Romans 4:11

Romans 4:11

The Call of Abraham.

Mark some characteristics of the faith of Abraham.

I. It is the faith not which conceives great things and works for them, but which places itself as an instrument in God's hands and lets Him work through it. It is the faith of martyrs, of men who have not seen that they were doing anything heroic, anything that would change the course of history, only that they were doing their duty, doing it as they could not choose but do. The greatest movers of mankind have felt and delighted to feel that they were being used; that they spoke and acted because they must; that they were working out another's purpose a purpose larger than their own.

II. It was the faith which was specially suited to him who was to be the father of the chosen people the father in a yet larger sense of all that believe. It was the faith which could wait through long generations, clinging still to the promise, though so dimly understood, of great blessing for the race, and through it for mankind, content in the meantime to suffer if it must be, to wander in the wilderness, to be as a little flock among wolves, to be trampled down, carried into captivity, the faith growing ever brighter in times of darkest calamity, and more assured, more spiritual. It was the faith which could receive God's gradual revelation of Himself and of His purposes; the open ear which in each age would meet God's voice as Samuel met it "Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth"; for ever learning, seeing one interpretation after another of ancient prophecies fail and pass away, yet waiting, listening, receiving, till the full satisfaction came, till the consolation of Israel dawned on it. Remember that the call of Abraham was the beginning of true religion in the world of religion with a hope, a progress. Every new book of the Bible marks an onward movement.

III. This faith of Abraham the faith which acts upon a trusted voice, which does not need to see its way even with the eye of imagination, which takes God at His word and waits His time is the faith which is not beyond our imitation, and which, if we will, may be the hope and stay of our own lives.

E. C. Wickham, Wellington College Sermons,p. 15.

References: Romans 4:13. Clergyman's Magazine,vol. iv., p. 84.Romans 4:16. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxiii., No. 1347; Homilist,new series, vol. iii., p. 177; Clergyman's Magazine,vol. ix., p. 338. Romans 4:17. Fraser, Ibid.,vol. vii., p. 105.Romans 4:18; Romans 4:19. Expositor,1st series, vol. ix., pp. 215, 392.Romans 4:19. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xiii., No. 733.Romans 4:19. W. Hubbard, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xvi., p. 26. Romans 4:20. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxiii., No. 1367; Ibid., Morning by Morning,p. 79; R. S. Candlish, Sermons,p. 105.