This sermon delves into the powerful message from Romans chapter 1, focusing on the significance of faith in God's plan of salvation. It highlights Abraham as the father of all who believe, emphasizing the impact of his faith and obedience in God's redemptive history. The sermon stresses the importance of living, active faith as a principle that connects believers to God's will and promises, urging listeners to trust and obey like Abraham did.

We've been considering in Romans chapter 1 and we will read just the two verses 16 and 17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth to the Jew first and then to the Greek for therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith as it is written but the righteous shall live by faith For I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth to the Jew first and then to the Greek for therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith as it is written but the righteous shall live by faith And then in the fourth chapter of Romans from verse 14 For if they that are of the law are heirs faith is made void and the promise is made of none effect for the law worketh wroth but where there is no law neither is there transgression for this cause it is of faith that it may be according to grace to the end that the promise may be sure to all the seed not to that only which is of the law but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all as it is written a father of many nations have I made thee before him whom he believed even God who giveth life to the dead and calleth the things that are not as though they were From verse 14 For if they that are of the law are heirs faith is made void and the promise is made of none effect for the law worketh wroth but where there is no law neither is there transgression for this cause it is of faith that it may be according to grace to the end that the promise may be sure to all the seed not to that only which is of the law but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all as it is written a father of many nations have I made thee before him whom he believed even God who in hope believed against hope to the end that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken so shall thy seed be and without being weakened in faith he considered his own body now as good as dead he being about a hundred years old and the deadness of Sarah's womb yet looking unto the promise of God he wavered not through unbelief but waxed strong through faith giving glory to God and being fully assured that what he had promised he was also able to perform wherefore also it was reckoned unto him for righteousness now it was not written for his sake alone that it was reckoned unto him but for our sake also unto whom it shall be reckoned who believe on him that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead who was delivered up for our trespasses and was raised for our justification being therefore justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ he being about a hundred years old now as good as dead the deadness of Sarah's womb yet looking unto the promise of God he wavered not through unbelief but waxed strong through faith giving glory to God and being fully assured that what he had promised he was also able to perform wherefore also it was reckoned unto him for righteousness now it was not written for his sake alone but for our sake also unto whom it shall be reckoned who believe on him that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead who was delivered up for our trespasses and was raised for our justification being therefore justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ he being about a hundred years old the deadness of Sarah's womb yet looking unto the promise of God he was also able to perform wherefore also it was reckoned unto him that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead and was raised for our trespasses we need your grace and your power we need that anointing both for the speaking and for the hearing dear Lord, into that anointing, grace and power we stand by faith this evening fill this whole time with your presence give us understanding help us Lord we need you and we ask it in the name of our Messiah the Lord Jesus I felt burdened to speak to you upon this marvelous sentence the just shall live by faith and yesterday evening I mentioned to you that J. N. Darby made I think a very helpful comment on this declaration he said the justified shall live on the principle of faith now a principle is a matter of cause and effect it is not a man-made law for instance if you break the speed limit it is a man-made law if you break it and the police don't see you and you do not have an accident you've got away with it but if I, as I said yesterday, if I go up on the roof and walk off it the principle of gravity takes over I immediately fall it doesn't matter if the police see it or not or whether you see it or not it's cause and effect now where there is living, working, active faith it is a principle it joins you to the Lord it joins you to His word it joins you to His will it is cause and effect furthermore this faith, this living faith is the gift of God it is not of ourselves therefore it is so amazing that if you are born of God saved by the grace of God you are meant to have a living, working and active faith not just at the beginning but all the way through the whole of your life till finally you stand before the Lord well I spent yesterday evening talking about that now this evening I want to talk about the Father of all who believe Abraham again and again in the New Testament we are told He is the Father of all who believe whether Jew or Gentile for all who believe Jewish or Gentile He is the Father of us all I think that is a remarkable title