tribes of Jacob. They could not enter because of unbelief. They did not trust in God. Spies said they could not conquer the land. Unbelief was the cause of their death. It was not the Anakites that destroyed Israel; it was not the howling wilderness which devoured them; it was not the Jordan which proved a barrier to Canaan; neither Hivite or Jebusite killed them; it was unbelief alone which kept them out of Canaan. What a doom to be pronounced on Israel, after forty years of journeying; they could not enter because of unbelief!

Not to multiply instances, but remember Zechariah. He doubted, and the angel struck so that he was silent and unable to speak. His mouth was closed because of unbelief. But oh! if you want to have the worst picture of the effects of unbelief--if you want to see how God has punished it, I must take you to the siege of Jerusalem, that worst massacre which time has ever seen; when the Romans leveled the walls to the ground, and put all the inhabitants to the sword, or sold them as slaves in the marketplace. Have you ever read of the destruction of Jerusalem, by Titus? Did you never turn to the tragedy of Masada, when the Jews stabbed each other rather than fall into the hands of the Romans? Don’t you know, that to this day the Jew walks through the earth a wanderer, without a home and without a land? He is cut off, as a branch is cut from a vine; and why? Because of unbelief. Each time you see a Jew with a sad and somber face--each time you mark him like a citizen of another land, treading as an exile in our country--each time you see him, pause and say, “Ah! it was unbelief which caused you to murder Christ, and now it has driven you to be a wanderer; and faith alone--faith in the crucified Nazarene--can bring you back to your country, and restore it to its ancient grandeur.” Unbelief, you see, has the mark of Cain on its forehead. God hates it; God has dealt hard blows on it: and God will ultimately crush it. Unbelief dishonors God. Every other crime touches God’s territory; but unbelief aims a blow at his divinity, impeaches his truth, denies his goodness, blasphemes his attributes, maligns his character; therefore, God of all things, hates first and chiefly, unbelief, wherever it is.

5. And now to close this point--for I have already been speaking too long this morning--let me say that you will observe the atrocious nature of unbelief in this--that it is the damning sin. There is one sin for which Christ never died; it is the sin against the Holy Spirit. There is one other sin for which Christ never made atonement. Mention every crime in the book of evil, and I will show you persons who have found forgiveness for it. But ask me whether the man who died in unbelief can be saved, and I reply there is no atonement for that man. There is an atonement made for the unbelief of a Christian, because it is temporary; but the final unbelief--the unbelief with which men die--never was atoned for. You may look throughout the entire Bible, and you will find that there is no atonement for the man or woman who died in unbelief; there is no mercy for them. Had they been guilty of every other sin, if they had only believed, they would have been pardoned; but this is the damning exception--they had no faith. Devils seize them! O fiends of the pit, drag them downward to their doom! They are faithless and unbelieving, and such are the persons for whom hell was built. It is their place, their prison, they are the chief prisoners, the chains are engraved with their names, and they will forever know that, “he that does not believe will be damned.”

II. This brings us now to conclude with the PUNISHMENT. “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!” Listen unbelievers! you have heard this morning about your sin; now listen to your doom: “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!” It is so often true with God’s saints. When they are unbelieving, they see the mercy with their eyes, but do not eat it. Now, here is food in this land of Egypt; but there are some of God’s saints who come here on Sunday, and say, “I don’t know whether the Lord will be with me or not.” Some of them say, “Well, the gospel is preached, but I don’t know whether it will be successful.” They are always doubting and fearing. Listen to them when they leave the church, “Well, did you get a good meal this morning?” “Nothing for me.” Of course not. You could see it with your eyes, but did not eat it, because you had no faith. If you had come here with faith, you would have had a meal. I have found Christians, who have grown so very critical, that if the whole portion of the meat they are to have, in due season, is not cut up exactly into square pieces, and put on some special porcelain plate, they cannot eat it. Then they ought to go without; and they will have to go without, until they are brought to their appetites. They will have some affliction, which will act like quinine on them: they will be made to eat by means of bitters in their mouths; they will be put in prison for a day or two until their appetite returns, and then they will be glad to eat the most ordinary food, off the most common platter, or no platter at all. But the real reason why God’s people do not feed under a gospel ministry, is, because they don’t have faith. If you believed, if you only listened to one promise, that would be enough; if you only heard one good thing from the pulpit here it would be food for your soul, for it is not the quantity we hear, but the quantity we believe, that does us good--it is that which we receive into our hearts with true and lively faith, that is to our profit.

