A Review Article by Rev N M Ross
In this volume of 17 instructive and spiritual sermons by the late Rev Donald MacLean we have an able exposition of the first half of Hebrews 11. Most of the sermons were preached to his congregation in Glasgow during the winter of 1983-84 and evidently were exceptionally helpful to many of his hearers.
The principal theme of the sermons is, of course, the grace of saving faith as highlighted in Hebrews 11. Therefore the first sermon, entitled “Saving Faith”, describes the nature of faith as defined in the first verses of the chapter, and is followed by sermons which show the presence and working of faith in the hearts and lives of Old Testament believers from Abel to Sarah to Joseph. Although two of the sermons have the title “Abraham”, the first one shows his faith in obeying God’s call when he was in Ur; the second deals with the severe trial of his faith when he was required by God to offer up his son Isaac.
The preacher gives several useful definitions of faith: “It is a heart reliance on the promise, and on Christ in the promise”. Or again, “Faith is looking to Him and faith is bringing Him near to the soul. Or faith is so viewing Him that He is near to the soul”. He adds, in another place, “The eye of faith is looking to Him, and the mouth of faith is feeding on Him, as one who is a present Saviour – the One who says, ‘Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.’”
Other definitions he gives of faith are also helpful: “Faith is a relying, it is a trusting, it is a confiding, it is an abiding in Christ in the promise of the gospel”. “Faith is the instrument through which the soul is united to Christ and is thereby justified.” He renders Hebrews 11:1 thus, “Faith is the substance (or the foundation) of the things hoped for”, by which he means, as we discover in another sermon: “It is in the nature of faith to be, as Calvin calls it, the underlying prop to the grace of hope and to the things that are hoped for”.
The specific object of faith is also emphasised in sermon after sermon. “The grace [of faith] that is wrought by the Holy Spirit will never find rest until it finds rest in Christ, the great object of faith, and until it finds rest in the reconciliation that is bound up with faith”. In the sermon on Jacob we read, “The object of faith is not only Christ in His person (although that is embraced in it), but Christ as the way to the Father – Christ is the ladder from earth to heaven”.
1A review of Seeking a Better Country – Studies in Hebrews 11 by Rev Donald MacLean, published by Reformation Press, 210 pages, paperback £9.45, and hardback £19.50, available from the Free Presbyterian Bookroom.
With regard to faith focusing on the promises of Scripture, he says in the sermon about those who “died in faith” and had not yet received the fulfilment of the promises, that “the particular object of faith here, and in the experience of God’s people, is the promise of God”. In another sermon we read, “The grace of faith is the empty hand of the soul that is filled with the promise of God, but if the promise of God is not there, then the hand of faith remains empty”.
True faith will be tried. “The possession of the grace of faith does not exclude us from trials – on the contrary, it means that we are often tried.” He illustrates this by the trial of Abraham’s faith when he was commanded to offer up Isaac, and says that on this occasion Abraham was tried in an outstanding way. “This teaches us that the grace of faith is a grace which is often tried. It belongs to the experience of those who have the grace of faith that they do have trials, in order that their faith might be seen clearly in its exercise.” In another sermon he says, “When they [the patriarchs] came to the greatest trial of all, that is, to face death, to leave this world for ever and to pass into eternity, they manifested their faith: ‘these all died in faith’”.
He encourages those who have doubts about their faith. “We should not think that our faith is not genuine just because on occasions [it] is so affected by unbelief that we stumble.” And again, “Perhaps you say, ‘Well, my faith is very weak, sometimes I can hardly see it’. But be honest with yourself. Must you not say that you have been persuaded of the promise? And must you not say that you have embraced the promise – that this is your only hope for eternity: Christ in the everlasting gospel, that you are resting in Him for time and for eternity? Well, that is faith, saving faith.”
His advice to the believer labouring under a sense of sin is to follow the example of the Psalmist in saying, “My heart upon Him did rely”. He adds, “The burdened soul complains, ‘My heart, this heart of mine, is heavy with sin, with a sense of sin – and sees no way of salvation anywhere else’. Well – ‘My heart upon Him did rely’. That is faith. That is faith resting in Christ, and faith bringing Christ in the gospel near to the soul, relying on Him, trusting in Him. If you say about a certain person, ‘I’ve got faith in him, because he is reliable and trustworthy’; well, in a spiritual sense and much more glorious sense, so is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the lost and undone, the tender-hearted Saviour who will not cast out those who come to Him. The soul comes to this exercise: ‘My heart relies upon Him.’ It’s a heart reliance. And where that is, there is faith. And where that is, there is union to Christ. And where that is, there is eternal salvation.”
The sermons have also much to say to unbelievers. The preacher urges them to seek that they “would have the faith that is mentioned here, without
which it is impossible to please God. If we are destitute of this faith we cannot be united to Christ. There is no merit in faith itself; it is after all the gift of God. But by virtue of union to Christ believers are accepted in the Beloved. And let us seek to lay hold on this great fact, that we are encouraged to seek the Lord. . . . However great our sins may be, however multitudinous they may be, however vile they may be, we are invited to draw near to Him, to taste and see that God is good.”
In another sermon he searchingly asks the unconverted if they have the Psalmist’s resolve, “Thy face, Lord, I will seek”. He later relates an anecdote: “Remember the old man in Argyll who Neil Cameron wrote about . . . that when he was on his deathbed he asked to be carried outside so that he would have a last view of the hills and the dales of his native land. They took him out and he looked round and he said, ‘It is a bonny world, but what made it a bonny world to me was that I found Christ here’. Now, is that true of you? For without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him – and those that seek shall find.”
In his sermon on Enoch he assures his hearers that “there is every encouragement in the Word of God for sinners to seek the Lord that they may live – it’s full of encouragement for sinners so to do. It is in coming by this new and living way, coming by faith in Christ and being united to Christ, that the soul is accepted in the Beloved. They are accepted in the Beloved. They are not saved because of their faith. They are not saved because of their seeking. They are saved because of their union to Christ.”
He leaves his hearers in no doubt about the solemn consequences of unbelief, of rejecting the Saviour and neglecting the great salvation. “Without faith,” he warns, “it is impossible to please God. What solemn words!” Or again, “What is important for you is this: Noah, being warned of God, was moved with fear, and obeyed the word of God with regard to salvation. . . . The question for you and for me is, Have we been so moved? The warnings have come to us; we cannot deny it. We all know it perfectly well. But have we been moved with fear? The Scripture says so plainly, clearly, unmistakably: ‘How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?’ There is no escape.”
In another sermon, having referred to the saints dying in faith and arriving in the better country they were seeking, he asks, “Now what about yourself? What about yourself? Have you this hope, that if death came to you, you would be one of those of whom we read here, they died in faith?” Or again, “When death will come we shall have to go to the eternal world. Will we be of those who will be welcomed by Christ on the other side of death?”
Having read these sermons and, we trust, benefited from them, we heartily recommend them to others. May many profit from them through God’s blessing on the reading of them.