to be given to a human being every one of you in this room this evening who has been saved by the grace of God who is born of the Spirit of God Abraham is in one sense your Father He belongs to you and you to Him when God revealed Himself some four thousand years ago to Abraham it was one of the great turning points in divine history up to that point it had been just individuals or families when Abraham responded to the Lord when as we have sung He trusted and obeyed it was one of the greatest historical events it was the beginning of the fulfillment of the purpose of God it was the beginning of a people for God it is incredible what happened Stephen before he was martyred said the God of glory appeared to our forefather Abraham whilst he was yet in Ur of the Chaldeans have you ever thought what would have happened if Abraham had not said yes not one of us would be here this evening there would have been no Israel there would have been no light of God to the nations there would have been no Bible Old Testament and New Testament not one of the 66 books would have been out there would not have been the covenants that God made both the covenants made with the Jewish people and the new and eternal covenant that he has made with all who believe in him there would have been no Messiah because he was born of the Jews he himself said salvation is of the Jews it is incredible just think what depended upon that one human being's response how big was the impact thank God he said yes I don't know if I can make this clearer than I have already I will do my best I will try my best when Abraham simply trusted the Lord and obeyed him God reckoned it to him as righteousness was a salesman in his father's incredibly lucrative and profitable business it was an idol making business every home had an idol in it in the kitchen in the bedroom at the front of the door every street had somewhere a small idol sometimes large every square this business of Abraham's father in which he was a super salesman was an incredibly lucrative business when the God of Glory appeared to Abraham he was never the same again that vision, that revelation of God changed him he never worshipped an idol after that day he only worshipped the living God his whole life was given to the Lord he came from an aristocratic family the ruling class he was a settled inhabitant of one of the great cities of the ancient world from the moment he trusted the Lord and obeyed him he was never again a settled inhabitant of that city he became a pilgrim a foreigner a sojourner he became you could almost say a Bedouin nomad he traded in sheep and goats and donkeys and camels and the Lord had said to him get thee out of your father's home and out of Ur into a land that I will show you it says something for Abraham that he went out not knowing where he was going can you imagine his relatives? what's happened to Abraham? has he lost his mind? is he crazy? this seaman of a ruling family is now a nomad living with sheep and goats and camels now I know camels are very interesting the Arabs have a saying about the camel they say this strange looking animal that only God could have made with his haughty look with his haughty look his haughty, proud look his haughty because man knows the 99 names of God but the camel knows the hundreds these ships of the desert are incredible creatures but for someone to leave their profitable business a change that wasn't just to do with business it was to do with his whole lifestyle he never worshipped an idol again he had seen the living God the glory of God and in that glory he saw the city of God Ur and the great Aramaic and Babylonian cities were nothing in comparison he became a citizen of a city that in his lifetime he never saw he saw it in his spirit what was the word of God to Abraham? the Lord said to him out of thee out of your inner being will come a great nation that great nation was not great in numbers it was not great in the territory in fact it was small it never reached the Chinese population not at any point in its history or even the extent of Chinese territory why did God call it a great nation? because it was to be the recipient of the light of God it was to have the understanding of the living God the understanding of his eternal purpose it was that which made Israel great no other nation is such a great one no other nation only this nation that came out of Abraham you can read in Roman letter chapter 9 it's all there what came to them that was the greatness and then God said Abraham look up do you see the stars? look down do you see the sand? your descendants, your seed will be as the stars in number and as the sea sand the grains of sand under your feet then the Lord said something else he said to him and in you will all the families of the earth be blessed you will be a father of many many nations meaning that within those nations would be people who believed on God so you have a two-fold an amazing two-fold promise the first a nation a great nation it is Israel the second it will come to the Gentiles they will believe they will be born of God they will become children of God they will belong to the living God if Abraham had never responded where would we be? thank God he did respond I don't know if you follow me when Abraham when God said to Abraham your seed he had no seed Sarah was barren Abraham Abraham understood that God was saying Sarah's barrenness will end and she will have a son it is incredible that Abraham believed God against the circumstances against the barrenness of Sarah he believed it and God reckoned it to him as righteousness do you know what that means? he justified he justified him he was living in a Godless society idol worshipping society with so many evils but when he trusted God God