BIAS of mind has a great deal to do with the conclusion which a man reaches; we have to recognize this sometimes to explain men’s manner of dealing with Gospel evidence. It is exactly as our Saviour said: “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” If the trouble had been a lack of evidence, then more evidence would have helped them. But there was a lack of something else. And when that is the case, more evidence does no good. You cannot cure a man’s eyes by operating on his ears. We understand that. Here is a president of a bank; he has his books and his securities, and he locks up his safe and sets the time-lock for ten o’clock in the forenoon of the next day. He goes home and thinks of something he would like to get out of the vault. He goes down to the bank, but he cannot open the vault. He has the combination; he may be president and cashier and stockholder and director all in one, but he cannot open that vault until ten o’clock next day. If he could only get inside, or if there were only somebody inside that he could talk to and tell them to change the adjustment, all that he would want then would be knowledge of the combination. But he cannot open it. That is what I think is really needed in men. They need some one to change them within—what we call regeneration. We may accumulate argument, and pound at men with the presentation of the truth objectively; but we won’t do very much until the hour strikes for the soul’s release; and when the Spirit does His work, then the combination comes into play, and men yield to the power of entreaty and respond to the presentation of evidence and argument.—Dr. F. L. Patton in The Bible Champion quoted in The King’s Business (Los Angeles).
O, brethren, be great believers; little faith will bring your souls to Heaven, but great faith will bring Heaven to your souls.—C. H. Spurgeon.