The sermon identifies unbelief as a central and deeply serious sin: it doubts God’s truthfulness, dishonors His character, and becomes the root of other sins. Spurgeon argues that outward morality, religious hearing, and exposure to spiritual realities cannot substitute for faith in Christ. Faith receives the gospel, enables obedience, prayer, praise, and perseverance, while persistent unbelief results in condemnation and eternal punishment. The sermon’s final appeal is evangelistic and urgent, calling hearers to trust the crucified Christ rather than merely see or hear Christian truth.
Theological center: Saving faith in Christ is necessary because unbelief is culpable rebellion against God and leads to condemnation, while faith receives the gospel and produces Christian obedience.
Applications: Believe God’s promise · Put your trust in Jesus · Receive the gospel inwardly · Unbelief insults God
Primary texts: 2 Kings 7:19 · Hebrews 3:19 · Luke 16:24
“And that lord answered the man of God, and said, Now, behold, if the LORD should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes but shalt not eat thereof.” 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 conserve, the race would be utterly destroyed. In the city of Samaria there was one righteous man—Elisha, the servant of the Lord. Piety was altogether extinct in the court. The king was a sinner of the blackest dye, his iniquity was glaring and infamous. Jehoram walked in the ways of his father Ahab and made unto himself false gods. The people of Samaria were…