The Nature of Faith
A Sermon on Romans 4:18
Scripture
18Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
Sermon Description
How does faith impact one’s entire life? In the sermon “The Nature of Faith” on Romans 4:18, Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones outlines five ways that Abraham’s faith affected his whole world, not just his justification. It is important to note that faith is much different from merely belief. Faith is an unwavering, concrete certainty. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not yet seen. Because of Abraham’s strong faith, it allowed him to truly believe God’s promises for him and his life. It enabled him to rest on God’s word alone without any other evidence. His faith also helped him believe the promises of God even though they seemed completely impossible. Lastly, his faith enabled him to act upon the promises that the Lord set before him. Dr. Lloyd-Jones also outlines how Abraham’s faith enabled him in these five ways. When one examines their own life, it can be easy to trade faith for merely belief. True faith faces the facts and makes a person strong, never staggering at the Lord’s promises. May the listener hear this sermon and be encouraged to have faith like Abraham.
Sermon Breakdown
- Abraham became the father of many nations through faith alone.
- Abraham believed God’s word of promise that his seed would be innumerable.
- Abraham believed this promise on the bare word of God alone, with no evidence.
- Abraham believed this promise despite all appearances to the contrary. Everything was against the promise being fulfilled naturally.
- Abraham had an assurance and was fully persuaded that God would fulfill His promise. Faith provides assurance and certainty.
- Abraham acted upon his faith. He lived his life based on the promise and looked forward to its fulfillment.
- Faith enabled Abraham to do all these things by making him strong. Faith prevented him from being weak in faith and staggering in unbelief at the promise.
- Abraham considered the facts, including his old age and Sarah’s barrenness, but was not weakened in faith. Faith faces difficulties but overcomes them.
- Abraham did not stagger at the greatness of the promise through unbelief. Unbelief causes us to waver and be at variance with ourselves, staggering between belief and unbelief.
- Faith provides stability, preventing us from staggering like waves. We can stand firm through faith.
The Book of Romans
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.