Romans 4:19-22 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old… It was God's purpose that Abraham should be a surpassingly excellent example of the power of faith. It was therefore necessary that his faith should be exercised in a special manner. To this end God gave him a promise that in his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed, and yet for many a year he remained without an heir. Doubtless he weighed the natural impossibilities, but he maintained a holy confidence, and left the matter in the hands of the Sovereign Ruler. His faith triumphed in all its conflicts. Had it not been that Sarah and Abraham were both at such an advanced age there would have been no credit to them in believing the promise of God, but the more difficult its fulfilment, the more wonderful was Abraham's faith. By such unquestioning confidence Abraham brought glory to God. It glorifies God greatly for His servants to trust Him; they then become witnesses to His faithfulness, just as His works in creation are witnesses to His power and wisdom. Let us view the text in regard to — I. THE INDIVIDUAL WORKER. 1. You are conscious of your spiritual weakness. You say, "If God intends to bless souls, I cannot see how they can be blessed through me. I feel myself to be the most unworthy instrument in the world."(1) Such a lowly sense of our own unfitness is common at the beginning of Christian labour, and arises from the novel difficulties with which we are surrounded. We have not gone this way heretofore, and being quite new to the work, Satan whispers, "You are a poor creature to pretend to serve God; leave this service to better men." But take comfort; this is part of your preparation; you must be made to feel early in the work that all the glory must be of God. (2) This sense of weakness grows on the Christian worker. To continue in harness year after year is not without its wear and tear; our spirit truly is willing, but the flesh is weak, and faintness in pursuing reveals to us that our own strength is perfect weakness. The more earnest your labours for the Lord, the more clear will be your sense of your own nothingness. (3) There are times when a want of success will help to make us feel most keenly how barren and unfruitful we are until the Lord endows us with His Spirit. Those whom we thought to be converted turn out to be merely the subjects of transient excitement, those who stood long, turn aside, and then we cry out, "Woe is me! How shall I speak any more in the name of the Lord?" Like Moses, we would have the Lord send by whomsoever He would send, but not by us; or like Elias, we hide ourselves for fear, and say "Let me die, I am no better than my fathers." I suppose there is no worker who is quite free from times of deep depression, times when his fears make him say, "Surely I ran without being called." At such moments it only needs another push from Satan to make us like Jonah to go down to Joppa, that we may no longer bear the burden of the Lord. I am not sorry if you are passing through this fiery ordeal, for it is in your weakness God will show His own strength, and when there is an end of you there will be a beginning of Him. 2. It may be also that our sphere of Christian effort is remarkably unpromising. In that Sunday school class the boys are obstinate, the girls frivolous. You had not reckoned upon this. The more you try to influence their hearts the less you succeed. It is possible you are called to labour where the prejudices, temptations, and habits and ways of thought are all dead against the chance of success. But Christian work never succeeds until the worker rates the difficulties at their proper rate. The fact is, to save a soul is the work of Deity; and unless we have made up our minds to that, we had better retire, for we are not ready for labour. 3. Yet the godly worker has that which sustains him, for he has a promise from God. Abraham had received a promise, and he knew the difficulties and weighed them; but having done so, he put them away as not worth considering. God had said it, and that was enough, The promise of God was as good as its fulfilment; just as in trade some men's bills are as good as cash. Now if we are to be successful we must get hold of a promise too. You say, "If I could have a special revelation, just as Abraham had, I would doubt no more." Now God gives His promises in many ways. Sometimes He gives them to individuals, at other times to classes of character. Now God has been pleased to give the revelation, in your case, to character. "He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." Now if you have gone forth, wept, and carried forth precious seed, the Lord declares that you shall doubtless come again rejoicing. "My word shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." Have you delivered God's word? if so, then God declares it shall not return unto Him void; and these promises are quite as good as though they had been spoken to you by the voice of an angel. A promise however given is equally binding upon a man of honour, and a promise of God, no matter how delivered, is sure of fulfilment; all you have to do is to lay hold upon it. II. THE CHURCH. 1. We have set our hearts upon a revival. But I fear that our temptation is to suppose there is some power in the ministry, or in our organisation, or our zeal. Let us divest ourselves of all that. As to causing a genuine revival by our own efforts, we might as well talk of whirling the stars from their spheres. If God help us we can pray, but without His aid our prayer will be mockery. If God help us we can preach, but apart from Him our preaching is but a weary tale told without power. 2. There is not only difficulty in ourselves, but in the work. We want to see all these people converted. But what can we do? The preacher can do nothing, for he has done his best and has failed, and all that any can suggest will fail also. The work is impossible with us, but do we therefore give up the attempt? No, for is it not written, "I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye My face in vain"? Christ must see of His soul's travail, must see of it in this place too. We have God's promise for it; we cannot do it, but He can. III. EVERY PLEADING SOUL. If your heart has been set upon any special object in prayer, if you have an express promise for it, you must not be staggered if the object of your desire be farther off now than when you first began to pray. Wait at the mercy seat in the full persuasion that although God may take His time, and that time may not be your time, yet He must and will redeem His promise when the fulness of time has come. If you have prayed for the salvation of your child, or husband, or friend, and that person has grown worse instead of better, still God must be held to His word; and if you have the faith to challenge His faithfulness and power, assuredly He never did and never will let your prayers fall fruitless to the ground. Remember that to trust God in the light is nothing, but to trust Him in the dark — that is faith. IV. THE SEEKER. You imagined at one time that you could become a Christian at your own will at any moment; and now how to perform that which you would you find not. You desire to break the chains of sin, but they are far easier to bind than to loose. You want to come to Jesus with a broken heart, but your heart refuses to break. You long to trust Jesus, but your unbelief is so mighty that you cannot see His Cross. I am glad to find you in this poverty-stricken state, for I believe that in your case you must know your own powerlessness. Every sinner must learn that he is by nature dead in sins, and that the work of salvation is high above out of his reach. Self-despair throws a man upon his God; he feels that he can do nothing, and he turns to one who can do all things. Now the next thing is to find a promise. "Whosoever calleth upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Have you called upon the name of the Lord? Have you cried to Him, "God be merciful to me a sinner"? If you so call you must be saved. "Whosoever cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." Do you come? If so, you cannot be cast out. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: |
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