reckoned it to him as righteousness this word comes again and again and again and again the first time you find it in the Old Testament is actually in Genesis and chapter 15 and verse 6 and he believed in the Lord and he reckoned it to him for righteousness we find this again and again and again in the New Testament so important was this when Abraham believed God and believed his word the word he spoke he entered into the heart of God it was as if through being justified he came to know God intimately he was called a whole number of times the friend of God dear brother dear sister this is exactly the same with you did you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ were you saved were you truly born of his spirit then it was reckoned unto you as righteousness God justified you on the basis of the finished work of the Lord Jesus no matter how hopeless you were uneducated you were stupid even once you believed God justified you on the basis of the finished work of the Lord Jesus now listen to me it was the beginning of a journey from that moment you were no longer an inhabitant of Toronto you were a pilgrim you were a sojourner something had happened within you have seen or should have seen something of God's eternal purpose you can never be the same again even if you tried to be you will never be the same again you have seen something without realizing it you have entered into the heart of God the eyes of your heart have been enlightened you have begun to see you have begun to hear does this make sense I have no idea whether others like me I am a Jew I belong to that nation that rejected the Messiah and whose salvation we await but everyone in this room who has been saved by the work of the Lord Jesus there is no distinction between me and you you are full citizens of the new Jerusalem you are one of the people of God you have been redeemed now at the very heart of your redemption there is this matter of a living working active faith are you just going to be stationary immobile never moving never growing do you realize what your salvation means as the apostle Peter put it you have been called unto the glory of God in Jesus have you ever even thought of it is it just a religious concept glory the glory of God the God of glory appeared to Abraham and changed his life if you are a child of God you are a Gentile you are now saved by the grace of God and you have been called to share his glory in the end let me put it another way you have been called to be part of the city of God the new Jerusalem the Jerusalem comes down out of heaven having the glory of God you belong to that city but you come hinder your growth by not exercising a living faith it is not just something to do with the beginning it is something to do with every single stage in the life of the child of God my good friend the former director of the international Christian embassy in Jerusalem Malcolm Heading in a moment of inspiration which I wish I had had said when God saved Abraham he put within him the whole DNA of world redemption did you hear that God put within Abraham the whole DNA of world redemption that's why he is called the father of all who believe now my dear child of God listen to me we are coming to the end the apostle Paul put it like this if you want to read this this is Romans 12 he put it like this I would not rather have you ignorant of this mystery this is the mystery of Israel I would not rather have you ignorant of this mystery lest you be wise in your own conceits that a hardening in part has befallen Israel a hardening in part has befallen Israel yes until the full number of the Gentiles become him and so all who are saved by the grace of God all Israel shall be saved in other words when God saved Abraham you have the whole course of divine history from the moment he trusted and obeyed directly through to the coming of the Messiah and the crucifixion of the Messiah by both Jew and Gentile together they crucified the Prince of Glory on the Crucifixion we are very near to the end now when I say that I don't mean next year two years five years so don't quote me but if we take the thousands of years we've waited it's not going to be a thousand more we are very near when the great work of the Holy Spirit to bring in the Gentiles is nearing its completion God will turn back to the Jewish people and save them that will be life from the dead for the whole redeemed community do you understand is it any wonder that Satan is now going to furiously work to stop it is it any wonder that the United States is paganizing itself that the United Kingdom Great Britain is paganizing itself that the nations of Europe are paganizing themselves they are rejecting the gospel rejecting the word of God and has it ever occurred to you why is Israel so hated why are the Jews so hated why are they misrepresenting everywhere you turn why is there talk of eliminating Israel wiping her off the face of the world map it is Satan it is the powers of darkness because they know that the last great miracle is the salvation of the Jewish people and they will do anything in their power to stop it and they will fail as surely as I stand here they will fail and God will take away the veil and reveal himself in all his glory and beauty to many Jews we are very near to this well I must watch the clock or you'll be here all night dear dear folks have you ever realized how wonderful it is that God has saved you he has put you in an historical sequence that began with Abraham one day you will see him and you will talk with him and he with you people say well will I recognize him you'll have no problem the spirit within you will say that's Abraham and that's Isaac and that's Jacob and that's David that's Moses they're all yours because of Abraham saying