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I. THE TRUE NOTION OF FAITH. Faith, which is the principle of the gospel, respects the promises and declarations of God, and includes a sure trust and reliance on Him for the performance. Beyond this there is no further act of faith. Religion is a struggle between sense and faith. The temptations to sin are the pleasures of this life; the incitements to virtue are the pleasures of the next. These are only seen by faith; those are the objects of every sense. On the side of virtue all the motives, all the objects of faith engage. On the side of vice stand the formidable powers of sense, passion and affection. If this be the case, if religion has nothing to oppose to the present allurements of the world but the hopes and glories of futurity, which are seen only by faith — it is no more absurd to say men are saved by faith than it is to say they are ruined by sense and passion, which we all know has so much of truth in it, that it can have nothing of absurdity.

II. The character given in the text of AN UNBELIEVING HEART — namely, that it makes us depart from the living God.

1. That it is for want of faith, considered as a principle of religion, that men depart from the living God. The knowledge of God is but like other natural knowledge, as long as it has it residence in the head only. To become a principle of religion it must descend into the heart, and teach us to love the Lord with all our minds, with all our souls, and with all our strength. The faith then of the gospel, and which the wicked man is an utter stranger to, is that faith which makes us cleave steadfastly to the Lord with full purpose of heart.

2. That faith cannot be a principle of religion till it has its effect and operation in the heart. Even sense works in the same manner, and, powerful as it is, has no effect till it has made its way to the heart, the seat of all our passions and affections. There, and there only, it prevails as a principle of action. Sense produces no sensuality till it warms the affections with the pleasures of the world; and faith produces no religion till it raises the heart to love and to embrace its Maker. The great advantage the world has over religion lies in the certainty and reality of its objects, which flow in upon us at every sense. To supply this defect on the part of religion, Revelation was given to assure us of the certainty and reality of things future; without which assurance they could have no effect or influence on our affections.

3. That the motions and operations of the heart are in great measure under our own power and government. We find daily that we can check our passions and inclinations to serve the purposes of this life, and if we would do as much for that which is to come, we shall answer all that the apostle in the text requires of us, when he exhorts us to take heed of an evil heart of unbelief.

(Bp. Sherlock.)

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KJV: Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

WEB: Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God;