11th September 2026

11th September 2026


Pray (ACts)


Read (Romans 4:16-25)


Message (Alan Burke)




The gospel is all about grace, how God, having out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer (WSC 20). We only need to think of who Abraham was before the Lord called him to himself. Abraham was a pagan; rabbinic Jewish tradition (Midrash) teaches that he was the son of an idolater, Terah (Joshua 24:2). Before he was called Abraham was still living as a pagan. That is, until God acted out of his mere good pleasure, calling Abraham out of his paganism and giving him a promise to which he responded by faith. He never saw the fulfilment of all that God had promised; yes, he had an heir, he had a son Isaac, but the promise that in his offspring, looking to Christ, shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, he never saw (see Gen 22:18). 


The promise of God was not only given to those of the law but those who are of the faith of Abraham, the father of us all. Those of the law whom Paul speaks of are not those through their obedience have earned their salvation; he’s already dismissed that possibility, but they are those who are Jews who believed in the promises of God and to the Gentiles who look to the promise of God, who look to Jesus Christ. He is the father of the faith; all who believe, who like Abraham believe, who live by faith in the promises of God, are his children. Fulfilling what the Lord promised to Abraham, when before he had an heir of the promise, said to Abraham; “…I have made you a father of many nations” (Gen 17:5).


Even though from a human perspective, for Abraham there was no hope, and Paul uses how against all hope, Abraham in hope believed. For considering Abraham’s circumstances, humanly speaking, what the LORD promised to him was impossible; it was foolishness. Look what he says, v19, that “without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.” (see Gen 15:6 and 17:5). The situation that Abraham was in when the promises were given was in a very real sense, from a human perspective, completely and utterly hopeless. Human wisdom would say that what God had promised to Abraham was impossible; they were in their senior years, older than anyone here today, but Abraham was fully persuaded that God had the power to do what he had promised. 


Look again though to how v19 begins, where we are told; “Without weakening in his faith”. How can Paul say that without weakening in his faith? Well, Paul would have been all too aware of what Abraham’s failures were. He isn’t saying that Abraham never had doubts, that he never had any struggles; rather, it means that Abraham persevered. He continued on towards the promises that he had been given. He faced times of doubt, but he persevered. He faced struggles, and he persevered. For true faith perseveres to the end; it keeps on going for the LORD, he who has begun a good work in us, as Paul says in Philippians 1, that he who has begun a good work will bring it to completion (Phil 1:6). Brothers and sisters, let us look to the promises of God, knowing that we are secure because of Christ. We receive God’s grace, his unmerited favour through the work of Christ. The basis of our status before the Lord God is in what Jesus has done that is applied to us by the Spirit; we receive this benefit now, for we are justified now. When our faith is weak, we remain justified because it is Christ himself who is the basis for God’s righteous verdict.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q63 Which is the fifth commandment?
A. The fifth commandment is, Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
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