that he trusted and obeyed now I can't leave this without saying something more I will try to be as fast as I can God proved Abraham's faith it is a principle with God everything that is of himself he tests I don't like the old English word tries in 1 Peter chapter 1 we speak of our faith being tries in that version but the Greek word has more the meaning of the faith being proved tested and proved and to praise and glory and honor at the coming of Jesus it was certainly true of Abraham God showed him a city he never lived in it God gave him a land he never possessed it the piece of ground he buried in the end he himself was buried he bought God tested him on every single point that son Abraham was 100 Sarah was over 80 it was impossible yet Abraham believed of course Abraham was just like you and me he had foibles if you know what that word means he he was influenced by people God told him to remain in the land that he would give him when there was a famine what happened Abraham went down into Egypt then he got into a mess he said to Sarah tell the Pharaoh you're my sister and he told the Pharaoh she is my sister she was very beautiful Sarah was a very beautiful woman so Pharaoh took Sarah into the harem thank God they didn't have any relations but the whole family of Pharaoh was sick it was the Lord it was the Lord in the place of the Lord here is the father of all who believe failing he should have stayed in the land but there was famine in the land but when there was famine with Elijah he stayed in the land and the little book of water never failed and crows ravens actually but you can say crows brought little bits of meat which he lived on now I'm on a diet now and Robin and Esther are starving me I'm on a diet so now my brothers and sisters didn't give me any food those ravens are not kosher the meat they brought was anything but kosher but Elijah ate it if Abraham had only stayed in the land the Lord would have done the same thing for him he would have had miracles but in that moment his faith collapsed and he got into a mess in Pharaoh's household would you believe it a few years later he did the same thing again with Abimelech exactly the same he said to Sarah say you're my sister he told Abimelech she's my sister Abimelech took Sarah into his heart and then the Lord stopped Abimelech from having relations with Sarah but a sickness came to the whole family isn't it amazing the father of all who believe so like us or again Isaac he waited and Sarah never conceived then one day Sarah said this is ridiculous this is ridiculous take my handmaid Hagar an Egyptian and have a child with her that was Ishmael of course the amazing thing is the Lord made a covenant with Hagar and with Ishmael that he has kept to the letter so much of the wealth is in the hands of the seed of Ishmael he kept it completely and there are many of the seed of Ishmael who believe on the Lord Jesus they are fellow travelers with us fellow members of the same body but I must finish I must finish God proves the kind of faith with God sometimes to the nth degree but God is always faithful dear people of God isn't this amazing listen to what the writer of the Hebrew letter says in Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 the word of God is living and active and sharper than a two edged sword dividing between soul and spirit some Christians find the Bible a bit boring they feel that they have to have their little reading so they right away enclose the book I've done it like a little liturgy I've had a word poor Lord I sometimes think He gets so bored with us no worship no communion just give me give me give me and give me poor Lord why He ever saved us I don't know as I've so often said we're all a load of trouble some of us more trouble than the others but how gracious the Lord is where there is a living faith the word of God becomes itself active living and active creative it leaps out of the book by the spirit of God into you and does something in you where there is a living faith think that's why we need this living working faith think of the promises of God what does the apostle Paul say in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 20 how many so ever be the promises of God in Christ is the yea and through Him is the Amen to the glory of God all those wonderful promises you fulfilled the condition God fulfills the promise but that requires faith to be able to as we sing sometimes standing on the promises of God how can you stand on the promises of God if you don't have living faith we need that kind of active faith do you know what the apostle Peter says in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 6 and 7 he says whereby God has granted to us exceeding great promises that by these we become partakers of the divine nature what is he saying it seems to make one's mind almost real spin what is he saying he says God has given us all these promises so that when we stand on them fulfill the condition and stand on the promise every time it is fulfilled there is something more of the Lord in us we are growing we are growing in the Lord progressing dear child of God it is a wonderful thing that the Lord has saved us whoever we are it's wonderful do you see the need of this living faith do you need to be renewed in that faith does the Holy Spirit need to quicken that faith we are going to move into far more terrible days than any of us have yet seen we need the Lord and the only way through this is to trust and obey may the faith that was in Abraham be in you and in me shall we pray beloved Lord renew us revive us we need that faith through which we have been saved we need that faith to be revived Lord hear our prayer and meet us we pray we ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus Amen