But, let me apply this chiefly to the unconverted. They often see great works of God done with their eyes, but they don’t eat of it. A crowd of people have come here this morning to see with their eyes, but I doubt whether all of them will eat. Men cannot eat with their eyes, for if they could, most would be well fed. And, spiritually, persons cannot feed simply with their ears, nor simply with looking at the preacher; and so we find the majority of our congregations come just to see and say; “Ah, let us hear what this babbler would say, this reed shaken in the wind.” But they have no faith; they come, and they see, and see, and see, and never eat. There is some one down in the front here, who gets converted; and some one else over there, who is called by sovereign grace; some poor sinner is weeping under a sense of his blood-guiltiness; another is crying for mercy to God: and another is saying, “Have mercy on me, a sinner.” A great work is going on in this church, but some of you do not know anything about it; you have no work going on in your hearts, and why? Because you think it is impossible; you think God is not at work. He has not promised to work for you who do not honor him. Unbelief makes you sit here in times of revival and of the outpouring of God’s grace, unmoved, uncalled, unsaved. But, the worst fulfillment of this doom is yet to come! That great and godly preacher of the past, George Whitefield, used to sometimes lift up both his hands and shout, as I wish I could shout, but my voice fails me, he would shout, “The wrath to come! the wrath to come!” It is not the wrath now you have to fear, but the wrath to come; and there will be a doom to come, when “you will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!”

I think I see the last great day. The last hour of time has struck. I heard the funeral bell toll its mournful summon of death--time was, eternity is ushered in; the sea is boiling; the waves are lit up with supernatural splendor. I see a rainbow--a flying cloud, and on it there is a throne, and on that throne sits one like the Son of Man. I know him. In his hand he holds a pair of scales; just before him are the books--the book of life, the book of death, the book of remembrance. I see his splendor, and I rejoice at it; I behold his magnificent appearance, and I smile with gladness that he is come to be “admired by all his saints.” But there stands a throng of miserable wretches, crouching in horror to conceal themselves, and yet looking, for their eyes must look on him whom they have pierced; but when they look they cry, “Hide me from the face.” What face? “Rocks, hide me from the face.” What face? “The face of Jesus, the man who died, but now has come in judgment.” But you cannot be hidden from his face; you must see it with your eyes: but you will not sit on the right hand, dressed in robes of splendor; and when the victorious procession of Jesus in the clouds comes, you will not march in it; you will see it, but you will not be there. Oh! I think I see it now, the mighty Savior in his chariot, riding on the rainbow to heaven. See how his mighty horses make the sky rattle while he drives them up heaven’s hill. A procession dressed in white follow behind him, and dragging from his chariot is the devil, death, and hell. Listen, how they clap their hands. Listen, how they shout. “You have ascended up on high; you have led captives in your procession.” Listen, how they chant the solemn song, “Hallelujah, the Lord God omnipotent reigns.” See the splendor of their appearance; note the crown upon their heads; see their pure-white robes; note the look of rapture on their faces; listen how their song rise up to heaven while the Eternal God joins in their song, saying, “I will rejoice over them with joy, I will rejoice over them with singing, for I have taken them to be mine in everlasting loving kindness.” But where are you all the while? You can see them up there, but where are you? You see it with your eyes, but you cannot eat of it. The marriage banquet is spread; the good old wines of eternity are brought out; they sit down to the feast of the king; but there you are, miserable, and starving, and you cannot eat of it. Oh! how you wring your hands. Oh that you might have just one morsel from the table--oh that you would be like a dog under the table. You will be a dog, a dog in hell, but not a dog in heaven.

But to conclude. I think I see you in some part of hell, tied to a rock, the vulture of remorse gnawing at your heart; and up there is the former beggar Lazarus sitting next to Abraham. You lift up your eyes and you see who it is. “That is the poor man who used to sit by my gate and beg, and the dogs used to licked his sores; there he is in heaven, while I am cast down into hell. Lazarus--yes, it is Lazarus; and I who was rich in the world of time am here in hell. Father Abraham, send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, to cool my tongue.” But no! it cannot be; it cannot be. And while you lie there, if there is one thing in hell worse than another, it will be seeing the saints in heaven. Oh, to think of seeing my mother in heaven while I am cast out! Oh, sinner, only think, to see your brother in heaven--he who was rocked in the same cradle as you, and played in the same house--yet you are cast out. And, husband, there is your wife in heaven, and you are among the damned. And father, look there, see your child is before the throne; and you! accursed of God and accursed of man, are in hell. Oh, the hell of hells will be to see our friends in heaven, and ourselves lost. I beg you, my listeners, by the death of Christ--by his agony and bloody sweat--by his cross and passion--by all that is holy--by all that is sacred in heaven and earth--by all that is solemn in time or eternity--by all that is horrible in hell, or glorious in heaven--by that awful thought, “forever,”--I beg you to take these to heart, and remember that if you are damned, it will be unbelief that damns you. If you are lost, it will be because you did not believe in Christ; and if you perish, this will be the bitterest part of it all--that you did not trust in the Savior. Amen.